My Hero Academia: Quirks Wasted By Their Users

Some characters in My Hero Academia have powerful quirks that are underutilized due to poor writing or missed opportunities.
Denki’s electrification, Anan’s black hole, and Koji’s Anivoice are examples of characters who could do more with their abilities.
Characters like Mina Ashido, Inko Midoriya, and Nejire Hado could be more powerful if they fully utilized their quirks in combat situations.

My Hero Academia is entering its 7th anime season and currently has 418 chapters. The story is hurtling towards a thrilling end and this gives readers and watchers perspective over the journey so far. The world of MHA with all the weird and wonderful quirks available is a beautiful one, and over the course of its run, fans have been blessed with some truly amazing quirks.

However, one can’t help but feel let down at the way some of these quirks have been used by characters in some instances. This could be because of poor writing, or some other scenario, but unfortunately, there are some characters who more or less wasted their quirks.

My Hero Academia: 10 Strangest Quirks, Ranked

There are many different Quirks seen throughout My Hero Academia, but some stand out for being outright bizarre.

Electrification: Denki Kaminari

Power With Little Control

Affiliation: U.A. High School Class 1A
Manga Debut: Chapter 5
Anime Debut: Episode 5

Denki Kaminari is one of the members of Class A at the UA school for heroes. His quirk, electrification, is one that enables him to make use of electricity in a variety of ways. With a quirk so powerful, it is a shame not to see him unleash his full potential.

Instead, he is thrown into the background a lot of times. Considering the power that lightning and electricity-based characters like Killua from Hunter X Hunter or God Enel from One Piece can control, Denki seems like a missed opportunity.

Black Hole: Anan Kurose

An Offensive Behemoth Missed

Affiliation: U.A. High School (Teacher, Pro Hero)
Manga Debut: Chapter 3
Anime Debut: Episode 9

Anan Kurose is blessed with the Black Hole quirk which enables her to emit black holes from her fingers which can suck things in and disintegrate them much like an actual black hole.

For such a powerful quirk, it is a little disappointing that it is simply a support tool for clearing wreckage. Black Hole sucks in combat and takes a beating quite often. While Kurose might not like fighting, it is remiss not to develop such an advantageous quirk to enable her fight battles better. A truly fearsome power in the wrong hands.

Anivoice: Koji Koda

More Powerful Beasts Excluded

Affiliation: U.A. High School (Class 1A)
Manga Debut: Chapter 5
Anime Debut: Episode 5

With Anivoice, Koji Koda can command any animal in the animal kingdom to do his bidding as long as they can hear his voice. In the final war arc, he develops the ability to communicate with animals telepathically which is a great addition to his arsenal.

While Koda does a good job with his quirk’s versatility, it could be better as he doesn’t seem to utilize more powerful animals. He could easily form bonds with dangerous creatures such as Bears and wild boars (which are resident in Japan) which he can have around and use against evil forces. Maybe he’s just too nice.

Zero Gravity: Ochaco Uraraka

The Underutilization Of Destructive Force

Affiliation: U.A. High School (Class 1A)
Manga Debut: Chapter 3
Anime Debut: Episode 3

Uraraka Ochaco is one of the major protagonists of My Hero Academia and a love interest for Deku. Her power makes her one of the strongest pupils in her school. With Zero Gravity, she can render anything weightless, just as space would.

That said, there can be more done with this quirk as while the versatility Ochaco has shown so far is commendable, anyone with gravity powers should be among the most powerful characters in any setting. If Ochaco was a bit more ruthless, one can imagine the chaos she could cause among the opposition with a power which can turn almost anything with some mass into a weapon.

My Hero Academia: Transformation Quirks, Explained

Out of the three classes of quirks Transformation types are some of the most unique, making for some of My Hero Academia’s most interesting powers.

Acid: Mina Ashido

Not Enough Screen Time

Affiliation: U.A. High School (Class 1A)
Manga Debut: Chapter 6
Anime Debut: Episode 5

Mina Ashido’s Acid quirk seems pretty straightforward, but with her ability to determine the solubility and viscosity of the liquid she produces, it means she can more or less create any sort of acid. She has used it in a number of ways including to create handholds for herself and create a slide to move around with.

Unfortunately, she isn’t shown a lot and her abilities aren’t quite used to their utmost. With powers like hers, she could melt anything, cause explosions with water and overwhelm almost any enemy force, but she doesn’t, and that’s a shame.

Unnamed Object Attraction Quirk: Inko Midoriya

A Treasure Trove Underestimated

Affiliation: NA
Manga Debut: Chapter 1
Anime Debut: Episode 1

Izuku’s mother, Inko, is an amazing woman, character, and a great mother to the main protagonist. She stood by him when he was quirkless and was supportive when he obtained such an incredible quirk from All Might.

But, one could imagine a world where Inko’s quirk, the ability to attract small objects, could be a powerful weapon in combat. Perhaps she could attract a villain’s eardrums or maybe she could disarm weapons and bombs by removing the small components that enable them to work. Her quirk is deemed useless, but this may simply be a lack of imagination.

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Sandstorm: Sajin Higawara

Killed Off Way Too Soon

Affiliation: Pro Hero
Manga Debut: Chapter 160
Anime Debut: Episode 77

Sandstorm was a quirk that enabled the user, Sajin Higawara, to transform his upper body into sand. In the Shie Hassaikai Arc, it was revealed that he was a natural counter to Tomura Shigaraki’s Decay.

Unfortunately, he was almost immediately killed by Dabi. It does make one wonder if his skills couldn’t have been better utilized. If his upper body was made up of sand, couldn’t he have been able to disperse himself or create constructs that could have overcome enemies? Sandstorm was a classic case of gone too soon.

Wave Motion: Nejire Hado

The Neglected Member Of The Big Three

Affiliation: U.A. High School
Manga Debut: Chapter 122
Anime Debut: Episode 62

Nejire Hado is one of the top students at UA along with Mirio and Tamaki Amajiki with a quirk that enables her to use her life force to energy which she can release in spiral form.

Nejire is strong, but the waste of her quirk just seems more due to the lack of presence she is given compared to her two male counterparts who are shown to be a lot more imaginative with their quirks. She certainly deserves so much better.

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U.A. High’s big three aren’t just some of the most well-known students at the school, they’re also some of the most powerful heroes in training.

Poltergeist: Reiko Yanagi

A Criminally Underrated Quirk

Affiliation: U.A. High School (Class 1B)
Manga Debut: Chapter 26
Anime Debut: Episode 16

Reiko Yanagi is a member of Class 1B who wields the quirk, Poltergeist. This is a quirk that allows her to move objects with telekinesis.

While Reiko is decent with her quirk which only allows her to control objects that are roughly the weight of a human, there seems to be more she could do. With the power to lift multiple objects each the weight of a single human, and even smaller things like a bullet, one could imagine just how busted Poltergeist could be. Unfortunately, this just isn’t explored and Reiko doesn’t do much more besides throwing small projectiles at enemies.

Creation: Momo Yaoyorozu

A Distinct Lack Of Imagination

Affiliation: U.A. High School (Class 1A)
Manga Debut: Chapter 6
Anime Debut: Episode 5

Momo Yaoyorozu is the deputy class representative for Class 1 A at U.A. Academy and was initially considered one of the top heroes in her class. Her confidence took a hit when she lost to Tokoyami at the sports festival.

Her quirk which enables her to create any non-living material as long as she understands the molecular structure of the object, seems wasted and under utilized. She tends to mostly rely on her offensive canon when she could realistically create just about anything including powerful missiles or an atomic bomb. Momo’s reduced effectiveness must be down to a lack of imagination on her part which is unfortunate.

My Hero Academia: All Quirks In Class 1-B, Ranked

The students in Class 1-A are getting so much of the spotlight in both the anime and manga of My Hero Academia, but what about the Class B students?