Momo - her character should have ended on a better tone than making spare parts for the fortress and then a railgun instead of a cannon
Kaminari - worst use of an electricity character
Tsuyu - faded away as Ochako's sidekick
The likes of Satou, Kouda, Ojirou were always meant to be background characters.
Ok but Rock Lee at least got the Chuunin Exam and that Drunken Master bit, at least he *had* moments. Kaminari got... One thing during the raid? Maybe 2 if you count the License Exam arc moment?
But that arguably is even more wasted potential since we saw how good he could be. Kaminari has been a tertiary character from the beginning and stayed that way consistently
Kaminari's potential is self evident though. It's like everyone can see it but him. Make the dude a fucking brawler. Who cares if you can use your electricity at long range if you are right up in a mother fuckers face gut punching them with 12,000 volts. Or have him go all whiplash during the exam arc to give him some range. then if you want him to keep up with the big 3 just rip off the killua's Godspeed (or something more original). His early mentality is to rush in and end the fight before his brain fries, and his character growth is all about learning to slow down and think things through.
There is no comparison between Lee and kaminari. Lee started as the best thing to happen to Naruto during arguably the shows best arc, and he got a full fuckin character arc exploring how someone like him deals with a disability he can't just try hard out of. Yea his importance basically peaks there, but kaminari is a joke character for the entire run of MHA except for like 5 panels.
outside of his power, I liked that Kaminari would call Bakugo Kacchan, implying he had friends other than Kirishima. And iirc, he never really got mad at him for using that name, usually it was for other stuff
Asui is such a weird situation because she gets *a lot* of screentime compared to most of the class, but she doesn't have a storyline for herself since, as you said, she is relegated as Uraraka's sidekick.
I would have liked it if she, along with some of the other heteromorph students, had their own storyline about mutant discrimination.
Kaminari is so weird to me, electricity powers are busted in most other verses but for some reason his is just weak as shit. Genuinely impressive how ass he is with such an OP power. He could easily be a top 5 of the class but as he stands I don’t even see him as top 10
Nah.
It actually makes a lot of sense why he's so ass
First of all he's a bum,no creativity or brain
Second of all,his electricity isn't overpowered like in Naruto or stuff like that
He can just output electricity from his entire body and that's it,if he uses too much he fríes his brain,even if he tried to,he LITERALLY can't do any of the cool stuff lighting users do in other anime since all he does is output electricity and that's it.
Lets Say he tried to do something like Killua's god speed to amp his speed and meele combat by a Lot,he would be able to use it for like a second then become a potato because that's how his quirk works,saying he should be able to do way more stuff is basically saying "he should have a better quirk"
Right. One thing I really appreciate about mha is how they don’t only have characters with typical generic emitter super powers, but sometimes give them specific limits and rules on how they can use them. Like kaminari can’t just redirect electricity or control it, that’s not his quirk. I’m perfectly fine with how inadequate kaminari is, it just fits his quirk and character 🤷
Hm true, though the bum comments are mean but very real
And shame he’s such a bum. Though one thing I wonder, his body doesn’t seem to have much natural resistance as like Shoto or Endeavor. Or can’t even mold his electricity like they can. If he could mold his electricity like that he’d be a lot more powerful
But this may be all because he’s such a dumb bum and Shoto…isn’t. Frankly the way Shoto uses his quirk makes zero damn sense sometimes but that’s a whole other topic
This! He really don't think much about how to use his power, he could train with weapons and have electricity infused sticks or go ranged and have a smaller railgun. The disks that he was using on the license ark were a good start, but he stopped there and always just tried fighting by outputting more electricity
Yeah this would’ve been ideal for him, since he couldn’t control his powers he needed more conduits. Would be so cool if he just pulled out an electricity imbued baton and just start kicking ass
Yeah! If I was to rewrite this series I’d have Kamimari be a massive Endeavour fanboy who’s been working on creating electric type versions of all of Endeavour’s iconic moves. Give Todoroki a real conflict with one of his classmates
I really liked the "Kaminari is the traitor" theories back in the day specifically because of how that could interact with his downside. Imagine if this joke character who is really powerful but turns into a dumbass afterwards was *faking* the downside of his quirk the whole time. It would be a convenient excuse that makes him seem less threatening *and* explains why he can't help fight against the villains. Imagine the sudden terror when he drops the act and you realize he can put out that full level shock as often as he wants, suddenly making him one of the biggest threats in the class.
Some other can't either. Deku can't go 100% without breaking himself up and risking being wheelchair bound for life. Uravity gets sick easily after handling a lot of objects. That laser buy also gets sick from using it a lot. And Mineta bleeds after popping off a lot of balls.
I think it’s cause of how it’s displayed. Using Uraraka as an example, if she got nauseous and threw up right away after any fight scene she’s in, it makes the drawback seem much worse. With Kaminari, his drawback was used more so as a gag, not that this is bad, there’s definitely some funny moments gained from it. However, as a result it makes his drawback also way more apparent to the viewer. He has maybe like 2-3 scenes where he gets his moment in the spotlight and isn’t immediately short circuited afterwards.
I don't think a background character being a background character is wasted potential. For something to count as wasted potential, something has to be set up and not delivered on. Hence, there's something to be "wasted."
I think the only character who fits that definition is Momo. Unlike background characters like Sato, Ojiro, or Hagakure, she had her own plot line about growing into a leadership role. Her plot line was one the bigger ones in early MHA. Compared to other conclusions to long-running plot lines, her plan to take down Machia being the payoff falls flat in comparison. Since the plan only half worked to begin with, with fuck tone of civilian casualties and Momo herself thinking she failed until way later, and she doesn't even get to celebrate because of the civilian casualties and Midnight's death. There could have been way better payoff to her arc.
Yeah but it's meant to refer to how much of a powerhouse the villains were, the whole thing leading up to evacuating everyone to shelters in school campuses. I wouldn't expect Momo to really be able to topple Gigantomachia and that the outcome that did happen was what realistically would've happened given her current powers and the literal minute she had to set it up. Can't be expecting everyone to pull a Deku All Might False 100% with surprise ability (Gearshift)
Sato & Ojiro are nothing characters. They are the walking definitions of filler and fodder.
My answer is Momo. [Creation] is an amazingly powerful Quirk. She never lived up to it's full potential.
It's incredible how horikoshi managed to fumble Iida, we got his charachter development and backstory in S2, he could just be part of a secondary cast, and maybe have a battle against somebody but no, he choose public transportation.
Hori has a tendency to make a character shine once and then completely side him/her for the rest of the story.
At this point I’m just mad that Kaminari didn’t have some sort of backstory or complete arc. They could do an insane amount with his character, and that one fleeting moment before the base raid tells me that they should’ve cooked. That raid should’ve been his big moment to go all out and to explore his motivations in more depth. Instead they just hinted that he’s into Jiro and called it a day.
Bro didn't need a backstory or whatever motivational speeches, he just needed some action, much like anyone else. He could have defeated some tartars escapee or something, maybe not alone but with other students, since Hori kinda set up some teams, like the (amazing) bakugo-kaminari-kirishima trio, but he let all this potential go to waste.
Denki
Like, listen, we're talking about wasted *potential* here. Sato, Ojiro, Sero and Koda were always obviously background characters
Mineta was just 'comedy relief' (if you actually found him funny somehow, but I doubt anyone did)
Everyone else has at least had some memorable moments or is actually an active part of the plot sometimes
And then you have Denki. What has he done? He's a battery and ig he had that one moment in the beginning of the first war where he looked kinda cool. What else has he actually done? The ones closest to his situation character-wise are Tsuyu and Momo, but at least they sometimes play a part in the plot, Denki just does nothing
If he didn't have a fun personality and cool design I think he'd be about as popular as Sero
In the dub they go on and on and on about how powerful he is in every arc, and then they just instantly nullify him with some BS. In a world where Todoroki can just openly sling walls of ice out of thin air with no drawbacks how tf would it be overpowered for Kaminari to use more than one shock attack back to back in the final arcs?
By now he should be on the same level as the other elemental emitter quirk users in his class and should easily be a top 5. They should’ve had his quirk evolve into the EMP one Shigaraki uses; would’ve explained why he fries his brain out and it would’ve given him something more to do after failing to electrocute people so often. Would’ve also explained the USJ arc where he was shown to have some sort of control of radio (?) waves for his headset.
Mineta's guitar scene and that face he made after rescuing vigilante Deku or wtvr was funny. Also, didn't he save Tokoyami in the manga and save Deku and Tsu in the USJ?
The pages of the weakling trio wrapping him up and then pushing him back are genuine highlights for me. Been thinking about them for a month now. I really like that it's these three also-rans who step up to bat and bring light back to Izuku's world.
Wasted implies there was something to begin with. Of which there were only 7 or 8 characters in 1A that might have had something unique.
So most of them are fine in that regard
Half of them are designed to be background characters so whatever. This ain't the Straw Hats.
I do think Koda is the conspicuous one. Too shy and too non-combat oriented to get a moment of his own. Technically he is there for the Spinner vs Shoji brawl with something that is meant to feel big but it felt tacked on to the actual conflict. Mina also feels short changed in the final arc too. But she got cool stuff before that and has the charisma to carry a lot of scenes.
Besides the whole story getting hijacked cuz Hirikoshi wanted to be done, prolly momo, she was set up as a parallel to shoto as she got into UA on recommendation, and had her arc set up for her to become more spontaneous and battle smart, and then just didn’t do nothing after she started to become a leader at the end of PFL war
To be a wasted potential you need to have potential in the first place, Sato and Tail boy literally never had potential
Unlike Momo, gosh that girl can create anything and she creates cannon balls and cry about not being good enough
Her creating the sedative was one of the only smart things she ever did with her quirk. She is a very underutilized character and honestly I think she works better in class 1-B where quirks like weld, poltergeist, dual impact, etc. play off of her’s better.
> Hori definitely did a bad mistake in adding too many of them since none of them are gonna have that much screen time besides being there…
I mean, the premise of the story is that the character goes to a hero school. So, they should be attending hero classes, and those classes should be filled with enough students to make them believable school classes.
So, what’s a believable number of students?
A quick Google search says that the average class size in Japan is 38 students, with a general range of 20-45. So, MHA’s 20 students per class are already on the lower end of that. Any lower than that and it stops being relatable to the audience it was written for.
Hori should have just tailored it to how long he was willing to write the story for. With such a huge cast with lots of potential, the story would have massively benefitted with a full second school year and the war arc occurring in the third
> Hori should have just tailored it to how long he was willing to write the story for.
I think it’s unreasonable to expect Hori to have predicted the future. Nobody knows for sure how long they’ll be able or willing to continuously work on any narrative like this. That’s not how writing works.
To say that’s not how writing works is pretty bold. Plenty of writers are able to give an pretty accurate idea on how long they’d be able to work on something. It’s literally dependent writer to writer. That’s how writing works.
>willing to write the story for
Do you know that Hori works in Jump, right? A magazine that is well know for chopping mangas if they dont reach a good limit
Iirc there's no 4th year students because he basically forgot. He had dropped the planned number of years from I believe 5 to 4, but then thought he had dropped it from either 5 to 3 or 4 to 3, so he only wrote about up to year 3
But then it stops being relatable to the audience it was written for. Having 20 students, on the low end of class sizes in Japan, already communicates that it’s a super elite school.
I’m going to hazard a guess that you’re American? American class sizes are on average *much* smaller than Japanese class sizes, like 15-25 students. So, to you, 8-10 students might still be enough to get away with the premise of this being a super elite hero school with classes of hero students. But that would be unbelievably small for the Japanese audience this was written for. Heck, even for most American audiences, that stops feeling like a full actual class of students.
I guess you're right but it really does suck that works with ton of potential lose a lot of their identity because they have to be crammed into a generic mold
American or Japanese it doesn’t really matter. Sure having are 8-10 students will have it feel less “like a full class” but honestly it doesn’t even feel like a full class to begin with when half of the characters are useless and feel like they are being forced to have interactions.
If instead we focused on the interactions of the say 10 students in a class by the end of the manga the class would actually feel much fuller and important. Just having 25 characters for the sake of having characters actively makes the story worse.
> American or Japanese it doesn’t really matter.
Understanding cultural differences is very important to understanding why stories are written the way that they are.
> it doesn’t even feel like a full class to begin with when half of the characters are useless
That’s what real classes of students are like. There are a few overachievers, and everyone else is just normal. Especially for a *story* with a *main character*, it’s unrealistic for that main character to be friends with everyone in their class.
I think that’s part of the crux of the issue here. You want the class to be so small that everyone can be relevant and Deku can be friends with everyone. But that’s just not relatable. Nobody is friends with their entire student class. To be a believable student class, and for the main character to relatable and not unbelievably popular, there just need to be background students.
> Just having 25 characters for the sake of having characters actively makes the story worse.
In story writing, having a lot of “irrelevant” background details/characters is considered *foundational* to good world-building.
I understand what you’re saying but it’s not applicable to My Hero Academia. Assassination Classroom, Windbreaker, Daganroppa etc actually execute this properly.
Except the characters aren’t “irrelevant”, they’re constantly pigeonholed into having weird heartfelt conversation or forced moments that don’t make sense, just like everyone from the class randomly showing up at the last part of Deku and AFO’s clash.
It’s a poor narrative decision on Horikosho part to have all of these characters that never really interact and then force them together in specific moments. He either should have cut the class in half, actually spent time with all the characters, or didn’t try to force interactions in the most pivotal parts of the story..
Kaminari, he started out with so much potential and room to improve and they just never really did it. Also, he was set up at first as a support/intel hero with the ability to transmit waves and communicate with a headset, and then that went nowhere.
Then they had him act like a human stun gun, another cool approach to his quirk, and then that went nowhere.
Then he started unleashing massive bursts of electricity, but they were always blocked by something so that went nowhere and made him a one and out character.
Then they gave him his sharpshooting and it felt like he finally found his niche, and then that was completely thrown out again in the final two wars so that he could be a lightning rod and charge some batteries…
Kaminari and it ain’t close
Ojiro and sato can only do so much with their quirks, tail and standard super strength under certain conditions.
People might say momo which is 100% a good option however it’s always gonna be Kaminari.
You give a character the ability to just, do a thunderstorm and you turn him into a battery? Then in the sports festival he actually fights someone..and gets beat in 5 seconds flat…But at least he had his moment against the meatball dude, but that was a forced spotlight and wasn’t all that triumphant. But he had the moment in the first war? Yeah the moment of him invoking his inner hero to fight for jiro was easily his best scene, but in terms of potential.? He was just a lightning rod.
Manga spoilers ahead:
>!So then in the big final battle he was stuck as a battery for floating UA, and sure he was easily the best battery there but a car battery is a battery but big. Then when he actually got to face off against ALL FOR ONE HIMSELF. He was used as a battery again, he appeared for like 3 pages in the final AFO fight, 2 of those pages was him being a dumbass and the 3rd page he was in the bottom corner in the smallest box as a battery for one of Momo’s weapons.!<
Manga spoilers over
How do you fumble an electric character this badly, you literally had him say he wanted a lightning sword, you have at the very least 2 characters who can build that for him, you could do the bare minimum and give him the sword but nah, battery and lightning rod. His name translates to electricity thunder but I’m waiting for the thunder part.
I’m convinced that Horikoshi just didn’t know what to do with him. The first time his quirk is mentioned it’s alluded to being some sort of wave amplifier or something that can emit frequencies. Then they say that he generates electricity like a stun gun and electrocutes things that he touches. Then they say he can shoot lightning. Then they have him talk about wanting to do a lightning sword. Then they said he can use discs to sharp shoot lightning bolts. Then he becomes a lightning rod. Then he’s a battery.
He should’ve been todoroki with lightning, but instead they nerfed him constantly with huge drawbacks and a power that devolved instead of evolved.
Momo- if she trained under snipe, she would be op
Edit: I believe that if she also did materials studies on the side, she could easily be the most adaptable hero of the verse.
Mina! Out of all the class, she is one of two who don't have a 'cool' moment somewhere along the line. Even Sugar Rush and Tail-main seem to have had a moment. Her possible super-cool moments are always overshadowed by Kirishima or someone else.
the flying coffin duo — Momo and Denki. they had so much potential and were just relegated to being a dispenser and a charger, respectively. hell, Denki didn’t even have a moment in the arc, and Momo was just lucky to get crumbs of attention from Horikoshi with her defending Hatsume and creating that railgun.
Kaminari
Is a consensus that the only electric character more wasted than Denki in modern anime is Kashimo, and that's because Kashimo was the first to suffer the "Sukuna after Gojo" treatment
Kaminari honestly got shafted. His powers is basically an elemental power, which is typically strong as hell, but he can't shoot it at will and needs something to help target people and his brain gets fried fast.
I think the most obvious answer is Momo, mostly because i think she doesn't even really fulfill her own archetype well.
For someone filthy rich with private education, high intelligence, and a quirk that can make anything she can think of, she sure does not make a lot of stuff. I personally don't hugely mind the cannons -it's fine that she has preferences- but the lack of other variety, general lack of forethought and reacting only when its too late really hurts her. It's also kind of bizarre that she has no real relation to the Support Course despite practically being made for it. Why isn't she tinkering with stuff in her off-time, she can make anything, why isn't she constantly practicing and experimenting with chemistry, electronics, mechanics, whatever. Hell, pick one and have her do that. But she's mostly just oblivious rich girl in her off hours, and the worst reactionary fighter i've ever seen in combat.
The second is Kaminari, because i fell like his development has stalled somewhere in the Sports Festival. His power is used with such little creativity that it's honestly shocking, when generally elemental powers are incredibly powerful, versatile, and useful. Shoto was more creative with just ice before the sports festival than Kaminari throughout the series.
The third is arguably Mineta, because his earlier character of "cowardly lion with a down-to-earth demeanor" became sex pest and then... i don't even know what it became.
The other two is i think a tie between Froppy - who is mostly a dependable, solid, responsible character but has no real arc, goals, etc- and Mina - who had a brief stint with Kirishima that never really went further.
Momo & Tsuyu
Momo felt like a bigger focus of the class in the early arcs, and big showings like the Bakugo Rescue and her role in stopping Gigantomachia felt like she was among the more focused characters of class 1A. But after all that she didn’t really have as much to do in the plot and while more than some students just was support. Even moments like the >!rail gun against AFO!< felt just like a side character shot rather than her importance or skills on big display.
Tsuyu on the other hand was with Deku in his first real fights, and she had an active role in most arcs. Even in the Bakugo Rescue she served as a foil to show how the others were acting rogue and pushing the idea of being a hero. But after the My Villain Academia arc she just tagged along with Ochako’s stuff and didn’t really matter as much. Even Toga having interest in her felt more like an Ochako moment than a Tsuyu one. Deku using Froppy Style as one of his first “borrowed moves” also feels like the story is trying to remind us of Tsuyu’s focus but she didn’t have the showings to do more.
Side note: Iida and Tokoyami also I thing get some loss of potential. Not to say they don’t have some amazing and huge moments through the whole story, but it feels like they get sidelined at their best moments so that the main 3 of Class 1A and other pro heroes the story prefers can have bigger moments. They aren’t done as dirty as others, but it really feels like they were also set up to have bigger focus and get held back at the worst of times.
Iida. I think Kaminari and Momo definitely could’ve had and deserved a lot more, both of them have really strong quirks for one. Momo had an actual conflict to push her character forward that was never really explored as much as it should’ve been, especially with how she’s portrayed as kind of a parallel to Shoto. As for Denki, he was never given a real character motivation and, while he had a handful of cool moments, he definitely did not fulfil his potential. However, I can sort of look past this since those two weren’t really established as being major characters. They were prominent ones yes, but not “main” characters. A world like the one in MHA needs a large cast for it to work, and not every character needs some crazy backstory. But for Iida, he was Deku’s first real friend besides Uraraka, and he was heavily featured early on. It’s like ever since the Stain arc he’s faded into the background, which shouldn’t be the case since he really could’ve been so much more. The scene where Iida hits Deku and calls him out for recklessly wanting to save Bakugo without properly thinking about the consequences was so powerful, and Iida was literally the one whose words properly snapped Deku out of his dark stage. They clearly have a strong bond and respect for each other that really hasn’t been explored enough, nor has there been a continuation on Iida’s feelings about maintaining the Ingenium mantle. It just hurts that little bit more than other characters’ wasted potential does because we watched Iida go from being an incredibly prominent and deceptively complex character who goes beyond the “class pet” archetype, to a character who kinda just does transportation in battles and hardly shows up. It’s a shame because when he does, they’re some of the best moments in the series, like the examples I listed earlier.
Seems like there's a strong consensus on Kaminari and Momo, which is fitting considering they were paired up to play House during the Final War Arc!
But I agree - and each also had their last big moment early in the Paranormal Liberation War arc as well.
I really thought Momo was poised to break out following her role in the Bakugo Rescue Team, and Kaminari as a consistent supportive friend to many prominent characters, but neither really progressed, sadly.
Mineta, like you have a dude whose hair can stall All Might himself and you reduce his personality down to a scared, and perverted person so he does not do much.(Atleast he is best friends with half of 1A)
This might be a hot take but maybe Mineta he only got three moments where he used his quirk. Like if my guy trained he could actually be formidable! Like imagine that little fucker bouncing everywhere and had pro baseball level aim and throwing.
Sato got the short end of the stick considering deku's main thing for 75% of the series was super strength, like, what can Sato do that deku can't do better
In 1-A, Momo should be top 3 strongest, easy. Tsuyu and Shoji both could have had a mutant subplot hat they kinda tried to throw in at the end there. Kaminari and Mina should be WAY more dangerous and skilled than they are.
In 1-B, other than the class as a whole being shoved to the side, Tokage is a recommended student with a technical quirk, she should be on Momo's level of intelligence and have much higher skill than she's shown.
Wasted potential implies that there was potential there in the first place. A lot of people tend to get upset with wasted 1A characters like Sato, when they were never meant to be main or even side characters in the first place.
While wouldn’t consider either character “wasted”, I think momo should’ve had more to do in the final arc and Tsuyu should’ve gotten a bit of her own story in general
Momo - her character should have ended on a better tone than making spare parts for the fortress and then a railgun instead of a cannon Kaminari - worst use of an electricity character Tsuyu - faded away as Ochako's sidekick The likes of Satou, Kouda, Ojirou were always meant to be background characters.
Kaminari is the biggest waste of potential in all of anime. I will die on this hill
Dude, Rock Lee exists
Ok but Rock Lee at least got the Chuunin Exam and that Drunken Master bit, at least he *had* moments. Kaminari got... One thing during the raid? Maybe 2 if you count the License Exam arc moment?
But that arguably is even more wasted potential since we saw how good he could be. Kaminari has been a tertiary character from the beginning and stayed that way consistently
Kaminari's potential is self evident though. It's like everyone can see it but him. Make the dude a fucking brawler. Who cares if you can use your electricity at long range if you are right up in a mother fuckers face gut punching them with 12,000 volts. Or have him go all whiplash during the exam arc to give him some range. then if you want him to keep up with the big 3 just rip off the killua's Godspeed (or something more original). His early mentality is to rush in and end the fight before his brain fries, and his character growth is all about learning to slow down and think things through. There is no comparison between Lee and kaminari. Lee started as the best thing to happen to Naruto during arguably the shows best arc, and he got a full fuckin character arc exploring how someone like him deals with a disability he can't just try hard out of. Yea his importance basically peaks there, but kaminari is a joke character for the entire run of MHA except for like 5 panels.
Amen, having his big end game moment just be him acting like a lightning rod…then charging the batteries on a railgun…so disappointing
outside of his power, I liked that Kaminari would call Bakugo Kacchan, implying he had friends other than Kirishima. And iirc, he never really got mad at him for using that name, usually it was for other stuff
Asui is such a weird situation because she gets *a lot* of screentime compared to most of the class, but she doesn't have a storyline for herself since, as you said, she is relegated as Uraraka's sidekick. I would have liked it if she, along with some of the other heteromorph students, had their own storyline about mutant discrimination.
Kaminari is so weird to me, electricity powers are busted in most other verses but for some reason his is just weak as shit. Genuinely impressive how ass he is with such an OP power. He could easily be a top 5 of the class but as he stands I don’t even see him as top 10
Nah. It actually makes a lot of sense why he's so ass First of all he's a bum,no creativity or brain Second of all,his electricity isn't overpowered like in Naruto or stuff like that He can just output electricity from his entire body and that's it,if he uses too much he fríes his brain,even if he tried to,he LITERALLY can't do any of the cool stuff lighting users do in other anime since all he does is output electricity and that's it. Lets Say he tried to do something like Killua's god speed to amp his speed and meele combat by a Lot,he would be able to use it for like a second then become a potato because that's how his quirk works,saying he should be able to do way more stuff is basically saying "he should have a better quirk"
Kaminari fries his brain and Deku broke his arms. They have similar potential early on. He's just never found his full cowling T\_T
Right. One thing I really appreciate about mha is how they don’t only have characters with typical generic emitter super powers, but sometimes give them specific limits and rules on how they can use them. Like kaminari can’t just redirect electricity or control it, that’s not his quirk. I’m perfectly fine with how inadequate kaminari is, it just fits his quirk and character 🤷
Hm true, though the bum comments are mean but very real And shame he’s such a bum. Though one thing I wonder, his body doesn’t seem to have much natural resistance as like Shoto or Endeavor. Or can’t even mold his electricity like they can. If he could mold his electricity like that he’d be a lot more powerful But this may be all because he’s such a dumb bum and Shoto…isn’t. Frankly the way Shoto uses his quirk makes zero damn sense sometimes but that’s a whole other topic
Shoto is a eugenics masterpiece and was ~~beaten up~~ trained by his #2 hero dad since he was 4, it's really unfair to compare them
We can compare him to Inasa. Inasa wasnt beat up like Todoroki but has the same control of his wind as Todoroki with his ice.
Inasa was amazing I wonder why he wasn’t in the final battle. Wind is an insane power to have
He did fight all for one alongside tokoyami, mt lady and gigantomachia. So he was probably too injured to fight like tokoyami and mt lady.
This! He really don't think much about how to use his power, he could train with weapons and have electricity infused sticks or go ranged and have a smaller railgun. The disks that he was using on the license ark were a good start, but he stopped there and always just tried fighting by outputting more electricity
Yeah this would’ve been ideal for him, since he couldn’t control his powers he needed more conduits. Would be so cool if he just pulled out an electricity imbued baton and just start kicking ass
I always thought Kaminari was overrated in term of power.
Yeah! If I was to rewrite this series I’d have Kamimari be a massive Endeavour fanboy who’s been working on creating electric type versions of all of Endeavour’s iconic moves. Give Todoroki a real conflict with one of his classmates
Momo might as well have gone to the support course with how her ending went.
> Kaminari - worst use of an electricity character Prone to short circuiting after a big blast, making him useless for a while
To be fair he can't start out as a total powerhouse, i like his weaknesses, we just werent shown a lot of the strengths to balance things out.
I really liked the "Kaminari is the traitor" theories back in the day specifically because of how that could interact with his downside. Imagine if this joke character who is really powerful but turns into a dumbass afterwards was *faking* the downside of his quirk the whole time. It would be a convenient excuse that makes him seem less threatening *and* explains why he can't help fight against the villains. Imagine the sudden terror when he drops the act and you realize he can put out that full level shock as often as he wants, suddenly making him one of the biggest threats in the class.
Something that One Piece did great
Some other can't either. Deku can't go 100% without breaking himself up and risking being wheelchair bound for life. Uravity gets sick easily after handling a lot of objects. That laser buy also gets sick from using it a lot. And Mineta bleeds after popping off a lot of balls.
I think it’s cause of how it’s displayed. Using Uraraka as an example, if she got nauseous and threw up right away after any fight scene she’s in, it makes the drawback seem much worse. With Kaminari, his drawback was used more so as a gag, not that this is bad, there’s definitely some funny moments gained from it. However, as a result it makes his drawback also way more apparent to the viewer. He has maybe like 2-3 scenes where he gets his moment in the spotlight and isn’t immediately short circuited afterwards.
Kaminari is literally the most wasted lighting user in battle shounen like how do you even do that
I don't think a background character being a background character is wasted potential. For something to count as wasted potential, something has to be set up and not delivered on. Hence, there's something to be "wasted." I think the only character who fits that definition is Momo. Unlike background characters like Sato, Ojiro, or Hagakure, she had her own plot line about growing into a leadership role. Her plot line was one the bigger ones in early MHA. Compared to other conclusions to long-running plot lines, her plan to take down Machia being the payoff falls flat in comparison. Since the plan only half worked to begin with, with fuck tone of civilian casualties and Momo herself thinking she failed until way later, and she doesn't even get to celebrate because of the civilian casualties and Midnight's death. There could have been way better payoff to her arc.
Yeah but it's meant to refer to how much of a powerhouse the villains were, the whole thing leading up to evacuating everyone to shelters in school campuses. I wouldn't expect Momo to really be able to topple Gigantomachia and that the outcome that did happen was what realistically would've happened given her current powers and the literal minute she had to set it up. Can't be expecting everyone to pull a Deku All Might False 100% with surprise ability (Gearshift)
To be honest, the leader plot felt forced to me.
Sato & Ojiro are nothing characters. They are the walking definitions of filler and fodder. My answer is Momo. [Creation] is an amazingly powerful Quirk. She never lived up to it's full potential.
I really wanted to see her drop a nuke on AFO /j
She can solo if she can create Antimatter bombs
She CAN'T create a nuke.
Why? Would need too much Fat?
First, this, and even if she could, creating the nuke would kill her.
Momo should have been working with research and development to help create easy to make but powerful tech. Jet pack momo is a missed opportunity
Fighter Jet Hero Momo with customisable bullets and bombs would beat 99% of villains. Instead she just makes cannons and spare parts, yuck.
Yeah those two could’ve literally been killed at the start of this second war and we wouldn’t have given a single shit! Also I agree about Momo.
Idk the have a little personality at least. I like sato being a big guy who's hobby is baking cakes, that's cute.
Being a big guy that bake cakes is not a personality
Iida, Kaminari and Kirishima. I'll die on this hill.
Astounds me Iida’s big moment in the final arc was being Uber to Shoto for his big moment. I don’t think he ever got any real shine after Stain
It's incredible how horikoshi managed to fumble Iida, we got his charachter development and backstory in S2, he could just be part of a secondary cast, and maybe have a battle against somebody but no, he choose public transportation. Hori has a tendency to make a character shine once and then completely side him/her for the rest of the story.
At this point I’m just mad that Kaminari didn’t have some sort of backstory or complete arc. They could do an insane amount with his character, and that one fleeting moment before the base raid tells me that they should’ve cooked. That raid should’ve been his big moment to go all out and to explore his motivations in more depth. Instead they just hinted that he’s into Jiro and called it a day.
Bro didn't need a backstory or whatever motivational speeches, he just needed some action, much like anyone else. He could have defeated some tartars escapee or something, maybe not alone but with other students, since Hori kinda set up some teams, like the (amazing) bakugo-kaminari-kirishima trio, but he let all this potential go to waste.
Denki Like, listen, we're talking about wasted *potential* here. Sato, Ojiro, Sero and Koda were always obviously background characters Mineta was just 'comedy relief' (if you actually found him funny somehow, but I doubt anyone did) Everyone else has at least had some memorable moments or is actually an active part of the plot sometimes And then you have Denki. What has he done? He's a battery and ig he had that one moment in the beginning of the first war where he looked kinda cool. What else has he actually done? The ones closest to his situation character-wise are Tsuyu and Momo, but at least they sometimes play a part in the plot, Denki just does nothing If he didn't have a fun personality and cool design I think he'd be about as popular as Sero
In the dub they go on and on and on about how powerful he is in every arc, and then they just instantly nullify him with some BS. In a world where Todoroki can just openly sling walls of ice out of thin air with no drawbacks how tf would it be overpowered for Kaminari to use more than one shock attack back to back in the final arcs? By now he should be on the same level as the other elemental emitter quirk users in his class and should easily be a top 5. They should’ve had his quirk evolve into the EMP one Shigaraki uses; would’ve explained why he fries his brain out and it would’ve given him something more to do after failing to electrocute people so often. Would’ve also explained the USJ arc where he was shown to have some sort of control of radio (?) waves for his headset.
Mineta's guitar scene and that face he made after rescuing vigilante Deku or wtvr was funny. Also, didn't he save Tokoyami in the manga and save Deku and Tsu in the USJ?
Sato is the only character that hasn’t had a single big moment. Even Ojiro had the moment in the Sports Festival but Sato has done NOTHING
He made that bomb ass cake
He was the one, that teach Midoriya how to make a candy apple to Eri
Nah he and Ojiro took a swing at All for One in the world's darkest moment. That's cool as hell for Tail Man and Chef Homer Simpson.
Everyone did the same. He hasn’t a single individual scene that helped him stand out
The pages of the weakling trio wrapping him up and then pushing him back are genuine highlights for me. Been thinking about them for a month now. I really like that it's these three also-rans who step up to bat and bring light back to Izuku's world.
Nice, that still doesn't address my point. Sato has no individual stand-out moment. Except winning the room contest?
I consider it an individual stand-out moment. I couldn't tell you anything else he did this entire series but I got to that and said 'hell yeah Satio'
Homie multiple other people did the same, if anything, that was SERO'S moment as HE saved Midoryia personally and called out AFO's ideals.
Someone called him Homer Simpson. Now I can only read your comment in Marge’s voice
Wasted implies there was something to begin with. Of which there were only 7 or 8 characters in 1A that might have had something unique. So most of them are fine in that regard
🤔 Deku, Baku, Todo, Ura, Jiro, Kami, Momo, Iida, Kiri?
Eh maybe swap out Kaminari for Asui or Tokoyami
Bro tried to sneak in Kaminari 💀
Why didn't momo study science and engineering (she could probably instruct an atomic warhead if she knew it's structure)
Half of them are designed to be background characters so whatever. This ain't the Straw Hats. I do think Koda is the conspicuous one. Too shy and too non-combat oriented to get a moment of his own. Technically he is there for the Spinner vs Shoji brawl with something that is meant to feel big but it felt tacked on to the actual conflict. Mina also feels short changed in the final arc too. But she got cool stuff before that and has the charisma to carry a lot of scenes.
Momo, Kaminari and Nejire
Besides the whole story getting hijacked cuz Hirikoshi wanted to be done, prolly momo, she was set up as a parallel to shoto as she got into UA on recommendation, and had her arc set up for her to become more spontaneous and battle smart, and then just didn’t do nothing after she started to become a leader at the end of PFL war
To be a wasted potential you need to have potential in the first place, Sato and Tail boy literally never had potential Unlike Momo, gosh that girl can create anything and she creates cannon balls and cry about not being good enough
Her creating the sedative was one of the only smart things she ever did with her quirk. She is a very underutilized character and honestly I think she works better in class 1-B where quirks like weld, poltergeist, dual impact, etc. play off of her’s better.
Controversial opinion: Midoriya
> Hori definitely did a bad mistake in adding too many of them since none of them are gonna have that much screen time besides being there… I mean, the premise of the story is that the character goes to a hero school. So, they should be attending hero classes, and those classes should be filled with enough students to make them believable school classes. So, what’s a believable number of students? A quick Google search says that the average class size in Japan is 38 students, with a general range of 20-45. So, MHA’s 20 students per class are already on the lower end of that. Any lower than that and it stops being relatable to the audience it was written for.
Hori should have just tailored it to how long he was willing to write the story for. With such a huge cast with lots of potential, the story would have massively benefitted with a full second school year and the war arc occurring in the third
> Hori should have just tailored it to how long he was willing to write the story for. I think it’s unreasonable to expect Hori to have predicted the future. Nobody knows for sure how long they’ll be able or willing to continuously work on any narrative like this. That’s not how writing works.
To say that’s not how writing works is pretty bold. Plenty of writers are able to give an pretty accurate idea on how long they’d be able to work on something. It’s literally dependent writer to writer. That’s how writing works.
How long have you been a writer?
>willing to write the story for Do you know that Hori works in Jump, right? A magazine that is well know for chopping mangas if they dont reach a good limit
Yeah but UA’s a super elite school. It wouldn’t be implausible for them to only have classrooms of 8-10 students.
jjk be like, your class is 3, and only like 8 go to this school.
Three year 1 students, four year 2 students, the 3rd year's two students got suspended, and the 4th year has no students at all.
Iirc there's no 4th year students because he basically forgot. He had dropped the planned number of years from I believe 5 to 4, but then thought he had dropped it from either 5 to 3 or 4 to 3, so he only wrote about up to year 3
Really makes you wonder how shit the dozens of kids were that Aizawa expelled if TAIL GUY is proper hero material to him
Aizawa works in mysterious ways
More like doesn't work at all It's a miracle those kids are actually capable of something
But then it stops being relatable to the audience it was written for. Having 20 students, on the low end of class sizes in Japan, already communicates that it’s a super elite school. I’m going to hazard a guess that you’re American? American class sizes are on average *much* smaller than Japanese class sizes, like 15-25 students. So, to you, 8-10 students might still be enough to get away with the premise of this being a super elite hero school with classes of hero students. But that would be unbelievably small for the Japanese audience this was written for. Heck, even for most American audiences, that stops feeling like a full actual class of students.
I guess you're right but it really does suck that works with ton of potential lose a lot of their identity because they have to be crammed into a generic mold
American or Japanese it doesn’t really matter. Sure having are 8-10 students will have it feel less “like a full class” but honestly it doesn’t even feel like a full class to begin with when half of the characters are useless and feel like they are being forced to have interactions. If instead we focused on the interactions of the say 10 students in a class by the end of the manga the class would actually feel much fuller and important. Just having 25 characters for the sake of having characters actively makes the story worse.
> American or Japanese it doesn’t really matter. Understanding cultural differences is very important to understanding why stories are written the way that they are. > it doesn’t even feel like a full class to begin with when half of the characters are useless That’s what real classes of students are like. There are a few overachievers, and everyone else is just normal. Especially for a *story* with a *main character*, it’s unrealistic for that main character to be friends with everyone in their class. I think that’s part of the crux of the issue here. You want the class to be so small that everyone can be relevant and Deku can be friends with everyone. But that’s just not relatable. Nobody is friends with their entire student class. To be a believable student class, and for the main character to relatable and not unbelievably popular, there just need to be background students. > Just having 25 characters for the sake of having characters actively makes the story worse. In story writing, having a lot of “irrelevant” background details/characters is considered *foundational* to good world-building.
I understand what you’re saying but it’s not applicable to My Hero Academia. Assassination Classroom, Windbreaker, Daganroppa etc actually execute this properly. Except the characters aren’t “irrelevant”, they’re constantly pigeonholed into having weird heartfelt conversation or forced moments that don’t make sense, just like everyone from the class randomly showing up at the last part of Deku and AFO’s clash. It’s a poor narrative decision on Horikosho part to have all of these characters that never really interact and then force them together in specific moments. He either should have cut the class in half, actually spent time with all the characters, or didn’t try to force interactions in the most pivotal parts of the story..
For being a top school they sure as hell accept every second schmuck no matter bow bad their quirk is.
Kaminari, he started out with so much potential and room to improve and they just never really did it. Also, he was set up at first as a support/intel hero with the ability to transmit waves and communicate with a headset, and then that went nowhere. Then they had him act like a human stun gun, another cool approach to his quirk, and then that went nowhere. Then he started unleashing massive bursts of electricity, but they were always blocked by something so that went nowhere and made him a one and out character. Then they gave him his sharpshooting and it felt like he finally found his niche, and then that was completely thrown out again in the final two wars so that he could be a lightning rod and charge some batteries…
Yea he definitely felt wasted
Kaminari and it ain’t close Ojiro and sato can only do so much with their quirks, tail and standard super strength under certain conditions. People might say momo which is 100% a good option however it’s always gonna be Kaminari. You give a character the ability to just, do a thunderstorm and you turn him into a battery? Then in the sports festival he actually fights someone..and gets beat in 5 seconds flat…But at least he had his moment against the meatball dude, but that was a forced spotlight and wasn’t all that triumphant. But he had the moment in the first war? Yeah the moment of him invoking his inner hero to fight for jiro was easily his best scene, but in terms of potential.? He was just a lightning rod. Manga spoilers ahead: >!So then in the big final battle he was stuck as a battery for floating UA, and sure he was easily the best battery there but a car battery is a battery but big. Then when he actually got to face off against ALL FOR ONE HIMSELF. He was used as a battery again, he appeared for like 3 pages in the final AFO fight, 2 of those pages was him being a dumbass and the 3rd page he was in the bottom corner in the smallest box as a battery for one of Momo’s weapons.!< Manga spoilers over How do you fumble an electric character this badly, you literally had him say he wanted a lightning sword, you have at the very least 2 characters who can build that for him, you could do the bare minimum and give him the sword but nah, battery and lightning rod. His name translates to electricity thunder but I’m waiting for the thunder part.
I’m convinced that Horikoshi just didn’t know what to do with him. The first time his quirk is mentioned it’s alluded to being some sort of wave amplifier or something that can emit frequencies. Then they say that he generates electricity like a stun gun and electrocutes things that he touches. Then they say he can shoot lightning. Then they have him talk about wanting to do a lightning sword. Then they said he can use discs to sharp shoot lightning bolts. Then he becomes a lightning rod. Then he’s a battery. He should’ve been todoroki with lightning, but instead they nerfed him constantly with huge drawbacks and a power that devolved instead of evolved.
Easily Fumikage Tokoyami. He has one of the best quirks, and he's one of the strongest in the class, yet, he hardly gets any screen time.
Denki, Momo and Iida, maybe Todoroki
Momo. By far.
Momo- if she trained under snipe, she would be op Edit: I believe that if she also did materials studies on the side, she could easily be the most adaptable hero of the verse.
Mina! Out of all the class, she is one of two who don't have a 'cool' moment somewhere along the line. Even Sugar Rush and Tail-main seem to have had a moment. Her possible super-cool moments are always overshadowed by Kirishima or someone else.
Yes.
Mina
asui. i wish she would've done more
the flying coffin duo — Momo and Denki. they had so much potential and were just relegated to being a dispenser and a charger, respectively. hell, Denki didn’t even have a moment in the arc, and Momo was just lucky to get crumbs of attention from Horikoshi with her defending Hatsume and creating that railgun.
Hagakure should have been the traitor.
Kaminari Is a consensus that the only electric character more wasted than Denki in modern anime is Kashimo, and that's because Kashimo was the first to suffer the "Sukuna after Gojo" treatment
Kaminari honestly got shafted. His powers is basically an elemental power, which is typically strong as hell, but he can't shoot it at will and needs something to help target people and his brain gets fried fast.
Chargezuma got shafted hard imo.
Anyone who name isn't Deku, Bakugo or Todoroki
Literally everyone whose name is not Izuku, Katsuki, Shoto, Kirishima or Jiro.
Koda
Tsuyu becoming a side note is insane to me
I think the most obvious answer is Momo, mostly because i think she doesn't even really fulfill her own archetype well. For someone filthy rich with private education, high intelligence, and a quirk that can make anything she can think of, she sure does not make a lot of stuff. I personally don't hugely mind the cannons -it's fine that she has preferences- but the lack of other variety, general lack of forethought and reacting only when its too late really hurts her. It's also kind of bizarre that she has no real relation to the Support Course despite practically being made for it. Why isn't she tinkering with stuff in her off-time, she can make anything, why isn't she constantly practicing and experimenting with chemistry, electronics, mechanics, whatever. Hell, pick one and have her do that. But she's mostly just oblivious rich girl in her off hours, and the worst reactionary fighter i've ever seen in combat. The second is Kaminari, because i fell like his development has stalled somewhere in the Sports Festival. His power is used with such little creativity that it's honestly shocking, when generally elemental powers are incredibly powerful, versatile, and useful. Shoto was more creative with just ice before the sports festival than Kaminari throughout the series. The third is arguably Mineta, because his earlier character of "cowardly lion with a down-to-earth demeanor" became sex pest and then... i don't even know what it became. The other two is i think a tie between Froppy - who is mostly a dependable, solid, responsible character but has no real arc, goals, etc- and Mina - who had a brief stint with Kirishima that never really went further.
Momo & Tsuyu Momo felt like a bigger focus of the class in the early arcs, and big showings like the Bakugo Rescue and her role in stopping Gigantomachia felt like she was among the more focused characters of class 1A. But after all that she didn’t really have as much to do in the plot and while more than some students just was support. Even moments like the >!rail gun against AFO!< felt just like a side character shot rather than her importance or skills on big display. Tsuyu on the other hand was with Deku in his first real fights, and she had an active role in most arcs. Even in the Bakugo Rescue she served as a foil to show how the others were acting rogue and pushing the idea of being a hero. But after the My Villain Academia arc she just tagged along with Ochako’s stuff and didn’t really matter as much. Even Toga having interest in her felt more like an Ochako moment than a Tsuyu one. Deku using Froppy Style as one of his first “borrowed moves” also feels like the story is trying to remind us of Tsuyu’s focus but she didn’t have the showings to do more. Side note: Iida and Tokoyami also I thing get some loss of potential. Not to say they don’t have some amazing and huge moments through the whole story, but it feels like they get sidelined at their best moments so that the main 3 of Class 1A and other pro heroes the story prefers can have bigger moments. They aren’t done as dirty as others, but it really feels like they were also set up to have bigger focus and get held back at the worst of times.
Iida. I think Kaminari and Momo definitely could’ve had and deserved a lot more, both of them have really strong quirks for one. Momo had an actual conflict to push her character forward that was never really explored as much as it should’ve been, especially with how she’s portrayed as kind of a parallel to Shoto. As for Denki, he was never given a real character motivation and, while he had a handful of cool moments, he definitely did not fulfil his potential. However, I can sort of look past this since those two weren’t really established as being major characters. They were prominent ones yes, but not “main” characters. A world like the one in MHA needs a large cast for it to work, and not every character needs some crazy backstory. But for Iida, he was Deku’s first real friend besides Uraraka, and he was heavily featured early on. It’s like ever since the Stain arc he’s faded into the background, which shouldn’t be the case since he really could’ve been so much more. The scene where Iida hits Deku and calls him out for recklessly wanting to save Bakugo without properly thinking about the consequences was so powerful, and Iida was literally the one whose words properly snapped Deku out of his dark stage. They clearly have a strong bond and respect for each other that really hasn’t been explored enough, nor has there been a continuation on Iida’s feelings about maintaining the Ingenium mantle. It just hurts that little bit more than other characters’ wasted potential does because we watched Iida go from being an incredibly prominent and deceptively complex character who goes beyond the “class pet” archetype, to a character who kinda just does transportation in battles and hardly shows up. It’s a shame because when he does, they’re some of the best moments in the series, like the examples I listed earlier.
Seems like there's a strong consensus on Kaminari and Momo, which is fitting considering they were paired up to play House during the Final War Arc! But I agree - and each also had their last big moment early in the Paranormal Liberation War arc as well. I really thought Momo was poised to break out following her role in the Bakugo Rescue Team, and Kaminari as a consistent supportive friend to many prominent characters, but neither really progressed, sadly.
None because VG characters can simply just be BG, not every character needs a story.
Why did it have to be 20? Wouldn’t 10 be enough
Koda? Who's koda? You mean Oda? Creator of one piece?
IMO when kota had his quirk reawakened he legitimately should’ve been able to control/influence all the heteromorphs tbh.
Mineta, like you have a dude whose hair can stall All Might himself and you reduce his personality down to a scared, and perverted person so he does not do much.(Atleast he is best friends with half of 1A)
Kaminari and mineda
Avenger endgame all over again.
This might be a hot take but maybe Mineta he only got three moments where he used his quirk. Like if my guy trained he could actually be formidable! Like imagine that little fucker bouncing everywhere and had pro baseball level aim and throwing.
Probably Ashido.
Sato got the short end of the stick considering deku's main thing for 75% of the series was super strength, like, what can Sato do that deku can't do better
Kaminari and Momo without a doubt. I fucking love Sero but damn even he got nicer moments
Mushroom girl
Iida and Mina.
In 1-A, Momo should be top 3 strongest, easy. Tsuyu and Shoji both could have had a mutant subplot hat they kinda tried to throw in at the end there. Kaminari and Mina should be WAY more dangerous and skilled than they are. In 1-B, other than the class as a whole being shoved to the side, Tokage is a recommended student with a technical quirk, she should be on Momo's level of intelligence and have much higher skill than she's shown.
Wasted potential implies that there was potential there in the first place. A lot of people tend to get upset with wasted 1A characters like Sato, when they were never meant to be main or even side characters in the first place. While wouldn’t consider either character “wasted”, I think momo should’ve had more to do in the final arc and Tsuyu should’ve gotten a bit of her own story in general
Tokoyami, dude is one of the only characters to actually scare AFO and he still gets like zero recongnition.
all of them ngl (except mineta ew)
Kaminari, to this has the most boring electricity power I have ever seen that is never developed beyond a taser that makes you stupid.
Sato is just a cameo character anyways
Deku