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My Hero Academia definitely tops my list when it comes to great shonen shows. This absolute gem has continuously exceeded my expectations. Over the years, it still has a solid community of fans who are still completely enamored by the story.
Well, it’s become extremely popular for all the right reasons: refreshing concept on superheroes, interesting plotlines, and well-written, three-dimensional characters.
As it takes the familiar concept of superheroes to the next level, it’s extremely exciting to witness how budding heroes learn and develop their skills. It gives you more context on what superheroes are: they’re not just humans with superhuman abilities but individuals struggling to find their place in the world.
My ultimate favorite is Shoto Todoroki; he is a young boy who possesses a unique ability to wield both ice and power. He is also one of Deku’s closest friends and allies. Are you curious to learn everything about Shoto? If you do, I’ve got you covered.
In this blog, I’ll be talking about Shoto’s personality, appearance, quirks, and many more. More importantly, I will also highlight some interesting facts about the character. Just a warning: Spoilers ahead!
Bottom Line Up Front
Shoto is one of the most popular characters in My Hero Academia. His mom, Rei, was forced to marry his dad, Enji/Endeavor, to bear the most powerful and new number one hero. His father trained him all day and wasn’t allowed to interact with other kids, including his siblings.
Because of this, he developed a penchant for being alone and is quite dense whenever interacting with others.
Shoto’s Essential Information:
- Complete Name: Todoroki Shōto (轟とどろき焦しょう凍と)
- Debut: Chapter 6 (manga), Episode 5 (anime)
- Age: 16 years old
- Birthday: January 11
- Height: 176cm (5’9¼”)
- Quirk: Half-Cold Half-Hot
Who is Shoto Todoroki?
I clearly remember watching My Hero Academia back in 2018 and was delighted that Shoto’s anime character design was how I envisioned it. Shoto was always a fan favorite, even in the manga era and more so in the anime.
Shoto Todoroki is one of the protagonists of My Hero Academia. He is a student at U.A.High School. His parents are also very formidable superhumans with incredible quirks. His father, Endeavor, is the second most powerful Hero next to All Might.
He grew up in an abusive home; in fact, his existence was simply because of his father’s selfish desire to breed the most powerful Hero. While he possessed an incredibly dynamic quirk, Shoto did not use both his ice and fire abilities. He did not come to terms with his fiery quirks not until he fully accepted everything with the help of Deku.
Todoroki: Appearance, Personality, Abilities, and Quotes
Appearance
At first glance, Shoto’s face looks quite similar to ATLA’s Zuko, especially with the scar on his face. This scar is a result of an extremely tragic incident of his mother pouring scalding hot water on his face. Nonetheless, it adds personality to his cold yet fiery gaze.
Shoto stands rather tall and muscular; in fact, well-built for his young age. He keeps his hair quite long and wears bangs. Interestingly, Shoto’s hair is also evenly split among two contrasting colors. His right part is ashy white, while his left part is crimson red. It’s quite telling that even his character design highlights his unique quirks in the most subtle ways.
Aside from his two-toned hair, he is also heterochromatic. His right eyes appear to be deep and dark gray, but his left eye is the exact opposite as it appears to be lighter and in the shade of blue.
Like most superheroes, Shoto also wears his own superhero costume. Let’s take a look at his outfits:
Debut Costume
It’s quite obvious that Shoto’s first costume is an ode to his hatred for his fire quirks. He premiered wearing a white suit while covering his body’s half portion (fireside). Personally, I loved this costume. His all-white suit perfectly complements his ice quirks. I also like how he creatively hid his fiery side with ice. At some point, he also hid his face with his eye and added a glowing red circle to replace his brow-gray right eye.
Second Costume
As Shoto came to terms with his power, he slowly transitioned from wearing the all-white suit to a more practical outfit. He wears a dark blue jacket with ¾ length sleeves paired with baggy pants. While keeping it simple and functional, he also dons a metal-plated combat vest and a brown utility belt around his waist.
With his new costume, he fully utilizes his powers, making him one of the strongest superhero students that graced U.A.High.
Third Costume
His last costume looks relatively similar to his second costume. However, he adds two maroon wrist guards with metal plating. This accessory renders a very practical purpose; it helps regulate his body temperature after he attacks. His boots also underwent a minor change since it comes with a set of straps.
When Shoto is in school attending classes, he wears the U.A. uniform: a gray suit with dark blue details, a red necktie, white long sleeve shirt paired with navy blue pants. He also wears light blue and gray sneakers instead of boots.
Personality
Because of his rough childhood and complicated family life, Shoto was always aloof and cold. He was alone and unemotional and disliked hanging out with others. However, his personality drastically changed after the U.A.Sports Event. He became a bit sociable and kind; he was even showing a bit of his sense of humor while still being somehow distant from his peers.
At the end of the Provisional Hero License Course, Shoto was evidently cheerful and open to his classmates. However, he sometimes comes off as dense in interacting and socializing with others. This is the main reason why he prefers acting alone. I also noticed that his powers restrict him from working with teams. When he unleashes his full power, he always worries about others being hit by friendly fire.
He has been and always will be my favorite because of his personality. Shoto is calm and composed yet strategically smart in combat.
Overview of Todoroki’s Abilities
Shoto’s abilities might be inborn, but his skill was honed because of his father’s training. Even at an early age, Shoto learned to control his abilities. He entered U.A. High through solid recommendations and earned 2nd place in the Quirk Apprehension Test.
His versatile and powerful Quirk, Half-Cold Half-Hot, renders an incredible advantage in battle. Shoto’s dynamic cryo and thermokinetics abilities are such a delight to watch in battle. However, Shoto offers more to the table. He is also smart and quick-witted, making sure he carefully plans every blow to maximize his damage.
Superior Intelligence
Some might quickly assume that because Shoto is so focused on training his quirk, he’s not book smart. But they’re definitely wrong. He isn’t the simplistic Brains vs. Brawns character. He’s not just knowledgeable but extremely skilled in academics. His scores prove it best.
Shoto sits in the top fifth place in the midterms. He might seem dense, but he knows how to use his words, especially in tough situations. For instance, he quickly deduced that Deku has a connection with All Might power after seeing All Might fight Nomu.
Quirk: Half-Cold Half-Hot
Everything about Shoto’s character is intentional and creative. His character design gives a clear overview of his quirk’s potential. While his quirk seems straightforward, there’s a deeper backstory on why he decides to only use his ice/cold abilities at the onset of the series.
He hated his father for forcing his mom to create a perfect and all-powerful superhero child. This hatred prompted him to focus on honing his ice abilities. However, if he only overuses one element, his body temperature may not handle it well; he may either suffer frostbite or heatstroke.
This only means that he should optimize his dual-wielding capabilities to regulate his temperature better.
Quirk Super Moves
Shoto’s fight scenes are one of the best action-packed scenes in My Hero Academia. It’s largely because of his super moves. He has a lot of super moves, and here are some of my favorites:
Wall of Flames
This defensive-offensive attack allows Shoto to quickly think of a strategy to win against his opponents. He produces a huge flame that will either encapsulate his enemies or separate him from them.
He developed this technique to render more damage to his enemies and attack multiple opponents as well.
Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall
Like the Wall of Flames, Shoto renders a tall ice barrier to imprison his opponents, giving him an added advantage. I remembered that Shoto used this move in the Sports Festival in his battle against Hanta. He obviously loves this power move and has used it repeatedly during different battles.
Jet Kindling
This is one of Shoto’s melee attacks. It is exceptionally epic and practical. He uses both his brute strength and fiery powers to charge his knuckles with flames when he punches his opponents. Aside from the damage from the punches, his targets are also severely burned from the violent explosion of flames.
Flashfreeze Heatwave
Flashfreeze Heatwave is my personal favorite when it comes to Shoto’s attacks. He first used this move against Deku during their battle at the U.A. Sports Festival.
This is a combination of both his ice and fire powers. First, he sets the temperature of the air around him cooler than normal and immediately heats up the area. This results in superheated blasts, causing extensive damage to his opponents.
Quotes
One of the reasons why I love Shoto is because of his insightful thoughts and opinions. While he is usually a silent, “keep-it-to-himself” kind of guy, he delivers some of the best anecdotes in the franchise. So whenever he speaks, it is always good to listen. That’s why I’ve listed some of my favorite lines below.
- “Never using my bastard of a father’s quirk… No.. By rising to the top without using it… I’ll have denied him everything.”
- “I may be your half-baked little brother, but let me say this! Dad was a madman and our family was screwed up! But when you burned all those people to death that was your choice. You’re not taking any more innocent lives!”
- “I’m stronger than you. More capable. All Might’s got his eye on you, doesn’t he? Now I’m not about to pry into why that is, but… I will beat you.”
- “I haven’t put aside anything. As if I could be turned that easily. It’s just… In that moment, that instant… I forgot all about you. Whether that’s good, bad, or something in between… That’s something I’ll have to think about.”
- “My very existence drove her away. That’s why… I never went to her. I know that my mother’s been… My… And my father’s prisoner this whole time. So I, with all I’ve got… With my whole spirit… I’ll say ‘I want to be a hero’ again. I’ll tell her that. There’s so much I have to say. Even if she’s not asking for it. I’ll save her. That’s… My starting line.”
It’s evident that Shoto’s words reflect his aspirations and angst. His clever use of words and intellect is truly a marvel to watch.
Hero Suit and Equipment
While Shoto’s debut costume was just as cool as his suit, it isn’t as practical to wear in battle. The upgraded hero suit offers a lot of functionality and not just simple design aesthetics. It allowed him to fully optimize his quirks during combat while diminishing the disadvantage of his quirk.
Shoto wears a hero suit equipped with accessories to help him regulate his body temperature, including the temperature-resistant jacket, combat vest, utility belt, snow boots, and surge protection gauntlets. This combination of accessories gives Shoto an added layer of protection and advantage when using his powers to their full potential.
Fun (and Not-So Fun) Facts You Should Know About Shoto
Shoto was Only Created to be Powerful
Unlike Deku, who clearly was just a normal boy without quirks, Shoto was created and born to be powerful. He was born not out of love but out of necessity to create the most powerful Hero, even stronger than All Might. Unfortunately, his father, Enji, forced his mother, Rei, to bore a child possessing both their powers—fire and ice.
When Shoto was just a child, his dad quickly started his rigorous training. He wasn’t allowed to do what other kids do and was forced to lead a life dedicated to being just the best. Because of this, he grew to resent his father so deeply.
He Experiences PTSD from his Rough Childhood
Enji was a tough trainer; he didn’t spare his own son from the rigorous training. Practically, the training didn’t do any good to Shoto’s life. Aside from that, he grew up in a complicated home.
His mother was mentally unstable because of his dad’s abusive tendencies. Because of this, she unwittingly threw scalding hot water at Shoto, leaving a permanent burn on his face. He has been traumatized since and goes as far as using only his ice powers during the beginning of the story because he loathes the fiery powers he inherited from his dad.
His Name is a Meaningful Kanji Character
Show creator Kohei Horikoshi spares no details in writing My Hero Academia. He carefully crafts the storyline of each character and names the characters with much thought. Shoto is a concrete example of that. From his costume design, character development, and even his name.
“Shoto” is a fusion of two kanji characters: “sho”, which means burning, and “to”, which means freezing.
Shoto Loves Zaru Soba
Zaru Soba is also a Japanese term for cold soba. This dish consists of chilled noodles made from buckwheat flour and served with a special dipping sauce. It’s an extremely popular cold summer treat, though Shoto enjoys it all year round.
Some fans even coined the term TodoSoba to immortalize Shoto’s love for the food. He’s seen quietly slurping cold soba in the cafeteria while sitting with the Dekusquad.
He’s Always in the Top 3 in the Popularity Polls
There’s no question that Shoto is extremely popular among the fans. In every Popularity Poll, he’s always at the top spot. In the First and Fourth Popularity Polls, he snagged the second-highest rank. He was the third most popular character in the Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Popularity Polls.
FAQs
Question: Does Shoto Like Izuku?
Answer: At the beginning of the story, Shoto feels nothing towards Izuku. He doesn’t hate or like him. However, there’s an air of indifference in how he treats Izuku.
It seems like Shoto’s natural reaction towards meeting almost any stranger. As the story progresses, he begins to develop a sense of respect for Izuku’s strength and determination. They eventually became best friends.
Question: Does Shoto Todoroki have a Hero Name?
Answer: Shoto wanted to build a name for himself. Many fans would argue that Shoto is simply lazy and not creative enough to come up with a cool hero name. But here’s one thing I’ve noticed: Shoto sees individuals separately because of their hero names.
For example, he sees Endeavor as a pro-hero character and Enji as his unpleasant father. There’s a big possibility that he wants to keep his name “Shoto” to represent both his pro-hero and human personality.
Question: What is Shoto’s Weakness?
Answer: Shoto might be a remarkably impressive hero, but he, too, has a weakness. It isn’t any element or superpower and is harder to overcome. His biggest weakness is himself. He has this excessive competitive drive and tends to underestimate others as well. He also has difficulty controlling his dual-wielding powers.
Question: How did Shoto Get His Scar?
Answer: Shoto’s facial mark wasn’t inborn. Unfortunately, he got it when he was just five years old. His mother, Rei, threw hot water on his fiery side out of frustration with his dad.
Half of his face resembles his father’s face since he has a bifurcated appearance. This constantly reminded Rei of Enji’s physical, mental, and emotional abuses. She lashed out and poured her anger and resentment on Shoto.
This scene is in the twenty-third episode of the anime (S2, Episode 10), entitled Shoto Todoroki: Origin. You can find this upsetting panel of Rei and Shoto in tears after the incident in Chapter 39 of the manga.
Question: Is Shoto an Only Child?
Answer: No! In fact, he is the youngest of four siblings as follows:
Toya (Dabi) is his eldest brother and one of his mortal enemies in MHA. He became part of the League of Villains to seek revenge on his father’s misgivings.
Fuyumi is her older sister and the only daughter of Rei and Enji. She has an unnamed quirk that allows her to generate ice. She’s the only child who doesn’t seem to show resentment toward his father
Natsuo is the third in the birth order. Like Fuyumi, he also has an unnamed quirk ice quirk.
Question: Does Shoto Get Frostbite or Burns when Overusing His Powers?
Answer: While most of the heroes in My Hero Academia are immune to their Quirks, this is not the case for Shoto. That’s why he had a drastic costume change to help him with the drawbacks of his quirks.
His costume is carefully crafted and designed to regulate his body temperature. He also has accessories such as his surge protection gauntlets to prevent him from suffering from heatstroke or frostbite.
Question: What are Shoto’s Signature Moves?
Answer: Shoto has incredibly stunning power moves. However, he has three signature moves: the Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall, Wall of Flames, and Flashfreeze Heatwave. My favorite is the Flashfreeze Heatwave since he already found a balance in using both his icy and fiery Quirks.
Shoto Todoroki MHA Guide: Final Thoughts
There are definitely lots of reasons why I love Shoto; his character development is quite refreshing to see. He also offers a lot to the table from awesome fight scenes, interestingly tragic backstory, and creative costume design.
Currently, Shoto is in an all-out war against the villains and his father Endeavor. Perhaps in the final arc, Shoto will finally be more understanding with the people around him, especially his brother Dabi. How about you? Do you have any predictions on his character? Here’s to hoping that he’ll live and win the war!