YMMV / Think Before You Speak (MHA)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • After Saito reveals that Aizawa is completely off-base in his assumptions about Izuku's character and personal history, Aizawa still insists he considers Izuku unfit for Heroics regardless. Does he genuinely mean that, or is he insisting that because he's already ruined so much of his life in his attempts to get rid of Izuku (his credibility, his friendships, both of his careers), that admitting it was an unjustified cause all along brought about by his failure to look into his students' histories before making snap judgments about their potential is too painful a self-reflection to make?
  • Is Tensei's interview blasting Izuku in the press truly just one Moment of Weakness and poor judgement under emotional distress as he claims privately and as Iidaten claims publicly, or does it and the aftermath reveal a significantly less-than-heroic aspect to Tensei's underlying character in the story?
    • On one hand, Tensei was absolutely consumed by how upset Tenya's injuries made him, and Aizawa likely worded his claims to be as inflammatory as possible to get Tensei to do his dirty work. That and the shock of how significant the backlash was when he clearly Didn't Think This Through could easily explain a lack of focus on what he, Tensei, actually did wrong.
    • On the other hand, when Tensei learns the truth, the lack of guilt or focus on the fact that he personally chose to foist a terrible public firestorm onto a teenager is astonishing. In fact, despite his parents telling him to make a public and private apology to Izuku, the only apology we see any Iida give is a PR response to the media given by Tensei's parents. Word of God further adds that Tensei doesn't want to admit he's wrong and believes he deserves "leeway" due to how he was tricked. If Tensei's the kind of person who can choose to doxx and drag a child in the press and who resists acknowledging that's wrong, even after learning the child is innocent of his allegations, what kind of person is he really?
    • Even before the truth, it's shown Tensei's at least aware that Aizawa's conclusions on Izuku's character can't be trusted. It's written that Tensei ignores all of the holes he knows exist in Aizawa's claims about Izuku's character. Given that Tensei already knew of reasons why the characterization of Izuku that he chose to feed the media might not be true, it brings into question why he did it. It's possible to interpret Tensei's actions as him simply not being able to fully appreciate the holes in Aizawa's narrative or the full context of the circumstances surrounding the soundbite he wants to make due to his emotional upset. However, given the repeated use of the phrase "he ignores" before describing the holes Tensei is aware of, it's also possible that, rather than not fully being able to do so, Tensei simply didn't want to consider the reasons he shouldn't attack Izuku. The implications of the latter interpretation do not speak well of Tensei.
  • Do the Iida parents genuinely care about the hurtful thing their son did, or just the effect it has on them as a family? While the Iida parents go out of their way to drive it into Tensei's head that his actions were wrong, all of the concerns we see them express revolve entirely around the negative impact on them, the Iidas. Little to no concern is shown for Izuku from either of the parents except for instances wherein Izuku or his family might cause the Iidas problems going forward, and when Tensei's parents instruct him to privately and publicly apologize to Izuku, the order is given with the aire of a public relations strategy. Though again, the circumstances are bad enough for the Iidas that this might just be them in crisis management mode; the moral recognition of the wrong may be there, and just isn't being expressed at the moment given all of the other immediate concerns.
• Catharsis Factor: The story prominently features the adults in the story addressing Bakugou's actions in the Heroes vs. Villains exercise as the serious and concerning self-admitted use of lethal force that it was, as well as a callout of Aizawa for his inconsistant willingness to do his job—both common subjects of frustration and criticism in My Hero Academia's fanbase.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: It's mentioned that Tenya had no friends prior to UA because he was too serious, inflexibly rule-abiding, and poor at understanding social cues, behavior which readers found to be very reminiscent of autism. Word of God mentions in the comments that this was intentional.
• Fridge Horror: Aizawa is biased against Hero students who are willing to endanger themselves for others, considering their "recklessness" a disqualifying trait and trying to kick them out of his class. If he's intentionally selecting against the willingness to endanger oneself for another, which is an important trait of heroism, in order to avoid another Loud Cloud, how has this affected the behavior of the Heroes he's graduated into the field?
• The Woobie:
  • Izuku survives a would-be lethal attack on his life by his lifelong bully by dodging at the last second, only for his bully's attack to hurt one of the only friends Izuku has made since he was four. It's noted Izuku already felt very guilty over this, but it goes From Bad to Worse when that friend's brother retaliates by slandering Izuku by name in the media, framing Izuku as responsible for his new friend's severe injuries—which only happened because Izuku didn't let his bully hit him with what was openly described as lethal force. Thereafter, Izuku is made a public figure on someone else's terms as the central character in a national firestorm.
  • Due to his extremely rigid personality and unusual behavior for a child, Tenya was bullied in middle school. Despite struggling socially with his new peers, he still manages to become friends with Izuku. During Tenya's very first heroics exercise, however, his partner tries to murder his new friend and Tenya's caught in the blast. When Tenya wakes up, his brother has made his injuries into a national scandal by retaliating against his new friend in the media, causing Tenya to fear that Tensei's actions have not only cost Tenya his friendship with Izuku, but any chance of acceptance with the rest of his peers as well.