My Hero Academia boasts a massive cast of lovable, exciting characters, from protagonist Izuku Midoriya to his U.A. classmates, teachers, and even enemies. It didn’t take long for My Hero Academia to develop these characters and flesh out who they are, which always made them far more likable and compelling — including Izuku’s homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa/Eraser Head.
With his gloomy exterior and apparent apathetic attitude, Aizawa didn’t seem that likable initially, but there is far more to him than meets the eye. Soon enough, My Hero Academia gave fans all kinds of reasons to love Eraser Head as one of anime’s best teachers.
10 Aizawa Was Often “A Mood”
An anime character becomes far more appealing when they say, do, or think something ordinary that the viewers can relate to. Often, fans express this as the anime character “being a mood” or being wonderfully relatable in their thoughts or actions. Eraser Head does that more than a few times.
A good example is Aizawa, the introvert, retreating from his students in the comfort of his bright yellow sleeping bag to get some peace and quiet. His exhausted attitude of “I can’t deal with these rowdy kids” is relatable to certain anime viewers.
9 Aizawa Showed Incredible Courage In Combat
All Pro Heroes are expected to show bottomless courage and risk their lives in the face of villainy, which applies to Eraser Head, too. He may act lazy and moody sometimes, but when the League of Villains or other foes show up, Eraser Head will leap into action without hesitation.
The first and best example was when Shota Aizawa became Eraser Head, the hero, bravely placing himself between his beloved Class 1-A students and the Nomus and villains of the League. Even when he got beaten half to death, Aizawa didn’t dare back down until All Might himself arrived.
8 Aizawa Is Smart With The Press
A Pro Hero like Shota Aizawa/Eraser Head must do more than fight criminals to keep the peace and maintain order in society. Pro Heroes should also say the right things to reassure the masses, including short interviews and public statements in mainstream media.
The press can make or break a hero’s or school’s reputation in this world, and Aizawa knows it. While smartly keeping sensitive intel secret, he publicly apologized for the security breach that led to the USJ invasion, reassuring everyone that he and the other teachers wouldn’t let this happen again.
7 Aizawa Revealed His Charmingly Terrible Smile
Some anime characters have the most dazzling, inspiring smiles, including My Hero Academia’s own All Might. Meanwhile, Shota Aizawa hardly ever smiles, let alone sincerely, but the results are amusingly awkward when he does.
Aizawa became likable not with his great smile, but with his terrible one. It suits him as a tsundere schoolteacher. He smiles not to inspire people, but to express his own excitement when he subjects his students to ultra-tough exams and training exercises. No other character could pull off a darkly funny smile like that.
6 Aizawa Showed His Fondness For Cats
Fluff personal details can go a long way toward fleshing out an anime character, and for Shota Aizawa, behind-the-scenes facts revealed his fondness for cats. Plenty of anime fans are also cat lovers, and perhaps they even watch My Hero Academia with a feline friend on their lap.
Shota Aizawa became even more likable as an introverted but kind lover of cats, and the Vigilantes spinoff manga proved it. In his student days at U.A., Aizawa adopted a kitten with his friends, Present Mic and Shirakumo, and Midnight also volunteered to sometimes care for it.
5 Aizawa Practiced Protective, Tough Love With His Students
After the explosive Katsuki Bakugo got himself captured, Izuku and a few of his classmates conspired to raid the League of Villains’ hideout and rescue him on their own. This was a serious risk to their lives, which is why Tsuyu Asui was so upset when she learned about it later.
Then, Shota Aizawa delivered a stern lecture to remind the students of school rules and protect them. He had half a mind to punish or expel almost every student for either taking part in that raid or for allowing it to happen, proving how tough but protective he was toward them all. He’ll make sure they don’t risk their lives like that again.
4 Aizawa Had Total Faith In Class 1-A During The Provisional License Exam
During the provisional hero license exam, Class 1-A’s students went up against the best students of many other schools, including Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu, which led to the attempted “crushing” of Class 1-A. Each year, all those schools group up to obliterate the talented Class 1-A, but Aizawa wasn’t concerned.
Aizawa watched the entire exam from start to finish, and he wasn’t the least bit worried about his students. His faith in them was rewarded, and all 20 students made it to the exam’s end despite the attempted crushing. And all but Shoto and Bakugo scored enough points to get their licenses, too.
3 Aizawa Has Amusing Chemistry With Ms. Joke
Fictional characters have strong chemistry when they play off each other well and bring out the best in each other, or at least bring out each other’s most entertaining side. Such is the case for Aizawa and his friend, Ms. Joke, a Pro Hero who teaches at the Ketsubutsu hero school.
Ms. Joke is cheerful, colorful, and lively — plus, she’s got love on her mind. All of that contrasts nicely with the moody, dark Shota Aizawa, making them both far more likable and entertaining to watch.
2 Aizawa Became Hitoshi Shino’s Own All Might
Just as All Might became Izuku’s best supporter and most enthusiastic coach, Shota Aizawa later took Hitoshi Shinso under his wing to train the boy in the ways of Pro Heroes. At first, Shinso didn’t have what it took, or he didn’t think he did. Aizawa made sure to change all that.
Aizawa and Shinso have similar personalities and fighting styles, so the two of them were a natural fit as master and apprentice. Aizawa gets burnt out teaching rowdy Class 1-A, but when he privately mentors a like-minded student, his true talent as a teacher shines.
1 Aizawa Is Trying To Get His Friend, Shirakumo, Back
For a time, it seemed that Shota Aizawa had no real friends, but of all people, the villain Kurogiri had once been his high school-era friend, Oboro Shirakumo. Years ago, Shirakumo seemingly died, robbing Aizawa and Present Mic of a friend, but he has been reborn as Kurogiri the Nomu.
Aizawa impressed My Hero Academia fans when he, alongside Present Mic, desperately tried to speak to the Shirakumo personality deep inside Kurogiri and bring him back from the dead. It didn’t work, but the fact that Aizawa tried so hard shows how much he cares for his old friend after all this time.
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