Title: You Can't Run
Author: HassouToby
Rating: M
Fandom: My Hero Academia
Genre: Canon Divergence, Character Study
Status: Complete (19k words)
Category: Gen, Other Fandoms
Summary: At a certain bar in Kamino Ward, the cellar runs deep. Hero and villain share truths in the dark.
Spoilers up to the Culture Festival arc.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20143996

Given the reception of the first three stories I've submitted for review, I've concluded that I may just have terrible taste, or at least taste different than the majority of the forum. This story, however, is as close to a trump card as I have: if this doesn't mesh with you guys, nothing I put up for review will. I would wholeheartedly recommend all stories by this author whose fandoms meet your fancy (including those from his alternate account,CourierNew). However, I'd say this is his most approachable story from a fandom I'm familiar with (most of his other stories are set either post-canon or deep into canon), so this one's what I'm putting up for review. (I wouldn't recommend going into this story fandom-blind, and knowledge of canon up to the Culture Festival arc is best, but if you have a passing knowledge of My Hero Academia's setting and premise you should be fine.)

I'll get the only problem that I might have had with the story out of the way. While this story can't really be accused of copying canon, since we're seeing it from different POVs than in the source material, it does parallel canon to an extent in that the progression of events follows largely the same timeline. However, since the story takes place as the result of a single change from canon (which I won't spoil here), that didn't bother me very much.

Okay, now let's go back to the positives. The prose might lean a little toward purple for some, but I enjoyed it and it never got difficult to parse. I thought this incarnation of Villain!Izuku worked excellently: despite the different path he took he still feels very much like Izuku. The POVs as a whole were excellent, and arguably the best part of the story: everyone felt distinct yet stayed in character, and there were plenty of memorable interactions and lines. It didn't waste time getting started, either: once I saw how Shigaraki's initial encounter with Izuku went, the story promised a ride, and it delivered on all fronts.

Solid 5/5 from me. Probably not a 5/5 from everyone, but it's a damn good story I'd recommend to anyone in the fandom.

Spoiler: If You Really Like MHA

If you're really into My Hero Academia, I'd also recommend his other MHA story, Blues Drive Monsters: even though he claims it to be one of his weakest stories, it was still pretty good, and at almost 300k words it's got plenty of meat on its bones.