#the mha scar analysis you didn't know you needed but totally did

[nighttimeebony]

The Scars of MHA

This might be a really weird thing to notice or care about, but I absolutely love the way MHA does scars. The scars in MHA are rough, jagged, off-color, asymmetrical. How often have you seen an animated property where scars are thin lines that are almost more like beauty marks than injuries? But not in MHA, where not only are the scars imperfect, but their appearance also reflects the nature of the injury.

Kirishima got the little scar above his right eye when his quirk first activated and he cut himself by accident. Since it was a relatively minor injury that happened so long ago, the scar is more silver/white in color but unmistakably there.

Izuku's scars are comparatively new, hence the red coloring to his scars, but they're also jagged and rough and give off the impression of major injury. Even his crooked right hand, which does have more faded-looking scars, but it was due to a healing Quirk, and even if the scars don't look quite as bad as the red one on his arm, it still gives off the impression of internal damage that, while healed on the outside, he will have to deal with for the rest of his life if he isn't careful. And speaking of the big scar on Izuku's arm, he's shown wearing a compression sleeve over it, implying that he has issues with chronic pain because of all the damage that's been done to his hands and arms.

Similar principle applies for Aizawa's scar that he got from the USJ. Because it's a new injury, it's still sort of pink in color, but it's also jagged and rough-looking because of course it would be after getting his face slammed into concrete. Even the placement of it is kind of significant. Because it's so close to his eye, you really feel just how close it was to completely fucking everything up, because Aizawa needs his eyes to use his Quirk, and if his eyes are put out of commission or damaged, then so is Aizawa's effectiveness in a fight. Aizawa is instrumental in almost all the fight scenes in this series, and we KNOW that if he were to get taken out, it would be bad for everyone involved.

Shouto's scar was a major, severe injury and was caused by a burn, so it's red, splotchy, and takes up most of the left side of his face. It's also surprisingly smooth when compared to other characters scars like Izuku's or even Endeavor's, and it's because burn scars are bright red and kind of smooth-feeling in comparison to the normal texture of human skin. This makes even more sense when you consider that Shouto's scar is technically a freezer burn, and when you compare the look and texture of irl freezer burn scars to Shouto's, the similarity is even more obvious. (No, I will not be putting images here, cuz it can be kind of gross if you're squeamish about stuff like that, but feel free to look it up yourself if you're curious).

Eri's scars are clean but numerous and entirely cover her arms and legs. This is due to Overhaul's continuous experimental dissections that were clinical and precise but relentless. And I think it's also notable that (with the exception of hospital robes) Eri always wears long sleeves and tights to cover them, which implies that she's self-conscious about them, which is a really good little character detail.

I just really like that the characters of MHA are allowed to be scarred and have physical imperfections that aren't glossed over or hand-waved, and they aren't treated like something that needs to be "fixed"; they just become a part of them and become natural integrations into their design. I just, I fucking love it.

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha meta #mha meta #meta #long post #kirishima eijirou #midoriya izuku #aizawa shouta #eri chan #eri #eri my hero academia #todoroki shoto #the mha scar analysis you didn't know you needed but totally did #even from a design standpoint scars just make them look so much more interesting to look at #scars are stories and giving your character scars gives them stories #which can really help to flesh them out and make them feel real #i love it #i love it so fucking much