Image: My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising Japanese Poster
Introduction:
Creating characters is as hard as creating the story based around them. You have to think of a personality, a design, a trait, a backstory, goals/aspirations, and things that make them special (a physical, emotional, or aesthetical thing that makes them stand out). You also have to make sure your audience knows how to perceive them. Are they supposed to be likable and then loveable? Should we root for them? Should we pity them? Or are they despicable? Are they someone we should hate and want to see them lose? Do we want them to actually succeed in some way? Should we feel some sympathy for them? These are a lot of questions, but they are essential to creating a good character. There are a lot of good stories out there that have characters that hit all those notes and more. Iconic stories like the Harry Potter series, The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit stories, Breaking Bad, Adventure Time, Alien and Aliens, Batman, Spider-man, the list goes on. Regardless, just because all these succeeded in creating great characters doesn’t mean that it’s easy. It’s even harder to create characters outside of the main group who are just as, if not more, developed than the main characters themselves. Here, I’ll look at how one of my favorite current series, My Hero Academia achieves this in ways I have never seen before.
I’ve written an essay on this series before, but I’ll give a quick summary of the story anyway. Izuku Midoriya is a Quirkless teen who lives in a world where 80% of the world has powers called Quirks (think of it like the reverse of X-Men). Izuku dreams of become a Pro Hero who fights villains and saves others. Problem is, he can’t without a Quirk of his own. Then, he has a fateful encounter with his favorite hero, All Might, who grants Izuku a Quirk after certain circumstances. And so, Izuku gets into U.A., the world’s top Hero School, and trains with him and his friends to become the world’s greatest Hero. A variety of characters are introduced in this story and a good majority of them have very well-rounded characterization at best and hints of backstory at worse. I’m going to dive into a few of these characters, starting with the main character, Izuku Midoriya.
SPOILERS AHEAD PAST THE ANIME YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Izuku Midoriya:
Image: Izuku Midoriya
Izuku Midoriya is a young teen with large ambitions. As said, he was Quirkless prior to going to U.A. Because of this, he was ostracized and constantly bullied for it. Specifically, by his former childhood friend and current rival, Katsuki Bakugo (more about him later). Despite all the bullying, Izuku’s drive to become a Hero never truly died. In fact, it only grew stronger. As everyone else trained with their Quirks, Izuku studied everyone’s Quirks. He absorbed knowledge like a sponge which only grew as time went on. All this knowledge would become incredibly useful when coming up with strategies to defeat his opponents. Izuku’s brain is arguably his strongest and most vital asset. He is a master at creating strategies on the spot that have high chances of victory. For example, Izuku’s Quirk, which he received from All Might, is called One For All. It is a superpower Quirk that enhances his physical abilities such as strength and speed. However, this Quirk is incredibly powerful. So much so that one punch can create a wind current so strong that it can chance the weather. It could potentially brutally kill someone if not controlled. In order for it to be used properly, it needs to be used by someone who is physically fit enough to handle it unless they want their body to explode on them. This was the first of many great challenges for Izuku. At first, his body wasn’t nearly fit enough to handle One For All. He had to train for several months under All Might’s mentorship in order to get his body in shape. Even after his body was in proper shape, it still wasn’t enough as each time he used OFA, whichever body part he was using was immediately broken and bruised upon usage. For example, if he punched an opponent, one punch at 100% would be strong enough to obliterate them, but would break Izuku’s bones as a drawback. To get around this, Izuku figures out that he needs spread his power throughout his entire body at certain percentages starting at 5% as that is the most he can handle without injuring himself at the beginning. Eventually he gets strong enough to handle 8%, then 20%, and currently 30% constantly with 45% at his max in less than a year.
Izuku in general is really good at analyzing others, finding their weak spots, and outsmarting them in general. Due to watching others use their own Quirks for years, Izuku has developed this sixth sense of being able to figure out how someone works on a dime. For example, during his fight with the Hero Killer: Stain, Izuku and two other heroes were paralyzed by Stain’s Quirk, Blood Curdle. This Quirk paralyzes whoever’s blood the user licks. It’s a gross Qurik, but fitting for a villain. However, none of them knows what factors into the Quirk. Once Izuku gains mobility again, he deduces that there’s a time limit. But, what determines the time limit? Well, Izuku comes up with three theories: 1. The more blood consumed, the longer Blood Curdle takes effect, 2. The more people it’s used on, the less effective it becomes, or 3. The time limit is based on one’s blood type. Turns out that the third theory is the correct one. What’s most impressive about this is that it only took Izuku a minute to come up with these theories and come to the correct conclusion.
And Izuku grows as a person as well. Izuku is a master strategist, but we can’t forget that he’s human. In the beginning, he was meek. He had a hard time standing up to anyone. Anytime he did, he would get shoved aside and become sad at the thought of being ostracized again. From what we know of Izuku’s life, he grew up with his loving and supportive mother (his father is absent due to working overseas), was bullied by Bakugo and other kids on the regular, and continued to pursue his dream of being a hero despite that. He also idolizes All Might. Even with All Might now his mentor and basically father figure, he still looks up to him greatly and strives to truly become his successor one day. Many tears were shed by Izuku in the beginning for many reasons: sadness, anger, fear, determination, happiness, etc. People have actually given him flack for this, but we as the audience have to remember that Izuku is only 16 at the time I’m writing this. He’s a teenager, sure, but he’s also still a kid. Kids cry. Even adults cry. Humans in general feel these emotions. It doesn’t make us weak. Throughout all the trials and tribulations, Izuku’s tears have been more than justified. As we read/watch his story progress, we see him grow into a young man who is brave, strong, and willing to put his life on the line if it means saving even one life.
Katsuki Bakugo:
Image: Katsuki Bakugo
Katsuki Bakugo is our second character. Bakugo is the aggressive one of the cast. He’s very loud, often resorts to violence, and will literally blow people up with his Explosion Quirk if given the chance. At the beginning of the series, he is the borderline antagonist who is one good push away from being labeled a villain. This is mainly in part to his rebellious nature and how he treats Izuku. For a little backstory, Bakugo was raised by his parents (his mother having a similar, but less violent behavior than her son and his father who is the calm one) in a loving household. He was friends with Izuku even before they were of age to get their Quirks (the age is normally 4; some get theirs earlier or even at birth). They got along fairly well with Izuku being the innocent and friendly one, while Bakugo was still a little overconfident, but friendlier at the time. Then his Quirk manifested. This greatly boosted Bakugo’s ego to the point where he always thought that he was the best; that only someone like All Might could ever surpass him. It got to the point where Bakugo started to bully Izuku even to the point of physical harm and giving him a nickname meant as an insult, “Deku”, which roughly translates to “useless”. What’s interesting here is that Bakugo’s antagonistic behavior didn’t stem from something typical like a tragic backstory (not that those are bad, but that they have become a trope). It came from him having an awesome Quirk and from everyone only encouraging him. Before he went to U.A., he was never truly criticized. His pedestal only grew more and more until Izuku was finally able to knock him down a few pegs during their first match against each other. Once that happened, he found even more resolve to work harder to become the world’s greatest hero and to ultimately defeat strong potential heroes like him.
Bakugo’s character remains like this for a majority of the time. He’s still arrogant and aggressive, but he does change little by little. As time goes on, he learns to corporate more with people when it comes to teamwork. He learns to put his issues with Izuku aside for a bit in order to complete their fights. This doesn’t mend much, but it’s a start. The biggest and probably the most significant growth Bakugo has gotten in the series thus far is during his second match against Izuku after the events at Kamino Ward. Before the events at Kamino, Bakugo and the rest of the first-year heroes-in-training were sent to a summer camp to train their Quirks to become better heroes. While they were training, the League of Villains came up and executed a plan to kidnap Bakugo in hopes that he would turn to their side. While Izuku and his friends did their best to prevent this, they ultimately failed to save Bakugo and the Villains won. With Bakugo restrained, the Villains’ leader, Tomura Shigaraki, tried to persuade Bakugo into joining them with reasons of his own. Thankfully, Bakugo’s too loyal to All Might and focused on becoming the number 1 hero to side with the enemy.
With Bakugo still kidnaped though, the heroes had to come up with a plan to save him. So, they did it by breaking into their hidden lair. They were almost successful until the true leader of the League, All For One (remember this name), teleports all the villains and Bakugo away to another location. All Might tracks them down and a massive fight against AFO occurs. This battle becomes intense enough to destroy buildings. In the mist of all this, Izuku and his friends, Shoto, Tenya Iida, Eijiro Kirishima, and Momo Yaoyorozu, sneak on to the balcony of a building near the battlefield to save Bakugo themselves as they felt responsible to save him. They do their best to make sure to not get involved with the clash as not only would that be illegal, but they could easily get killed. So, using his strategic mind, Izuku comes up with a plan that combines the team’s Quirks to fly into the sky and catch Bakugo up there as Bakugo can launch himself into the air with his own Explosion Quirk. By using Kirishima and Bakugo’s friendship as the key to the plan, Bakugo hears Kirishima’s call and blasts himself towards the team in the air successfully saving Bakugo. That victory is short lived, however, as our protagonists and the audience are brought back to reality when we witness the fight between All Might and AFO continue. Lots of destruction and insanity occurs, but ultimately All Might wins using the last of his strength. All Might stands victorious, but his work as a hero is done as his body is no longer able to continue doing Pro Hero work. All Might has retired.
This shakes Hero Society for a while. Everyone is trying to grasp the end of the era of All Might, The Symbol of Peace and the key pillar that kept Japan afloat. Thankfully, the people of Japan realize that All Might’s end means that heroes have to step up to the plate and team up together as a group of pillars to keep Hero Society in place. The only one who hasn’t fully grasped that roll yet is Bakugo. It’s hard to tell what’s going on in Bakugo’s mind since he got captured. It isn’t even truly revealed to the audience until he fights Izuku again at Ground Beta. Initially, this fight was to test out the reason why All Might gave Izuku his Quirk (which is still a secret except to a select few). As the fight goes on, Bakugo gets more and more emotional. It’s not just anger in his voice, but a tinge of sadness too. As his emotions start to come out, Bakugo finally reveals that he has been feeling guilty about ending All Might’s career and ultimately causing All Might to lose his power. This is the first time where the audience (and even Izuku) has ever seen Bakugo this emotional. He’s cried in the past, but that was out of anger and determination due to his inferiority complex. This is the first time we’ve ever seen Bakugo truly feel guilty. What’s interesting about this is that Bakugo’s guilt, though warranted, is guilt built from something that wasn’t even his fault to begin with. The Villains seeked out Bakugo as a potential villain from his natural aggressive nature and battle tactics from the Sports Festival months earlier. They planned to kidnap him a long time ago. Bakugo couldn’t have known that he was targeted. And even when he and the other kids were attacked, they were outnumbered and underpowered. Had the situation been different, sure Bakugo probably would’ve avoided being captured, but that didn’t happen. Until he was saved, every attempt to save him failed. He couldn’t even save himself out of the fear that he could’ve been killed. Yet, he still sees All Might’s end as his fault.
After the fight against Izuku is over, All Might shows up to confront the two young heroes. He explains to Bakugo why he chose Izuku as his successor and that Bakugo isn’t to blame for anything that happens. In fact, All Might should’ve comforted Bakugo about this much sooner since he’s still a 16-year-old kid. Sometimes even we, the audience, forget that most of these protagonists are still just children despite all the battles they face. Bakugo listens to All Might, stunned at what he’s hearing, and lets himself be hugged and cry a bit on All Might’s shoulder. A good cry and some comfort are somethings Bakugo needed for a long time no matter how much he denies it. Once All Might tells Izuku and Bakugo how they can help each other by learning to both “Win and Save”, they finally become proper rivals whose goals are not just to surpass each other, but also to help each other bit by bit.
It’s after this battle that Bakugo starts to soften up. He’s still aggressive as ever, but he’s not as mean to his friends as he used to be. There are insults thrown here and there, sure, but they ultimately mean nothing. Bakugo becomes someone who is mostly bark and not much bite. He realizes his own weaknesses now and plans to improve them as much as he can so that he can truly become #1. He is slowly recognizing that he does need friends by his side in order to reach his goal. Even if he’s still mean to them, he is willing to work with them so long as their goal is achieved. It’s almost like Bakugo genuinely wants to be in his circle of friends, but his nature makes it hard to express and accept that. In due time, I’m sure Bakugo will get there.
As we learn from the most recent chapter, Chapter 284, Bakugo is trying to atone. Bakugo does worry about Izuku; he knows that he cares about other before he starts to care about himself. In fact, his selflessness is what made Bakugo bully him so much. Well, one of the reasons. Bakugo was afraid of Izuku. He was afraid that Izuku would surpass him Quirk or not. Because he ignored his own weaknesses, Bakugo resorted to releasing his insecurities into bullying Izuku for over a decade. Now that Bakugo has come to accept that, he is trying to atone by helping Izuku with his training. Bakugo can express his feeling with words, but he’s better with his actions. As they say “Actions speak louder than words”. One day, Bakugo will have to verbally apologize to Izuku. But, by atoning through his actions, it’s a really good step forward. This is something that could never have been thought of in the beginning of the story. It just shows how well-crafted Bakugo’s character is. It proves that Bakugo is one of the best characters in the entire series.
All Might:
Image: Katsuki Bakugo, All Might, and Izuku Midoriya
Now, onto All Might. I was going to talk about Shoto Todoroki next, but I think I’ll hold off until the next section. Ok, so All Might. All Might, as previously stated, is the world’s number 1 hero. Everyone knows about him. Everyone cheers his name when he’s fighting a villain or appearing on the scene. Even the ones who don’t favor All Might still acknowledge him as the Symbol of Peace. He has saved countless of people with a smile on his face with his catchphrase “I am here!”. All Might is shown to be one of the kindest, most generous people in this universe. And yet, he’s still human just like everyone else.
As revered as All might is, he is not a god. He’s not an angel or a saint. He is human with emotions, hopes, and aspirations. We start the series off seeing All Might as this unstoppable force, but we realize later that his buff form is basically a bodysuit/mask that hides his true form which is emancipated from head to toe. He almost looks like a skeleton. The most noticeable part is a massive blow on the left side of his stomach sustained when he fought All For One. According to All Might, that blow took out a couple organs and his respiratory system is just gone. He puts a smile on his face to hide the fear lying inside of him. And even worse, he says that Izuku, the boy confronting him before he had a Quirk, cannot be a hero without a Quirk effectively crushing Izuku’s dream. It’s a stark shift from the cheerful hero we see at the beginning turn out to be a man broken from the weight of his heroism. What’s even more insane about this shift is that it all happens at the very beginning of the story. All in the first chapter of the manga if I recall. This stuff normally happens around maybe midway through a series, but Horikoshi decides to rip off the Band-Aid at the very start. And it works. We barely know the man, but his character is already being built from the get-go, allowing the audience to be curious about what else he might be hiding under that smile.
Despite the harsh reality that All Might has to face, he is still a hero through and through. He sees himself in Izuku: a young, Quirkless kid who will do anything and everything he can to become a hero who can save others. It’s why he gives Izuku his Quirk and why he decides to mentor him as both a teacher and as a father figure. Notice how I mentioned “Quirkless” earlier. Yes, All Might was Quirkless himself before being Quirkless was as rare as it is now. He was very much like Izuku with just as much heroism in his soul as Izuku does. In fact, the way he convinced his own predecessor, his Master, Nana Shimura (remember her name too), was by telling her that he wants to be a Symbol that can reassure people that things are going to be okay; someone who is more than willing to put everything on the line to make sure everyone feels safe and that no one gets hurt. This promise of heroism is enough to convince Nana that All Might has potential and is worthy of being the next holder of One For All. This is a surprise to both the audience and Izuku as until this point, we all assumed All Might did have a Quirk even before gaining One For All. It helps flesh out his character more by letting us see that he was both very much like Izuku in the beginning and that he is a lot more human than god than we initially thought. Things like this help bring characters like All Might down to earth in ways we couldn’t have imagined in the beginning.
The lengths All Might is willing to go is a testament to how much of a hero he is. He’s not just a hero by physically saving people from danger. He’s a hero because he saves people spiritually as well. It is seen mostly with Izuku and Bakugo, but throughout the series in general, All Might become a mentor to the people around him both young and old. He gives advice to his students that will help them both in battle and in their personal lives. He guides those around him towards a better path be it towards self-healing or towards redemption. He watches these people grow into better heroes and better heroes. This growth is influenced by him as All Might has impacted all their lives even just a little bit. All Might’s impact is why his retirement was so sad; its why people look up to him so much and still love him to this day. A hero is someone who saves people physically, mentally, and spiritually. All Might is a hero who does all three.
Shoto Todoroki:
Image: Shoto Todoroki
Now, on to the more complex characters of the series. Let’s begin with my favorite character, Shoto Todoroki. If I had to pinpoint a protagonist with in the series the most tragic backstory, Shoto would be the first on my list. Shoto is a stoic, socially inept, closed-off, good looking boy. He comes off as the bad boy/edgy boy of the group of kids we’re introduced to at the beginning. Very cold and calculating, but still has the goal of being a hero. His Quirk is called Half-Cold Half-Hot (yes, I think the name’s dumb too…), so one would probably think that his cold demeanor reflects his Quirk the same way that Bakugo’s Quirk reflects his explosive personality. The same goes for his physical appearance as he has hair that is half-red and half-white, he has heterochromia (one grey eye and one turquoise eye), and finally the large red mark on the left side of his face. There are Quirks out there that can result in some sort of mutation and sometimes the mutation isn’t a part of the Quirk itself. Shoto falls into the latter category. As his story develops, so does his character and the truth behind his past. Let’s dive into that.
At the beginning, we don’t know much about Shoto. We know he’s introverted, doesn’t intend to make many friends, and is inanely powerful to the point where he can end a battle in seconds just by freezing them in place. His character truly shines in the Sports Festival Arc. For some clarity, the Sports Festival is a large tournament for all students at UA. Students complete with each other to see who’s the best. Shoto comes into this competition with the intention to win the whole thing using only his ice; his right side. Throughout the arc, Shoto repeatedly notes that he will never us his fire; his left side. We’re not 100% why this is at this point, but it is implied to have to do with conflict with his father, Endeavor, the #2 hero right behind All Might. So far, we’ve seen him use his ice with incredible control enough to freeze a building, a giant robot, and several students to the ground with little to no effort. The only time he’s used his fire so far was when he was so intimidated by Izuku’s power that he had to think fast and his fire was his best offence.
After facing off against Izuku, Shoto brings the two of them to an empty hallway to try to learn the truth about Izuku. In a small moment of hilarity, Shoto thinks that Izuku is All Might’s secret love child which is half true as their Quirks are the same, but have no blood relation. Shoto sees Izuku as his main rival at this point because they’re trained by the #2 and #1 heroes respectively. Then all of a sudden, Shoto explains pieces of his backstory. His father, Endeavor, is obsessed with becoming the #1 hero. He believed that if he couldn’t accomplish this himself, he would bore a child who could achieve this goal for him. To do that, he payed off a Shoto’s mother’s family because his mother, Rei Todoroki, had an ice Quirk that would complement Endeavor’s fire Quirk. If their Quirks could be inherited 50/50 to a child, that child would have no weaknesses as they could cool themselves down if they’re overheating or warm themselves up if they’re close to getting frostbite. It boils down to Shoto being born from eugenics. Endeavor “made” Shoto… He created him… We are assumed that the minute Shoto’s Quirk manifested, Endeavor put him through a lot of brutal training to the point of both physical and mental abuse. Unfortunately, Shoto wasn’t the only victim of abuse in his family as his family, more prominently his mother, were affected as well (we’ll get more into this one later). In fact, Rei was abused so badly by Endeavor that she suffered a mental breakdown and poured boiling water on Shoto’s left side of his face because it reminded her too much of her husband. After that, Rei was sent to a psychiatric hospital, kept there to this day, and Shoto was forced to endure his training while everyone else just watched or was unable to do anything to stop it.
That last paragraph was a lot to take it… But, thankfully it explains why Shoto is the way he is. He isn’t edgy and closed off just because. He had a horrible childhood full of abuse and resentment towards his father. He clearly still loves his mother as he keeps using what is basically her Quirk, but hates his father by refusing what is basically his Quirk. Shoto refuses to use his left side in order to get back at Endeavor for all the horrific things he did in the past. And who can blame him. Now we, the audience, know the full story and probably hates Endeavor just as much as Shoto does. Some people would probably agree with Shoto that he shouldn’t use his left side to spite his father. Anything to make the #2 hero mad.
And, we’re meant to think this until the big battle between Shoto and Izuku during the actual tournament. It happens in the first set of the second round. Shoto is still using his ice to attack Izuku long range, but Izuku is counteracting by flicking his fingers hard enough so he can create powerful wind pressures to break the ice while also breaking each finger. Izuku does this until all the fingers on both hands and his left arm are broken. But, thanks to his inhuman high-tolerance to pain, Izuku is able to keep fighting and use his broken bones (it’s brutal in the animé, but more so in the manga). Izuku then realizes something: he wants Shoto to give it his all; to “give it all you got!”. This includes his fire. Izuku wants Shoto to use his left side. At first, we’re made to think it’s because it wouldn’t be a fair fight if the two young heroes didn’t fight with all their power. They got this far in the competition for a reason. After Izuku gets some good hits on Shoto, Shoto is still incredibly reluctant to use his father’s power until Izuku shouts “It’s yours! Your Quirk, not his!!!” Hearing these words trigger a flashback into Shoto’s past. He’s a 5-year old beaten to the point where he threw up and his mother is hit by Endeavor for trying to protect him. We also see what happened when Rei snapped after seeing Shoto and the poor, bandaged, young Shoto after Rei is sent to a mental hospital. It’s all very sad to watch. But then, Shoto remembers words that both is mother and All Might said one day when they were watching All Might on TV. That it’s ok for Shoto to be a hero and that is Quirk truly is his own. He is not bound by blood. He can use his fire as his own power; not his father’s. Realizing this, Shoto has a revelation about himself, uses his fire to its fullest extent, and we finally see that Izuku had intended to save Shoto from the very beginning of the match. By helping Shoto see that his Quirk is his own, he essentially broke the shackles that restrained Shoto for a decade. Shoto is now free to follow his own path with his own power. He can truly become the hero he always dreamt of being.
With his full power unlocked, Shoto beats Izuku in battle by launching a devastating blow that knocks Izuku out of bounds and unconscious. But, even after this, Shoto still isn’t sure about his left side. He makes it to the last round against Bakugo without using his fire. And when he is backed into a corner and forced to use it, he blows it out and essentially surrenders the match. The reason why he suddenly stopped using his fire (encouraged by Izuku in the stands, being the hero he is) is because he suddenly flashes back to his past. He hasn’t gotten over his trauma yet. And, how could he? Shoto’s last battle against Izuku was only an hour ago at best. This whole tournament take place over the course of a day. It would be unrealistic for someone to get over a decade of trauma that easily. My Hero Academia may be fiction, but it’s fiction that takes real world issues seriously such as trauma, ostracization, superiority complexes, etc. It’s going to be a very long time for Shoto to heal from his past. Thankfully, he can still heal. That begins with reconciling with his mom after not seeing her for about 10 years. That’s his starting line to both recovery and to being a hero.
Shoto starts to warm up quite a bit after the Sports Festival. He’s still stoic and introverted, but he now has friends. Izuku was his first friend as he saved Shoto and this is Shoto’s way of returning the favor. He has also become good friends with Iida after helping him fight Stain. The three hang out with each other quite a bit and they eat together during lunch on a daily basis. He starts to get along with his other classmates as well, including Bakugo who also sees Shoto as his rival. Shoto is more open to teamwork, hanging out with friends, and doing normal things that he wasn’t able to do before due to being shut off from a lot of normal life. You can even tell by his actions that Shoto has softened up. His expressions are more content than angry. He even smiles unlike before, though it’s still rare. His tone has calmed down significantly. He is more content with things and will even give his friends advice when needed. He’s even become sort of a comic relief character due to him taking everything literally. It’s refreshing to see Shoto grow into a kid learning how to live life like everyone else. He’s free to do what he wants now and no longer has those restraints to tie him back. He can truly learn and grow like he should’ve to begin with.
Endeavor:
Image: Endeavor
Even with Shoto’s growth comes conflict. Here is where we make the connection with the relationship between Shoto and his Father, Endeavor. As mentioned before, Endeavor was a horrible father and husband. He was an abusive man who only had eyes for the goal put upon Shoto to one day surpass All Might. Nothing else mattered to him; not even his kids. Yes, kids plural. Shoto has 3 siblings: his big sister (2nd oldest), Fuyumi, his big brother (3rd oldest), Natsuo, and the oldest sibling, Touya who is presumed either dead or missing. Shoto and his siblings were born with the intent of “creating” a kid who balances both of his parents Quirks. It took Endeavor 4 tires to get that right. Shoto’s older siblings basically became fodder to Endeavor, especially once Shoto was born. His siblings were neglected and worried about Shoto as there wasn’t really anything they could do about the abuse. In fact, according to their biography pages in the manga, they still feel guilty about it to this day. And since their mother was out of the house too, the three kids basically had to fend for themselves a lot. Just typing this is honestly making me angry. The more you think about the Todoroki family, the worse it gets. I already have theories into what exactly happened in that household and none of them have good endings. I’ll leave the Todoroki’s past to your interpretation, but I think that we can all agree that pre-Sports Festival Endeavor was the absolute worst.
Post-Sports Festival Endeavor is where his character gets interesting. When his character is introduced, Endeavor is portrayed as this giant flaming ball of rage. We see a darker side of him when Shoto’s past is revealed. With these observations combined, we start to wonder why Endeavor is considered a hero in the first place when he could easily be placed in the category of villainy. During the Stain arc, however, we actually see Endeavor in action for the first time as he saves civilians and beats the villains with ease. He does it in a way that is both efficient and cool looking. It is here where most of us probably thought something along the lines of, “He’s a piece of crap person, but he is a good hero”. This is where the characters within the story and the audience kind of have to see these two sides of Endeavor as separate characters. Even Shoto says, “My old man is a scumbag, but a scumbag with the judgement and instincts of the #2 Hero. And I can acknowledge that”.
This acknowledgement leads to the question of how Endeavor can possibly improve himself. Not just as a hero, but as a person now that he is officially the #1 hero. After the events of Kamino and All Might’s retirement, Endeavor finally got his wish to be #1. The problem is, is that Endeavor didn’t feel like he earned that spot. Really, the only reason why he finally made it to the top was because All Might had no choice but to leave the life of a Pro Hero. It’s similar to how Bakugo was mad about winning the Sports Festival Tournament because Shoto gave up his match too. Neither victory felt earned. With this in mind, Endeavor wonders how he’s going to fill in All Might’s shoes as the world’s new Symbol. He asks All Might this and All Might basically tells Endeavor that he has to become his own Symbol. Endeavor has to figure out how he wants the world to see him as no one. If the world can’t see Endeavor as a hero they can rely on, then the world won’t have a leader to look up to.
This revelation gives Endeavor something to reflect on. After talking with All Might and watching Shoto train, he resolves to try to redeem himself. He wants to become someone who can truly be seen as a hero in the public’s eyes and as a father/husband in his family’s eyes. This is big coming from Endeavor. The man who was blindly ambitious towards his goal to the point where he would abuse his family to achieve it wants to make it up for what he did in the past. We learn later that Endeavor is still fully aware of the sins he committed to get where he is and that though he regrets them, he knows he can’t take that back. He needs to pay for his sins. The only thing he can truly do now is accept that and move forward. He also knows that he may not fully be forgiven by anyone. His daughter, Fuyumi, is the closest one to that point. She tries to be friendly towards her father and try to avoid as much conflict as possible. Though none of this is an act, she does all of this in hopes to have a real family. It’s unfortunately hard to do this as the conflict within her family weighs heavy on all of them. For Fuyumi, that’s her regrets over not being able to help Shoto. It’s implied that Rei feels the same. Her younger brother, Natsuo, is on the opposite side when it comes to their father. Natsuo will not forgive Endeavor and probably never will. He is angry at his father for abusing Shoto and their mother; for neglecting his other children; for “killing” their oldest brother, Touya. Natsuo can’t even have family dinner next to his father without feeling so uncomfortable that he wants to leave without saying goodbye. Shoto is in between. He sees his father for the hero he is. He knows the good Endeavor has done for the world. But that doesn’t distract from the horrible things he did to Shoto. A decade of abuse doesn’t just leave. It could take years for one to even remotely recover from that. Shoto is still only taking his first steps towards that. It seems like he wants to forgive his father, but he isn’t sure how or when. He’s waiting for the right time to do that. It seems like it will still take some time for Shoto to reach that point.
With all this in mind, Endeavor knows what he can do for now for his family. That thing being giving his family their own separate home and him living alone in his own home. Basically, Endeavor is going to separate himself from his family so that they can live a happy life without him. This is a big move. It’s an important one too. Shoto’s family deserves to be happy. They deserve to not have their father’s presence haunt them every time he enters the house. Them being able to experience a life without their father at home is probably the best solution right now. Endeavor may be invited back in one day, but until then, it’s best that he pays for the sins he committed and puts in every amount of effort he can to make things somewhat right again. I, myself, am interested to see where Horikoshi will take this plotline because it’s one of the best in the series.
Tomura Shigaraki:
Image: Tomura Shigaraki
And finally, we get to our last character. The main villain of the story. The big bad: Tomura Shigaraki. This 20-something young man is the reason why everything is going to hell in the current arc. Shigaraki doesn’t come off as intimidating at first. He’s introduced as this thin, scrawny man with no real leadership skills. He’s like a kid throwing a temper tantrum. The thing that makes him as intimidating as he is, is Quirk and his conviction. Shigaraki’s Quirk is called Decay. If he touches anything with all 5 fingers on either of his hands, that thing will start to crumble into dust. This could range from anything to a cellphone to a human being. And the minute Shigaraki touches something, it will not stop disintegrating unless whatever is disintegrating is cut off before it spreads. So, let’s say Shigaraki touches someone’s leg and that leg starts to decay. That person could actually save their own life by cutting off that leg before the Decay starts to spread through the rest of their body. It’s a large sacrifice, but it will keep that person alive. Then there’s Shigaraki’s conviction to destroy Hero Society. He sees Heroes as nothing but a nuisance at first. He wants to get rid of them so that he and All For One can rule. Then as the series continues, he understands that All Might is the reason why things are the way they are. If the villains can get rid of All Might, the one pillar holding society up high, they can cause a massive collapse in the world. Heroes will have no one to lead them and people will lose faith in heroes. No Heroes means villains can run free as they so desire.
Shigaraki develops slowly as the series continues until the My Villain Academia arc where his development really takes its stride. This arc is considered one of the best arcs in the series by many. This is mainly due to this whole arc focusing on the villains and their characters as opposed to the heroes. This meant that about 20+ chapters were dedicated to the antagonists of the series without much of a cameo from any of the protagonists except for maybe one very small panel. So, for this arc, we got to learn about most of the villain’s backstories, motivations, and the reason why they are who they are. Shigaraki, by far, gets the most development and it is definitely the darkest the series has ever gotten. We’re talking straight up psychological and violent horror. No one would ever have predicted this at the beginning of the series.
To start off, Shigaraki and his band of villains (The League of Villains) are fighting against another group of villains called The Liberation Army lead by Re-Destro. The Liberation Army are a large group of people (about 100,000+) who all believe that they should be able to use their Quirks whenever and however they want. No rules or laws banning them. Just full-blown chaos. The League doesn’t necessarily want to stop their cause, but the Army does have one of the League’s member’s held hostage. So, it becomes a rescue mission for the League. I would cover all the battles in this arc, but that would make this essay WAY longer than it is, so I’m just going to skip to the main battle of the arc: Re-Destro Vs. Shigaraki.
These two face against each other as the cards are thrown on the table. Shigaraki tries to decay Re-Destro by crumbling the ground below them to get the Decay to spread to his feet and he tries to get close so he can Decay Re-Destro through straight contact. Re-Destro, on the other hand, is fighting against Shigaraki with his strength-enhancing Quirk called Stress. Basically, the more stress Re-Destro builds up, the more he can transfer that into pure physical strength. With this power, Re-Destro easily punches Shigaraki several feet away, and even crushes and plucks two figures off his left hand. It seems like there’s no way that Shigaraki can beat him until he suddenly has an Awakening. After being pushed to the very edge, Shigaraki’s mental state starts to open up some closed off memories that he sealed off after the events of what happened. Buckle up, because this is important and I need to summarize it to dive into Shigaraki’s character.
Tomura Shigaraki’s backstory begins with him as a child where he was known as Tenko Shimura. He has been sent back home with a man after getting in trouble for playing “Heroes” with friends. At first, it seems like some innocent act that would get a scolding at worse, but Tenko’s punishment is much worse than that. His father, Kotaro Shimura, is the son on All Might’s mentor, Nana Shimura. Nana had to leave Kotaro to another family because she feared that Kotaro would be killed alongside Nana if All For One ever found them. Nana had good intentions for her family, but her actions had negative results. Kotaro knew of what his mother did and why she did it, but he also grew a hatred of Heroes because of it since, in Kotaro’s eyes, Nana abandoned him and robbed him of a happy family. This anger grew with Kotaro up to adulthood. Because of this, Kotaro banned any mention of Heroes in his home and anytime they were brought up, someone would be punished. For young Tenko, it would be physical abuse and abandonment. Sometimes, Tenko would be sent to sit alone in the backyard crying. No one was allowed to help him.
Thankfully, he did have support outside of his father. More prominently, his mother and his sister, Hana, supported his dream to become a hero. They loved him and wanted Tenko to follow his dream. Even Hana showed Tenko a photo of Nana their dad hid in his study. This made Tenko so happy. It fueled his ambition to become a hero even more. He truly believed he could walk down the path of a hero. Even in the panels, Tenko looks like a young Izuku. In fact, along with appearances, they had the same drive for heroism, and love for All Might. It truly shows that these two characters are two sides of the same coin.
And then everything goes downhill from there. Hana, out of fear of being hit by her father, rats Tenko out and their dad walks up and hits Tenko multiple times as punishment for sneaking into his study and discovering Nana’s picture. Kotaro looks back at a letter that his late mother gave him and starts to regret becoming the abusive man he is as he ended up not fulfilling Nana’s wish of her son having a happy family. Unfortunately, it’s far too late to repair the damage. Tenko sits outside again hugging the family dog, Mon-chan. He’s crying tears of hatred. Now he doesn’t hate his father, he hates everyone. When Tenko was being hit, none of his family members stepped in to stop him. No matter how supportive they were towards Tenko, they were complicit in the abuse as well. They could’ve held Kotaro back from hitting his kids, but they never did. All they said were words of comfort. This ended up being not enough. Their words were not as effective as the actions they choose not to take.
With all this hatred built up, Tenko’s Quirk manifests. Mon-Chan is whimpering in pain as he slowly crumbles apart. Not even into dust, but into chunks of flesh and blood. Tenko opens his eyes and sees the remains of his dog in its own pool of blood as Tenko starts to throw up in fear and disgust. Then, Hana comes over to apologize to Tenko. Tenko tries to warn his sister that he thinks a villain is attacking him and that she needs to run. He isn’t even sure that he killed Mon-chan because he’s so panicked. He just wants to get him and his sister to safety. Unfortunately, because of his Quirk and because of the panic, Tenko is unable to speak. He fails to warn Hana of the danger in front of them. Hana walks closer to Tenko and immediately sees their dead dog. She screams in terror and starts to run away in fear. Tenko, begging his sister to stay to protect him, grabs his sister with his hands and she starts to decay too. Cracks start to form across her body; blood seeps out from her skin; Hana’s no longer able to scream. She crumbles away just like the family dog.
Tenko’s maternal grandmother, grandfather, and mother hear Hana’s scream. They run out to see what’s wrong only to see Hana and their dog dead. Tenko is in even more distress before. He starts to crawl over to his mother for comfort, but his hands touch the ground and the Decay spreads across the backyard and ultimately touches the Shimura family. They all start to Decay too. Despite the pain she is suffering, Tenko’s mother tries to run towards her son to hug him in hopes of calming him down. By the time she’s close to reaching him, it’s too late and she dies. Tenko’s grandparents soon fall to the same fate. Finally, Kotaro hears the chaos. He walks to the backyard and looks at the gruesome scene in horror. Tenko is still looking for someone to help him. He crawls over to his father desperate for help. Even though Kotaro is Tenko’s abuser, he is still his father and Tenko needs him in this desperate moment. Instead of helping his son, Kotaro does probably the worst thing he could’ve done: he grabs a gardening tool and hits Tenko over the head with it in hopes that it would knock his son out. It doesn’t work. Tenko is furious at his father. He willingly runs towards his father and touches him with his hands, fully intending to kill Kotaro for everything he’s done. With Kotaro dead, Tenko Shimura is dead and Tomura Shigaraki is born.
There’s more to Shigaraki’s story, but I’ve talked about it for over 3 pages and I don’t think I need to make this essay any more messed up than it already is. But, quickly, after he kills his family, Tenko is homeless, AFO finds him, and grooms him into a villain full of hatred. I think what strikes me about Shigaraki’s backstory is that so many things didn’t have to be this way. Had Nana not abandoned Kotaro and had Kotaro not have turned as abusive as he did, Shigaraki could’ve had a good life. In fact, he could’ve become a good hero. His Quirk may be destructive, but it could have some uses such as creating holes in walls, floors, and ceilings for creative entrances or escapes, decay shields the enemy might create, or even trap a villain by leaving them stranded on a concrete island. When used and trained correctly, any Quirk, no matter how villainous they may seem, can be used for good. What stinks about Nana’s situation in particular is that she really didn’t have much of a choice in whether to keep Tenko or not. Her husband was murdered and AFO actively wanted her dead. He most likely would’ve killed Tenko without any hesitation if he found him. Nana left her son to save his life, but that only lead to Kotaro’s anger, and ultimately Tenko’s birth into a villain.
Conclusion:
Image: My Hero Academia OP 7
For the past 29+ pages, I’ve talked about the most important and complex characters Kohei Horikoshi has given us over the past 6 years and counting. I’ve gone over our brave holder of One For All: Izuku Midoriya; the aggressively determined yet insecure: Katsuki Bakugo; the broken boy with a heart of gold: Shoto Todoroki; the fragile Symbol of Peace himself: All Might; the #1 Hero on the path to redemption: Endeavor; and the innocent boy turned King of Villains: Tomura Shigaraki. These are the big players of My Hero Academia. These are the people who we will follow until the end. There are so many other characters I can write about as well. Eijiro Kirishima, Ochako Uraraka, Tenya Iida, and Mirio Togata are the first that come to mind because their stories are important to their characters and the development too. But, that would add 15+ pages to this already long essay. My point is that each character, both major and minor, stands out and have some sort of story behind them. Horikoshi crafts his characters with love and care that any of them could come into the forefront of the story, even if it’s just for a portion of an arc. Characters turkey are the elements of a series that drive its story home from beginning to end. Everything rides on their shoulders. A character who feels like they had literal years of development to learn and grow are the most rewarding ones of them all. So, lets continue to watch them grow.
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