Summary
- In My Hero Academia, Eraser Head undergoes significant character development from a stern teacher to a selfless and protective guardian for his students.
- He evolves from being cold and uncaring to considering his students as peers and colleagues in the fight against villains.
- Through various arcs, Eraser Head's growth from a strict teacher to a supportive mentor reflects the overall journey of the characters in the series.
Although My Hero Academia has a lot of characters within its roster, the series manages to provide decent character development to most of those characters. Needless to say, the one who gets the most development has to be the main character.
That being said, there are several supporting cast that receive quite a substantial amount of attention as well. One of them is the homeroom teacher of U.A. High School's Class 1-A, Shota Aizawa, also known as the Erasure Hero: Eraser Head. Let’s use this chance to see how much has Eraser Head changed since the first season of My Hero Academia.
My Hero Academia: Who is Oboro Shirakumo?
Oboro Shirakumo is one of the newest characters mentioned in My Hero Academia. Who is he, and what role does he play in the story?
Stern and Unbothered Teacher
The first time Eraser Head appeared in the story was as the homeroom teacher from Class 1-A. He immediately presented himself as a stern yet unbothered teacher. He calmly explained how not everybody in the class would graduate as a pro hero or even survive his harsh training, all while resting on the floor in his sleeping bag.
Early Days as a Student
Shota Aizawa has already been a cold and gloomy young man since his early days as a student. He was struggling to find his purpose in this world because he wasn’t sure whether or not his quirk was suitable to help people as a pro hero.
Thankfully, he had best friends like Hizashi Yamada and Oboro Shirakumo who helped him find his path and instilled confidence in him. But everything changed when Shirakumo lost his life during a mission. Since then, Aizawa became gloomier yet even more determined on his path to becoming an underground hero who specialized in anti-villain combat.
“The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless and will be expelled. Your fates are in our hands. Welcome. This is the hero course at U.A. High!”
– Eraser Head, Chapter 5
Early Days as a Teacher
At some point during his career as a pro-hero, Eraser Head decided to become a teacher at U.A. High. Unlike other heroes in the school, Eraser Head strives to bring the harsh reality of a hero's life that he has experienced throughout the years to his classroom. It might make him look cold and uncaring, but he’d rather put his students through hellish training and expel an entire class than see his students fall on the battlefield due to lack of training and preparation.
A Selfless and Caring Guardian
|
Character Name |
Shota Aizawa |
|---|---|
|
First Appearance |
Episode 5 |
|
Release Date |
June 9, 2018 |
As he spends more time with his students, Eraser Head becomes closer to Deku and the rest of the kids in Class 1-A. Slowly but surely, the cold-hearted teacher transforms into a selfless and caring guardian. On multiple occasions, Eraser Head has protected the students from the villains and even sacrificed himself to save his students.
A Selfless Hero
|
Character Name |
Tomura Shigaraki |
|---|---|
|
First Appearance |
Episode 8 |
|
Release Date |
June 30, 2018 |
The first time Eraser Head showcases his guardian side is in the Unforeseen Simulation Joint (U.S.J.) Arc. During the class training, members of the League of Villains suddenly appeared and wreaked havoc on their surroundings. Eraser Head immediately ordered the students to evacuate while he stayed behind to take on Tomura Shigaraki and his subordinates by himself.
He knew there was no way he could fight them all alone, but at least he could keep them at bay until reinforcements arrived. As it turned out, not only did he manage to hold them off, but Eraser Head even defeated some of the villains. Unfortunately, there was always strength in numbers and the League of Villains eventually defeated Eraser Head. By the time All Might and other teachers came to help, the villains had already inflicted multiple serious injuries on Eraser Head.
A Protective Guardian
|
Character Name |
Dabi |
|---|---|
|
First Appearance |
Episode 31 |
|
Release Date |
January 6, 2019 |
Another example of Eraser Head acting as the protective guardian for the kids is during the Forest Training Camp Arc. It was supposed to be another Eraser Head’s signature hellish training that would help the students improve their quirk’s power and handling ability. It was also a joint training with Class-1B with the help of a pro hero team called the Wild, Wild Pussycats as the supervisors.
Unfortunately, the clones of Dabi from the League of Villains managed to infiltrate and attack the kids, and Eraser Head, while they were in the middle of a training session. Eraser Head frantically rushed toward the students to ensure their safety. Thanks to him and the Class-1B’s homeroom teacher along with the heroes from Wild, Wild, Pussycats, the students managed to survive with only some minor injuries.
Proud and Supportive Colleague
Another major character development for Eraser Head happened when the story moved into its most ambitious arc yet, the Paranormal Liberation War Arc. The students are forced to grow and adapt to increasingly dangerous situations in order to help the rest of the pro-heroes fighting against the united forces of the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army. At this point, Eraser Head has begun to consider them not just as his students, but as his peers who fight for the same cause.
Respect as Fellow Heroes
The pro heroes never intended to bring the students to the battlefield. But when they try to defeat the villains and protect the innocent citizens at the same time, they quickly realize that they are severely lacking in manpower. Not to mention the ever-increasing amount of heroes who suffer life-threatening injuries further decreases their number.
Meanwhile, the skills and power of the students, especially those from the U.A. High, are pretty much on par with low to medium-ranking pro heroes. Some are even already as powerful as top-ranked heroes. So it only makes sense to add some of them to the ranks. As it turned out, the more they spent together on the battlefield, the more Eraser Head realized that his students had grown into bonafide heroes.
From Students to Colleagues
Now that the story has entered the Final War Arc, it’s clear that Eraser Head has found the lines between students and peers to be extremely blurry. On the one hand, he still sees them as students that he has to guide and protect, but on the other hand, he can’t help but be moved by Deku and the rest of Class-1A’s struggle and determination which is sometimes more than regular pro heroes.
He cares about them as students, but he also respects them as fellow heroes. In his mind, They’re not just teacher and students now, they are colleagues who help each other out as best as they can.
Eraser Head from the first season would never have these kinds of thoughts or attitudes towards his students. It takes a series of extraordinary events that span across the entire series to turn him into such an admirable teacher and a respectable hero.
My Hero Academia is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
In My Hero Academia, Young Deku is born into a world where people commonly have something called quirks, also known as superpowers. He himself is born without any, but circumstances lead to that changing. He enrolls at the UA High School, a prestigious academy where the worlds future heroes learn how to use their powers.
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