I'm writing this about a day after the 318 leaks came out but I'll discuss that either on or sometime after Sunday when the chapter officially releases. I have a LOT to say, and to be quite honest I am feeling a little petty because Bkdks have predicted this for a while now and everyone doubted us. That'll come.

For now, I want to talk about Blackwhip, how it was unlocked, and the interesting thing Banjo tells Deku about the quirk.

So here, we see Monoma using information from Shinso to use for himself. I'll give him his credit for being smart enough to aim for Bakugou out of all Deku's friends, especially since even a lot of people closer to Deku misjudge/underestimate how important they (Bakugou and Deku) are to each other.

Monoma's manipulative aim here was as good as Lady Nagant's literal aim before she... ahem. He hit Deku right where it hurt the most, insulting his closest friend about an already touchy subject -- the downfall of All Might. Deku unlocks BW here and the rest is history.

Daigoro Banjo, the OFA predecessor who had the BW quirk, tells Deku some pretty odd stuff. I almost couldn't believe it when I read it for the first time.

Deku unlocks BW out of anger from Monoma insulting Bakugou and... he's told to control his heart? To quote Compress, "What an odd thing to say."

This isn't the only time Banjo tells him this either, he says it again but the only panel of it I can find at the moment is a fan scan. I'll add it eventually.

It's self explanatory why the advice sticks out so much. Clearly stating Deku couldn't control his heart when Bakugou got trash talked has very homoromantic undertones, if I were to give my own opinion. It can of course be viewed platonically and everyone will have a different opinion on the text.

Not only that though, but the repetition of this line is also interesting. It's like we're watching a play where this scene takes place and Horikoshi is on the side of the stage mouthing, 'Hey, Deku can't control his heart when it comes to Bakugou!'

Furthermore, Deku's denial of why Blackwhip manifested is also very side-eye-worthy.

He just kind of... lies. Perhaps he didn't want to trigger Bakugou?

It's giving me, "This is gross," vibes.

That whole line from DvK2 will be discussed later, there are ideas of internalized homophobia being passed around but this chapter is for BW specifically, so I'll save it.