Bakusquad

Bakusquad is the friendship between Katsuki Bakugou, Mina Ashido, Denki Kaminari, Eijiro Kirishima, and Hanta Sero from the My Hero Academia fandom.

Canon
Katsuki, Mina, Denki, Eijiro, and Hanta are all students at UA High School and members of Class 1-A. Denki and Eijiro are seated beside each other in class, and this seems to be a likely reason for why they become such quick friends at the beginning of the year. Katsuki starts off the schoolyear acting as though he is above having friends, but Eijiro quickly tries to befriend him as well. The two are warped to the Ruins Zone during the USJ Attack, and Eijiro seems to really warm up to Katsuki as they fight side by side.

Mina and Eijiro attended the same middle school prior to their enrollment at UA, and while they weren't close friends they were aware of each other. Both witnessed Gigantomachia try to attack two fellow students, but only Mina had the courage to step in and do something. This was an important moment for Eijiro, who discovered his own weakness and vowed to train hard enough to join UA. He changes his hairstyle just before enrolling, and Mina is excited to see it. She comments that now they both have "horns".

The concept of the "Bakusquad" is first introduced during the Sport's Festival. Katsuki, Eijiro, Hanta, and Mina pair up as "Team Bakugou" during the Cavalry Battle. Eijiro is seen convincing Katsuki that their Quirks will work together with Katsuki as the rider and Eijiro as the front. Katsuki smiles, and agrees. It is not shown how Hanta and Mina join the team, but the four of them end up placing third in the game. Denki is a member of "Team Todoroki", which comes in fourth. All five advance to the next round of the Sport's Festival. Hanta and Denki are both eliminated in the first round of the tournament, and Mina and Eijiro are eliminated in the second round. Eijiro loses to Katsuki, who ends up defeating Shoto Todoroki in the finals and taking first place in the Sport's Festival as a whole.

Katsuki and Eijiro study together for their first term exams. Denki, Hanta, and Mina choose to get study help from Momo Yaoyorozu. While all five students pass their written tests, all but Katsuki fail their practical exams. As such, Denki, Hanta, Mina, and Eijiro (alongside Rikido Sato) are forced to take extra lessons at the summer training camp. They are all in these lessons with Shota Aizawa when the League of Villains attack the camp, looking for Katsuki. Eijiro begs to be allowed to leave and fight for their friend, but Shota and Vlad King refuse. When Katsuki is kidnapped by the League, Eijiro takes the news especially hard.

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In the provisional licensing exam, Katsuki, Eijirou and Denki teamed up, taking down Seiji Shishikura. All of them eventually passed the exam. They demonstrated good teamwork, and mutual faith in each other.

Katsuki does not refer to anyone by their name except for Eijiro. Though, Katsuki seems to have some mean nicknames for some. As Hanta is "soy sauce face" or "plain face" in the dub and Denki is "dunce face" or just "dunce". Katsuki seems to consider calling someone their real name a sign of respect; thus why he only does this with Eijiro.

While Katsuki is slowly growing as a character, it is important to note that he still doesn't see anyone other than Eijiro as a true equal. This suggests that he can't really be considered friends with anyone else just yet, and therefore Bakusquad can't be considered fully canon. Their comradery has a ways to go before they can be considered a genuine friend group.

While their status as an exclusive friend-group is a fanon concept, many of their individual friendships are strongly established, making their canon-status semi-canon.

Eijiro Kirishima and Katsuki Bakugou
Eijirou is the only classmate Katsuki views as an equal, and he sometimes calls him by his real name rather than the nickname; "Shitty/Stupid hair". Eijirou is the closest to Bakugou as shown. He's the only one who Bakugou has much interaction with.

Eijiro Kirishima and Mina Ashido
They have kind and excitable personalities, the reason they get along so nicely. Mina was inspired by Eijiro’s "unbreakable" super move resulting in her creating the "Acid Man" move.

Denki Kaminari and Katsuki Bakugou
While Denki and Katsuki didn't initially get along, Katsuki finding Denki to be a particularly annoying extra, and Denki finding him rude and a bully, their relationship has developed to a point where they're somewhat friendly acquaintances. Denki often teases and provokes Katsuki, often going a little too far and being yelled at by Katsuki.

Denki Kaminari and Mina Ashido
Denki and Mina are often paired together within the series, implying they are close friends and hang out together often. When Mina is excitedly talking about being on a hero team with a few of her other classmates. Denki asks, "What about me?" and Mina bluntly replies, "No." This seems to be an ironic statement for the fandom. The scene where they're brushing their teeth together only a few panels later, one of many instances of them interacting normally. They've apparently bonded over being the two lowest ranking students in the class. In the Ultra Analysis stats, they both have 1/6 in intelligence, causing them to be paired up quite a lot in exams by teachers. Together, they fail their first-term practical exam, while they underestimate their opponent's capabilities and fall into their trap.

Denki Kaminari and Hanta Sero
Denki and Hanta share a close friendship. They often interact, making jokes with one another, and seem to like each other's company well enough. They are seen multiple times together, such as in the seating during the Sports Festival Arc, packing up for the Training Camp Arc, and generally when the class is together.

Eijiro Kirishima and Denki Kaminari
After Kirishima's hero debut where he defeats his first villain, Kaminari is first to congratulate him, and then proudly showing everyone else his friend's accomplishments. They were later assigned to work together along with Katsuki for the Provisional License Exam. They have similar and congenial personalities, although Eijiro is more boisterous compared to Denki, who is more mischievous.

Fanon
In fanon interactions, the Bakusquad are shown to be an inseparable bunch who have the tendency to fall into hijinks and shenanigans of any sort. Katsuki is shown to care aggressively for his friends, becoming annoyed when they do dangerous things, but masking his concern with disdain. A popular trope used within fans is Katsuki fondly referring to the group as “his idiots”.

Denki and Hanta are seen as the goofballs of the group, thanks to their already dim-witted, smiley personalities and ridiculous jokes. Mina sometimes falls into this category as well, but is more often than not ends up as a type of “love-guru” for the others, while not being able to catch a relationship herself. Eijiro is portrayed as extremely protective of his buddies, a trait carried over from canon. He usually makes sure to keep everyone smiling, and will stop at no extent if someone tries otherwise. Katsuki is recognized as the group’s “leader”, as the name “Bakusquad” suggests. He takes on the role of mom-friend in some cases, as not to allow his friends to get hurt. The mom-friend trope is sometimes taken over by Hanta, however.

Fanon Bakusquad usually has the gang as a group of "members", and fanworks for them are often silly and shit-posting in nature. The tone of fanworks is usually light-hearted and humorous, a contrast to the more angsty side of the greater My Hero Academia fandom.

A big part of fanon Bakusquad revolves around how Katsuki really sees the other members. While in canon he's often dismissive of the, and thinks himself superior, fanon Bakusquad explores the idea of Katsuki gradually beginning to see them as equals and friends in their own right.

While in the anime/manga they are usually shown interacting one on one, Bakusquad fanon interactions tend to place them all together, with the gang meeting up for meal times, having sleepovers or movie nights, and regularly going places together.

The Bakusquad is commonly thought to be the anti-Dekusquad, another fanon friend group between Tsuyu Asui, Tenya Iida, Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki and Ochako Uraraka. There's no canon rivalry between the two groups, but the rivalry between their namesakes, Katsuki and Izuku, is enough for the fandom to support the idea. They are opposites in the tone of their friendships, as Bakusquad is loud and chaotic, and the Dekusquad is more calm and controlled.

While Bakusquad is not a romantic pairing, it is frequently accompanied by the slash ship of KiriBaku, between two of it's members. Bakusquad is often a side pairing in KiriBaku fanworks, with the squad being supportive of or even encouraging them to pursue the relationship. Other romantic pairings that often related to the Bakusquad are SeroMina, KamiMina, KamiSero, and KamiSeroMina.

On AO3, there are over 7500 works tagged as "Bakusquad". There are over 2800 works tagged with the Bakusquad relationship, and over 250 works tagged with the romantic Bakusquad relationship.

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Trivia

 * On growing occasion, Kyoka Jiro is considered a part of the BakuSquad due to the friendship she melded with Bakugou during the U.A Concert, and her previous closeness with Denki (which also occasionally occurs with Tokoyami as well). Similarly, and very rarely, Uraraka will added as well thanks to her friendship with Mina, and the popular (friendship) dynamic she is portrayed to have with Katsuki in fanon.
 * Eijiro is considered as the “founder” of the BakuSquad, as he is the one to originally reach out to, and break Katsuki out of his shell.

Variations

 * BakuKami refers to the ship between Bakugou and Kaminari
 * BakuMina refers to the ship between Bakugou and Mina
 * BakuSero refers to the ship between Bakugou and Sero
 * KamiMina refers to the ship between Kaminari and Mina
 * KamiSero refers to the ship between Kaminari and Sero
 * KiriBaku refers to the ship between Kirishima and Bakugou
 * KiriBakuKami refers to the ship between Kirishima, Bakugou and Kaminari
 * KiriBakuMina refers to the ship between Kirishima, Bakugou and Mina
 * KiriKami refers to the ship between Kirishima and Kaminari
 * KiriMina refers to the ship between Kirishima and Mina
 * KiriSero refers to the ship between Kirishima and Sero
 * SeroMina refers to the ship between Sero and Mina