My Hero Academia

I bet like the aforementioned One Piece mole, it’s going to be really obvious in hindsight. The OP one could actually be solved in only two clues: the mole knew the time traveling samurai were going to Zou, and the smoking gun, he called assassins on the Straw Hats while they were in a bathhouse. Only one character knew that both the samurai were going to Zou and the Straw Hats were going to the bathhouse: Kanjuro, who it turned out to be.

This traitor reveal should've happened AGES ago. By this point, most people have forgotten about it or don't give a shit. And by this point, it'd be too little too late.

The mystery hasn't affected Deku and his friends in anyway. Other than forcing them all to live together and since then there has been NO development. This has created no distrust amongst the students. None of the teachers, staff, or whoever have mentioned it. Like, it'd be different if there was this reoccurring bit with the teachers watching each student (or their coworkers) more closely and wondering to themselves who the traitor could be or if there even is one. Nope. None of that.

By this point, it could be ANYONE and it would make no difference who. Whether it's Hagakure, Aoyama, Mineta, or whoever... each outcome is just as valid as the next because so little effort has been put into this plot thread.

People give props to Hori for following through on the Dabi reveal despite everyone seeing it coming. But that's because he really had no choice. Dabi's identity was so important to the story and so many clues were placed, it would've made LESS sense if he turned out to be someone else. But with this traitor shit... I wouldn't be surprised if (on the off chance he even still thinks of it) changes his mind on who it is every other week.

x3 It was more a response to Rob saying Hagakure would have said something about the Quirks.

her Quirk

I'd like to first say that this theory is not mine, rather one I came across from the Youtuber Joy_Boy Theories, which he expanded on from a reddit post he found. Here is his initial video if my rambling doesn't make sense. Now, Toru Hagakure/Invisible Girl may seem an odd choice for the traitor due to how often in the background she is, but that's the point. It's awfully conspicuous that the Invisible Woman is rarely touched on. Yes, it could just be a "Invisible Girl you forget is here" joke, but it does have some merit when you notice some awfully suspicious behavior from Hagakure.

• To start off we have the USJ. Now, the traitor is assumed to have gotten the LOV a copy of the Teacher's Schedule, which allowed them to invade the USJ. Hagakure herself shouldn't have access to a faculty item like that, but it is worth noting that she doesn't need the access to get it. By removing all her clothing, she is completely invisible, meaning she could easily slip in when a teacher was leaving the room, grab a copy, and hide it outside the room to pick up later. (After all, the paper would still be visible) And there is a situation in which she could have done this. During the voting for Class Representative, a list was shown depicting all students and the number of votes they received. When tallying up the votes however, there's only 19 votes total despite there being 20 students. Every student appears to have voted for themselves with 3 exceptions, Todoroki who voted Yaoyorozu, and Iida and Uraraka who voted for Midoriya. Therefore, only those three should have 0 votes, but Hagakure also has 0 votes. And on voting day, one student was conspicuously missing: Hagakure. Not even her clothes were there, so she was either absent, or naked. Since it's unlikely she'd be walking around class naked, she was probably absent, leaving a window for her to get the list.
• But the real issue with the USJ is her location during the attack.
  • In the Manga, after Kurogiri warped most of 1-A around the building, the following chapter had a map page detailing the locations of each student, with two exceptions. The first was Aoyama, which went in line with a slight gag later on where he tried to find someone to ask where he was and say it was a secret. The other however was Hagakure.
    • Hagakure claims she was sent to the Landslide Zone alongside Todoroki, but as Todoroki notes, he could have frozen her with his AOE attack. The students that were warped were all shown to land in close proximity to one another, (Midoriya, Tsu, and Mineta landing in the water, Kaminari, Jiro, and Yaoyorozu surrounded by villains, etc.) so Hagakure should have landed near Todoroki. Her costume, a pair of gloves and shoes, should have made it easy to see her, but they weren't there. While it is true she may have discarded them to be completely invisible, Todoroki froze the entire area immediately after landing, giving her no time to do so. Even if she had the time, the Heroes vs. Villain's exercise showed she would be shivering from the ice and leave imprints in the ground, while also being incapable of moving without hurting the skin of her feet. None of the evidence suggests she could have been there.
    • Just Prior, Hagakure approaches Ojiro and comments of his work in the Conflagration Zone. Ojiro mentions he was constantly running around and thought he was alone though. This is important because Hagakure's claim she was in the Landslide Zone would make this impossible, as the map detailing the student's locations showed the two zones were on opposite sides of the USJ. Hagakure's statement implies she saw him during this, meaning she would have to be in or near the Conflagration Zone, but since the Conflagration Zone is not near the Landslide Zone, and the evidence suggests she wasn't in the Landslide Zone, that would mean she was actually in the Conflagration Zone. But why would she lie about her location to Ojiro? There are two possibilities. The first is that, like Aoyama in the Training Camp Arc, she was too frightened to help and lied to cover her cowardice. The second is that she was watching Ojiro from the sidelines so as to not be caught in the crossfire, and lied after she let slip she was watching him.
• Next, we have the trip to the shopping mall where Midoriya met Shigaraki. Now, Shigaraki is shown to not really go out in public much as he can't have his dad's hand on his face in public without being recognized as a villain, and he uses said hand as a security blanket, but when he goes to the shopping mall, he picks Midoriya out of a crowd and holds him hostage in order to get his insight on the difference between himself and Stain. Would seem like too much of a Contrived Coincidence that one of the few times he goes out in public, he runs into Midoriya. Unless you come to the conclusion that he knew Midoriya would be there. How does this relate to Hagakure? Well, guess who suggested the shopping trip. Yep, Hagakure did.
• Next, we have the events of the Training Camp Arc. During the initial invasion, the temporary LOV member Mustard uses his quirk in an attempt to knock the students out, but fails due to Yaoyorozu making gas masks for everyone. However, two students still succumb to the gas and are left comatose during the Bakugo Rescue Arc. One major counterpoint against most of the Traitor Theories is that all of the conscious Class 1A students knew about the rescue mission, and that because the LOV was unaware of it, the traitor couldn't be among the 1A students that knew. But remember, two students weren't aware of the attempt due to being comatose, Hagakure and Jiro. Because she was unaware of the mission, she wouldn't be able to warn them. Before you ask though "Why did Mustard knock her out then?" You need to remember two things.
  • Mustard's Quirk works indiscriminately, hence why he has to wear a mask too.
  • The Villains present at the Invasion were all new recruits, and were likely to not know all about the LOV's assets in the event they got captured. Since three recruits were apprehended but the traitor is still unknown, this seems to be the case.
• The problem with all of this is honestly the numbers as mentioned before with Kaminari and Uraraka. With all of it said and done; it's harder for ANYONE in Class 1A to be a traitor as there is little evidence aside from small guesses and things that have been countered left and right. And yes, she is invisible...but that doesn't automatically mean 'I'm the mole' as that would be too obvious.
  • Except the numbers do add up in her case, as all the stated evidence has no counter for them. How did she know what Ojiro was doing if she was on the other side of the USJ? How did Shigaraki know exactly where to find Midoriya in the mall, a trip she suggested? How did the League not know about the rescue mission when all of the students aside from Hagakure, Jiro, and Bakugo knew about it? There are so many points about her that don't make sense unless she is the traitor. Her knowing about Ojiro is because she lied about her location and was watching him. She set up Shigaraki's meeting with Deku. She was one of the students that didn't know about the rescue attempt, so the League couldn't know. And the Invisible Girl being the mole is not actually too obvious, the point was that her being the Invisible Girl would make her lack of focus come off as more a joke on the fact she is invisible, when it's really a planned ruse. Her characterization makes her being the traitor work too. Hagakure is the stereotypical girly girl often hanging out with Ojiro, always happy and kind. The fact she is invisible though means we have no idea if this is genuine. She could be easily putting on a front, whether as a way to mask insecurities like Kirishima, or for a villainous goal. We can always be guessing, so she could be the traitor, or she could be a Red Herring. It keeps you guessing, which is what the identity of the traitor has been doing to the fans.
• I didn't want to play this card, but there is one other thing that makes her suspect: the lack of knowledge on her Quirk. Another Joy_Boy video if you so desire. Of all of Class 1-A, she is the only one who's quirk has yet to be fully explained or even demonstrated.
  • All the classmates have had their quirks explained in full, even if they weren't the focus of the appearance, like Sato's was when facing Cementoss, or have demonstrated enough to have a general understanding, like Koda's when facing against Present Mic. Hagakure's quirk however is never really explained, and wasn't even named in series, it was named in a data book. However, the fact her quirk hasn't been fully explained makes sense if you consider it's a plot point. There have been opportunities to put a text box there explaining it, like during the Hero License Exam Arc, yet there isn't one.
  • Her quirk is said to be Transparency, allowing her body to remain invisible. For a while, it just seemed to be that, but during the Hero License Exam, she used an attack called "Light Refraction". Refraction can be achieved through Transparency, but not Invisibility. Invisibility is the lack of physical appearance, you cannot see it but it is still there. Transparency is something that can be seen, but is clear. Imagine a light shined at Hagakure's body. If she was invisible, the light would shine around her, casting a human shaped shadow behind her. If she was transparent however, the light would shine through her and distort via refraction. Here in lies the issue. Her quirk is called Transparency, yet she clearly seems to be invisible, so she shouldn't be able to refract, unless she wasn't actually invisible. An argument can be made that Horikoshi messed up the science on her quirk, but with the detail put into Mirio's Permeability, alongside the realistic effects like inability to breath or falling when used, it doesn't seem like he would do that. The reason there is a discrepancy between her quirks name and her physical appearance is because she isn't actually invisible. She is bending light around her body ala refraction to give the appearance of invisibility, when she is actually merely see through. Real life scientists have tried using refraction tech in making actual invisibility cloaks, so it has science to back it up.
  • Why would Hagakure lie about her quirk though? Simple really. Even if she is translucent, she would have enough of an outline to be recognizable, so in public she remains invisible to be Toru Hagakure. When not actively making herself invisible however, she is her translucent real self, with no one able to tie her back to her cover identity. Though one may argue, why can't Aizawa erase her quirk then and show the real her? Well for one thing it has been numerously stated that Aizawa's quirk works differently on Mutant Class Quirks, it only shuts down the ability to use the mutation, but doesn't shut the mutation off. They used Ojiro as an example, in that if he was to be "erased", his tail would go limp, but still be there. Because "Toru Hagakure"'s quirk is having a permanently invisible body, Aizawa would be under the impression that erasing her quirk would still leave her invisible. In addition, Aizawa only uses his quirk on his students as a threat to get them to calm down or behave, the exceptions being his using it on Midoriya during the Quirk Assessment Test, and Todoroki and Yaoyorozu during the Final Exams. He never actually used it on Hagakure, and never needed too. If he did though, something interesting could happen....
  • Adding on to this is something said by Horikoshi at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con. According to Horikoshi, were Toga to ingest Hagakure's blood and use her quirk to transform into Hagakure, she would not turn invisible. This is important as the implication behind Hagakure's quirk is that it's a Mutant Class Quirk.^note For a quick reminder, Mutant Class Quirks affect the physical body permanently in some manner, such as Shoji's "Dupliarms" giving him additional limbs, the Iida's "Engine" quirks giving them pistons embedded in their limbs, or Shiozaki's "Vines" giving her Vine Hair. So in Hagakure's case, her body being invisible would be the side effect of having a Mutation Quirk. If that were indeed the case, then Toga's body should indeed turn invisible were she to transform into Hagakure. With Horikoshi saying this isn't the case, Hagakure's Quirk isn't really a Mutant Class, implying her "natural" appearance is her actively making herself invisible. Why would she do this though? To disguise herself. So long as she looks invisible on a regular basis, when she actually stops doing such, no one would be able to connect her real appearance to her public appearance.
• Worth noting also is that in the character notes that cap off manga chapters sometimes, Hagakure was featured at the end of Chapter 10. Horikoshi tends to highlight characters who've had significant presence in the story of the chapter/general plot at that point in the notes, but Hagakure hadn't said or done much of anything by that point. (or even to date) This might indicate Horikoshi planned for her to have a more crucial role early on and wanted readers to be familiar with her. Connecting to the above points about her Quirk's lack of explanation, in the notes he also said there that he wanted to introduce her quirk properly, but the right time hadn't come yet. Perhaps the right time would've been the traitor reveal.

Edited by RebelFalcon on Aug 2nd 2021 at 12:45:13 PM

And of course, there's still the theory of the mole being ignorant of being the mole.

I wonder if she's working for Af O cause she wants to be rid of her Quirk.

The Traitor, if they exist and aren't an unwitting pawn, has to be someone the audience will give half a heck about for the reveal to have any impact. That rules out 1B kids and most of the teachers (including Vlad King, IMO).

We know Hagakure exists and that she's not as much invisible as simply bending the light around her which is a red flag that her Quirk is definitely more than meets the eye. We could make it an argument that her being pretty much a blank state beyond a generic schoolgirl personality is the point, but that doesn't make it better; the reason for that is Hagakure is at the very bottom of relevancy alongside Satou and Koda.

Now, the shot from a few chapters back with her, Mineta, Koda and Sero lunging for Endeavor's phone is suspicious enough to posit one of these four could be a Traitor. We already saw Mineta and Sero voice themselves in support of Deku, so that probably rules them out - which leaves a guy who can barely speak or a girl who cannot be seen.

To that end, "AFO-OFA shenanigans" is probably a more likely outcome, IMO.

On an unrelated note I wonder how much AFO is bulking up his forces by giving them extra quirks.

Everyone can at minimum withstand an extra quirk and even with only 2 quirks the combo can be devastating. Like on a purely hypothetical imagine if Dabi somehow winds up with another elemental quirk on similar levels to his fire quirk.

It’s a pretty scary thought.

Eh, I wouldn't want MHA to pull an AOT with the traitor thing. It's not gonna be as shocking or interesting now that people are expecting it to happen and suspecting everyone anyway.

I think the most obvious answer with the traitor plot is to do the same as with Dabi: not the answer is shocking, but what that answer means. So it's less likely that the traitor will go for some sort of "it was me, Hagakure!" and more like a backstab at a point you can't afford.

As to who it is, remember that the teachers like Aizawa and Vlad were informed of the tracker on the nomu, yet AFO was unware of that. AFO was also unaware of the four behind the wall. Anyone who knew about them going and the tracker is out as a traitor. In other words, basically all the teachers like Aizawa, Vlad and Nedzu. It has to be a student, specifically one of the students knocked out by the gas, and one of those was Hagakure.

Seriously, she's the only character for whom it makes logical sense without invoking unwitting traitor tropes. The main issue is simply *motive*, we have no reason why she would even do this.

we ''also saw Koda voice his support so by this train of thought he's also ruled out.

I have to point out I find considering things like that inherently suspicious is a bit silly, especially given the context. And people make leaps like that all the time in these discussions, which is another reason I've never really been into them.

Edited by LSBK on Aug 3rd 2021 at 7:48:48 AM

X4 Like an ice quirk perhaps? It's what his body was always suited for and it would drive the Shouto parallels even further.

Or maybe a healing quirk, so that he no longer damages his body when using his powers.

If they go the "unwitting traitor" route. Then it should be Aoyama. He's actually relevant and while I don't believe he's evil, he's at least fleshed out enough to make us feel bad for him when the truth comes out. But that's only if it HAS to be a student. To which I feel like that hardly makes sense. How would the students know the faculty's schedules and secret areas? I mean, unless maybe it's one of the students in the higher classes like Mirio. No, it's not Mirio. But maybe one of his classmates we haven't really met. But that would be kinda lame since we don't give a shit about them.

Honestly, I feel like Hori lost interest/track of this plot thread a long time ago. His story evolved in a different direction. As I said before, it's weird that since the idea was brought up... no one has addressed it at all. None of the teachers seem to be investigating one another or the students. None of the students are even aware of it, so there's been no drama derived from it. Hell, the League doesn't even seem to give it a second thought. Wouldn't it have been fun for Hawks to find himself in a sort of Infernal Affairs scenario?

If I were Hori, I would've taken the easy way out. Just used the Shirakumo/Kurogiri twist as a means to explain how the League knew so much about UA. Say that Kurogiri somehow retained info about the school and its many secret locations. And his teleporter ability makes him perfect for stealth so he can access their schedules. Idk. This idea has a shit ton of hles in it, but it would've been done and over with. Because by this point... the twist merely exists for twist's sake. Just shock value.

Huh, did we? I stand corrected then. Hagakure is obviously a traitor then.

Jokes aside, I'm mostly entertaining the what-ifs. There's plenty of things going on without another plotline thrown in the middle of all this, and we don't even have an explicit confirmation that there is a traitor to begin with.

That was probably a typo, but "Infernal Affairs" does sound like a lot of what Hawks had to deal with.

Some clarification on Mineta's lines.

So some volume 31 extras are out. Not a lot of new information, but we did get Wash's real name and Quirk, and clarification of AFO's previous attempts to steal OFA.

The short of that being that AFO did kill all of them except for Shinomori (and All Might, obviously), but except for Banjo and En it was after they had already transferred the Quirk. That's why there were only two failed attempts to take OFA by force.

Edited by LSBK on Aug 3rd 2021 at 6:06:41 AM

Do we actually get to see what Wash really looks like?

Nope.

Wash is a man, and is 29 years old. His real name is Susugu Mitarai and his Quirk is called Clean Bubble.

Wash is also smaller than I thought. Apparently the same height as Shoto and Dabi (176 centimetres) but they seem like they're drawn to be much bigger than that.

I mean it’s very par for the course for people to come up with reasons to not see the possibility of someone being gay. See: dozens of same sex folks who exchanged romantic letters and did overtly romantic things only for historians to call them “friends.”

So I hear volume 31 had some extra/changed scenes in the Touya flashback, which doesn't really change the story but apparently accentuated Enji's assholery even further.

Well, there's this and this.

Okay that is some stellar shading.

Actually having Endeavor's face shown in Anger is a good touch.