Joanah Eresechima - Term Paper Reject

While writing my term paper about how tournament arcs facilitate personal growth, I had thought of many examples of media I wanted to talk about. However, since I want to go very in-depth with my examples, I decided I had to cut a good portion of them out. One of which being the anime My Hero Academia where I wanted to analyze the relationship between the main character and a supporting character who went through a major change during the anime’s tournament arc. My Hero Academia is about a boy named Izuku Midoriya born into a world where most people have a superpower called a quirk. Midoriya had always dreamed of becoming a hero but because he wasn’t born with a quirk, he was encouraged not to. However, after being acknowledged by the #1 hero in Japan, he is given a quirk and a chance to enroll at the top hero high school in the country, the only problem being that he can’t use his quirk much because he can’t control it. At this school, we are introduced to Shoto Todoroki, son of the second-best hero in Japan, Endeavor. His quirk, Half-Cold Half-Hot, allows him to create fire and ice, though before the tournament, he swore only to use the ice half of his quirk due to issues with his father. 

The tournament arc in My Hero Academia came in the form of a Sports Festival where the students would showcase their abilities through a series of challenges. As one of the top students in his class, Todoroki nearly dominates the first challenge only using his ice side, however, Midoriya comes out on top despite not using his quirk at all. In the second challenge, Midoriya’s pressuring causes him to instinctively use his fire side, which creates turmoil within him. In the final challenge with one-on-one battles, Midoriya and Todoroki are paired against each other in the second round. What happens in this match is that Todoroki tries to use his ice side to defeat Midoriya, but Midoriya began to use his unstable super strength quirk, breaking through every blast of ice Todoroki sent his way by flicking his fingers. Both boys were starting to feel the effects of their quirks, with Todoroki getting frostbite and Midoriya injuring his fingers. When Todoroki asks Midoriya why he won’t give up, Midoriya tells him it’s because he wants Todoroki to use his full ability. Midoriya believes that heroes must put all their effort into the task at hand. Because of this, Todoroki’s stubbornness frustrates him. However, Midoriya’s persistence and words begin to influence Todoroki. The reason why he doesn’t use his fire side is because it reminds him of his abusive father who took his mom away from him. But, when Midoriya tells him that it was his quirk, not his father, something breaks in Todoroki. He wants to be a hero just as much as Midoriya and in that moment he realizes that he doesn’t want to hold himself back from becoming the best hero. So, figuratively and literally, his flame is ignited and he unlocks his full potential.

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