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BakuDeku is the slash ship between Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya from the My Hero Academia fandom.
Canon
"From kindergarten to elementary school, to middle school and high school. The two of us have been together as long as I can remember, and yet... we've never exposed our true feelings and talked things out...not even once." - Izuku Midoriya, Chapter 119, Manga.
Izuku and Katsuki have known each other since they were very young, The show and the manga tells us that their relationship goes as far back to when they were both younger than four years of age. Due to a series of misguided instances, their relationship rapidly deteriorated and became practically non-existent after many complications from their childhood. This included an incident from their distant past where Katsuki and his friends including Midoriya were playing heroes and marched across a river over a fallen tree. Katsuki slipped and fell head first into the water. His other friends only look onto the scene while Izuku rushes to help his friend. Due to Bakugou's complex of being praised as strong and powerful viewed this act of 'kindness' as nothing more than contempt or in Katsuki's words 'looked down upon' from Izuku. There were numerous other instances from then on where Bakugou teases Izuku about not being able to do anything like skip stones or read kanji which is when Izuku receives his nickname "Deku" (useless). This can be read from the last part of Midoriya's first name in kanji.
Interestingly enough, Izuku continues to call Katsuki by his childhood nickname, "Kacchan" but receives no objections despite the term 'Chan' is often used to refer to females, close friends or lovers. 'Chan' is a suffix that is used on people who are considered cute or lovable or kawaii and is a term not often used on someone as brash as Bakugou. Though this term can be applied to male children but only if the name does not fit with the 'Kun' suffix. This cannot be applied to Katsuki as his classmates sometimes address him as Bakugo-kun. In fact, Midoriya seems to be the only person who is allowed to call Bakugou the nickname. In one scene Bakugou goes as far as to throw Kaminari onto the couch when he spoke and addressed him as Kacchan as shown in chapter 163.
Ever since Izuku made that trip to the doctors and learned that he had failed to develop a Quirk, Katsuki has seen Izuku as weak. Bakugou, above all else despised weakness. To him, strength, the ability to win and always be victorious equivalates to a powerful pro hero and without a quirk, Katsuki had lost all respect for Izuku. He began to fully immerse himself into bullying Deku for spouting out 'nonsense' on wanting to become a hero and went as far as to suicide bait him on one known occasion. Izuku, being used to Bakugou's personality reprimanded him silently on his way home, declaring openly to himself that nothing was going to divert him away from his path into becoming a hero.
A little later on Katsuki is captured and taken hostage by the same slug monster that All Might saved Deku from. He thrashed and struggled but was unable to fully activate his quirk to break free. The other heroes and All Might look on in utter despair, seeing his childhood friend in danger Izuku dashed forward, without thinking, throwing his bag and clawing at the monster. He gave Katsuki a few precious seconds to gasp for air and which spurred All Might and the other heroes into action. It is shown that Bakugou has never raised a hand against Izuku after that incident unless it was through training. This is acknowledged by Izuku himself.
During their first training session, Katsuki felt betrayed when he saw Deku activating his quirk during the ball throwing portion. He stood there shocked and stared at who he thought was his quirkless childhood friend. Having needed to be restrained by Aizawa while he demanded answers at Deku. The bond between these to individuals is difficult to explain but a part of it is shown after the hero vs villain training session with All Might. Izuku wakes up to find that Katsuki has left the school and rushes to find him. He confronts Bakugou, wanting to tell him that he has never deceived him and tells him his secret, that his quirk was borrowed but that from here on out he'll make it his own and surpass Bakugou. This riles up Katsuki and the past comments from his classmates had finally sunken in causing Bakugou to cry out of frustration. He yells at Deku to buck up and train hard as well because he is going to be number one.
In season 2, episode 37 (Chapters 61-65), Izuku was paired up with Bakugou for their final exam. Bakugou comes off as more cold-hearted and angry as he recalls Izuku for "stealing" his moves. Izuku follows Bakugou down the street as he desperately tries to suggest that the two should pair up and try to escape and avoid fighting All Might. Bakugou responds by shouting that he'll score higher if he defeats All Might. Obviously, the pair lacks communication, but Izuku still attempts to talk to Bakugou regarding his plan. This resulted in Bakugou smacking Izuku to the ground and angrily demanding Izuku to stop speaking to him. As Bakugou walks away, Izuku asks him to wait and reconsider his plan. Irritated, Bakugou yells at Izuku and says he doesn't need his power to pass the exam and can win it all by himself. Izuku yells back at him and tells him that shouting is why they never have normal conversations.
All Might then attacks by using "Texas Smash" down the main street, blowing off Izuku and Bakugou away. All Might menacingly walks through the dust towards his students. He warns them to take the exam seriously or else they'll be sorry. Izuku and Katsuki are both surprised at how intimidating their teacher can be. Thus, the fight begins. Although, Izuku and Bakugou were still unable to communicate with one another, causing the two to sloppily attack and, at one point, clash into one another mid-fight. They carry on with the battle, resulting to All Might pinning Izuku down with a fence and gut-punching Bakugou into the air which also caused him to vomit. All Might realizes that Bakugou is infuriated by the massive improvement Izuku has gained, advising him that he still has so much room for him to grow as a hero. Bakugou then says, "If you're saying I gotta rely on his help, then I'd rather lose."
As All Might prepares to crush Bakugou, Izuku breaks away from the fence in anger and punches Bakugou in the face and proceeds to call him a "jerk", following with Izuku saying "You'd rather lose? That doesn't sound like you!" and carries Bakugou away to an alleyway away from All Might and admits he can't think of a plan to pass the exam. Izuku continues to angrily talk to Bakugou, saying "Don't say you're okay losing! You're you because you never give up on winning, right?" this scene follows with a flashback to when the two were younger, showing Bakugou successfully scaring off two fourth graders and claims that he didn't bump into them but that they bumped into him, continuing by saying that "The most amazing hero always wins in the end.". Bakugou, annoyed by being reminded by his own words, blasts the wall next to Izuku's shoulder and saying that in order to escape they have to fight All Might.
Izuku using Bakugou's gauntlets on All Might
Bakugou then comes up with a plan to use maximum firepower on All Might and then create distance between them. He runs out of an alleyway and distracts All Might. All Might is unimpressed and believes it's a sneak attack. Although, Bakugou then cries out to Deku, yelling for him to "shoot" as Izuku appears behind All Might pointing to him with one of Bakugou's gauntlets. He fires and blasts the gauntlet at All Might, catching him off guard. It appears that the two boys all had it according to plan, that was until All Might appeared and broke both of Bakugou's gauntlets. Another fight with All Might begins, making Bakugou weaker as he progresses into the battle as he uses his quirk without his gauntlets. All Might then uses New Hampshire smash to impactly clash into Izuku's back, making the boy unable to move effectively. Bakugou, in anger, tells Izuku to make the escape. When All Might attempts to stop Izuku, Bakugou comes in to defend his teammate and blasts All Might. All Might avoids this attack and drags Bakugou to the ground, telling him to "go to sleep" and that "As a teacher, it's traumatizing when you destroy your own body to fight."
Izuku could've easily made the escape, but he ran back to save Bakugou. Successfully punching All Might in the face and sweeping up an unconscious Bakugou in his arms and runs to the escape gate where they both, together, passed the exam. This episode/chapter is highly important as it sparks a new view of their relationship and supports the strong foreshadowing of Bakugou and Izuku being a future hero duo.
Despite their relationship had become strained due to various misunderstandings, Izuku still admires Bakugou for his strong quirk, natural combat capabilities, his tenacity, confidence, and ability to win. Izuku strives for the day when he is able to stand on Bakugo's level. It was stated in the show and manga that to Izuku the image of victory is and always has been Katsuki. Bakugou often pushed Izuku away and greatly feared his spirit and heart, which led both of them to drift away from each other. However, after the manga’s 119th chapter, Kacchan vs Deku 2, it has been strongly foreshadowed that both of them will eventually work as a hero duo.
In season three, Izuku pulls together a quick team after a harrowing fight with Muscular that left both of his arms shattered and furiously pursued the villain Compressor, who was holding onto the compressed forms of both Tokoyami and Bakugou. They rescue Tokoyami but a portal opens up and pulls Katsuki in and Izuku desperately tries to reach him. He falls short with the portal closing and Bakugou's broken words being "Don't come, Deku." Deku falls to the ground and lets out a loud scream of anguish before passing out.
At the hospital, Deku regains consciousness and begins to cry at how he couldn't reach him in time. Deku and a few other classmates sneak out to go rescue Bakugou. While they are actually performing the rescue, Deku seems to understand how Bakugou felt about the situation and was able to construct a plan that worked perfectly.
The episode "Deku Vs. Kacchan 2" revolves around Bakugou confronting Deku about his quirk and how he got it from All Might. He then attempts to fight Deku, who refused to resort to violence until he sees that he's "the only one who can accept Kacchan's feelings". During the battle, Izuku becomes aware of how Bakugou has felt all this time when he sees Bakugou cry and screaming out his feelings and the burden he had been holding, how he saw Izuku looking down on him and exposing how weak he truly was. To Izuku It's 'the first time the two have had an honest conversation' in a long time. The battle also included flashbacks to when the pair were younger, giving the viewer an understanding of their relationship in the past. The two battle for the rest of the episode, ending in Bakugou's victory and All Might interfering afterwards. He tells Bakugou about the origins of one for all and his successor is Izuku and Bakugou promises to stay quiet. This becomes a secret the three of them share. All Might proclaims that the two have now become proper rivals after they've sorted out their feelings. Katsuki even gives advice to Izuku after he asks how his shoot style was. The bond between them slowly rekindling.
In the My Hero Academia: Two Heroes movie, we get the usual Bakugou screaming in Izuku's face when he firsts encounters Izuku. However, towards the end of the movie after the final fight, Bakugou can be seen looking at Izuku and smiling without even realizing it. This was immediately noticed by Todoroki, where Bakugou scoffed in response as he looked away.
In My Hero Academia Smash! , one little comic showed the Bakugou family and gave us another insight into Katsuki's relationship with his family. Katsuki and Mitsuki are having an argument, which resulted in fighting. Katsuki then turns to his father and asks why he married his mother. Katsuki's father claims that "She (Mitsuki) approached me to fiercely, I didn't realize we were on the track to getting married.." which follows with Katsuki's reply of "So you just weren't able to reject her."
Fans have argued that this is similar to Kacchako , seeming as if Ochako is the calmer one and wouldn't be able to reject Bakugou. Although, Bakudeku fans have heavily argued that this is very similar to the duo, providing a panel in Kacchan vs. Deku 2 where Midoriya says to himself, "It's not like I could just go and refuse him (Bakugou). Thinking back, our relationship was always weird."
Fanon
BakuDeku is the most popular ship on the Eastern side of the fan base. In Japan, BakuDeku is widely appreciated and the most popular ship in My Hero Academia.
On April 20th 2018, A fan of the pair bought a whole acre of the moon and named it after Bakugou on his birthday as a present for Horikoshi. Not long after, a star was named after Bakugou too, along with a star named after Izuku. This expressed their title as the "Twin Stars" of the class.
On July 20th 2018, a Twitter announcement on the My Hero Academia: Two Heroes account told all My Hero Academia fans to vote for their favorite pair in the show and the duo that wins will get their character colors shun on the Kyoto tower for promotion to the release of the movie. The poll ended on August 1st, crowning Bakudeku first place with over a whopping one million votes. Izuku's vibrant green and Bakugou's fiery orange lit up Japan's evening sky as their colors proudly glow on Kyoto Tower.
In the Western community, it's quite controversial. Many do enjoy this ship, however, there's a big portion of the fandom that believes BakuDeku is a ship derived from bullying and abuse and that it would be a generally toxic relationship for them both. While some argue that those times are over and that Bakugou has learned to respect Deku, others stand by the opinion that Bakugou would still mistreat Midoriya should these two be involved romantically. Even though that's the case, these people do not dislike Bakugou and are often big fans of KiriBaku.
Trivia
- In season 2's second ending, Datte Atashi no Hero or 'Cause You're My Hero (in English), was written by LiSA. LiSA has confirmed the ending to be Izuku‘s feelings towards Katsuki, including lines like "No matter how many fools there are in this world, I'll always be by your foolish side!" and "After all, you're my hero."
Fandom
FAN FICTION
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