My Hero Academia: Bakugo's Terrible First Impression

 They say that you never have a second chance to make a good first impression. I understand the power of a first impression can have when meeting new people, applying for jobs and other times when people must judge you based on limited information, but personally think that it isn't always accurate. There are times when a person may come off poorly due to bad luck or a minor mistake, or when people present themselves as more competent, trustworthy or benevolent than they actually are. Katsuki Bakugo's first scene in My Hero Academia is a good example of how a character's poor first impression can haunt them for the rest of the story.

In all fairness, Bakugo is not exactly a good person. While he had been friends with the protagonist, Midoriya, since they were little, by the time the story begins and they're in their last year of middle school (9th grade in Japan), Bakugo mercilessly bullies Midoriya, mocking him for not having a Quirk(a genetic mutation that grants superpowers), and saying that without one, he can't possibly hope to become a hero. As is often the case, Bakugo's assertion is fair, even if he was far meaner about it than he should have been, since it quickly becomes clear that Midoriya has little chance of performing well as a hero without a good Quirk. All this is more or less consistent with Bakugo's later characterization, even if Bakugo gradually becomes a bit less of a jerk over time.

But then Bakugo, after mocking Midoriya and destroying the notebook Midoriya had used to take notes on heroes, has a piece of "friendly" advice to Midoriya. If Midoriya really wants a Quirk, Bakugo suggests throwing himself off the school rooftop and hoping he reincarnates with one.

Bullying is bad enough, and many readers are upset that Bakugo never got officially punished for it, although that can be attributed to Japan's more laissez-faire attitude toward bullying. However, suggesting that Midoriya commit suicide is on an entirely different level, since if Midoriya had actually gone through with it, Bakugo would have been responsible for the death of his "friend." Not only are there fanfics in which Midoriya attempts or actually commits suicide, as well as the results of what happened, but the canon story itself acknowledges the implications of Bakugo's actions. Midoriya responds to the taunt with a glare and thinks to himself that Bakugo would have been blamed if Midoriya had committed suicide, one of the few times he actually shows anger toward his "friend."

Unfortunately, this line is completely forgotten about after the first chapter. Bakugo's attitude problems are the main obstacle preventing him from becoming a good hero, but while he eventually overcomes them and admits in a flashback in Chapter 284 that he had bullied Midoriya in the past, the suggestion that Midoriya commit suicide is never brought up again, making it seem as though everyone forgot about it. Horikoshi expressed regret for having Bakugo do something so terrible, saying that he wasn't mean to come off as so bad. But the damage has been done, and some readers refuse to forgive Bakugo for that specific misdeed, even if they might be willing to forgive him for his bullying..

While Horikoshi went overboard with that specific  line, there are legitimate reasons to make Bakugo unlikeable early on in the series. Despite everything Bakugo's done, Midoriya is still willing to risk his life to save him from the Sludge Villain, even though Midoriya, being Quirkless, had no chance of making a difference on his own. However, when the goal of Bakugo's character arc is to show that despite his many flaws, he has the potential to become a great hero, it may be too difficult to get audiences to sympathize with a character who tried to get a friend to kill himself. My Hero Academia's redemption arcs for Bakugo and Endeavor are some of the more controversial parts of the series, with some saying that they're excellent character development and others saying the redemption is unearned, but at least in Endeavor's case, the story hasn't forgotten about his abuse of his family.

My Hero Academia has few other instances of characterization elements or plot points being dropped early on in the series, such as Midoriya being too nervous to talk to girls, but there haven't been any that have colored the audience's perception of a character as this one. This goes to show that while it's natural for a long-running series to change over time, creators should still be especially careful when writing their first installments, since they're the ones that readers will remember for the entirety of the series' run.