KiriBaku

KiriBaku is the slash ship between Katsuki Bakugou and Eijiro Kirishima from the My Hero Academia fandom.

Beginning/End Credits
My Hero Academia- Opening 1 | The Day: Eijiro appears with his hardening quirk activated. Katsuki appears immediately after him with the usage of his explosions.

My Hero Academia- Opening 2 | Peace Sign: Eijiro is shown straddle-stretching. He looks up with a challenging grin after a few reps. The frame then pans over to Katsuki, who is doing squats with a matching grin. The directions and backgrounds of the scenes imply they were together.

In My Hero Academia- Ending 2 | Datte Atashi no Hero: The “Fantasy AU” ending. Katsuki appears as he rides in on a large red dragon. The color of the dragon, and teamwork portrayed briefly between the two led to speculation that Eijiro may be Katsuki’s dragon. (A bonus chapter of School Briefs confirmed this.)

In My Hero Academia- Ending 3 | Update: A brief sketch of Eijiro and Katsuki is shown, taken from the first section of the U.A Sports Festival.

In My Hero Academia- Opening 4 | Polaris: A flurry of past events fly by. Two scenes from Kamino are shown; when Eijiro called out to Katsuki, and when Katsuki took his hand.

In My Hero Academia- Opening 4 | Starmaker: A handful of romaji are shown grasped by students. Eijiro and Katsuki humorously hold the same one. In the end photo of 1-A with their instruments, Eijiro’s gaze is directed at Katsuki.

Quirk Apprehension Test Arc
Early on, the scores from the entrance exam are shown, letting us see that Katsuki and Eijiro scored 1st and 2nd place(s) respectively. Katsuki scored 77 villain points from defeating robotic rivals, while Eijiro scored 74 points, only 39 of which from the robots as opposed to Katsuki. Their equivalence, which becomes a large role in their relationship but starts here.

The quirk apprehension tests are held the first day of school. The first test is throwing a ball with the usage of one’s quirk. Katsuki’s explosive throw measured a recorded distance of 705.2 meters, which visibly awes Eijiro. He loses any and all shreds of nervousness upon viewing this feat.

Battle Trial Arc
''“Sensei, please put a stop to this! That Bakugou kid’s gone mental, at this rate he’ll kill him!”''

- Eijiro Kirishima to Toshinori Yagi

The boys still don’t interact (directly) in this arc, but however, Eijiro begins to build a first, meaningful thought on Katsuki after seeing his behavior towards Izuku. He comments plentifully on just about every move Katsuki makes, although this is mainly for the worse.

The first comment he makes is after the fight begins, as he sees Katsuki leap out to attack Izuku and Ochako in what he dubs a surprise attack. He states that it “isn’t manly at all.”

He soon becomes confused on why Katsuki is so unjustifiably angry and aggressive. Questioning no one in particular, he states "Geez…what was Bakugou saying? Can't tell with the cameras in a fixed position and no sound.." with a concerned expression.

Towards the end of the fight, Katsuki begins to use his howitzer, rendering Izuku almost immobile. He yells to All Might that Bakugou is mental, and pleads for him to end the fight, worrying that Katsuki will go far as to literally kill Izuku.

As the fight tides over, Eijiro is left with an obvious disdain for Katsuki’s unsportsmanlike, or rather, “unmanly” nature.

USJ Arc
“Well if you’re talking about flashy and strong, it’s gotta be Todoroki and Bakugou!”

- Eijiro Kirishima to Class 1-A

Eijiro and Katsuki finally share their first major interactions in this arc, starting on the bus ride to the USJ. The class discusses each other’s strengths in brief conversation; Eijiro deprecates his quirk, upset that it’s dull in his eyes, but then moves to compliment the quirks of Katsuki and Shoto, saying they’re “flashy and strong”. He makes sure to lock eyes with Katsuki as he says this, smiling admiringly. Katsuki then huffs, and turns away in what almost appears to have been a flustered manner.

The class quickly finds themselves under attack by the LoV for the first time upon arriving at the USJ. Katsuki and Eijiro prove to be an exceptional team from the beginning as they jump to attack Kurogiri side-by-side, landing powerful, unpracticed blows. As the smoke from Katsuki’s explosion dissipates, the two can be seen grinning next to one another.

Unfortunately, Kurogiri manages to warp the students through the building. Katsuki and Eijiro are warped to the Collapse Zone together, where they’re greeted by a mass wave of (low-tier) villains. With their shared power, it takes them no time at all to fight their way to safety. Upon deciding that their work was complete in that area, they begin to argue about their next task: Eijiro wants to find and help out their classmates, while Katsuki wants to attack Kurogiri.

In the moment they argue, a chameleon-like villain takes the opportunity to jump at them, but Katsuki manages to stop him one handedly. Eijiro praises his reaction time before noting how calm he is. Katsuki then explains that he knows their classmates don’t need their help, and are capable of taking care of themselves. Eijiro interprets this as him “believing in their buddies”, and says he’ll follow Katsuki wherever he wants to go. Katsuki grins at this before they set off.

They’re later shown having (temporarily) defeated Kurogiri. Katsuki keeps him pinned down, while Eijiro stands protectively near him. Kurogiri attempts to move, but Katsuki catches him and yells, “You try anything funny, and I’ll blow your ass to pieces!!” Eijiro jokes, “Ohhh, that doesn’t sound very heroic!”

At the end of the fight, they lock eyes and run off to knock down more villains. They stand next to each other during the fight cleanup.

U.A Sports Festival Arc
After the announcement of the Sports Festival, a sizable crowd of students gather outside the 1-A classroom, generally to psyche them out. In but a few, ever-blunt words, Katsuki manages to rile up the crowd before attempting to leave the classroom. Eijiro stops him before he can exit, however, and asks him what he plans to do about the angry crowd. Katsuki acknowledges this, and tells him that none of it matters “as long as you rise to the top”. As he finally leaves, Eijiro puts a fist to his heart, a tear of pure emotion in his eye. He yells “That’s so simple and manly!” This moment was humorously enhanced in the anime.

As they enter the festival stadium, Eijiro whispers to Katsuki that he’s nervous that so many people are going to watch him fight, then asks if Katsuki is. Grinning, Katsuki responds that it was just making him more excited.

During the choosing period of the Cavalry Battle, Eijiro runs up to Katsuki and requests to team with him. Katsuki acknowledges him as “Shitty Hair", before Eijiro tells him that Katsuki needs someone who can handle him in order to succeed, and he can do just that, which is why he’d be such a good choice for him. He further tempts him by saying he’ll help him “take down” Izuku. Katsuki sneers delightedly at this, and accepts. Eijiro ends up in the position closest to Katsuki, the front.

After falling for Neito’s taunts, Katsuki calls upon Eijiro above all others to help him forward on his attack. Eijiro tries to calm him, but to no avail. Later, Katsuki excitedly smacks Eijiro, yelling that they’re gonna get an “indisputable first place”. Eijiro grows excited in turn at his spirit. However, they end up in 2nd after failing to obtain the 1,000,000 point headband. Their other team members accept their score as good enough, but Eijiro gives them a look and says “Are you sure that’s how he feels?” in referral to Katsuki.

After his win against Tetsutetsu, Eijiro headed up to the stands to see Katsuki before their upcoming fight. He tells him he wants a good fight with him, to which Katsuki replies “I’ll kill you.” Eijiro simply laughs this off, and praises Katsuki once again.

Their fight centers around hard, quirk-powered blows and the way that they both can counter each other off so completely. Eijiro is quick to bring Katsuki on the defensive with a barrage of hardened punches, which Izuku states is rare to do. Katsuki finds him to be a rare opponent on which he struggles against, and grins at this. He notes Eijiro’s durability and persistence, and surmises that he was pushing his quirk beyond his limits, and would eventually collapse. He achieves this with a final large explosion, and taunts Eijiro as he falls. Katsuki appeared to enjoy their fight more than most, having found a “worthy opponent” in Eijiro.

Vs. Hero Killer Arc
As Katsuki argues with Midnight over his ridiculous “hero names” (King Explosion Murder/Lord Explosion Murder), Eijiro jokingly calls out that he should be “Blasty McSplode”. (A/N: In the Russian dub, he says 'Explosive Tsundere')

Katsuki’s hair ends up stuck in the way Best Jeanist had styled it after his work study. Once Eijiro sees it, he falls into a fit of laughter. This showcases how far their relationship has come, Eijiro can (playfully) tease Katsuki without fear.

Final Exams Arc
After seeing Momo kindly offer to tutor their classmates, Eijiro jokes to Katsuki about his and hers difference in morals. Katsuki is annoyed by this, and yells that he’ll tutor Eijiro until he’s dead. Eijiro eagerly accepts this “offer”. It is important to note how he chose Katsuki over Momo and her study group, which contained several of his friends.

It’s not too long later that Katsuki is genuinely triggered, and storms out of the classroom. Eijiro looks worriedly at the door before saying that it’d been a while since he’d seen Katsuki lash out, implying that he is notably calmer in his presence.

Surprisingly, Katsuki ended up keeping his “offer” after all, ending up at a library, and then a diner with Eijiro for their study session. He can be seen bonking Eijiro with a newspaper, and is notably dressed up compared to his usual style of dress.

Tooru suggests a class shopping trip. Knowing that Katsuki is not one for gatherings, Eijiro questions him if he will attend, but Katsuki says no. (A/N: a strip of BNHA Smash confirms that they did end up hanging out in the end; Katsuki simply went shopping on his own, and ran into Eijiro.)

Forest Training Camp Arc
(A/N: This “pool” episode was not originally featured in the manga, it was a great fanservice by Studio Bones. It appeared to have been a way to visibly strengthen the relationship between Eijiro and Katsuki so the later events would have more effect on viewers.)

The students of 1-A gathered to use the school pool as a hangout spot. Eijiro arrives late with Katsuki on his side, and explains to their classmates that it took a bit to convince Katsuki to come with him. He holds an arm in front of Katsuki’s chest as he says this.

Before the race between Izuku, Katsuki, and Shoto begins, Eijiro can be heard cheering, “Go, Bakugou!” as he pumps an arm, similar to the way Ochako cheered for Izuku.

Eraserhead kicks the kids out the moment the three jump into the pool, as their time had ran out. Katsuki and Eijiro can be seen as they walk home together under a sunset, a typically romantic trope. They lightly chat about heroics, and Katsuki brings up his everlasting desire to become stronger, and even defeat All Might. Eijiro is momentarily stunned by his words, but then gives him a large smile, filled with admiration as they continue to walk. Katsuki is not seen carrying his bag, perhaps an implication that Eijiro held it for him.

As Eraserhead shares the details about the training camp the students would be attending, Eijiro can be seen leaning his entire body onto Katsuki. Interesting enough, Katsuki makes no move to push him off, or even to complain.

Katsuki effortlessly takes down one of Pixie-Bob’s “Earth Beasts”. Eijiro is quick to tell him he’s amazing, to which Katsuki disagrees with. Eijiro looks concerned at this. Later, during the quirk reassessments, Eijiro cheers “Do it, Bakugou!” when his turn arrives.

The group of students who’d failed their final exams (Denki, Eijiro, Hanta, Mina, Neito, Rikidou) were kept for extra studies by Eraserhead and Vlad King during the camp, and were locked in during the LoV attack in order to protect them. Eijiro became unsettled, and even aggressive after hearing that the villains were after “Kacchan”, and made several desperate attempts to escape, although failed every time. Eijiro later finds that the villains succeeded in taking Katsuki, he was heartbroken at this loss, and for not being able to even fight for him.

After the events of the training camp, the students head to visit their injured classmates at the hospital. Their visit is primarily shown in Izuku’s room. The majority of the students seem to be in good, or at least okay spirits, all except for a select few, including Eijiro. He proposes that the class rescues Katsuki on their own terms (with the help of Momo’s tracking device, but Tenya interrupts him, calling his idea, and anyone contemplating it idiotic. Eijiro is angered by this, and yells back, “We know that! But I couldn’t do anything. After I heard that my friend was being targeted. I couldn’t do anything! I didn’t do anything! If I don’t do anything now, I won’t be a hero or a man anymore!” After some murmuring about this passes, everyone except for Eijiro leaves the room. He then explains his plan to Izuku.

Hideout Raid Arc
At nightfall, Eijiro gathers with Izuku, Momo, Shoto and Tenya outside of the hospital to begin their rescue mission. They ride a train to the location of the tracker, Kamino Ward. In the middle of the trip, Shoto tells the others it’s not too late to turn back if they’ve changed their minds, but Eijiro responds that he wouldn’t have even suggested the idea if he wasn’t certain he wanted to. He continues to speak, saying that Katsuki would likely go with them once they found him, as he’s not one to let villains have their way.

To hide their identities as U.A students, the group buy “disguises” at a convenience store near the ward. Eijiro’s disguise is notable as it represents bonds, most definitely referring to his bond with Katsuki, being that it is the center of this arc.

Upon arrival at the Ward, Momo offers to make a set of night-vision scopes to help them see through the darkness. Eijiro points out that he had already bought a pair, specifically for the mission. Izuku points out that they’re rather expensive, leaving a question behind: Fellas, is it gay to spend (about) $500 on your bro?

The group finally finds Katsuki in the midst of chaos, holding his own against a barrage of villains. They notice that All Might is holding back his strength as not to accidentally harm him. They realize that they need to get Katsuki out quickly if All Might is going to win. Izuku quickly devises a plan, although risky, as it requires the cooperation of Katsuki, chances of which are really slim. He then addresses Eijiro to be the key to their success since he had built a rapport, a bond with Katsuki from the beginning, and if he was the one to call out to Katsuki, Katsuki would answer.

Eijiro extends his hand as he calls out to Katsuki. Katsuki sets off a giant explosion and soars into the air and locks hands with him. As the group makes their grande escape, Eijiro grins widely that Katsuki is back. They continue to stand close together upon landing, unmoving from each other’s sides.

After All Might finishes his fight, the group decides it's time to get a move on. Eijiro makes an attempt to grab Katsuki’s hand, but is shoved away, although not harshly. Eijiro takes no offense to this, and simply shrugs it off.

Provisional Hero License Exam Arc
In the days following the aftermath of the events at Kamino Prefecture, the students who partook in the raid are scolded harshly by Eraserhead. Post-lecture, Katsuki spots Eijiro with a downcast expression, which upsets him in turn. He proceeds to force Denki into his ”Whey Mode” as distraction for the others while he hands Eijiro a bunch of his own money, saying that it was to make up for what he spent on the night vision goggles that helped his rescue. As he leaves, he tells Eijiro to go back to being his ‘normal dumb self’. Eijiro gives him a small, grateful smile as he watches him walk away.

The revelation of the dorms reveals Katsuki and Eijiro’s rooms to not only be on the same floor, but right next to each other. This was almost definitely purposeful, on the teacher’s part.

During the “Room King/Queen Competition”, Eijiro is rather tired and uninterested through the whole event, likely because of Katsuki’s absence, which is later questioned. Eijiro is quick to answer that he's asleep in his room, and adds that he’s tired enough to sleep as well. (A/N: The two were canonically tired from decorating their rooms together. This was revealed in a light novel.)

During the Provisional Hero License Exams, Katsuki immediately splits from the group (Class 1-A teamed in order for the best shot at passing). Eijiro yells, “Wait up! Idiot..” before chasing after him. (Denki later joins them so he doesn’t feel left out.)

The trio soon encounter a Shiketsu student, Seiji Shishikura, who has a deep grudge against U.A for outshining his school. He grows angry by Katsuki’s attitude, attempts to quirk him into a “meatball”, but Eijiro shoves him out of the way to take the hit in his place. Katsuki yells, “Kirishima!” and runs to go check on him. He grows angry in turn and attempts to “avenge” Eijiro, but is captured. It is Denki who saves them.

Later, during the rescuing portion of the exam, Katsuki cusses out several of the “rescuees”. Eijiro fearlessly scolds him, a thing done hardly by adults, and even less by fellow peers.

When the exam scores are given, Eijiro is excited to see his name on the “passed” list, and then looks for Katsuki’s, and is surprised to not see it. Katsuki then angrily asks to look at Eijiro’s result sheet.

Shie Hassaikai Raid Arc
When the journalist, Taneo Tokuda pays U.A a visit, he takes photos of the students. He snaps photos of Katsuki while he was eating, which, of course, annoyed him, and caused him to anger. He proceeds to snarf down the remainder of his meal to prevent any good photos; Eijiro slides in to nervously smile at him while he does this.

During his fight against the blade villain, Eijiro thinks back to the strategies and advice he had previously been given by All Might, and more importantly, Katsuki. He flashes back to a day at the dorms, where he sat amongst a group of his classmates as he mouthed about his strengths, or rather, his lack of them. Strangely enough, it is Katsuki who moved to comfort him after appearing rather offended by the things Eijiro is saying about himself. He reminds him of a moment they'd shared at the Sports Festival months ago, when Eijiro had played the role of “his unbreakable horse”, and gives a connection between All Might's final fight and Eijiro’s greatest asset with the line, “Just being able to keep standing through anything makes you crazy strong.” The line stuck with, and inspired Eijiro to become Unbreakable and defeat his enemy in hardly a blow.

The next day, Katsuki finds himself amusingly jealous upon learning of this epic fight and debut of Eijiro’s.

Katsuki was quick to deduce something was up after Eijiro learned the news about Overhaul, perhaps implying he noticed a change in his behavior. During a rock-climbing exercise, he yells for Eijiro to “spill the beans”, although ever-respectful, Eijiro refuses.

(A/N: While the drop in content [post Shie Hassaikai] may be disturbing, it is due to the point of their relationship having been made prominent and clear. There is not as much need to build things that already stand.)

Remedial Course Arc
Upon arriving at the remedial courses, Katsuki comes across Seiji, the boy who “meatball’d” Eijiro back at the provisional license exam. He immediately heads to scream at him in spite of that previous event.

One of the children the remedial course group was assigned to looked, and even acted like a “lovechild” between Eijiro and Katsuki. (Dark blonde hair, shark-teeth, red eyes, passionate yet rude, etc.) It is unknown if this was purposeful or not, although with the amount of similar jokes that appear in the show, likely could be.

During the “Ultimate Move” practice, Eijiro calls upon Katsuki, Izuku, and Rikidou to “beat him to their heart’s content” as to further strengthen his Hardening. Izuku and Rikidou refuse for separate reasons, but Katsuki takes him up with the following exchange:

Katsuki: “Kirishima! Let me shoot you with my Howitzer!”

Eijiro: “Sounds good!”

They can later be seen as they fight, Eijiro blocks Katsuki’s hits with his Unbreakable. They both appear to be fighting rather passionately, despite the spar being a simple training exercises.

U.A School Festival Arc
Eijiro, knowing Katsuki’s typical behavior, was a little worried about Katsuki playing drums for the concert, although after a mini “screamfest” by him, he quickly agreed to it. Later, during the dance practice, Eijiro states that Katsuki’s words (A/N: “Kill ‘em with sound!” speech) hadn’t just stirred the band team’s hearts, but his as well.

At the absolute start of the concert, Katsuki yells “Let’s go, dammit!!” Eijiro leans down from his spot above the stage, and shouts for him to make the opening showy.

After the concert, and after the beauty pageant, the students start deciding what to do next. Eijiro suggests to Katsuki that they go try out the obstacle course. They can later be seen as they run it together; Katsuki wears a genuine grin of enjoyment. (A/N: This scene was changed from the manga, Eijiro originally watched Katsuki run with a wowed look on his face.)

Pro Hero Arc
Katsuki and Eijiro can be sitting rather close together on the common room sofa before the Pussycat’s visit. They can later be seen looking at one another worriedly during Endeavor’s fight against the speaking Nomu. Eijiro wears an orange shirt, which is known to be Katsuki’s color.

Fanon
Kirishima being Bakugou's dragon was a popular speculation among fans long before the light novel was released. Bakugou's Japanese voice actor Nobuhiko Okamoto made a comment in the August 2018 volume of CUT Magazine, saying that "Kirishima is the only one for Bakugou."

In another interview in Newtype September 2018 with Bakugou's voice actor Nobuhiko Okamoto and Todoroki's voice actor Yuki Kaji, Okamoto says, "Kirishima is such a good guy- he's really a great guy" and Kaji responds "He even brought a suit for him [in the movie], so he must know his measurements" and Okamoto replies with "Thank you for pointing that out for the fans."

The Kiribaku tag often ranks as one of the most popular and most active ships on Tumblr. In fact, in June 2018, it was the second most popular ship on Tumblr's 'Fandometrics'.

The ship officially gained popularity when it was heavily implied that they were friends in Season 3, episode 39, "Game Start" when Kirishima was the one to bring Bakugou to the pool, and the two of them were later shown walking home together as Kirishima tried to comfort Bakugou after the frustrating end.

Oftentimes, the ship is portrayed as Kirishima being the one to make most of the advances in the relationship while Bakugou is often the "tsundere" type and will not properly express his feelings.

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 * TodoBakuKiriDeku refers to the ship between Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki, Katsuki Bakugou, and Eijiro Kirishima

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