Kohei Horikoshi’s take on the classic Super Hero, My Hero Academia, has created some of the most memorable characters and character designs in recent Anime history.
Since the work is currently at the end, this is the right time to look back at the story so far, it has shown both the good and the bad in different aspects.
As a work that’s known for trying to deliver as much character development as possible, this includes looking at the presentation of many side stories and side stories.
One of the typical elements is the tragedy of Oboro Shirakumo, as well as the pain of his friends Shota Aizawa and Hizashi Yamada, aka Eraser Head and Present Mic.
While this story has a lot of potential, it seems that the MHA made some mistakes in developing it.
Who is Shirakumo?
Anyone who has heard of the MHA will probably recognize Class 1-A’s lead teacher, Eraser Head. He has frequently appeared in the work since UA became the main setting of MHA.
In addition, they may also recognize his best friend and MHA announcer, Present Mic.
While their classic introversion/extroversion makes them quite an interesting couple, it was later revealed that during their school days, they used to be a trio. The third member of that trio is Oboro Shirakumo.
Shirakumo is said to be the dreamer of the group. He is the perfect mix of Eraser and Mic, who motivates them to follow their dreams and even inspired Eraser’s iconic glasses.
His personality shares many similarities with Mirio Togata’s, including not being shy about getting naked in front of others.
Tragically, Shirakumo passed away while the three were interns as Heroes, destroying their dreams of starting their own Hero company.
Who is Kurogiri?
Shirakumo seems to be just one tragic aspect of Eraser’s past story, but Horikoshi decided to bring him back in an interesting way.
The villain Kurogiri is one of Shigaraki’s first and most loyal allies, acting as the main “savior door” for villains through his portal.
Fortunately, he was eventually caught and locked in a high-security prison. Then a new turning point opened.
Kurogiri was discovered to be a Nomu, a biological weapon made from human corpses by Dr. Ujiko Garaki. His body was created by none other than Shirakumo’s.
Making Shirakumo and Kurogiri the same person was the big turning point, ultimately giving Eraser and Mic more personal benefits than just protecting their students.
It also creates the dilemma of whether they can somehow revert him back to his old self, or whether he will forever be a villain.
There are signs of Shirakumo’s old mind that are still present, but it has been left there for a long time.
A plot with many inadequacies
While this whole story is actually quite compelling, there is one major flaw that could impact the storyline.
Much of the direct time that the audience spends with Shirakumo isn’t in the main story of the MHA. It all really comes into play in the spin-off, MHA: Vigilantes, which takes place before the events of the Anime series.
In Vigilantes, the plot reveals the biography and death of Shirakumo, which is partly focused on Eraser’s younger days.
For those reading both parts at the same time, that’s even quite satisfying, as Shirakumo was included in the main work shortly after his Vigilantes stint ended.
However, the vast majority of MHA’s audience hasn’t read Vigilantes, and since it hasn’t been adapted into an Anime, it’s easy for viewers to be unaware of its existence.
The main work tries to match some moments with Shirakumo to portray his friend’s pain clearly, but it simply doesn’t carry as much weight as it does for Vigilantes readers.
Current branching
Now, in the middle of the Final War Arc, Shirakumo has become an extremely important part of the conflict.
His teleportation is so useful to villains that All For One sent a small army of deformers to bring him back, resulting in Spinner and Present Mic having a battle for their friend’s soul. .
Would the appearance of Shirakumo or Kurogiri completely change the course of the story?
Horikoshi even drew a special volume cover to emphasize this two-faced personality.
However, while the audience can easily understand why this character is important, they don’t have the necessary information to really empathize with Present Mic in this moment. To them, Shirakumo was a stranger.
It is likely that this will be fixed in the Anime adaptation. There have been original Anime episodes in the past, so it wouldn’t be strange to produce a small, maybe 2 episode, adaptation of Shirakumo’s plot correctly.
Although, the best time for this is when he is developed in the Anime. Now, whatever happens, what could have been one of My Hero Academia’s most impactful side stories has lost a lot of its influence.
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