Latest My Hero Academia chapter cover points out Bakugo's lack of a vital aspect

One of the most exciting long-term narrative aspects of author and illustrator Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia manga series is the rivalry some villains and heroes have with each other. Ochaco Uraraka and Himiko Toga, Dabi (also known as Toya Todoroki) and his brother Shoto Todoroki, and Izuku Midoriya and Tomura Shigaraki serve as perfect examples of this.

Such narrative choices by Horikoshi have greatly deepened the overall narrative, providing extra meaning to each battle between villains and heroes in which these pairs interact. Likewise, it gives each My Hero Academia character involved a means of both being further developed and getting more time in the spotlight.

However, with the release of My Hero Academia chapter 389 and its cover page, fans are realizing how one character in particular has a fatal flaw in this regard. Even worse is that this character is arguably the biggest fan favorite in the entire series, even more so than protagonist Izuku Midoriya himself.

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Bakugo’s lack of long-term villain rival becomes apparent as major My Hero Academia flaw with recent issue

Fan reaction and why it’s a flaw

As mentioned above, each of these overarching rivalries between specific pairs of heroes and villains serves as support for My Hero Academia’s narrative backbone. It gives the story consistency throughout, as well as a means of grounding itself in long-term storytelling after Horikoshi bafflingly chooses to shoehorn in a spotlight for side characters.

However, when analyzing such an approach, it becomes apparent that Horikoshi has majorly misfired when it comes to Katsuki Bakugo’s lack of a rival. While his role in the series was established early on as a benchmark (and later confidant) for Midoriya in the boy’s own mind, it nevertheless feels like a missed opportunity.

One major reason for this is that Horikoshi constantly shows Bakugo as a worthy equal to Midoriya and his generationally inherited power throughout My Hero Academia. Horikoshi even doubles down on this when he has Bakugo fight TomurAFO (an All For One-controlled Tomura Shigaraki) and even scare the Demon Lord by reminding him of One For All’s second user.

A good argument for why Bakugo doesn’t have a rival stems from the fact that there’s no good matchup for him. However, Horikoshi could’ve just as easily established Deku and Tomura as rivals while having Bakugo replace All Might as All For One’s rival. This would be especially narratively impactful since Bakugo views himself and his own weakness as the reason All Might was forced to retire.

Many My Hero Academia fans are seemingly agreeing with this sentiment, with a popular response being to offer joke rivals for Bakugo. The river he fell into as a child, the bridge he fell off of, which goes over said river, and the sludge monster who captures him in the first chapter or episode of the series

Others are instead asserting that Bakugo himself and his own ego serve as his main rivals throughout the series. While there is some narrative truth to this, it hardly excuses Horikoshi’s choice to leave Bakugo out of the villain rivalry group. This is especially true when considering that even Ochaco Uraraka, the least independently plot-relevant character of the main group, has a rival in the form of Himiko Toga.

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