My Hero Academia Readers Falsely Claim All Might is Bisexual, Circulate Proven Mistranslation as Evidence

My Hero Academia Readers Falsely Claim All Might is Bisexual, Circulate Proven Mistranslation as Evidence

A group of My Hero Academia readers recently alleged that All Might, the former Symbol of Peace from My Hero Academia, was canonically bisexual and circulated a known and proven mistranslation of a manga panel and interview as evidence.

The discourse surrounding All Might began as Twitter user chiffocado loudly exclaimed in an October 19th tweet “BI ALL MIGHT” and presented a panel from the My Hero Academia manga which shows All Might explicitly stating that he and Sir Nighteye, his former sidekick, “broke up” and an unsourced interview in which author Kohei Horikoshi claims that that he felt “the need to address [sp] the fact that All Might likes boys and girls!”:

BI ALL MIGHT BI ALL MIGHT

BI ALL MIGHT BI ALL MIGHT

BI ALL MIGHT BI ALL MIGHT

BI ALL MIGHT BI ALL MIGHT

BI ALL MIGHT BI ALL MIGHT

BI ALL MIGHT BI ALL MIGHT

BI ALL MIGHT BI ALL MIGHT

BI ALL MIGHT BI ALL MIGHT pic.twitter.com/RGAUZk3Kiy — ✧ :･ﾟ➽ hawks’ bathwater [ia] (@chiffocado) October 19, 2019

This tweet quickly gained attention and popularity, garnering 4.5-thousand retweets and 13.3-thousand likes at the time of writing. It prompted an outpouring of similarly minded readers who believed the unsourced declaration:

*hands you a bi all might* *hands you a bi all might* *hands you a bi all might* *hands you a bi all might* *hands you a bi all might* *hands you a bi all might* pic.twitter.com/NUCpUEqqoH — spoopy weed dealer💍 (@DABlZAWA) October 20, 2019

However, fans quickly pointed out that the panel from chapter 126, as presented, was a well-known and thoroughly debunked mistranslation:

No, its a fan mistranslation. — Dÿñàmâx D🅰️ńk 🦇 (@EdoTenseiDank2) October 20, 2019

As much as I would love to be all for this!!! It’s a mistranslation :/ the creator themself denied it — Alyssa 🏳‍🌈 (@Spoooky_life) October 21, 2019

bi all might is fake. its actually an intentional mistranslation made my a scanlator who ships all might and nighteye — red camellias 😷 (@sakura_lovemail) October 20, 2019

In the accurate translation, after Mirio Togata asks why he must introduce Deku to Sir Nighteye instead of All Might, the hero declares that it would be “awkward’ to see his former partner, due to All Might succumbing to the very wounds and physical condition that Sir Nighteye warned him about before breaking off their partnership:

And this kids, is why you read the official scans https://t.co/Vst173qFBu pic.twitter.com/RottYXfTNJ — 🎃🍬Spookbolic🍬🎃 (@SirSymbolic) October 20, 2019

LGBT+ users also took issue with the spreading of a false panel, as some believed that the circulation of the panel was a bait-and-switch for those looking for genuine representation in media:

There is quite literally nothing worse than that “All Might is bi!!!” mistranslation getting spread around every year and making LGBT+ people hopeful for a split second before they look in the comments and realize OP didn’t check their sources. — plus ultra!! 💫 (@mirideku) October 22, 2019

Oh, look, a mistranslation AND a fake interview quote. Always check your sources before believing everything you see online, it took me like 30 secs in Google to find out this was fake. — ⭐ Lex 🔸 Golden Deer House 🦌👑 (@lexnovastuff) October 21, 2019

And I’m bi, btw, so yeah, it bothers me that you make us think we got some representation just to get a few retweets. — ⭐ Lex 🔸 Golden Deer House 🦌👑 (@lexnovastuff) October 21, 2019

Stop spreading misinformation. I was genuinely super excited and got teary-eyed bc of the Rep. However, I found out this was misinformation. Please just stop doing this. Don’t post shit until you know 100% that it’s an accurate translation by the author. This hurts us. — 🔞Tired Gay(tm)🔞 (@RyanTheRainbow) October 20, 2019

The controversy surrounding this panel dates back as far back as August of 2017, with fans quickly disproving the false translation:

All Might is not bi and you shouldn’t propagate lies. It literally says 「3つ、訳あって気マズイ」which has no sexual connotation. Don’t read crap scans pic.twitter.com/nDcoouLxTc — YonkouProductions (@YonkouProd) August 29, 2017

My Hero Academia fan translator sugarmagic also gave a detailed breakdown of the panel when readers first began circulating the edited panel:

“Let’s break down the Japanese here word by word: 訳あって (wake atte) means “for some/a certain reason,” where the reason is ambiguous. This is used specifically if the reason is not readily apparent. 気 (ki) here means “feeling” or “mood” And マズイ (mazui) is a widely-defined, negative word ranging in meaning from unpleasant, to ugly, to clumsy, to awkward. From the context, it’s clear that unappealing or awkward are the intended meaning.”

Ultimately, after being bombarded by fans correcting the false information, as well as fans who were upset that they were tricked into believing that bisexuals had received representation, chiffocado apologized for posting the image, but declared that believing All Might to be straight “is just heteronormative bs”:

i’ve long since muted this thread, but look it’s a mistranslation, i get it, my mistake, i’m sorry. i know we all want positive rep and i posted it for the intentions of a headcanon but if it hurt you in any way, and you were hoping for real bi-inclusion, i’m sincerely sorry. — ✧ :･ﾟ➽ hawks’ bathwater [ia] (@chiffocado) October 21, 2019

however, it has never been explicitly stated what all might’s sexuality is, and to say that he is straight is just heteronormative bs. headcanons exist and i’m taking my solace in that. mistranslation or not, he’s still bi for me. — ✧ :･ﾟ➽ hawks’ bathwater [ia] (@chiffocado) October 21, 2019

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