Why Minoru Mineta is My Hero Academia's Worst Character

In many works of fiction, especially those with large casts, some characters inevitably end up being hated for various reasons- whether because they're annoying, poorly written or utterly despicable without being entertaining. My Hero Academia's Minoru Mineta is a shining example of what TV Tropes calls "The Scrappy," named in honor of Scooby-Doo's infamous Scrappy-Doo.

If you haven't heard of Mineta, he's part of Class 1-A of U.A. High School, a school that trains would-be heroes. His Quirk, or special ability, is Pop Off, which allows him to pluck sticky balls from his hair, which he uses to restrain his foes or allow him to climb walls. In terms of personality, he's a rather egotistical, somewhat lazy and extremely perverted source of comic relief. This post will discuss why he's a textbook example of a hated character.

Mineta The Pervert

As you may guess, Mineta being a pervert- and little else-  is the main reason why so many people dislike him. This is in large part because behavior like peeping on girls or "accidentally" touching them in inappropriate places has gone from being considered harmless or even funny to grounds for severe punishment. Mineta's perverted antics often invite the wrath of his female classmates, but no one considers doing anything about it, so the narrative downplays how unacceptable his behavior is. In fact, when Mineta expresses an interest in dating Eri (a traumatized six-year-old) in ten years, no one even says anything.

It's true that Japan is socially conservative, especially when it comes to gender issues, and has not had anything similar to the #MeToo movement in the United States. That said, it's not as though U.A. High, especially the protagonist's teacher Aizawa, is soft when it comes to discipline. Aizawa threatened to expel the lowest performer on the Quirk Test (fun fact: Mineta was second lowest after Midoriya), and while he claimed he had lied about that, it is soon revealed that he had temporarily expelled his entire class a year before the start of the story. Later on, after five students(Midoriya, Kirishima, Iida, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki) perform an unauthorized mission to rescue Bakugo, Aizawa says that if not for the need for heroes, he would have expelled those five, as well as anyone who knew about the plan and did nothing(i.e. the rest of the class besides Bakugo, Jiro and Hagakure). Aizawa sternly warns the students to be on their best behavior, but merely gives Mineta a pre-emptive warning to not try anything when he suspects that Mineta has perverse motives for wanting to check out the girls' new dorm rooms. Considering that Mineta later "accidentally" bounces into Ashido's breasts, the warning apparently fell on deaf ears.

Redeeming Qualities?

So what is there to Mineta apart from his perversion? Unfortunately, not much. He admits to himself during the final exam against Midnight that he only became a hero to pick up girls.

Mineta's stats are also worth discussing. He has a pitiful 1/5 in the Power and Speed categories, but that isn't too bad; Midoriya has the same scores, at least before mastering Full Cowling. Mineta has a 4/5 in Technique and Stamina; the former is understandable given his utility-oriented Quirk, although there's less proof of why he deserves a 4/5 in the Stamina category. The strangest part, however, is his 5/5 Intelligence, second only to Yaoyorozu (who's not only a gifted strategist, but also needs to be smart to use her Quirk well), who achieves the rare feat of a 6/5. Mineta, however, shows no real moments of brilliance.

Mineta's Intelligence score is also rather strange when you consider his performance on the midterms. Listed below are the top 10 students who took the midterms, along with their Intelligence scores.

1. Momo Yaoyorozu: 6/5
2. Tenya Iida: 4/5.
3. Katsuki Bakugo: 4/5 (The score is surprising, until you consider that Bakugo is both smarter than he looks and determined to succeed)
4. Izuku Midoriya: 4/5
5. Shoto Todoroki: 4/5
6. Tsuyu Asui: 4/5
7. Kyoka Jiro: 3/5 (Yes, she scored higher than Mineta despite having two fewer points in intelligence)
8. Mashirao Ojiro: 3/5 (Ditto)
9. Minoru Mineta: 5/5
10. Mezo Shouji: 3/5

As you can see, Mineta's strongest asset- his intelligence- is barely utilized at all. There are a few possible explanations for this, from Horikoshi wanting to give a justification for him belonging in the Hero Course to simply failing to convincingly show Mineta performing as advertised, but none of them are good for Mineta.

Lost In The Crowd

Generally, most hated characters fall into one of two categories. Either they're so important to the plot that they end up dragging the story down due to the various factors that cause people to hate them, or they're so inconsequential that they contribute nothing to the story. Mineta is clearly in the latter category.

One of My Hero Academia's shortcomings is that the cast is generally spread fairly thin. Outside of the main characters- Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki- and a handful of others- Uraraka, Iida, Yaoyorozu- most characters only have occasional relevance. Mineta, however, is one of the least relevant members of the class, barely playing more than a supporting role whenever he appears. His only noticeable character development occurs during the final exam against Midnight, in which he realizes that heroes don't become cool; cool people become heroes. The fact that this is the most depth that his character has doesn't speak well of him at all.

Some characters have had chances to stand out, such as when Jiro got a surprising amount of focus during the Culture Festival arc. Unfortunately, since the series is in the middle of the battle between the heroes and the Paranormal Liberation Front, during which Mineta has barely featured at all, it is unlikely that he will have any time in the limelight any time soon.

Mineta's Redemption?

Of course, the series may not end once the dust settles on the epic battle, but what does the future hold in store for Mineta? There is a possibility that he, like Bakugo and Endeavor, will gradually become a better person over time. Horikoshi has had mixed success with both characters, at least in the US, but if he's willing to give redemption arcs to a former bully and abuser, might he do the same for a pervert?

The answer is "not likely," since there's less to work with for Mineta. Endeavor sought to surpass All Might or raise up a successor who could, the latter of which led to his abuse of his wife and youngest son, but after replacing All Might as #1, realized that there was more to the position than being strong. This forced him to look inside himself and realize where he'd been wrong. Endeavor thus tries to earn his family's forgiveness, even if he's still a somewhat unpleasant individual, making him a good case of character development.

In Bakugo's case, while his goal remains the same, he was deeply shaken by the idea that, by being kidnapped, he'd forced All Might into retirement. This, combined with smaller failures such as being one of two U.A. students to not pass the provisional license exam (the other being Todoroki, who had a feud with a fellow examinee), humbled Bakugo and forced him to become a better team player. Unfortunately, he remains unrepentant about bullying Midoriya for a decade, but he does subtly show caring for him now.

Mineta, however, is unlikely to experience any similar epiphanies. In the second volume of the School Briefs light novel spinoff, the girls ponder what it will take to get Mineta to learn his lesson, but Tsuyu concludes that since Mineta has already suffered retaliation for his perversion, he is unlikely to ever change. After all, if he did, what would be left? Perhaps a boy who genuinely wants to come off as cool and impress the girls while not doing anything indecent, a bit like Kaminari. In short, there's little evidence to suggest that Horikoshi has any plans for Mineta's character that involve him being more than the perverted comic relief.

Conclusion

Essentially, Mineta hits all the checkmarks for a hated character. Not only does he have traits that the audience despises, but those are the only reason he ends up being remembered out of a very large cast. It's too late to remove him from the story, and he doesn't have enough to work with in order to redeem him, so the most Horikoshi can do at this point is limit how much exposure this blemish on an otherwise enjoyable series gets.