BakuDeku literally never existed, sorry dudes. 💔

I understand shipping culture and how MHA viewers are obviously inclined to ship the two main rivals because it's "symbolic" or whatever, and as an ex-BakuDeku shipper, I get how the thinking process works, but at the end of the day dudes it was NEVER gonna be BakuDeku, and I think this was pretty obvious

I'm just gonna give a couple of reasons why I think BakuDeku would never work

1. They are PLATONIC. Now feel free to prove me wrong, but there has never been a single time in the entire anime where either Katsuki or Izuku proved or even HINTED at having romantic feelings for one another. I've watched all the movies and all the seasons, and I can honestly, genuinely say that the story itself is built on their childhood friendship with no secret hints at any romance. In season 6, when Izuku was in his "vigilante arc" (I think it's that arc), Katsuki comes forward and consoles Izuku, telling him he doesn't have to face the burden of the coming war alone. He apologises for everything he's inflicted upon Izuku, and makes it extremely clear he now respects Izuku as an equal. Interpret that scene how you will, but anyone can see there's no ulterior motive except for trying to bring Izuku home and apologise for the shitty insecurities that he projected onto Izuku.
2. It would be TOXIC. Now I know this one is a little debatable, but I stand firm in the fact that by having Izuku be in the presence, especially romantically, of someone who relentlessly tormented him throughout his childhood and middle school, even going as far as pushing the idea of suicide onto him, would not be healthy. I love Katsuki's character and the development he's gone through, but he really messed up Izuku when they were young, and I'm glad he came out and apologised for it. Yes, Izuku and Katsuki see each other as mutuals and will always be good friends, but keeping it real, Katsuki did bully Izuku to the extreme, which obviously left some scars on Izuku's self-confidence. Putting these two under a romantic title is something I disagree with on a lot of levels, but especially on this one. It completely undermines the bullying Izuku had to deal with and ignores the very real trauma Izuku had to put up with. This dynamic from when they were young shouldn't be glossed over or softened with a romantic angle.
3. Both have other ships that make WAY more sense. I may get some backlash on this, but in Izuku's case, IzuOcha was always gonna be canon. It was always gonna happen, and it makes soooo much sense. For the people who think it's boring, or they don't complement each other well, in my opinion, I think it's a refreshing change. Izuku and Ochako have always shown signs of having romantic feelings for one another, even since season 1. Over the course of 8 seasons, their relationship grew into genuine friendship and understanding. Ochako has always empowered Izuku and encouraged him to be himself, as seen with her turning Deku into a positive, uplifting name rather than the mean symbolism Katsuki created for it. Izuku and Ochako are literally made for each other. This may be off topic, but I think in anime, we have so much romanticisation for "polar opposites" and whatnot that anything else is just "boring." I loved IzuOcha from day one, so im lowkey biased butttt... Now for Katsuki's case, I think he's a little special because he doesn't explicitly have a canon ship but I think that's okay. He's a great character, even without a canon ship.

Now look, I get the ship between Izuku and Katsuki pretty well. Rivals turned friends, hate the respect, all that makes a whole bunch of sense. Just not with these characters under these circumstances. Izuku and Katsuki are brothers; that's as much love as they're gonna feel for each other. Especially in S8, we've seen how bad they wanna fight for each other, and how they're always gonna be there for each other.

holy yap but dudes i cannot be the only one who's like physically devastated that mha ends in one ep WHAT DO YOU MEAN TAKE IT BACKKKKK 💔 💔

anyways here's my take, feel free to add :33