YMMV / Cain

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Bakugou, owing to his nature as an Unreliable Narrator.
  • How sincerely does Katsuki believe what he tells himself? Does he believe what he's narrating the entire time? Is he aware he's lying underneath it all and just doesn't want to face reality? Was he consciously lying in the beginning and then grew to genuinely believe his own lies later, as he became more reliant on denying obvious reality to nurse his wounded self-image? If so, when exactly did this transition occur?
  • Was Bakugou crying after the apartment door incident because he was genuinely upset and couldn't understand why All Might disapproved of his behavior, or was he on some level trying to manipulate All Might with his tears, given how manipulative Katsuki accuses Izuku of being when he emotes and how much Bakugou projects his own behavior onto Izuku?
  • Bakugou assumes he's academically gifted and his teachers are sabotaging his grades towards the end in retaliation for his failure to get into UA. However, comments on the story discuss the possibility that this is simply another part of Bakugou's narcissistic perspective that his teachers had previously enabled: that his teachers actually originally graded Bakugou's work less harshly for the same reason they disciplined him less harshly, only to stop giving his work special treatment after his disasterous entrance exam just like they stopped giving him special treatment. Alternatively, it's entirely feasible the quality of his work genuinely did change in the wake of his failure and the loss of his original goals and dreams, and he's just too deluded to accept this by the end.
• Catharsis Factor: For fans who dislike Bakugou, or were dissatisfied with how the canon story managed his harmful personality, it was quite enjoyable getting to see Bakugou be openly called out by his idol All Might who becomes fully informed of his behavior and history with Izuku. After giving him a multitude of opportunities to change or reflect, the Number One Hero finally puts his foot down and calls him out for what he truly is: a Spoiled Brat with an unreasonable grudge and obsession towards a disabled boy who only wants to be his friend.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Bakugou is never given a diagnosis in-story since most of the authority figures who have power over him have actively avoided problematizing his behavior; however, it quickly becomes clear to the reader that his mental state is deeply and pathologically abnormal. Given his grandiose sense of self, inability to recognize those around him as equally human, and lack of capacity for self-reflection, coupled with his sadism, near-perpetual anger spikes of irrational rage, and self-contradicting paranoid delusions, a tentative diagnosis could be made for Narcissistic Personality Disorder with expressed paranoid phenomena, as detailed by Psychology Today's article "Living With a Paranoid Narcissist." All of the described behaviors in the article fit this fic's version of Bakugou to a T.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The Ambiguous Ending of Shigaraki finding Bakugou's posts about All Might and offering him a chance at revenge. This has led to a lot of speculation over the possibilities of Bakugou becoming involved with the League of Villains.
  • On the positive side, there's also potential for Izuku going to his dream school without his tormentor along with his mom and mentor becoming a potential couple.
• Harsher in Hindsight: As revealed near the end of the Final Arc of My Hero Academia, All for One is shown to be a Shadow Archetype of Katsuki Bakugou by representing everything negative of his character before his Character Development and a possible outcome if Katsuki isn't forced to accept a big heaping slice of Humble Pie and Took a Level in Kindness. As Cain!Bakugou demonstrates throughout the fic and by the ending, he's well on his way to becoming a potential All for One 2.0 in the unforeseen future.
• Moral Event Horizon: Given that this takes place before he goes to UA and how his hated victim was able to attract the attention of his cherished idol, Bakugou goes all out with terrorizing Deku. From insulting him, beating him, blasting him with his quirk, getting the Aldera students to bully him, stealing his property, and telling him to kill himself repeatedly. But none of that compares to him trying to murder an unconscious Izuku with a pillow just to keep him from getting into UA.
• Nightmare Fuel: While this crueler version of Bakugou can be mildly amusing at first for how he gets increasingly negative (for himself) consequences for his behavior, as he stoops lower and lower into an obsessive and increasingly unhinged stalker lost in his Insane Troll Logic while believing to be in the right, he can become genuinely terrifying. Even before his attempt to kill Izuku right after the UA entrance exam, the scene where he directly threatens even Inko, banging and screaming at the Midoriyas' door and looking like he may even try and break in by using his quirk is quite unsettling.
• Realism-Induced Horror: This version of Bakugou Katsuki isn't terrifying because he can explode things with his hands (though it doesn't make him less dangerous), he's terrifying because his behavior is reminiscent of real-world bigots, stalkers, and abusers, the kind who go out of their way to deprive their victims of any sense of safety or security, whose raging is hair-trigger and unpredictable, and who could easily kill the subject of their obsession and still blame them for their own deaths. People who behave like Bakugou Katsuki live among us right now in our world, putting the subjects of their hate and abuse through living nightmares. Even the way Bakugou tries to murder Izuku—smothering him with a pillow while he's asleep—is Mundanger.
• Shocking Moments: The climax where Bakugou tries to murder Izuku has been the most captivating moment for many readers.
• The Woobie: Izuku. He's Out of Focus since we only hear about him through Bakugou's perspective, which is severely distorted and not at all interested in Izuku's experience outside of causing him pain and humiliation. However, we see more than enough to know he goes through a Trauma Conga Line, starting with Katsuki butting into his apprenticeship, straight through to Bakugou stalking him everywhere, physically assaulting him at random intervals, sexually harassing him in the locker room bad enough for it to be uncomfortably close to sexual assault, suicide baiting him multiple times, giving him third-degree burns, trying to break into his apartment to force information out of him and his mother, and straight-up trying to murder him while he's unconscious. Throughout this, every place of safe harbor and method Izuku has of escape or coping is compromised, deprived, or taken away up until he outright quit school and moves apartments. The worst part of all of it is that the long duration of his abuse has left him convinced he still has to make nice with his abuser, whom everyone has said for his entire life will be a great hero.

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