[Note– the Challenge/Bingo Card is at the bottom of this post, so if you’re just here for that, scroll down]
April 20th is Bakugou Katsuki’s birthday. Bakugou is a character from Boku no Hero Academia that I did not intend to love. Plenty of people have a lot of negative things to say about him and his character, but I fell hard and fast for that characterization. There’s something really endearing to me about a loud, angry character being unapologetic about themselves. That the character starts out around 14-15 years old and a bully is such an interesting beginning for a deuteragonist and it sets up a phenomenal way forward focused on growth.
A lot of the time, we’re given main characters who are moral and good without questioning themselves at all; the only thing they need moving forward is power. In BNHA, that’s certainly true with Deku; he’s already got the morals of a hero and just needs the power. With Bakugou, he’s set up the other way around; he has the power but hasn’t asked himself those important questions yet, as most of us had not, as early teenagers. He certainly sees himself as the hero of his own story. Learning and unlearning what’s right and wrong is a fundamental, constant struggle through life and it’s not often that we see someone making that first confrontation with themselves. It’s easy to stand in judgement of characters and think they should have been perfect, or made that right-wrong realization far earlier, but for me a character being in the wrong and making that slow journey themselves is incredibly powerful.
This was not meant to turn into a defense of my favorite boy, but it was meant to be a Bakugou Katsuki appreciation post. I have a lot of feelings about him as a foil and a deuteragonist. The sheer breadth of parallels he’s given with Izuku are narratively great. Y’all already know I’m a multishipper; despite shipping two characters with each other, I tend to also ship them with others, or all the characters together. For BNHA I really like Katsuki/Izuku, but also Katsuki/Shinsou, Katsuki/Kirishima, Todoroki/Izuku, and I’ve definitely– if rarely– read and enjoyed some very specific Ochako/Katsuki stuff. Probably my favorite ship, however, is actually a polyship: Bakugou/Kirishima/Kaminari/Sero/Mina.
The dynamics of this show are, plainly, fun to explore in many ways and with many characters. I don’t think there’s any wrong way to ship or enjoy those dynamics with whoever your favorites are, so long as you tag properly so people know what they’re getting into– or what they’d prefer to give a miss, this time around. In this house we let our freak flag fly, and if we don’t like a ship, we simply get off the boat and find another. (Needless to say, as always, there will be no negativity tolerated in this space! We are here to have a good time.)
My favorite BNHA fic wholescale is “Send Nudes, Winky Face” by thephilosophah on ao3. It’s an 80k slice of life that is just resonant with happy polyamory. This is in a fandom where there are literally hundreds of really good fics giving the main character different superpowers, some of which span 250k. It surprises absolutely none of my friends that I’ve chosen a shipping fic over all of them, and that the fic is full of laughter and joy. (Granted, “Yesterday Upon The Stair” and other fandom giants with those aforemnetioned various superpowers are 2-10 on the list of top faves for me, so they’re not far behind.)
In past years, I’ve jokingly made very niche Bakugou’s Birthday Bingo cards. These focused on some personal interests, kinks and scenes, most of which were for fun. Some of which were loudly for fun. We crowd-sourced bingo squares to much great laughter, including “Bakutiddies” and “420 Blaze It.” The fic I wrote for some of those prompts can be found on ao3.
In the same spirit, I’ve made a more serious (but still fun!) Bingo card for his birthday this year. I’ve included less kink to make it more inclusive for everyone, and toned down some of the more egregious jokes. You’ll notice “Bakutiddies” for instance has become a simple “Pecs” to celebrate the fandom’s understandable focus on his substantial chest muscles. You’ll also notice many of these can become kink or jokes very easily if that’s the author or artist’s preference.
Challenge: Bakugou’s Birthday Bingo (2021)
Rules: There aren’t actually any hard or fast rules for this Bingo. Here is the card. His birthday is April 20th. Try to score a Bingo in any way you like; 5 squares in a row, vertically, horizontally, diagonally. Obviously the goal is to focus on the birthday boy in question.
Have fun! If you use the card, please link to your work in the comments, so we can all go read it or see your art!
(To clarify, “Death Threats” here is intended to be used for Bakugou’s charming “Die!”; “I’ll end your bloodline!” etc)