In my review of My Hero Academia Season 1 I did quite a bit of comparing these two series but, for the most part, I only did so with the characters of Izuku Midoria and Katsuki Bakugo. I made some general comparisons of other characters but I didn't focus too much on that because that was a review of the season as a whole rather than a direct comparison. However, suffice it to say that I'm going to be doing a lot more comparing here.
I won't be covering too much of what Mother's Basement did in the video as he does far more than I ever could and I'm more about things that are happening right now rather than anything going on under the hood so I'm not going to jump outside my element right this second.
I did cover a lot of similarities and differences Izuku and Bakugo have with Naruto and Sasuke respectively so I won't be talking too much about them here. This is more about other characters and certain plot events.
First off, the plot events. My Hero Academia Season 2 bares some notable similarities to Naruto's Chunin Exams in terms of overall importance to the characters and the way the events themselves play out.
First, both events take place in 3 phases: the first phase is a preliminary to thin out the competition, the second phase is a lot more team based and is intended to reduce the numbers down to a very small 16 people and then the finals are a straight up tournament. The very stark difference here is that the second and third phases of the Chunin Exams are separated by an elimination round and a month of training. The elimination round was because, despite Anko's fool-proof method of cutting the number of contestants down to less than half, there were still far too many teams that managed to succeed in the end. The following month reprieve is to allow the remaining people to gain some new tricks since pretty much everything went on display during the elimination round, barring Gaara's Shukaku form anyway.
In My Hero Academia, the first round is an obstacle course, which seems to be a bit of a mixture of the second round of the Chunin Exams and the Individualistic nature of the third round. The Cavalry Battle is a team based elimination round, where only the top 4 teams will end up progressing to the finals. And the finals, is a 16 person 1-on-1 tournament.
This is all interesting but pretty basic stuff so now I want to look at the characters.
I did say in my review that Izuku is similar to Naruto and Bakugo is a lot like Sasuke in a lot of ways but there are other characters that are notable in this regard.
Tenya Iida shares a fair few similarities to Rock Lee in Naruto. Both have very speed based and leg based fighting styles, both are polite in a majority of cases, both are introduced in far more antagonistic ways than they prove to be for the duration of the show, and both also have a sort of "Limit Break" ability that renders them unable to fight after it wears off. So far, at least in the anime, we have yet to see Iida actually fight anyone. However, between the engines on his legs and the notable kicking motions he takes during several scenes and the openings, I very much doubt that his fighting style will not be exclusively kicks.
Of course, Iida's not the only Extremity Extremist who focuses solely on his legs, Sanji, Mercury Black, and others have come before but with an ability that works the way Iida's Engine does, there's no way he wouldn't be an extremity extremist. Kind of backed himself in a corner this author did.
Tsuyu Asui has a quirk that makes her physiology very similar to a frog, not unlike the beast mimicry techniques of the Inuzuka's and specifically Kiba. Disregarding Kiba's pet and partner Akamaru for a little bit, it's clear that a Frog and a Dog cannot be directly compared, since they're not related at all, they're not even close to being similar in any capacity. However, what is worth noting is that the main character Naruto forms summoning partnerships with Toads, which are very similar to Frogs. Coincidence? Perhaps, though it's worth noting that Toads had a much larger importance to Naruto than dogs ever did.
Momo Yaoyarozu is similar to Tenten in a few ways but, before I get to that, I want to point out something that is notable about three characters in particular: namely that the three of the four students that got in on recommendation, Yaoyarozu, Shoto Todoroki, and Kyoka Jiro are also comparable to characters that never displayed a proper score in the graduation of their respective Ninja Academies. I'll get to those two in a while though.
Addendum: Kyoka Jiro did not get into UA on recommendation, that was an error on my part. She got in the same way everybody else did.
Obviously, Yaoyarozu has a quirk that is very skill intensive, and Tenten even as a Genin is a master with a large number of physical weapons, though this is not shown in the manga purely due to lack of screen-time. Their choice of dress at these respective stages in the manga are also fairly similar, and they both are relatively intelligent and dedicated as well. However, what drives this home for me is that Yaoyarozu, on top of displaying skill similar to Tenten's, she also demonstrates the summoning of many different tools and materials the same way Tenten does with her weapon scrolls. Though it's worth mentioning that Tenten is just teleporting them from a different place, while Momo is actually creating them on the fly. Also worth mentioning, Tenten is skilled with a large variety of weapons purely because that is her passion, while Yaoyarozu needs to be skilled with her quirk in order to function properly.
Though I'm not clear on the specifics, it's pointed out in the first season that Yaoyarozu can only create a substance if she completely understands its molecular structure. What this ultimately means is that she can only summon something reliably if she can imagine and generate the substance in real-time. This power of hers has a very high skill ceiling but also a very high skill floor. Or, it's difficult to learn and difficult to master.
However, Shoto Todoroki is someone I can compare to someone else. It wasn't easy at first but, the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense on a basic level. This time, however, I'm not going to tell you who I'm comparing him to until I've laid out all of my bullet points. I'm going to see if you can guess before I finish.
- Both characters are born with the purpose of serving their father, one for the sake of the village, the other to overtake All-Might.
- Both have an application of their power that can restrict movement and even kill easily, though in drastically different ways.
- Both are cold intimidation before being pushed to their limits.
- Both have at least one ability that's similar to their father.
- Both suffered childhood traumas related to their respective mothers that was later resolved and put behind them.
- Both of them have a red haired father, a blonde haired mother, and at least partially red hair themselves.
For those of you who need the answer, it's Gaara. Though these bullet points are relatively general, I have more that may reinforce this particular point.
- Both characters are incredibly powerful with innate powers albeit for different reasons, so much so that they both get introduced in very powerful ways. Gaara is introduced with the info that he came back from a B rank mission unscathed, and Todoroki is one of the only members of classes 1-A and 1-B that got in solely on recommendation, without even having to take the entrance exam.
- Both have fathers that have very prestigious positions, Gaara's father being the fourth Kazekage, and Todoroki's being the Number 2 Hero and the one with the most villain apprehensions Endeavor.
- Both are the youngest and strongest of a number of siblings, with Temari and Kankuro being relatively strong in their own right even if dwarfed by Gaara, and Todoroki's siblings, though unknown in number, don't seem to be anywhere near as powerful as Shoto or many of the students in the freshman student body of U.A.
- Both are challenged mentally, physically, and ideologically with the protagonists of Izuku and Naruto respectively and though the outcomes of these fights are opposite, it's worth noting that both characters give their all against these protagonists.
- Both also have a fairly struggling battle against a very leg based opponent in a one-on-one match, and win by restricting/breaking at least one limb, Tenya Iida and Rock Lee respectively.
- Both go up against another talent, Sasuke and Bakugo, and though the outcomes are different, neither character uses everything they have against their respective opponent. It's worth noting here that Sasuke pushes Gaara pretty far but Gaara proves that his power is far greater than Sasuke's kit is capable of dealing with. Bakugo on the other hand beats Todoroki but Todoroki doesn't use his full strength either and loses by ring out. Also worth mentioning is that Todoroki and Gaara are mentally strained at the times these fights take place.
Okay, that's enough of Todoroki, let's get to someone who may have a much more interesting comparison to draw from. All-Might compared to Jiraiya.
Both are older, powerful fighters of legendary status who had very small beginnings, with Jiraiya starting out like Naruto and becoming a Sannin later, and All-Might starting out Quirkless then gaining One for All later in life. Both train the protagonist of their respective series, both have a strong past with a character of note, for All-Might it's the villain All for One but, as for Jiraiya, I honestly don't know enough about that particular character to determine whether he's more Orochimaru or more Nagato/Pain. I'll go into more detail as time passes and I gain more information.
That said, though, while there are characters that are similar to those in Naruto, it would be remiss if I didn't mention that there are some characters that have no parallels to Naruto at all. Kirishima has a hardening quirk which I don't really think anyone in Naruto had any ability like that, Kaminari has lightning powers but, apart from short-circuiting his brain as a weakness, it's not noteworthy enough to draw actual comparisons with. Tokoyami's Dark Shadow may be similar to Shikamaru's Shadow abilities but, other than the clear shadow reliance, I don't see anything meaningful coming from that road. Mineta doesn't have any proper comparisons either and I don't think he would, given the nature of his power and his personality.
The Noumu seem to have comparisons to Zetsu, though. Namely that each one is an artificial creation of an antagonist, are henchmen for certain villains, and have a dualistic nature to them, Zetsu in his black-white sides motif, which may or may not have influenced Todoroki's quirk in a way, just as an aside, and the Noumu's possession of multiple quirks.
Though, at this time in the anime, only one Noumu is actually seen, this one has Shock Absorption and Heightened Regeneration. This Noumu also has incredible strength that is not in any way tied to quirks, Aizawa says so himself. This specific Noumu may very well have been created specifically to kill All-Might, considering that it's strength is so far only matched by his and its quirks are clearly intended to negate All-Might's power. While it was stated that the Noumu introduced in Season 1 was intended to kill All-Might, considering they are mass produced in the manga and seem to be of differing quality, this particular Noumu was probably created specifically for that purpose. While its Regeneration would be tough to overcome for any hero, its high physical strength would not be too much for some of the more durable or larger heroes like Mount Lady or Cementoss, and its Shock Absorption would have no benefit against Heroes that don't do straight physical damage, like Endeavor.
This Noumu worked against All-Might as well as it did specifically because All-Might is pure physicality, while other heroes have quirks that, while not always as strong, would have benefits that would give them greater advantages against this particular Noumu. Hell, Todoroki proved that when he froze it.
Of course, Noumu was in a position where Todoroki was easily able to hit it but the point is that the freezing ability completely bypassed the Shock Absorption and dealt far more damage in a single instant than All-Might did in the entire fight, suggesting that elemental quirks are very effective against this particular one. In fact, there's even someone that was at the USJ that probably would've been capable of beating that Noumu in a one on one fight, that being Thirteen. Her ability Black Hole could've easily killed and destroyed that Noumu assuming Kurogiri didn't get involved enough to counter it, which would've rendered their plan completely pointless.
Getting back on track, though, Aizawa shares some similarities to Kakashi Hatake but also some stark differences. First off is that both characters are highly skilled eye-based fighters and though Kakashi definitely is stronger in a direct fight, these two characters also display a nonchalant attitude and at least one thing covering up their eyes, for different reasons.
The contrast here is how their eye abilities work: while both put strain on their respective bodies, Kakashi's Sharingan gives him the ability to mimick and use other people's abilities against them, Aizawa's ability negates powers entirely. This means that while Aizawa is generally weaker in his series than Kakashi is Kakashi has to play by the same rules everybody else does, whereas Aizawa's ability to negate quirks can keep him temporarily safe against opponents that would otherwise completely dominate him, All-Might and the Noumu aside. In fact, it could be argued that Aizawa, much like Hitoshi Shinso in the Freshman General Studies course, is almost completely invincible in a one-on-one fight but will struggle once you know their weakness, have abilities that counteract theirs, or you gang up on them in a multi-man melee.
That said, in both series, up until the respective second seasons (Chunin Exams and U.A. Sports Festival), while there are comparisons to be made, some are noticeably unapplicable. Hitoshi Shinso doesn't have anything similar to any character in Naruto apart from his unfortunate circumstances which parallel Rock Lee slightly, Monoma copies quirks which may or may not be something taken from certain Sharingan users, and Tetsutetsu has far more in common with Kirishima than he does with anyone in Naruto. Likewise, comparisons to Neji, Sakura, Hinata, and Shino are also absent. One could make a very tenuous contrasting argument with Neji and Kirishima, with one being gentle, the other being hard but that's not noteworthy at all.
Next time, I'll talk about how different quirks in My Hero Academia interact with each other to make a sort of tier list of characters in the freshman class of U.A. I hope you'll join me then, thanks for reading.
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