My Hero Academia: The Surprising Hero Aizawa Is Secretly Connected To

For fans of My Hero Academia, Shota Aizawa, AKA Eraserhead, is often a gloomy man of mystery, but as his backstory has been revealed in the spinoff series My Hero Academia Vigilantes – which is far different than anyone could have guessed. When Aizawa relates a story from his time at U.A. to that series’ protagonist, Koichi, it takes the form of an extended flashback. While some details were no surprise, like his schoolboy friendship with Present Mic, it’s his time at hero work-study that’s most interesting.

As part of their training, hero students at U.A. perform work-study at professional hero agencies across the country. In the main series, Midoriya performed his work-study at Sir Nighteye’s agency, alongside Mirio. The goal is to provide real-world experience at the job and to allow students to see the parts of hero work that don’t make it on TV such as intelligence gathering, support and planning, and so on. The young Aizawa actually had a lot in common with Midoriya, as both are a bit too serious and have a penchant for overthinking a situation. While Sir Nighteye’s agency meshed well with this personality aspect of Midoriya’s, Aizawa wasn’t so lucky, and at the invitation of Midnight (in an even racier outfit than usual), he wound up working at the Purple Revolution Agency.

The Purple Revolution Agency is led by His Purple Highness, a barely concealed pastiche of famed musician Prince. His Purple Highness wears a hero uniform based on Prince’s iconic Purple Rain outfit, and the agency takes its name from both this and his band, Prince and the Revolution. His quirk is known as Chest Hair, and although it’s stated to “increase his masculine attributes,” little else is shown. He has a flamboyant style and a melodramatic personality, chiding Aizawa after an incident for looking too depressing and performing his job without style. While it’s no surprise he took a shine to Midnight, who’s at least as much of a fan of showmanship, Aizawa and his friend Oboro Shirakumo (AKA Loud Cloud) are much less suited to working in his agency.

Despite the flashiness of his agency, His Purple Highness is more than just a rock star. Like other pros, he takes his job seriously and is willing to lay his life on the line to take down villains. Unfortunately, Aizawa’s time at the Purple Revolution Agency ended in tragedy after Oboro’s death, as he suffered the loss of someone close to him as a result. This also helps to explain why he takes the work-study program so seriously when teaching Class 1-A in the main series: being a student doesn’t mean you can’t die in the line of duty. The incident also provides insight into Aizawa’s background with Kurogiri, as was revealed not long ago in the manga.

The My Hero Academia Vigilantes manga is full of fun shout-outs and references like this one (the villain they fight in this chapter looks a lot like Buu from Dragon Ball Z), but most are a good deal more subtle than His Purple Highness, whose real name is given as Tenma Nakaoji. Given the relevance of Aizawa’s provisional hero license era past to his recent role in the primary manga, His Purple Highness is a surprisingly important piece of the puzzle for what might otherwise come across as a one-note joke. What happened to His Purple Highness and the Purple Revolution Agency has not yet been revealed, but fans can always imagine him out there, still saving lives, until then.

About The Author

Carlyle Edmundson
(234 Articles Published)

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Carlyle Edmundson is a news and features writer with an affinity for science fiction and fantasy. He graduated from the University of North Carolina Wilmington with a BS in Film Studies and is glad that it’s relevant to his work. A lifelong fan of anime and manga, he has attended dozens of conventions over the years and may or may not have cosplayed at them. He is also the author of the Dystopian Detective series, available from most places ebooks are sold.

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