The popular manga series My hero academy just got an unwelcome twist: his scariest character may have turned out to be bisexual.
Written by Kohei Horikoshi, My hero academy is an ongoing action anime and manga series in which ordinary people have superpowers called quirks that enable a thriving culture of formally trained superheroes. The story is about Izuku “Deku” Midoriya, a serious boy attending an ultra-elite academy for the city’s most promising young heroes called UA High School.
One of his classmates there is Minoru Mineta, a young boy with purple hair styled into four round buns. Mineta is a crybaby on the battlefield. He’s a horror in the classroom. He’s constantly drooling over his female colleagues, staring at their breasts and trying to see them naked. Because of this, Mineta is a largely unpopular character in fandom – it’s so normal to hate him that fans even did it a trend out
Fans were pretty much okay with tolerating his presence until the latest chapter in the manga. In chapter 321, a huge battle rages on and Mineta fights around during a fight. In the middle of the fight, he remembers Deku and says, “I fell in love with you … When you were scared and sweating buckets …” To many, it seemed like Mineta Deku was confessing his love, which made him the first canonically LGBTQ + character in the series.
While the meaning of the line of dialogue is still up for debate – one person pointed out that it’s possible that there aren’t any romantic intentions there – even the possibility that Mineta might be the first canonical LBGTQ + portrayal in the series was enough to spark an absolute barrage of comments online. It’s not that fans don’t want an LGBTQ + representation, it’s that they don’t want it this character to be it.
Since so many fans are really upset, they deal with it the way they do best: make memes.
Here’s a deep cut: It’s a Supernatural Meme that refers to an old ship between two of its characters, Dean Winchester and Castiel.
This poster jokes that Mineta is bisexual, shared her between her “gay” and “homophobic” side.
Another series of memes joke that bi people are no longer bi.
Oh, and here’s a sad Wario.
This post jokes that the anime community is gay and homophobic at the same time.
Regardless of the official verdict on whether or not Mineta is canonically bi, the entire fiasco almost feels like a giant troll of Horikoshi. Lots of fans enjoy Shipping LGBTQ + pairings in anime and manga series and members of the My hero academy The fandom has long encouraged the inclusion of same-sex pairings. Oh well.
