Hump Day Husbandos: Shota Aizawa (My Hero Academia)
We are less than a month away from the new season of My Hero Academia, which is a good excuse for me to go back and review some of the series’ top moments.
One of the fights that didn’t quite make it on my list of best battles from last year — but which absolutely could have — was Shota Aizawa versus the League of Villains at the end of season one. It highlights a lot of the themes about the show while giving us our first glimpse at a character we’ve seen all season but never actually witnessed in action.
This week for Hump Day Husbandos we’re going to be showing some love to our favourite fed-up teacher, Shota Aizawa, aka Eraser Head.
Who is Shota Aizawa?
Shota Aizawa is introduced early on in the series, slowly making his way into the classroom of Class 1A wrapped up in a sleeping bag and lacking any patience for anyone’s nonsense. His immediate task is to gauge the character’s abilities and strength, and he promises to expel the student with the weakest showing. He is harsh and unfair, seemingly uncaring as he threatens to take away their dreams without a second thought.
We get little glimpses at the chewy centre beneath that hard exterior, but it isn’t until the end of the first season that we get to see what it looks like in action. With his quirk of being able to temporarily erase someone’s quirk, Shota Aizawa has a very useful power in a world where 80% of the population have some sort of superpower, but it doesn’t immediately scream “combat specialist”. However, when his students are threatened, Aizawa proves that he can throw down with the best of them, taking on a large group of villains all by himself in an effort to keep the kids safe until help arrives.
Why we love him
Shota Aizawa is a hero who cares deeply about protecting people. His harshness is simply his way to prepare the students in his care for a world where they will be forced to make difficult decisions and live with the consequences. When confronted by a superpowered being that is seemingly immune to his quirk-erasing quirk, Eraser Head still does whatever it takes to protect his students — even if it means permanent damage to his vision and an inability to use his powers again.
We get to see glimpses of his caring side throughout the show with how he strives to pick the members of Class 1A up after they fall short of their own impossible standards. He pushes Momo to be more confident in herself and encourages Deku — even as he warns him not to stray from his instructions.
Shota Aizawa shows that he cares through his actions and the faith he places in his students. When Bakugo is taken hostage, he publicly suggests that while the League of Villains may think they can turn the young hero to evil, they are vastly underestimating his strength of will. It is a bold statement considering everything we had seen of Bakugo up to that point — but it turns out it is spot on.
Why you’ll love him
I think we can all relate to Shota Aizawa at this point. Tired. Fed up. Showing up to work in a sleeping bag and desperate for a nap. (Zzzzzz… whuh? Never – Ed.) But when you get past that and see the reason why he pushes his students so hard, you realise that everything he does is to help them survive a harsh world. The life of a pro-hero is hard — and he doesn’t want any of his students to suffer because he was too soft.
If you want to see Shota Aizawa in action for the first time or want to rewatch the show ahead of season five’s premiere later this month, check out My Hero Academia on Funimation in both sub and dub formats.
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