My Hero Academia
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Major Characters
- Katsuki Bakugo, despite continuously winning popularity polls, is easily the most divisive character in the series, with very little middle ground between those who love him and those who hate him.
- Many fans consider Bakugo to be one of the best-written and most interesting characters, not just in My Hero Academia but in all of shonen manga. Highlights cited by these fans include his badassery in the fights he partakes in, such as his fights with Midoriya, Todoroki and Uraraka during the manga's Tournament Arc. Also, his Jerk with a Heart of Gold personality is written where, despite his rudeness (which is often Played for Laughs, with some fans calling him one of the funniest characters in the manga), he is shown to care for his classmates, especially Kirishima. Helping that, he is very handsome and is a Launcher of a Thousand Ships only behind Midoriya himself, with a particularly large female fanbase.
- Those who dislike Bakugo argue that he's an inconsistently-written, unlikable Jerkass with anger issues, who's rarely called out for his behavior (if at all) and who ends up Easily Forgiven for all his years of bullying against Midoriya towards the end of the series. The fact that it took him so long to apologize for all the time he spent harassing Midoriya, even after undergoing Character Development, is a particular sticking point. Also, his Suicide Dare to Izuku in the first episode is seen as an act so extreme that none of his later actions come close to redeeming him (for what is worth, Horikoshi admitted regret about writing that scene). Others say his Freudian Excuse for being a bully is weak, and doesn't justify Bakugo wanting to maim Midoriya, who was never anything but nice to him. Other smaller points include Bakugo's habit of striking Midoriya in a rage (and Midoriya never really seeming to care), launching deadly attacks at him with a flimsy excuse in the Battle Trial Arc, and his other massive freakouts that lasted at least until the Provisional Hero License Exam Arc. As such, those who dislike Bakugo see him less as an Anti-Hero and more as a glorified bully whose awful acts are treated too lightly by the narrative.
- There are also a number of people who dislike Bakugo for meta reasons regarding his popularity, rather than any reason within the text itself. Another set of people believe that Bakugo receives favoritism from Horikoshi, who admitted to liking Bakugo more than Midoriya, and hate him due to Midoriya's seemingly never-ending worship of him, complete emotional indifference to Bakugo flat out beating on him and attempting to harm him, and constant yammering about what an "amazing" person Bakugo is simply because he has a powerful Quirk and a determination to be the best. To some, it's almost as if Horikoshi is using Midoriya as a mouthpiece to shill his seemingly favored character, which doesn't help a general belief that Bakugo gets a certain amount of undeserved Character Shilling.
- Enji "Endeavor" Todoroki rivals Bakugo in terms of divisiveness. Though he started out as hateable Glory Hound and a horrible parent, he still managed to get fans because Evil Is Cool. However, what truly made him controversial in eyes of fans was him getting a redemption arc. Some fans are disgusted that the story would try to redeem someone who had severely abused his family for years, as such abuse would normally be treated as a Moral Event Horizon. Others like the idea of Endeavor becoming a morally complex, three-dimensional character who realizes the gravity of his misdeeds (something that, as his defenders point out, the likes of Tomura Shigaraki or Dabi don't realize). It should be noted that this controversy is mainly featured in the West.
- Despite his cool design and interesting skillset, Shota Aizawa/Eraser Head has led to a few divisions among fans:
- Those who like him see him as a realist who is only harsh in the way that he is because he wants to prepare his students for a career path fraught with constant danger. His Kick the Dog moments are tempered into Jerkass Has a Point, rightfully pointing out that Midoriya's Quirk is Awesome, but Impractical and could cause problems when a part of a team, and even then his tendency to focus on Midoriya is because no one thought to inform him about the true nature of his Quirk. Some of his defenders also acknowledge his flaws, as mentioned below, but contend that he isn't meant to be seen as a perfect or even very good teacher. Those who like him also like him due to him taking care of Eri giving him the nickname “Dadzawa”. Defenders also say he's only hard on his students because he cares about them, and that he ultimately let those who participated in the Bakugo rescue mission off with a warning. Many of his fans argue that any perceived inconsistencies in his behavior can be explained as him warming up to his students over the course of the series.
- Those who dislike him, especially in the West, think that his methods and his belief in The Spartan Way borders on unreasonable. Some say he acts as though he can guess if a student is a prodigy or a lost cause on the first day based on whether they can throw a ball and touch their toes in a flashy way, expecting his students to have 100% control of their powers in a society that forbids them to use their Quirks in public areas. Detractors also bring up that he neglected to teach them important facts for high-stress situations under the assumption that they'll figure it out at the last second and neglected to give his students proper psychiatric help after they are forced into many life-or-death situations on his watch. Additionally, it has been pointed out that in a society like Japan, his tendency to expel students at the drop of a hat is not only cruel, but can be incredibly devastating to the expelled students in the long run. Even after it's revealed that Aizawa re-enrolled the expelled students, one of them points out that the expulsions will still be on their permanent records. Some people also dislike him for threatening to expel almost the entire class over five of them taking part in an unauthorized mission to rescue Bakugo, since 1) the mission not only succeeded, but also did not involve any direct combat with the villains, and 2) rather than willingly turning a blind eye to their classmates' actions, the other students didn't necessarily know that their classmates actually went through with the rescue until later (as Tsuyu points out). To some, it's odd that he would threaten to expel the students who rescued one of their classmates illegally, but not the U.A. traitor who directly endangered the entire class and allowed for Bakugo's kidnapping in the first place by leaking information (albeit under duress).
- Neito Monoma. Those who like him think his over-the-top Large Ham Anti-Hero personality is hilarious and like to see there is more to him beneath his jerkass attitude, while those who dislike him see him as an Attention Whore Glory Hound who likes to act as if Class 1-A is to blame for all the trouble they faced since the year started (like when he acted as if the students asked to be attacked at the USJ, or by the Hero Killer, or when during the Joint Training arc he blamed Bakugo for letting himself be captured and cause All Might to retire, something Bakugo already felt) in order to be center of attention. Some people go further and say that Monoma doesn't care about helping improve 1-B, at least until he can benefit from it in some way.
- Sir Nighteye as well. Some see him as major Control Freak and Jerkass who groomed Mirio to be a vessel to One for All without a thought or care about the boy's feelings in the matter and went as far as to harass a teenager (who already has a very low self-esteem) in order to get things his way. The fact that he insulted Midoriya about being Quirkless, while All Might himself was Quirkless before getting One for All, only made him a massive Hypocrite in the eyes of the fans. Some people also didn't take kindly to him chiding Midoriya and Mirio for wanting to rescue Eri right away on the basis that it could potentially ruin a long term plan to bring Overhaul down implying that he considered her safety an afterthought. Others see him as a man desperate to save his best friend and his legacy and just willing to go to extreme lengths to do so, but deeply regrets being in such a position. Regardless of how one feels about him however, most were devastated by his death.
Villains
- Originally an Ensemble Dark Horse for the beloved arc he debuted in and for presenting some valid criticisms of hero society, Stain began to fall out of favor with a significant portion of the fanbase after a deeper introspection of both his character and ideals, particularly after his origins were explored in the Vigilantes spin-off. Supporters view him as an Evil Is Cool character that raised some valid issues and was right in some of his beliefs, as the narrative itself supports. Detractors, however, consider him a massive hypocrite with little ground to stand on, and that the narrative vindicating some of his beliefs comes across as absurd. However, there seems to be less of a problem about Stain's character and more of a problem about his ideology, which is detailed in Broken Base.
- Dabi is the most divisive amongst the League of Villains. Initially unanimously popular for his interesting design, Evil Is Cool factor, and Mysterious Past making him a good source of Fanfic Fuel, he fell into this once he was ultimately revealed to be Toya Todoroki and explained his motivations. Although almost everyone understands his desire for revenge on Endeavor, who's already a very controversial Base-Breaking Character amongst the fandom, there are heated debates as to how sympathetic he truly is.
- Detractors find it hard to sympathize with Dabi as despite how hard his childhood was, he took out his anger on the rest of the Todoroki family, who only ever tried to help him and had nothing to do with the abuse, and even attempted to hurt his baby brother out of pure jealousy. Not to mention he was responsible for Ending abducting and nearly killing Natsuo, Toya's other younger brother, who was the most supportive towards Touya even. Also, while almost all fans agree that Endeavor isn't a good father, some argue that Dabi wanting to murder him is overkill, since Endeavor never acted cruel towards Dabi and that he stopped training Dabi to become a hero once he realized his son was getting burns and he also told Touya to stop using his quirk, but Touya stubbornly continued until he almost got himself killed then blamed his father for it. Furthermore, a lot of his detractors point out that Natsuo and Fuyumi didn't turn out nearly as bad as Touya despite being treated similarly to him and Shoto even received way worse abuse than Touya ever did, yet he still turned out a decent albeit cold individual who never lashed out at innocent people and still appreciated the kindness from the rest of the family. The reveal that Touya did plan to reconcile with his family after waking up from a 3-year long coma, but decided to get revenge against them for moving on with their lives also makes him unsympathetic to many, since his family thought he was dead for 3 years and he knows this, so he shouldn't have been surprised that they didn't search for him and that they were able to move on with their lives. Considering Endeavor was at that time more abusive towards Shoto than he ever was towards Dabi and that Rei was at a mental hospital due to the abuse she received from her husband, they weren't doing much better than him if at all. He also didn't even present himself to the rest of the family, so he didn't even give them a chance to tell him their side of the story and welcome him in their lives again. Adding to this, Endeavor only became distant towards his children besides Shoto and separated Shoto from the rest of his siblings after Touya attempted to murder the youngest, and while nobody argues that Endeavor's decision was right, some consider it more understandable than it is portrayed, since he looks more like a concerned parent, not knowing how to deal with a sociopathic son, rather than the reason for Touya turning evil. Dabi openly admitting to liking killing people who had nothing to do with his family drama adds to this, as it makes him look less like an Antagonistic Offspring who Used to Be a Sweet Kid and more like a Serial Killer hiding behind a Freudian Excuse.
- Dabi's fans find him to be a sympathetic Jerkass Woobie who is a victim of mental illness and neglectful parenting. They accuse detractors of Blaming the Victim, excusing Endeavor's harmful parenting and ignoring the real effects Parental Neglect can have on someone, arguing that just because his father did not abuse him in the same manner as Shoto does not mean he was not also a victim of his parenting. They point out Endeavor does not appear to have made an effort to find any other way to spend quality time with Toya to make up for the training having to end, making it understandable he would feel his father did not love him. They also argue Toya showed signs early on of suffering from some sort of mental illness as opposed to just being an evil child but his parents did not seek professional help for him even when his attack of baby Shoto should have ticked them off that he really needed it. They found it a huge Catharsis Factor for him to expose Endeavor's Domestic Abuse, noting it had to be done regardless of if his intentions or how he went about it were moral. Some even want him to have his revenge on Endeavor and get away with it.
- A lot of this can be attributed to the fact that Dabi's motivations and what Toya was like in the past were subject to much Wild Mass Guessing for years, with the most popular interpretation being that Toya was a loving older brother who, if believed to be Dabi, is motivated to kill Endeavor out of a desire to rescue his siblings from the abuse. Naturally, many fans were disappointed when it turned out Dabi's motivations and what Toya was like both contradicted this long-held interpretation and declared the fanon version of the character better. However, others were pleasantly surprised and found the canon portrayal more interesting than what they expected of the character.
- The Final Battle also sparked up even more heated debates due to him just refusing to die from his own self-destructive powers as either an effective way to not have his family's storyline end with his defeat against Shoto or cause him to become a nonsensically overpowered Invincible Villain who overstayed his welcome.
- All For One, while initially very popular, escalated into this as the story went on. While many liked his Graceful Loser defeat and were satisfied to see him remain imprisoned, All For One's increasing returns to the spotlight in flashback, and later breaking out of Tartarus and possessing Tomura, who was far more well-received by that point, have led him to be far more controversial among fans. While many were overjoyed by the fact his return gives another round to a well-liked villain, other fans feared that All For One was washing away the League's Character Development and banding into True Companions just to do a repeat. This only escalated when All For One continued to stick around further into the story, resisting all attempts by Tomura to finally exorcise him and claim the Big Bad role for himself. Similarly, the slow possible illumination of his true self as a Psychopathic Manchild who has no ambition but sheer sadism, hates losing, and truly does care for nobody is either a fitting arc that definitively shows readers why his brand of evil is shallow and self-serving and lets him truly earn his title of "Symbol of Evil," or a degradation of a complex villain into a one-dimensional, overpowered Evil Overlord. In short, the character is either a suitably epic and determined final villain whose true colors are slowly unveiled or an overused relic who should've stayed gone the first time around and takes valuable time from his successor. The latter is especially frustrating for those who have come to appreciate Shigaraki as Midoriya's Evil Counterpart, since All For One's return to the plot ends up derailing Shigaraki's arc about becoming a worthy successor to All For One as a parallel to Midoriya succeeding All Might.
Side Characters
- Mitsuki Bakugo is definitely another of the most polarizing figures in the fandom, despite only having one significant appearance in the aftermath of the Hideout Raid Arc. There's lots of debate over whether she's an abusive bully or simply a take-no-shit parent:
- Detractors point out that in Mitsuki's one scene so far she smacks Katsuki for literally no reason while not only showing No Sympathy over her son being kidnapped, but seemingly blaming him for the incident. They cite Bakugo blaming himself for All Might's retirement as being Mitsuki's fault. In particular, Mitsuki-haters emphasize that she essentially punishes her kid for turning into a Generation Xerox of herself. They also tend to accuse fans of glorifying child abuse towards people they don't like. Not helping is Bakugo's claim during the remedial course that using force to keep people in line is "how (he) was raised."
- Fans usually sympathize with the fact that a kid like Katsuki would be a living nightmare to raise, especially considering how Weak-Willed Masaru is. They highlight that Horikoshi clearly intends the behavior to be Played for Laughs and that basically none of the other adult characters have gotten Katsuki to change his behavior by themselves. They also accuse detractors of jumping on any justification for not holding Katsuki responsible for the arrogant cruelty he shows. A few viewers also notice that Katsuki's behavior in the scene in which he and his mother talk to Aizawa, particularly continuing to talk back to her even after she smacks him, is not consistent with that of a traumatized abuse victim, hence why they don't think her treatment is meant to be seen as abusive.
- Rei Todoroki. Many fans sympathize with her situation because they understand why she snapped after dealing with Endeavor for so long. Detractors, however, point out there's no excuse for her taking her frustrations out on her five-year-old son, with some even saying that her action makes her worse than Endeavor. It doesn't help that her taking out said frustrations on Shoto was the first thing that was revealed about her, although when asked about the incident later on, she takes full responsibility without making excuses.
- Some dislike Eri because they believe that she serves as more as a plot device than an actual character, while others like her for being an adorable Woobie. The other issue is that her power is essentially able to undo anything, meaning that she endangers the plot's drama by showing a capacity of undoing All Might's injuries and Mirio's lost Quirk, the latter of which actually happens. Her fans, however, point out that this has been already taken care of in the sense that she was shown to not be able to use it properly and that it is dangerous to train her to even use it, considering her power has to affect living things. Despite all that, very few outright hate Eri. It's just that her Quirk causes a can of worms to open, that has the fanbase thrown into a loop.
- Tenko Shimura's/Tomura Shigaraki's mother and maternal grandparents. Many fans dislike them due to the fact that all three of them did nothing while Tenko was being abused by his father, Kotaro. Many felt that it was too late when Kotaro had physically hit Tenko and they finally confronted Kotaro on his strict rules. However, a few others actually like them since Tenko's mother and grandparents actually did care about him and did genuinely try to help him after he suffered from the abuse. Especially, when Tenko's Quirk first manifested, his mother's last act was to hug him before he accidentally killed her with his Quirk.
- Tsukauchi has become rather divisive for his role in the Vigilantes spinoff, since while he had always disapproved of the vigilantes, he gets especially harsh after Pop Step is declared a villain and later, when a warrant is put out for Koichi's arrest. Some of his detractors, especially those who believe that unlicensed heroism is treated too harshly in universe, think he's going too far. Others, however, believe that he has a point about the negative effects of vigilantism and is significantly more reasonable about the issue than Endeavor was.
- Star and Stripe, America's #1 Hero and an All Might fangirl who is killed by Shigaraki shortly after her introduction, but manages to ravage his Quirk supply before going out. While it's generally agreed that her presence in the narrative was too short, the split comes in whether Horikoshi made her worthwhile. Her fans were endeared by her inherited will from All Might, relationship with her "bros", standout design, over-the-top Quirk, and managing to get under All For One's skin in a Dying Moment of Awesome. Her detractors view her as a transparent plot device only introduced to discourage the already shaky concept of foreign aid, delay Shigaraki's completion after its deadline was suddenly reduced right before her debut, and destroy a vague portion of Shigaraki's less important Quirks. The fact that she was the latest in a long line of female characters being either killed off or brutally wounded in a very short timespan also didn't help. That being said, most of the divide is over how the narrative used her, rather than her inherent likability as a character.
