No, My Hero Academia's Deku Isn't Whiny at All

Summary:

• Deku, the protagonist of My Hero Academia, is often criticized for crying too much.
• His emotional responses are completely normal for a teenager, and such criticism promotes a toxic mindset.
• Deku is actually the perfect protagonist for MHA.

The discourse behind anime can often be unnecessarily toxic. My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia), of course, is no exception. While the series has a huge fandom, it also gets a lot of criticism. Some of it is valid, and some is just baffling.

Among the most common complaints about MHA is Deku’s character. Specifically, many viewers are dissatisfied with him. They refer to the fact that he (apparently) whines a lot, even saying other characters would be better protagonists. If you think about it, however, this criticism makes practically no sense.

No, Deku isn’t crying too much

Yeah, Izuku Midoriya (or Deku, as he is commonly called) is a very emotional character. He expresses his emotions openly — which results in him crying occasionally — and this doesn’t seem to sit well with some otaku.

However, his emotional reactions also make perfect sense if you think about it. He’s just a teenager who was originally quirkless — and now he’s inheriting the strongest Quirk out there. Deku, who was bullied throughout his childhood, was gifted with a chance to change the world.

For someone with his background, it’s absolutely normal to be very emotional. We shouldn’t really give Deku too much criticism for simply expressing his emotions. Besides, he doesn’t cry that much — at least not as much as the haters claim he does.

This is just arguing in bad faith

In general, criticizing a protagonist for “crying too much” and being “whiny” is simply not a good argument. Not only is it reductive in nature and basically diminishes any emotional struggle the character might be experiencing, it also promotes the toxic mindset of considering emotional expressions as something inherently bad.

It’s also important to remember that characters like Deku are often under stress. Many people would cry if constantly faced with mortal peril, and many would be stressed if the fate of the world depended on them — actually, if you think about it, Deku’s doing a good job at controlling his emotions.

Deku is the only protagonist MHA can have

Would anyone else make a better protagonist than Deku? Hard to say, because the nature of the work would be completely different. The entire setup hinges on someone without a natural Quirk inheriting one — MHA would be much more genetic if the protagonist was someone who already had a power from the start.