Kohei Horikoshi’s take on the classical superhero; My Hero Academia, has produced some of the most memorable characters and character designs in recent anime history. As the series is currently in its final arc, it’s an apt time to look back at the story so far, and how well, or poorly it has performed in various aspects. As a series that has been well known for trying to give as many characters as possible substantial development, this includes looking into how well the many subplots and side stories have been presented.
One such story 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 had a lot of potential though, it feels like the series made several missteps in realizing it.
Who Is Shirakumo?
Anyone who’s heard about MHA will probably recognise Class 1-A’s main teacher, Eraser Head. He’s been a constant presence in the series since UA became the series’ main setting. By extension, they might also recognise his best friend and series announcer, Present Mic. While their classic introvert/extrovert dynamic makes them quite the fun pair, it is later revealed that in their schooling days, they used to be a trio. The third member of that trio was Oboro Shirakumo.
Shirakumo is shown to have been the dreamer of the group. He was a happy medium between Eraser and Mic, who always pushed them to pursue their dreams, and even inspired Eraser’s iconic goggles. His personality bore a lot of similarities to Mirio Togata, including a lack of shame in being naked in front of others. Tragically, Shirakumo passed away while the 3 were on their hero internships, derailing the dreams they’d had of starting their own hero agency.
Who Is Kurogiri?
He seemed like just a tragic aspect of Eraser’s backstory, but Horikoshi deigned to bring him back in an interesting way. The villain Kurogiri was one of Shigaraki’s first and most loyal allies, acting as the main source of transportation for the villains through his warp gate quirk. Luckily, he ended up being captured, and locked away in a high security prison. And then came the twist. Kurogiri was discovered to be a Nomu, a bioweapon made from the corpse of a human being by Dr. Ujiko Garaki. And the body he was created from was none other than Shirakumo’s.
Making Shirakumo and Kurogiri the same person was a great twist, finally giving Eraser and Mic more personal stakes than just protecting their students. It also created the dilemma of whether or not they could turn him back to his old self somewhat, or whether he would remain a villain forever. There were signs of his old mind still being present, but for a long time it was left at that.
A Misplaced Backstory
While this whole story is actually quite compelling, there is one major flaw that completely weakens any impact it could have had. The vast majority of direct time the audience gets to spend with Shirakumo, is not featured in the main MHA story. It actually all appears in the spin-off, MHA: Vigilantes, which takes place before the events of the main series.
In Vigilantes, the backstory that revealed Shirakumo’s history and death, was an entire arc focusing on Eraser’s younger days. For those who were reading both series at the same time, it was even quite satisfying, as Shirakumo was factored into the main series soon after his stint on Vigilantes ended. However, the vast majority of the MHA audience has not read Vigilantes, and since it has no anime adaptation, it is very easy for fans to be unaware of its existence. The main series does attempt to transplant some moments with Shirakumo to better sell his friend’s grief, but it simply does not hold as much weight as it would for Vigilantes readers.
The Current Ramifications
Now, in the middle of the final war arc, Shirakumo has become an extremely important piece of the conflict. His warping abilities are so useful for the villains that All for One sent a small army of heteromorphs to retrieve him, leading up to Spinner and Present Mic having a battle for the soul of their friend. Whether or not the person who emerges is Shirakumo or Kurogiri might alter the course of the story entirely.
Horikoshi even drew a special volume cover to emphasize this two sided character. However, while the audience can easily understand why he matters, they don’t have the required information to truly empathize with Present Mic in this moment. To them, Shirakumo is a stranger.
It’s possible that this could be fixed in the anime adaptation. There have been anime original episodes in the past, so it wouldn’t be completely unheard of to produce a small, maybe 2 episode arc to adapt Shirakumo’s backstory properly. Although, the best time for this was when he was brought up in the anime to begin with. Now, no matter what happens, what could’ve been one of My Hero Academia’s most impactful sub plots, has lost a lot of its power.