- Choso Jujutsu Kaisen Guide: The Death Paintings Member Explained - May 1, 2023
- Historia Reiss Guide: Attack on Titan’s Krista Lenz Explained - March 31, 2023
- Daki Demon Slayer Guide: The Upper Rank Six Demon Explained - March 31, 2023
There is something about someone in the class who grabs everyone’s attention for being so extravagant and colorful. This person isn’t the class clown but they could be seen as the life of the party and the heart of the community.
Such is the case with the underrated and arguably, at times, underused Yuga Aoyama. But it’s time for that to change in this Yuga Aoyama guide.
I remember first checking out Yuga Aoyama in My Hero Academia and wondering what was up with his character. There are a lot of hints and teases to his flamboyant nature, but it felt like the manga and anime series never truly dived as deep as they could into his character.
For a long time, the Shining Hero: Can’t Stop Twinkling fascinated me until it was finally revealed why in the manga recently. Find out about all of this and much more in this Yuga Aoyama guide.
Bottom Line Up Front
Yuga Aoyama is one of the many members of Class 1-A, the strongest and most pro-hero-ready class at UA High School. Aoyama is a talkative, fun, outgoing, and striking member of the course.
He is seen as the heart of the group, an emotional person who happens to have a powerful laser that blasts out of his stomach. But there is more to him than meets the eye. Yuga Aoyama is known as the Shining Hero: Can’t Stop Twinkling, his pro hero name.
Yuga Aoyama Overview
One of my most prominent arguments about the class Deku is in at UA High School is the fact that there are too many students in it. The series doesn’t give nearly enough time to develop and showcase some of the best students in the group that would otherwise be valuable members of the cast.
Such is even the case with Yuga Aoyama, one of the flashiest and most intriguing members of Class 1-A. He is part of the class set up to be the brightest example of the future of pro heroes. Though he may not seem super strong, athletic, or even brilliant, Aoyama is the emotional core of the team.
Too bad My Hero Academia doesn’t give him the attention and love he deserves in the series. He is primarily a side and background character, being present in most of the best arcs of the series, but doing little besides helping everyone out occasionally and having random quips.
That is, at least, until the end of the manga. In the final arc of the manga, Yuga Aoyama plays a fascinating role in the series that perhaps no one saw coming. It is with that that I should share a fair warning with you that this guide is going to contain lots of spoilers for the entire series. Turn away now if you aren’t caught up with the My Hero Academia manga, as I will be going deep into spoilery territory from here on out.
Appearance
What I adore about Yuga Aoyama is how extravagant his character is. Sure, most of the time, he has to wear his school uniform in class, but even then, he does what he can with the outfit. He wears the basic gray blazer with dark pants on the bottom, a white undershirt, and a red tie.
However, it is Aoyama himself that stands out even with this boring outfit on. He has medium-cut (for a guy at least) blonde hair that is quite flippy and anime-style. His hairstyle is honestly quite similar to my own, which is why I have such an admiration for how he looks, more than likely.
But it is when Aoyama is able to wear his hero costume that he looks particularly spectacular. As the Shining Hero, he wears, oddly enough, a flashy and shiny suit of armor as his costume. It almost looks like that sort of suit of armor that a medieval knight would wear.
He then pairs it with a traditional blue hero cape. Plus, there is his hairstyle, which makes this even more ludicrous, but he accentuates this idea by having a pair of massive red sunglasses on his face. These glasses look like they were ripped straight out of Kill la Kill or something. He has the most ridiculous and also somehow amazing hero costume out of everyone in Class 1-A.
Key Moments in My Hero Academia
Yuga Aoyama is one of the members of Class 1-A, which contains the main characters from the My Hero Academia series like Deku, Bakugo, and Shoto Todoroki. As such, Aoyama is present in many of the most famous arcs of the series, including the Training Camp Arc, Paranormal Liberation Army Arc, and many more.
As such, going over the key moments that happen with him in the series will constitute a ton of spoilers for the entirety of the My Hero Academia manga and anime series. I have warned you already, but I will warn you again: be very careful ahead as there are some massive spoilers in store. This is especially true for anime fans who have not checked out the manga.
Joining Class 1-A
The life of Yuga Aoyama before joining Class 1-A is mostly a mystery. He doesn’t reveal much about his life before going to UA High School to his classmates and keeps most of them at a distance, despite the cheerful and smiling attitude that he has most of the time.
What the viewers and readers know about Aoyama is that he places well enough in the placement exam to put himself in Class 1-A, though he is definitely one of the weaker members of the group. He is there for most of the major arcs in the series, like the opening battle test and the USJ arc when the League of Villains make their debut.
Aoyama tries to help in all of these situations, but there is only so much he can do with the navel laser that makes him sick, and he seems to be not very well trained. Because of this, Aoyama is one of the background characters who fail to make a splash in most battles and scenes, despite how flashy he is.
Participating in All of the Various Class Activities
Aoyama is present through most of the main arcs of the series, including the sports festival. At the festival, Aoyama does a decent job and places top 16 there, but doesn’t end up advancing far enough to do much in the tournament, as he is eliminated in the first round.
This continues in the training camp where he is present and works to grow his skills and ends up fighting against the League of Villains. He isn’t much help during this battle, either. Still, he is able to gain some experience from this to help him during the internships and eventually the pro hero provisional licensing exam.
He earns his pro hero license and takes on the name of the Shining Hero: Can’t Stop Twinkling. The hilarious and beautiful hero’s name helps him through the following events as he practices in the Joint Training Arc to compete against Class 1-B and become a better hero.
In the midst of all this, Yuga Aoyama has a beautiful moment where he connects with Deku on a deeper level. Someone will even note how romantic this seemed, but it was an intriguing moment in the midst of Deku’s powers going crazy as they expanded, and he learned more about them.
That Fateful Day
Yuga Aoyama plays a decently important role in the Paranormal Liberation Army Arc, helping the Class 1-A students to fight back and stop the League of Villains from enacting their plans against the world. In the following manga arcs, this is where Aoyama’s true purpose comes to fruition.
His world is turned upside down when the jailbreak happens, and All for One is free once more. This leads to Aoyama’s world comes crashing down and his realizing that he can’t escape his true purpose in life. This leads to the UA Traitor Arc, where it’s revealed that there is a traitor in Class 1-A.
This person isn’t Deku or anyone else that you might expect. Instead, it’s Yuga Aoyama, who has been a traitor for nearly his entire life. It turns out that he grew up without a quirk like Deku, hence their connection with one another, and that All for One gave him his quirk in exchange for Yuga serving him.
Yuga has to do whatever All for One wants, or else his parents will be murdered. This revelation results in a fight between Aoyama and Deku, and the others, but it ends with the class accepting Yuga and wanting him to stay with them.
Most recently, in the manga’s final arc, Yuga Aoyama is still with Class 1-A and is with them when they confront All for One in the final battle. He stands up to All for One and chooses to atone for his actions in helping the League of Villains by trying to stop All for One for good. The manga obviously isn’t over just yet, but Yuga Aoyama is still alive and well and trying to finish the final battle for the fate of the entire world.
Special Abilities
There is a single quirk that Yuga Aoyama has, after gaining it through those certain means I mentioned above. This quirk is known as the navel laser. If you couldn’t tell from the name, it is quite literally a laser that shoots out of his navel, also known as the belly button.
This is Aoyama’s only quirk, but it is an intriguing one that he uses to full effect, including with his own set of ultimate moves that he can use in battle to take down his foes.
Navel Laser
The strange and slightly disturbing quirk that Yuga Aoyama has is the navel laser that is built into his body. He is able to shoot lasers out of his body, Cyclops-style, but not through his eyes as some heroes might. Instead, he shoots lasers out of his, well, belly button.
Yes, the quirk is odd and quite disturbing, but the manga creator decided to go with this. Even if the method is bizarre and creepy, the actual quirk power is something that you can’t deny the strength of. Aoyama is able to blast his foes with his powerful laser from surprisingly far distances.
The laser itself is immensely potent, able to cut through metal and other firm surfaces to blast through and hit its targets. It is highly accurate, too, when he is able to control so that he can almost always hit where he is aiming.
There is even the ability for him to change up how his laser works. He can use it for short distances, make it wider, make it more narrow, and use it in various ways. It can be a supportive or offensive ability, letting him free people who are stuck under rubble and also fight bad guys.
However, there is a distinct weakness when it comes to his navel laser quirk. He can’t use it for very long, or it will wear him out or make him sick. This severely limits how long he can use the quirk for and could be due to the fact that he hasn’t had this quirk his whole life. The unnatural means by which he gained the powers could be why he isn’t able to use it continuously.
Ultimate Moves
There are a few ultimate moves that Yuga Aoyama can use his navel laser quirk for. The first of these is the Navel Saber, which is the prime example of how well he can manipulate his quirk. As the name suggests, he can turn his laser into the shape of a sharp blade that will cut through almost anything. This lets him slice at foes and obstacles in his way.
The other ultimate move is Navel Buffet Laser. This is seen as a sort of final attack for the Twinkling hero, as it shoots out continuous streams of lasers from all throughout his body. This onslaught is there to overwhelm and decimate foes, but it takes a massive toll on the hero, more than usual. He is typically out of commission after using this ability.
The final ultimate move is Supernova. This one takes everything out of the Shining Hero, where he charges up one last action that involves a laser much more extensive and more potent than any of his other attacks. It pushes forth a laser that can go insane distances and deal devastating damage to anything in its path. But this move comes at a severe cost of the hero’s stamina in the process.
Anime Voice Actor
The voice that you hear from the wonderful Yuga Aoyama will depend on which version of the anime you’re watching. You can’t go wrong with either the English dub or the original Japanese versions, as they are both fantastic. If you’re watching the solid English dub, you’ll hear the tremendously talented Joel McDonald.
This underrated voice actor hasn’t had a ton of notable roles in the past but seems to be a voice actor who’s on the rise. Some of the few roles I’ve found that you should know about include McDonald voicing the English version of Pipimi in Pop Team Epic, the final villain Zeref in Fairy Tail, and Akane in Divine Gate. Sure, that last show might be a bit of a mess (that I strangely enjoyed) but at least listen to the masterpiece opening song.
On the other hand, the Japanese voice for Aoyama is none other than Kosuke Kuwano. Kuwano is another person who seems to be a newer voice actor with not a ton of credits under his belt. Aoyama is honestly his best and most prominent role to date, with a few others, including Molayne in Pokemon Sun & Moon and Soichiro in Cheer Boys. He does a fantastic job, so hopefully, he will get more roles in the near future.
Key Relationships
The odd part about Yuga Aoyama is that he closes himself off from the other classmates in Class 1-A. Out of everyone in the entire class, he is the most secluded member of the group. Even people who aren’t well-liked by others, such as Bakugo, have many more friends and connections with people.
But when it comes to Yuga Aoyama, he keeps his distance from everyone. As such, his key relationships are very few in number. One of the only notable ones is the main character of the series, Deku himself. Deku and Aoyama have few moments with one another, but they are memorable when they do happen.
This is especially the case when Deku starts to learn more about the past One for All quirk users. His powers are volatile at this point, and Aoyama is one of the few people who connect with him in the middle of his anxiety.
It could even be said that their relationship with one another could be construed as romantic in a way, at least in the case of Aoyama’s part. Of course, that is only pure speculation since we don’t even know anything about the sexuality of Aoyama or if he genuinely feels that way toward Deku.
The only other relationship that Aoyama has of note in the series is with All for One. The series’ main villain is the reason for Aoyama’s powers and his turmoil. Because of being a traitor in the high school on behalf of All for One, he hates the villain and wishes nothing more than for him not to exist.
But at the same time, he has no choice but to serve his wishes for most of the series. This makes for a complicated and tragic relationship that Aoyama has to keep for the sake of his family’s safety.
FAQs
Question: Why did Aoyama Betray UA High School in My Hero Academia?
Answer: Spoilers ahead for the current state of the manga; anime-only fans should be careful. Yuga Aoyama betrays UA High School in My Hero Academia because he is in service to One for All. He has to serve the main villain because he held his family hostage and gave him his quirk.
Question: Who does Yuga Aoyama Have a Crush on?
Answer: There is no confirmed romantic partner or crush for Yuga Aoyama. That said, it seems that Aoyama has a crush on Deku from their few intimate scenes together. It is possible, though, that this is a mostly one-sided affair. Deku doesn’t seem interested in Aoyama in the same way.
Question: Is Aoyama a Villain?
Answer: This is a complicated scenario. Yes, Aoyama is the traitor but is he a villain? Given what I have seen so far in the manga, I would say that Aoyama isn’t a villain. He is yet another tragic victim forced to play into the hands of All for One.
Question: Does Aoyama Actually Have a Quirk?
Answer: Yes, Aoyama does have a quirk. It is known as the navel laser, which shoots lasers out of the belly button. However, he didn’t initially have a quirk. He was born quirkless like Deku but was given his powers by All for One.
Which Class 1-A Student to Check Out Next
Yuga Aoyama is one of the most complicated characters in the entire My Hero Academia series. For most of the manga and anime series, he is there in the background, not doing much and just sort of existing. He isn’t much help to everyone, nor is he able to provide much backup in battle either. But it turns out that all of this was for a reason, as the tragic twist regarding him comes to fruition.
In fact, there are some stark similarities between Yuga Aoyama and Katsuki Bakugo, his fellow Class 1-A member. Bakugo is another misunderstood class member who has tendencies to shut himself away from everyone else around him. But like Aoyama, he needs people, and he needs to stay from the darkness in the end. Find out more about Bakugo and his own unique storyline in the My Hero Academia series here.