spoiler
Maybe it is defeatist, but La Brava's character is so much about love that what happened to her must've been a very great shock, especially with how impressionable kids are when she was that age. I'm just glad that they found each other because after being disavowed by his family Gentle must've been quite lonely as well. And with Gentle I'd say he has an extreme mastery of his Quirk, otherwise Deku would've defeated him already. It's not like his attempt at saving that person was meant to get in the way of others, would you say the same of Deku trying to save Bakugo from the slime villain? Gentle wants recognition, to be inspiring to people, and he tried incredibly hard at being a hero but that didn't work because sometimes people just have shitty lives. He's become a villain, albeit a "gentle" one, as sort of an act of desperation. He seems very human to me, and he's very relatable.
And aside from the discussion of morals or ideals or anything like that (of which there have been a ton of interesting ones, if you ever visit the MHA subreddit and look at the chapter discussion), this fight is just amazing. I already made a status about it, but Deku vs Gentle is straight up my favorite fight in MHA. So much feeling, a clash of convictions, creative Quirk usage, and incredible choreography with great paneling. The fight dialogue here was very powerful, and both characters are taking each other completely seriously. I really like Deku's, "I'm not laughing." line
- Iron Fusion likes this