How I Met Kai

I first met him in the year 2021, a year after I got into MHA and my obsession with the anime was running rampant, especially with its rising popularity on Tiktok.
I had admired how cool he looked and how interesting he was and he quickly became my favorite villain.
I had even developed a small crush on him but it was nothing more than that since at the time I had a crush on a different character.
(Not gonna call that character a F/O since at the time I didn't know about that term and I didn't really have a deep connection with them).

I have an extensive history surrounding selfshipping with fictional characters. I have been doing it since I was around 10 years old though those relationships didn't last very long. I would jump from character to character, becoming bored of them once I no longer had any interest in their source material. The longest that I have held a relationship with a fictional character was 2 years.
I remember being scared that I was going to love fictional characters forever and was never going to find a partner in real life, since the people in my life were solidifying the importance of having one and would sometimes harp me about it.

It was then in the year 2024 where I had remembered Overhaul's existence out of the blue and he elicited some feelings inside me. During that time I was heavily into the game Obey Me! Shall We Date? and I was in love with someone in that game. MHA was more like my secondary interest.
I decided to indulge in these feelings and flocked to Wattpad to read a x reader fanfiction about him and it managed to invoke some strong feelings in me, feelings of love. Soon I had gradually started to fall in love with him.
On February 2nd 2024, I had finally came to terms with the fact that I was in love and wanted to pursue a relationship with him.

Out Of All The Characters In My Hero Academia, Why Him?

That is probably what you are thinking seeing as he is one of the most hated characters amongst the fanbase and for the longest time, that was a question that I couldn't answer.
Now I finally do know why I love him and the biggest reason is empathy but I will start from what made me hooked on him first:

In the beginning it was because of his looks, more specifically his eyes. I had always admired how unique they look compared to the other men in MHA especially with his relatively long lower eyelashes. Not to mention that gold suits his eyes very well, literally couldn't have asked for a better color. I also think he looks pretty with his stubble.

I like his personality which sounds weird considering the fact that he is shown to be a giant asshole and has 0 positive traits but I find myself relating to his passion, determination and having a clear goal and strategizing to achieve that, even if he went about it the completely wrong way.
I can relate to his stoic and calm demeanor as well and I oddly like his unhinged behaviour.

I also like his monster form when he fused with Shin Nemoto and when he had fused with Rikiya Katsukame as well as someone who likes monsters but I am more partial to his first form with Nemoto which is referred to Overhaul V2 in the game My Hero One's Justice 2.

Now onto the part I mentioned before about empathy. Yes, I do feel bad for what happened to Overhaul but I am glad he got what was coming to him and received consequences for his actions.
Sometimes though, I think his arms being amputated was a bit excessive but I understand why it happened as it's a parallel to a yakuza member having to cut off their finger and present it to their boss whenever they fail a task.
I also like that he was able to talk to his father figure and get scolded for his actions.

I do find Kai interesting from an analytical standpoint and I like the parallel between him and Shigaraki with their quirks, how they treated their comrades, how they decided to reach their goals and how they were heavily mistreated by All for One. It is interesting how he came to be and how his childhood shaped him to be this way.

There was this quote that I heard by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the creator of the comedy-drama television series Bojack Horseman that really put my thoughts into words about how I feel towards Kai post Yakuza era. He was talking about redeeming Bojack and the quote was this: "I would like to see Bojack find some sort of peace. I don't know if happiness is the right word. I don't know if he deserves that but I would like to think even a soul as lost as Bojack can somehow crawl his way toward redemption."
I remember listening to it for the first time while I was working on this website and rewinding the video to listen to it again because it really spoke to me. It's about the idea that we're all capable of redemption and finding some form of peace, even if it's not necessarily 'happiness' in the traditional sense. I wasn't sure if Kai fully deserved happiness after all the atrocities he committed but I knew that a soul as lost and as shrouded in trauma as Kai's is can somehow crawl his way toward redemption.

Despite everything, I still love him dearly. He has made me feel better about things I am insecure about and has motivated me to pull through life's struggles even when I felt like giving up. I plan on being with him 'till the end of time.