Bakugo’s a good character to me because he begins as a standard bully with gifted powers but quickly winds up becoming a large piece of Deku’s development while going through large amount a of change himself.
His realization, rejection and eventual acceptance of Deku getting a quirk, as well as his mirrored admiration of All Might, make the beginning of his character pretty engaging, and his warrior mentality can be very entertaining since in a world of heroes, he’s someone that always seeks to win rather than save at first.
His hatred of Deku boiling up to their second fight also makes him interesting since he’s been actually taking nothing but L’s personally the whole time. He has had no wins until he fights Deku that he mentally regarded as “wins.” So to see him crumbling under that pressure was good growth and him getting in on the secret of OFA let him become more of a confidant to Deku than the static rival he was, seeking to surpass him on his own strength even when realizing the gap he needs to get across, a nice contrast to Endeavor who saw that gap and did the same, but without becoming AM’s friend.
During the Final Act we see all of this come to a head with him taking a hit for Deku and showing constant worry for him. He has understood, especially after seeing Blackwhip emerge, that the gap isn’t what bothers him anymore, but the responsibility on Deku’s head. He cares for him, while also acknowledging that he is the reason Deku is so ****** up in the head and started at such a low point. He has reflected and found turmoil within himself over his past and rather than face it, he runs from it until Deku is about to get skewered, at which point he sacrifices himself to deliver the message that Deku doesn’t have to do everything alone. That he wants to help Deku, not compete with him.
Then his apology continues this as he stops hiding from his past actions and instead confronts them. He accepts his past sins, the damage he did to Deku, and that their rivalry shouldn’t be the driving force. The state of society, the downfall of heroes, has forced Bakugo to see that it will take everyone working together to fix things, and that Deku is the pieces that ties it all together. He respects Deku more than anyone, and even tries calling him Izuku now, showing that he has removed past everything in his past to focus solely on the future.
But now, at the end of it all, he fights someone Deku is meant to fight, and is gapped outlandishly. He is humiliated, stomped in and beaten like he’s nothing. He is told he’s nothing to Deku, that he can’t measure up, and that his death is the only thing that will matter in the end. Yet he takes this in stride, and rather than break, he simply analyzes his situation to get back in there. He never leaves the fight, even when the enemy tries to break him, because he believes that heroes need to win before anything else, and it is through winning that he will save people. A large departure from his initial character by an intense margin.
His fighting style is also interesting, with his Quirk explosion being used in increasingly more impressive and imaginative ways. Even just his flight is entertaining to observe, and the way he constantly pushes the boundaries of his attacks, uses his equipment more than any other character, and never backs down just like Deku, makes him always a great character to watch fight due tot he sheer versatility he can do with his seemingly simple but strong quirk.
After everything, his relationship with other characters like Shoto, Endeavor, Kirishima and Aizawa also add much to his character beyond just Deku, and he shares many parallels that Horikoshi loves to do. Parallels with Endeavor through their need to surpass OFA despite hitting above their weight class are the most prominent, and obviously amplified by how good of a character Endeavor is.
Overall, yeah, very good character. Grows a lot, interacts a lot, fights interestingly and is always improving. Only downside I’d say is that he’s more attached to Deku than anyone else, to the point we get his perspective more than Deku’s on their relationship. I feel there’s not enough “Deku” in their rivalry, and most of it is one sidedly coming from Bakugo while Deku just has high admiration and emulates him constantly as the Symbol of Victory. But other than that, can’t see much of a reason to dislike the character, executed very well and still growing as we speak.
That’s what I’d say is a good character.