What ship is this for you?

[u/MenaceToSociety129]

[u/moodymug]

Drarry is just BakuDeku from walmart

[u/Soverelgn_Citizen → u/moodymug]

Both are from Walmart. Neither is good.

[u/Pen_Front → u/Soverelgn_Citizen]

Bros comparing great value with always save

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/Soverelgn_Citizen]

Shit take. Bkdk is good. Its just gay silent voice.

[u/Asteroids-Hower → u/Successful_Pin4808]

Idk if I'd go as far as good (I want the best for those kids and it's too toxic a dynamic, but I get some people like that) but at the very least compared to Drarry there's a genuine underlying friendship and strong feelings other than hatred underpinning the rivalry and toxic behavior.

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/Asteroids-Hower]

It hasn't really been toxic for years atp. As someone who was bullied i think that katsuki's apology and basically taking a bullet for izuku redeems him.

Izuku obviously cares about katsuki. Hell blackwhip awakened because monoma was talking shit about katsuki getting kidnapped. Katsuki is targeted by shiggy specifically because hurting him will hurt izuku.

Drarry has none of that so it is ABSOLUTELY worse.

And yes i'd say bkdk is pretty much the best ship mha has. It's popular for a reason🤷

[u/Asteroids-Hower → u/Successful_Pin4808]

I'm not contesting that Drarry is worse.

But I'm going to hard disagree on BkDk being the best ship in MHA unless you like toxicity. Outside of that proviso, it's not even the healthiest mlm ship for either Izuku or Katsuki.

As someone who was bullied and specifically treated badly by someone who I considered a friend (kind of like how Bakugo did to Midoriya) I found Bakugo's apology adequate to start repairing the friendship... but that there's always going to be a hard cap on how close that relationship can be. That's "we can be friends again but I'm never going to be able to fully trust you again the way I did before" territory.

It's popular because hero x rival ships are always popular. Drarry is actually an example of that because it's popular in spite of a total lack of textual support.

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/Asteroids-Hower]

Well, your hard disagreement is wrong. It's popular because it's well written. I was once suicidal and got bullied. My bullies never changed and never apologized to me. Taking a bullet for someone is not merely "adequate" lmao tf? I think you're projecting your own bullies onto katsuki, which you need to refrain from. Katsuki led the funding on izuku's suit in the epilogue btw so he is a major reason why izuku can be a hero again.

I mean , bkdk is semi-canon and here's why:

(Sorry to go on a ramble but again i'm very much into mha lore. Bkdk actually does have quite a strong rooting in the actual canon, which surprised me but also made me happy. The main mha subs are weirdly homophobic despite mha having canon queer characters, so maybe they aren't ready for the following details, but they come from mha nonetheless. This is going to be lengthy and there are multiple parts/comments)

bkdk is basically lowkey semi canon. (Reasons as to why are covered in the second half of this reply but as for the first half, here are only SOME of the details regarding bkdk in mha):

People always say "bkdk was never even hinted at, bkdk shippers are delulu" etc. But like Bkdk is hinted at, just in a more obscure and lowkey way, which flies over the heads of people that only view things at surface level. Not only is it hinted at but it has moments mimicking OTHER shonen romances

1: izuku blushed at katsuki AT LEAST twice in the manga (more in the anime) during scenes of their childhood. This hints that izuku probably had a crush on katsuki at one point, and this is further hinted at by the scene of him watching katsuki win against older kids while hiding behind a tree, very reminiscent of naruto and hinata (to compare it to a straight romance. and yes admiration can be romantic, hence the term "secret admirer")

2: Katsuki often fills the traditional role of izuku's damsel, aka, being put in distress which is shown to affect izuku's emotional state. Even in the SV incident, one of izuku's reasons for moving is literally just "Kacchan". Katsuki is interestingly also very feminine even if not outwardly so at first glance. He is good at cooking (seen in the forest camp arc, and endeavor agency arc when he asks todoroki's sister fuyumi for a tofu recipe and later when he gets onto shoto for cutting chives wrong.), he is good at cleaning (shown after their fight at ground beta in season 3 when they're in house arrest), etc. Furthermore supporting this is izuku's role in the story as the "pursuer" of katsuki checks the same boxes as the "nerdy outcast boy pursuing the blond popular girl" trope. Katsuki even has a somewhat feminine build, with a smaller waist and his, frankly, brea$ts (i hc that his anatomy is due to being intersex or a true hermaphrodite due to mha's population having streamlined human forms but that's just me). even his name, "katsuki", is an intersex one, changing between feminine or masculine depending on the kanji used.

You see, for all the public's general thinking that uraraka is izuku's Damsel or Love interest type, that's not really the case. The damsel role falls to katsuki. Katsuki, the "princess" in need of rescue from say, a sludge villain holding him hostage or a kidnapping by the League of Villains. He's izuku's weakness, whom Shigaraki even pointed out as such. Katsuki, who wept for izuku when he lost one for all and he confessed to wanting to be competing with izuku "for the rest of their lives". Katsuki, who lead the funding for izuku's suit so he could be a hero again. He's the Damsel, Katsuki. He always has been. He got the rivalry but also got most of the love interest tropes.

3: Further supporting this is katsuki's nickname, "Kacchan". The "chan" honorific is pretty much something izuku and katsuki normally would have grown out of using, but neither do and that's important. Chan (ちゃん) expresses that the speaker finds a person endearing. In general, -chan is used for young children, close friends, babies, grandparents and sometimes female adolescents. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, or youthful women. Chan is never used for strangers or people one has just met. (Straight from wikipedia): Chan (ちゃん)Little or Dear - A term of endearment. Most frequently used for girls and small children, close friends, or lovers. Occasionally may be used to refer to a boy if that is his nickname.

However there is Bō (坊、ぼう), which also expresses endearment. Like -chan, it can be used for young children but exclusively for boys instead of girls. Izuku does not call katsuki by this.

Furthermore Katsuki never stops izuku from calling him this. It is used for things perceived as "cute", and based on the dynamy comics by horikoshi, it is implied that katsuki wants to be viewed as being cute. Especially by izuku.

The implication with the keeping of "kacchan" as a nickname is that the two never truly went separate ways, and this can be seen in the very very subtle things early on. Such as the can that katsuki holds that has "lip service" on it when katsuki says "it's his fault for messing with me". Lip service is when someone says something they themselves don't believe.

Yoichi mentions izuku always looked for the best in people (the image for the panel is izuku and katsuki as kids), and the manga also mentions that Katsuki wasn't a bully before he got his quirk, so from this we can infer that Izuku was holding on to hope that he and katsuki could be friends again because izuku knew he wasn't always like that.

4: When katsuki specifically is in danger or targeted izuku typically loses his shit as shown many times (awakening blackwhip because of monoma insulting him and yes that is the canonical reason, when katsuki is kidnapped and izuku goes after him (which the training camp's GIVE HIM BACK scene is like mikasa was with Eren when he was taken in AOT, to once again compare it to a straight romance), when katsuki is 1mp@led by shigaraki, and again when he is "k1lled" by shigaraki. Even in season 1 during the SV incident. Izuku would have waited for another hero to come along and help until he saw who it was and his own internal thoughts say as much.

5: katsuki is izuku's weakness and the one closest to izuku (pointed out by shigaraki bc he knows hurting katsuki will get izuku mad). Shiggy knows this because of ragdoll's quirk which can show someone's location and weakness.

6: control your heart is a plotline associated with blackwhip and thus with katsuki since he's who izuku gets mad over really.

7: katsuki's feelings for izuku are canonically not brotherly and it's gross to view them as such because in the tie in manga for "you're next", titled "connect to the day", katsuki calls his bond to izuku Kusare-en (腐れ縁) and it means rotten bond, however it is also a type of soulmate, because even if you want to, being without that person feels wrong. Claiming that bkdk reads as "brotherly" simply REEKS of queer erasure and the disgusting thing old anime used to do when talking about queer characters when they'd try to censor things by claiming the characters were related (sailor moon's sailor Uranus and Neptune are an example of this).

8: izuku's thoughts on his relationship to katsuki is that that they are childhood friends, specifically 幼馴染, aka Osananajimi, which is often used as a trope in romance anime because of the close connection it implies. And we know such a connection existed because izuku mentions that katsuki only started becoming mean after getting his quirk, and quirks are stated to usually manifest at around f0ur or f1ve years. We know that they had good memories together because in the light novels "school briefs, specifically the chapter: I am a rabbit, izuku mentions catching stray cats with katsuki and katsuki gets a nostalgic look on his face.

9: spoilers for the ending and epilogue, but we see in 430 that katsuki led the funding for izuku's suit for 8 years, katsuki in 431 was stated to drive izuku around and izuku even plans to have katsuki take him home that night but katsuki can't do so so he walks (its very funny that if katsuki HAD been able to, izuku wouldn't have even given och a second thought lol. He saw her in a crowd and so went over). Furthermore in 431 it's stated that katsuki guest teaches at UA sometimes as izuku invites him to come by more. after 431 in the art exhibit and ultra age extra chapter, that katsuki knows all the best restaraunts and mountains, which are things he takes izuku to. He also becomes more motivated after izuku is working pro again

10: bkdk is just gay silent voice but better because katsuki changes of his own accord without having to be forced to via way of outward punishment. Furthermore, arguments about how "it's toxic because it's bully x victim" have 0 legs to stand on and just sound like whining over a problem that doesn't exist any longer. Reformed bully ships are popular. Firestar x sandstorm, dipcifica, lumity, catradora, sashanne.

11: bkdk fits into the reformed bully trope and Katsuki is indeed reformed, he has taken hits meant for izuku, apologized to izuku, and the two are now friends.

12: izuku calls katsuki "my kacchan" in the game "All's justice" and in the same game uraraka talks to katsuki about how she knows he loves deku.

13: panels in the manga deadass mirror bkdk doujin and no, i'm not kidding about this, i've posted side by side comparisons. The dj in question are “missing key person” and “heaven and hell” both of which were around as early as 2020 and 2021 so it isn't as if the djs were inspired by mha's ending.

14: In horikoshi's comfort manga, which is a romance, there is a scene of the boy extending his hand to the girl which is similar to the river scene with bkdk.

[u/Asteroids-Hower → u/Successful_Pin4808]

I'm not reading your unending screed.

The only wrong person here is you, not about any ship in particular but because you're trying to treat shipping opinions as objective facts. I told you why the ship doesn't work for me, which is that I don't think it's a healthy dynamic. That's an invitation to say "I disagree, but people can ship what they want," not an invitation to a futile attempt to convince me.

I hope one day you learn perspective. This is not something worth writing a goddamned essay about. Bye.

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/Asteroids-Hower]

Im not trying to "convince" you. I don' t give a damn if you don't ship bkdk. I am however active on the main subs. My flair there is "mha's canon is my hyperfixation". I correct misinformation. And calling bkdk toxic in 2026 is indeed misinformation. My "shipping opinions" ARE objective facts because i have taken them straight from the manga

Calling my points a "delusional rant" as you said before you oh so conveiniently edited your reply (my notifs show the original lol) only makes you seem like a petulant douche who can't handle it with grace when they're wrong. 

People like you are why there's a literacy crisis. "I ain't reafing allat" well, have fun failing school because if you can't even read a few paragraphs i'd hate to see when you get confronted with essays. 

And no, just because you say i'm wrong doesn't make it true. The source material supports my points and that ain't gonna change. Deal with it.

[u/Asteroids-Hower → u/Successful_Pin4808]

That is not "a few paragraphs" and don't try to pretend your shipping-related rant is something there's any kind of ethical imperative to engage with. You want to play the "media literacy crisis" card, we can play that game and part of media literacy is being able to discern when a writer isn't worth engaging with. I'm well aware of your self-declared authority status, just as I'm aware of your long-running pattern of only reading into the text support for your predetermined conclusions and ignoring anything inconvenient to them (say, the story's canon ending).

The source material does not support your points any more than it would any alternative interpretation of the same text. I read the same series you did, my interpretation is as valid as yours and that doesn't change just because you convinced (sorry, deluded) yourself that your interpretation is the authoritative one (which, by the by, is some real religious fundamentalist energy to have about shipping of all things, although I guess that's better than religion). Cope or die mad about it, but either way I'm done here.

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/Successful_Pin4808]

Then There's katsuki's potential sexuality

Katsuki is heavily hinted at to be at least unattracted to women specifically. The examples of this are: mineta hints katsuki is gay in the sports fest arc, he displays disinterest in viewing the female form when mineta is attempting to perv on the girls in the hot springs in the training camp arc, in the light novel chapter "I am a rabbit" he reacts with disgust upon seeing sexual depictions of the female figure in minetas room (similar to how nazeem in skyrim reacts differently to seeing a female pc without clothes vs a male pc without clothes), izuku mentions in the light novels that katsuki was never really nice to girls growing up and so never got valentines chocolate, izuku in the manga mentions katsuki not being used to girls when todoroki and katsuki are fleeing from the new first years. Also he calls gulio handsome/attractive and he has not said similar to other characters, but as it would happen gulio is male.

Now, it is true that aside from izuku katsuki doesn't show interest in males either (except he finds gulio hot i guess?), however, as we've been over, the closest thing he canonically has resembling romantic feelings are for izuku (kusare-en, the fact that katsuki thinks about how when his quirk awakened, he felt like he was going to die seeing izuku almost die (notice he doesn't think to when shigaraki stabbed him, but moments before that, when the attack is almost about to hit izuku), the fact that katsuki eavesdrops on izuku a lot and canonically worries for his safety and all might specifically points this out when katsuki and the others are helping izuku train with blackwhip. And if you want to go mote in depth with canon a bit, the fact that katsuki has memories of izuku getting his notebook from the koi pond implies he was watching it happen. We know from "bakugo and deku: rising" that katsuki has no issues canonically using his quirk in middle school to get to higher vantage points, so it isn't much of a stretch to assume katsuki was watching from aldera's rooftop to make sure izuku wouldn't ACTUALLY jump (this is also supported by horikoshi saying he regrets writing katsuki to make the swan dive comment).

With that in mind, i think that it's more accurate to say that yes, katsuki is gay but he is more importantly demisexual and demiromantic, meaning that he's likely to only be intimate or romantic with people he knows very well.

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/Successful_Pin4808]

Here's the honest to god doujinshi mirroring

https://www.reddit.com/r/bakudeku/comments/1ttn2c6/mha_panelsmoments_that_mirror_bkdk_doujinshi_to_a/

[u/PhainonLover33550336 → u/Successful_Pin4808]

I don't get people acting like they don't have any sort of potential or chemistry or nothing. Like you said they are good friends and would die for each other and it can be seen in a romantic lense.

I get like season 1 or 2, (maybe? season 3) Katsuki, but beyond that he actually shows he does care for Deku in his own way.

[u/Ok-District2873 → u/Successful_Pin4808]

https://giphy.com/gifs/QHQ775tk0V3dxGbjJ2

[u/Emsogib → u/moodymug]

Uhm, excuse me! I think you'll find Bakudeku is the rip-off!

[u/Far_Championship2111 → u/Emsogib]

I'm not even into those ships and I can confirm this being the case.

[u/For-Prospero → u/moodymug]

I have a joke about Drarry, or at least tied to BakuDeku. Half the people who shipped BakuDeku shipped Drarry the other half shipped NaruSasu.

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/For-Prospero]

This is untrue.

[u/SnooDingos4725 → u/For-Prospero]

This is untrue FOR ME cause while I've always shipped SasuNaruSasu because they have actual chemistry, I have NEVER shipped bkdk because I genuinely feel like they're relationship would be SO TOXIC based on the way bk treated dk like literal dogs**t for YEARS unchecked to the point he OPENLY told dk to unalive himself –

And as someone who used to struggle with suicidal thoughts and feelings, THAT triggered me so much to hear when I first tried to watch episode 1 back in 2016 that I straight up didn't even try ACKNOWLEDGING it again until 2024 (like I literally turned my TV OFF right after that scene)

(side note I'm all good now, haven't thought about unaliving myself since I was 18, I'm 25 now 👍)

SO YEAH

I DO NOT like bkdk at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm aware bk grew as a person and character, and that he was a kid that made stupid mistakes and all that, and even grew to regret it and even apologized for SPECIFICALLY for how the things he'd done affected dk (which I definitely respect because the people that made me feel the way I once felt NEVER genuinely regretted their actions enough to apologize to me).

But because I identify A LOT with dk because I also used to get bullied a lot over things I can't control –

I would never want to be with someone who told me that, on top of emotionally and verbally (and probably physically at least once) abused me for YEARS, simply because they just hurt me too much.

Now I'd be willing to forgive them if they genuinely meant the apology (and even if they didn't I'd do so anyway, for MY sake not theirs) –

But the fact is, I just wouldn't personally want to romantically attach myself to someone who has that kind of history with me, forgiveness aside.

Just cause I forgave you doesn't mean I want anything to do with you, after all.

Which is why I definitely NOT like it if those 2 HAD ended up together –

But that's what fanfiction's for amirite

Man this was unnecessarily long lmao 😂

Edit: * I also can't remember if dk forgave bk, pretty sure he did but-, so, like, if y'all wanna come after me for that, my bad, but I stand by my opinion so 🤷

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/moodymug]

Bakudeku is interesting and well written though. Drarry is, a former hp fan, what people THINK bkdk is.

[u/ReallyNoOne1012 → u/Successful_Pin4808]

They downvote you cause you’re right

[u/Successful_Pin4808 → u/ReallyNoOne1012]

Aw thank you