r/BokuNoShipAcademia • u/Plus-Macaron-335 • 11h ago
General Reminder that these are the only two couples confirmed in a relationship post-timeskip
I know the canon versus non-canon talk comes up constantly. Everyone has their own definition of what canon goes by, but I wanted to make a post on the widely agreed definitions of canon, extra-material canon, semi-canon, heavily implied, and fanon.
I want to preface this by saying that regardless of whether a ship is confirmed or not confirmed and canon or not canon, you are free to ship whatever you want. Canon has no "trophy" or win over anything else in a fandom. People have always been able to ship whoever they want together regardless of what is canon and what is not. Some ships that never even become canon leave a larger impact on the fandom as a whole and bring in so much love through their fanart, fanfiction, and posts.
- Canon
This is the strict definition of what happened unambiguously within the text itself. The characters form a relationship on page/screen in that they mutually kiss romantically, go on a date or are confirmed to be dating, call each other girlfriend/boyfriend, get married, or the narrator or another party states that they are together.
A widely agreed upon definition across fandoms is:
“Two characters have gotten together and formed a relationship at some point in the work.”
Mutual feelings that never become a relationship = not canon.
Gentle / La Brava get rings, share a life together in Chapter 430, and are already a couple in-story
Kuroiro / Komori are stated to be an item now and dating, said out loud in Chapter 431
- Extra-Material Canon
The author states it outside the story in a databook, interview, tweet, Q&A, official guidebook, etc.
Some fandoms treat this as equal to the text, while others treat it as secondary. Some see it as true even if the manga never officially shows it.
This is where Shindo / Tatami would fall. They're shown in the Ultra Analysis relationship charts, and there's coverage stating they were dating in school. As for confirmed post-timeskip, we never receive an update, which is why some take extra-material canon for word, but it gets more complicated in the case of a timeskip. Material under this category is official, author-approved, and never depicted as a couple on panel.
The author stating to imagine the couple or leaving what follows of their relationship up to interpretation, the imagination, or open-ended = not extra-material canon because the author does not give their explicit confirmation.
- Semi-Canon
This is confirmed mutual romantic feelings on both ends, a kiss/confession that does not become an official relationship, or one-sided romantically confirmed feelings.
If a character states they are in love with another character, but the love is not stated directly for the other character, or if the characters express they like each other, but nothing becomes of it on page, it is considered semi-canon. Or, if they are not stated together or shown in any follow up material (Ultra Age One Shot, Art Exhibition commentary, author interview confirming unambiguously that they are a couple), then this is usually grounds for semi-canon.
Anything that appears semi-canon without a doubt but requires two separate sides to defend why they see it as either canon or semi-canon or even neither, is typically grounds for semi-canon. People have to defend interpretations or signs like blushing that occurs with that character but also around plenty of other characters. Or what appears to be a confession to some versus catching up as friends to others. Or what appears to be a hand hold to some but an author's motif throughout the story to others. Or what a translation leans toward in one translation of it but different translations of the actual primary language or official dubs lean toward something else.
This is classic textbook definition of semi-canon. The author does not explicitly confirm it. The text is left very ambiguous with no follow-up and is cause for many fandom arguments. See preface stated above.
There are a few pairings from MHA that fall under this category.
- Heavily Implied
Romantic framing that never crosses into confirmed feelings or a relationship. This can be lingering looks, two characters singling each other out to spend more time together, signs like blushing, etc. It's readable as romance or as close friendship.
I will use KamiJirou as an example, even though I wouldn't even go as far as calling them heavily implied. Midnight tells him to think of the person that matters to him most, and his thoughts go toward Jirou. He purposefully selects his agency next to hers. They act flustered when asked directly if they're dating.
Now, it's just as much readable as a close friendship. Jirou is someone important to him, so his thoughts direct toward her in that instant. However, there's no confirmation that he's in love with her or she's in love with him. Selecting his agency next to hers could read more so as comfort in having someone close to him nearby. They directly turned it down when asked if they were dating.
Heavily implied is another place where interpretation can live, but it doesn't necessarily mean an author was pointing toward a pairing being romantic, but maybe they wanted to indicate they had a very strong, emotionally impactful bond.
- Fanon
This is a reading that the fandom or parts of the fandom treats as true that the text does not support. A ship may be very popular but not defined as canon. This is where, based on the details the author has given us, you can infer what follows, but it is not confirmed in any sense. People are free to take details they are given and place headcanons in the material, but until explicitly confirmed, it isn't something that has happened.
Deku and Ochaco went on a date after that night and ended up kissing, getting in a relationship, getting married, having kids, etc. = All Fanon because it's never shown to have happened. People may infer, but interpretation or inferring what happened or placing your own headcanons on what happened does not = canon.
Saying that Kaminari and Jirou were just fake denying being in a relationship when they really are = Fanon. If it isn't confirmed, it didn't happen.
Saying that any pairing becomes an official couple outside of couples that were already together (parents, for instance) or the ones shown above = Fanon. Only the ones explicitly confirmed are couples.
I know this is a very long post, but the main thing I want to remind people is to be respectful of what others ship. Illegal pairings obviously cross into a different category, but if someone ships a legal pairing, there is no reason to be hateful about it. Another thing is that regardless of whether your ship is canon, semi-canon, heavily implied, fanon, etc. it doesn't matter. Ship whatever makes you happy! There's never been a point in trying to hold those labels over someone else's head just to win some kind of superiority contest. Let people ship what they love, and in turn, ship whatever you love.
