There have been plenty of anime series in the past decade that have earned the title of modern classic, surpassing others in terms of popularity, critical acclaim, and longevity. My Hero Academia easily makes the list, creating one of the most well-rounded superhero anime series ever put to screen. The show combines aspects of both the action and fantasy genres, with a massive cast of characters who all have their respective roles to play in the story’s vast narrative.
Quite a few of these characters are enrolled in U.A. High School, the academy where prospective heroes go to train their powers and learn how to become legitimate superheroes. It’s where our protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, becomes the greatest hero of his time alongside a slew of friends. While more than enough students get their chance to shine in terms of Quirk capability and prowess, there are a handful who never received the spotlight, or at the very least didn’t have the extent of their potential explored. In this list, we’ll look at seven U.A. students who had more to offer than the anime allowed.
7) Itsuka Kendo
Itsuka Kendo is a member of Class 1-B in U.A. High School, essentially used as a rival comparison against the students of Class 1-A. Kendo is regarded as the face and spokesperson of Class 1-B and is often looked at as possessing strong leadership qualities that make her a reliable potential hero. Her parallel rival is Momo from Class 1-A, though their relationship remains very friendly and supportive despite this fact.
While Kendo is usually cited for her amicable personality and ability to control the members of her class, she doesn’t get the credit she deserves for her relatively strong Quirk, Big First. This Quirk allows Kendo to grow the size of her hands and deal devastatingly strong blows. Big Fist also grants Kendo grappling and gripping capabilities, as well as an enhanced impact force in up-close combat. She might not have the overall range of some stronger class members, but Kendo has more or less proven that the strength she possesses with her activated Quirk could easily make her a formidable Pro Hero.
6) Ibara Shiozaki
Ibara Shiozaki is another member of Class 1-B who doesn’t get as much screen time as some of her more vocal student counterparts. Despite this, Shiozaki has one of the most memorable character designs thanks to her bright green hair in the form of thick vines. Her general personality is also incongruent with the typical hero in My Hero Academiadue to Shiozaki’s pacifist nature compelling her to avoid fighting unless necessary or provoked.
Her Quirk is called Vines, which allows Shiozaki to manipulate the vines of her long hair. She’s able to extend, shorten, detach, and manipulate the thickness and shape of these vines through her own willpower. A great example of Shiozaki’s potential is shown during her fight against Kaminari when she creates a massive shield out of her hair to bind the other elementalist. Shiozaki’s Quirk has a high potential for both offensive and defensive maneuvers, a trait that’s useful to have on the field in real-life combat.
5) Hitoshi Shinso
Hitoshi Shinso quickly became a fan-favorite among the U.A. students after his first appearance, despite not technically being part of any hero course. Shinso’s greatest desire was to overcome the stigma of his Quirk and train with the other students, aiming to become Pro Heroes after graduation, a goal which he eventually manages to accomplish with the help of Aizawa. His journey shows Shinso’s dedication to hero work, along with his dedication towards training and perfecting his craft despite his outwardly stoic nature.
Shinso’s Quirk is called Brainwashing, a pretty straightforward ability that sounds similar to what it is. Essentially, Shinso can control a person’s actions after they verbally respond to him when his Quirk is activated with intent. It’s been shown that he can control multiple people at one time, though he can only activate the Quirk on one person at a time, which comes with drawbacks in terms of efficiency. After getting new gear, Shinso can mimic others’ voices with his vocal chords to influence getting an answer that will trigger his Quirk, making it far more easy to utilize during high-tension battles.
4) Momo Yaoyorozu
Yaoyorozu Momo is a supporting character of Class 1-A who often acts as a means of morality and leadership among the students. She is elected as vice president of Class 1-A, a role that Yaoyorozu takes very seriously, along with her heroic work. Generally, she’s depicted as level-headed, dependable, steadfast, and hardworking in all she does, striving to become a better version of herself throughout her internship portion of U.A. After the manga’s time skip years after the Final War, it’s revealed that Yaoyorozu is in the top twenty ranked Pro Heroes.
Her ranking makes sense when considering Yaoyorozu’s Quirk, otherwise known as Creation. This Quirk boosts Yaoyorozu’s overall strength considerably, with a utility that easily beats almost all other Quirks in the anime despite being downplayed and overlooked in terms of usefulness. With Creation, she can create any non-living item from the structure of her body’s fat cells, essentially turning her into a weapon/tool factory on the field. While Yaoyorozu’s Quirk does depend on her food intake, as she burns the fat in her body to make objects, that hardly takes away from how versatile and unique her Quirk makes her.
3) Neito Monoma
Neito Monoma spends so long being portrayed as a minor antagonist towards Class 1-A that his overall strength and flexibility in battle were overlooked. As a member of Class 1-B, Monoma often felt jealous of the rival class due to the attention they garnered after the U.S.J. Incident, causing his own class to be overlooked; this resulted in Monoma becoming openly mocking and derisive around Class 1-A members, while he’s shown to be generally intelligent and well-meaning when interacting with Class 1-B. After the war, he managed to slide into the spot of the Number 10 Pro Hero in the rankings.
Monoma’s Quirk is named Copy, a power that allows him to duplicate another individual’s Quirk after touching them. His ability allows Monoma to contain four Quirks within himself at the same time, while his usage runs out after ten minutes for each Quirk. Though there are limits to how quickly Monoma can switch Quirks out and possess the borrowed Quirk, at the end of the day, he’s able to steal and utilize a range of powerful abilities that can be used against whoever he’s fighting. It’s an insanely overpowered Quirk, which is shown in how crucial Monoma becomes during the story’s final war arc where he copies Kurogiri’s warp technique.
2) Denki Kaminari
Denki Kaminari is one of the prime examples of lost potential in My Hero Academia. The class clown of Class 1-A is beloved by many fans of the franchise for his sense of humor, fighting style, and close relationship with some of the main cast. Kaminari is often the comic relief of the anime, though he’s shown to be a loyal, genuine friend to those he cares about. He’s part of Bakugo’s friend group among other students like Kirishima, Sero, and Mina, which means his progress and strength is often compared to their achievements.
Kaminari’s Quirk is Electrification, which allows him to store and release electricity, and should make him one of the strongest U.A. students from the start. Todoroki remains one of the most overpowered characters in the series, and he also shares an elemental-based power with very few drawbacks to his technique and Quirk usage. Manipulating electricity is a very strong ability, but Kaminari is usually stripped of his potential due to his Quirk frying his brain, or the fact that he can’t actually control the output of his Quirk. While he has some accomplishments that show growth and how strong he could be, My Hero Academia never allows Kaminari to reach the level of his counterparts.
1) Ochaco Uraraka
Ochaco Uraraka is the hidden tragedy of My Hero Academia because she should be able to solo most of the villains the group faces on her own with her Quirk, and yet she’s eternally sidelined for other characters. She starts the series with a strong drive to become a Pro Hero in the hopes of supporting her family, who struggle with money, though her worldview quickly grows to wanting to help everyone who needs her assistance. Ochaco is strong enough that during the Sports Festival, in her fight against Bakugo, he acknowledges how strong and serious an opponent she actually is.
With all the makings of a great character, Ochaco falls short for the fact she’s horribly underutilized in the story. Her Quirk is Zero Gravity, allowing Ochaco to nullify gravity on the objects she touches, though she has a weight limit of three tons and overusing her Quirk causes severe nausea. Despite this, the ability to control and manipulate gravity can be so overpowered; compare Ochaco to Chuuya Nakahara from Bungo Stray Dogs, who has essentially the same power, the ability to manipulate the gravity of what he touches, something that makes him one of the heavy-hitters in the entire series. There’s no reason, even without her eventual Awakening, that Ochaco couldn’t have been featured more in fights, either as an offensive or defensive assist.
Have you watched My Hero Academia? Tell us which heroes you think are the strongest in the comments below.
