Is My Hero Academia’s Mineta really a LGBTQ+ character? That’s the question that a lot of fans are asking right now, after reading the latest chapter of the series. My Hero Academia chapter 321 sees Class 1-A team up to save Izuku Midoriya from himself after Deku has gone slightly off the deep end with his obsessive pursuit of All For One.
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This “battle” allows each member of Class 1-A to step up and shine with some impressive action and some heartfelt emotion about friendship. However, when it came to Mineta’s moment, the love he expressed for Izuku has some convinced that My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi was revealing more about the character than it may initially seem.
The idea of Mineta being LGBTQ+ would be a major trip for a lot of My Hero Academia fans, as the little pervy boy has long been a lighting rod for the series.
Check out the debate about whether My Hero Academia Chapter 321 has made a big LGBTQ+ reveal about Mineta:
What Does “Love” Mean?
And a little trivia, Mineta actually used the word ๆใใ (horeta) which is an expression used when saying they fell in love with someone ๐
โ Dekuโs Notebook (@redandblonde420) August 1, 2021
The whole debate about Mineta’s LGBTQ+ status stems from the semantics of what you think this translation means.ย
Monkey’s Paw Turn
#bnha321 spoilers
โ Minerva Pining Kelley (@doubleca5t) August 1, 2021
Horikoshi having one of the male characters in BNHA confess his love to Deku, but having that character be MINETA is such a monkey’s paw ass turn of events https://t.co/l9nn4bBLHf
Yaoi stans have been waiting years to see some of the boys of My Hero Academiaย profess love for one another – but finally getting that moment from arguably the most sexist and pervy character in the series is, indeed, a “Mon
Not What It Says…
Also, for those who actually wish for Mineta to be bi, this is not bi-erasure, and you can interpret it how you like.
โ โใชใผใใชใผAudreyโ (@aitaikimochi) August 2, 2021
However, Japanese fans did not interpret this line to be romantic (you can check ๅณฐ็ฐ in Japanese twitter), so for this case I think platonic makes more sense.
One ofย My Hero Academia‘s most prolific translators rebukes the idea of the words indicating something about Mineta’s sexuality.ย
Totally What It Says…
its actually not, the term he uses in japanese is exclusively used in romantic content pic.twitter.com/UKxyCfboeq
โ dan (@kitykenni) August 2, 2021
For every translation, there is a counter-translation that claims there’s only one way that Horikoshi could’ve possibly meant that word.ย
This Is Going To Escalate
Kinda feel like more people need to see this before this joke turns into actual discourse
โ SparrowWing โ JJBA arc (@SparrowWing137) August 2, 2021
However you view this translation, one thing is for sure: this isn’t done being an issue.ย
Twitter Funny AF
I know it’s a mistranslation and all, but seeing Twitter eat this up is funny af
โ Joichiro.S (@jean_kerwyn) August 2, 2021
In the end, this may be the truest statement of all. Twitter is a hilarious place.ย
Mineta Trending
Mineta is trending with over 75K tweets currently pic.twitter.com/S12UNPa4mP
โ Atsu (@Atsushi101X) August 2, 2021
If nothing else, thisย My Hero Academiaย debate is bringing more awareness to Mineta than the character has arguably ever had. And that’s a good thing?ย
My Hero Academia releases new chapters FREE ONLINE weekly. Season 5 of the anime is now streaming on Funimation and Hulu.