Izuku Midoriya, better known as Deku is the main character of Boku No Hero Acadamia. He's been catching a lot of heat lately from people who don't believe he's a good main character. Those people are wrong. They couldn't be more wrong if they tried. In fact, Deku is possibly the best new main character in recent years.
There's a list of reasons people dislike Deku and it's about a mile long. Some people believe that he cries to much to be the lead or that he's just to emotional in general. Others claim that he's not strong enough to be the lead. In the anime he's just gained control of his powers for the first time and in the manga he's still not the strongest even within class 1-A. But, those are just reasons as to why he's one of the best main characters in recent history.
I get it Deku is too emotional for some people. He shy, he cries a lot, he gets nervous around girls. But that's what makes him great. Other shonen main characters don't show that vulnerability often and the ones that do are memorable. Everyone remembers Naruto crying all through part one and most of part two chasing Sasuke. He didn't stop crying until Shippuden and even then, he still shed some tears now and then. He's shy, what's wrong with that? Lot's of people are shy in the real world. Think about it, he spent most of middle school being bullied for being quirkless and having no real friends. Of course he would be shy. All Deku's life he was told he could never be a hero and he spent years silently crying about it. How can you blame him when he cries because his dream is finally in his grasp?
Deku might be weak by some standards because he's not destroying planets with a single punch. He's also a 15. Some manga and anime have people coming out the gate as invincible planet busters. That's not the case with Boku No Hero. Heroes haven't even been around that long in this series. We constantly see not only students but heroes training to get better at their jobs. Why would Deku just wake up with a new quirk and suddenly be able to master it?
Does anyone remember what Natsu's goal was in Fairy Tail? Ichigo? Nope. I bet you remember Luffy wants to be pirate king, Naruto wants to be Hokage and Deku wants to be a great hero. It's redundant to state that he should stop stating his dream. Do you know what happens when you stop stating your dream? You stop believing in it. Why would he stop believing in a dream he's had from a toddler?
Can you really fault Deku for being a nerd? Half the people following are nerds and the other half are weebs. I went there. He's weird, I get it, but everyone is a little weird. It's refreshing to see a character where this is shown. Deku is smart, he picks up on things most characters don't then implements it into his arsenal. This isn't a trait most shonen heroes have. Goku had it at the start of Dragon Ball when he would pick up Tien's Solar Flair. Then that trait vanished. Sasuke had it but only because of his sharingan and even then, he couldn't implement most techniques because he lacked the chakra levels. Deku on the other hand has created a fighting style all his own by borrowing from others. He's taken moves from All Might, Bakugou, Gran Torino and even Ojiro. He's made them into a unique style all his own.
On top of all of that Deku isn't arrogant. There's this thing where leads are often arrogant and confident of their abilities. Luffy thinks he can take on Yonko out the gate, Goku has displayed his arrogance time and time again, Aster has no magic but thinks he's invincible. The list goes on. Deku doesn't have that trait and it can be refreshing to have a hero who doesn't talk about how he's going to beat the villain to a pulp while giving a speech about how they let down the world. Deku doesn't have time for speeches because he's trying to think about how to win.
It is perfectly okay if you don't like Deku. I'm not going to judge you. However, what we're not going to do is pretend that he's the worst lead in the history of manga. You don't like him but he's not a bad character. He never was and has shown more development in two hundred chapters than some characters show in almost a thousand.
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