The 10 Heroes With The Most Character Development In My Hero Academia

One of the core tenets of a good story is when characters change over the course of the journey. Usually they’ll be positive changes, where the character grows for the better. They can also be negative changes for villains, or characters that become villains, over the course of the story.

My Hero Academia is no exception to this, as there are many characters that change and evolve from the beginning to end of the story. Some characters have minor, subtle changes, while others change drastically from their initial introduction.

10

Monoma

Monoma didn’t necessarily have the longest train of changes throughout the series, but he arguably had the fastest change and completely switched personalities.

During his introduction at the sports festival, he was a cocky yet cool and collected adversary for class A. He competently led his team to try and overcome the hotshots of class A. Then, in his next and every subsequent appearance, he is maniacal, loud, abrasive, and frankly a bit scary.

9

Mineta

Mineta is this anime’s typical ‘creep/pervert’ character. We don’t know why almost every anime has one of these characters, but this is MHA’s. When the show begins, Mineta is a creepy little boy who is also scared out of his wits and would prefer to hang out with Kaminari than do hero training.

However, he does have a bit of positive character development as the series progresses. His perverted antics become less and less, and he slowly becomes more heroic. The biggest example of this is in season seven, where he tries to get All For One to take his quirk instead of Tokoyami’s because he knows Tokoyami would be depressed without dark shadow. While his development is small and takes a long time to go a short distance, it is nice to see him try and change himself for the better.

8

Spinner

Spinner is one of the members of the League of Villains, the group that Shigaraki forms to help with his villainous plans. Spinner makes his debut as a fan of Stain, the hero killer, and is kind of a background character compared to other League members like Dabi or Toga.

However, by season seven, when the war is breaking out and the stakes are at their highest, Spinner evolves from just being a background League member to a major member of the League’s vanguard. He has moved past the shadow of Stain and is instead representing the abused and discriminated Heteromorphic people. This was certainly an unexpected development from his initial debut.

7

Uraraka

In season one, Deku, Uraraka, and Iida have a conversation about why they want to become heroes. Uraraka gives a surprising answer, in which she states that she wants the money, in order to help her parents, who are running a struggling construction business.

While this isn’t a bad reason to be a hero, as long as you still try your best to save people, it is unlike most other characters in the show. However, as the story gets more intense and Uraraka and her friends get into more and more dangerous situations and meet interesting people, Uraraka realizes she also wants to help people and be there for those who have no one, like Toga. Uraraka didn’t necessarily need to have a change of heart for why she is a hero, but it is still nice to see.

6

All Might

All Might, or Toshinori Yagi, doesn’t necessarily change a lot from the beginning of the series, in terms of his ideals and personality. He always wants to be a hero, to save people, and to make the world a better place. But lots of things change for him after he loses One For All, which was already running on fumes.

Though he was born quirkless, like Deku, All Might spent so long with his powers that losing them left him a bit lost as to what he could do and how he could still help. Post-battle with All For One, All Might had to learn how to teach the next generation besides just doing fight training with One For All, as well as assisting from the sidelines with technology and diplomacy.

5

Todoroki

The son of Endeavor with the perfect combination of quirks in “Half-Cold, Half-Hot”, Shoto Todoroki starts as the quiet kid in class. He has one goal in mind, and his father in his sights. He feels he doesn’t need to focus on anything, or anyone, else, to achieve it. He also only uses the ice side of his powers because of this.

Through his battle with Deku at the Sports Festival, getting along with his classmates, and confronting his father over the abuse of their family, Shoto learns a lot. He starts to work together with his classmates, open up more to his friends, and let people into his life. He also embraces the quirk he was given and perfects the harmony between fire and ice.

4

Shigaraki

The Leader of the League of Villains, Shigaraki had a hatred for All Might, but he was always sort of following in the shadow of All For One, the one who molded him into the villain he is today. For a while, Shigaraki was more or less a willing participant in his schemes.

Shigaraki eventually comes into his own, leading the League in the way he wants to, becoming more mature (for a villain), and caring more about his own goals and beliefs over the ones All For One ingrained in him. This even leads to fighting between Shigaraki and All For One as Shigaraki is no longer the perfect puppet for All For One to take over.

3

Deku

Deku is the protagonist of the series and the heart of the story. Deku begins the series as a quirkless, hopeful but naive student wishing to become a hero, despite his lack of powers. Once he obtains One For All, this leads to him trying to do everything himself and pushing his body to the absolute limit.

Throughout the series, Deku learns how to control his powers to not destroy himself, as well as the blurred lines of heroism and villainy. Not everything is black and white, not everyone can be saved, and not everything can be done on your own or in the same way as All Might, just because he has his powers.

2

Endeavor

Endeavor begins the series as the number two hero, behind All Might. Endeavor always wanted to surpass All Might, and even married his wife, Rei, in order to create the perfect child with a combination of their two quirks, fire and ice.

This made him an abusive husband and father, leading to the creation of Dabi from his son Toya, and resentment from the rest of his family. Throughout the course of the series, Endeavor has to learn from his mistakes, attempt to atone for his past, and confront his failures as a hero, husband, and father, and he does.

1

Bakugo

Katsuki Bakugo, childhood friend and bully of Deku. Bakugo has arguably had the most significant changes and character progression in the whole series. He begins as a loud-mouth bully that views anyone besides himself as “extras”, and all it takes to save everyone is himself. It is meant to be a warped viewpoint taken from All Might, in a similar way that Deku was inspired by him.

As the series progresses, however, Bakugo learns that he needs to rely on his classmates and fellow heroes to truly succeed. He also acknowledges that he isn’t perfect, has things to learn about truly becoming a good hero, and even faces his own insecurities and apologizes to Deku for the way he treated him for all those years.