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My Hero Academia’s Reiko Yanagi styles herself as an eerie poltergeist hero, giving Class 1-B a uniquely dark edge. Here’s her full story.
My Hero Academia features a dazzling variety of student heroes, predominantly the students of Class 1-A such as Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki and the earnest Ochaco Uraraka. More recently though, Season 5 finally fleshed out the students of their Class 1-B rivals in the Joint Training Exercise arc, where minor characters like Kinoko Komori and Reiko Yanagi finally got a chance to shine.
In the fifth and final match, Class 1-B’s team received aid from Hitoshi Shinso, who fought alongside Reiko, Neito Monoma, Yui Kodai and Nirengeki Shoda, the first of whom is the most thematic in this squad. Reiko chose her hero theme carefully, and it makes her a standout even among MHA‘s enormous cast.
Reiko Yanagi’s Theme As Emily, The Poltergeist Hero
Student heroes in My Hero Academia are urged to create their own personas and themes as budding heroes, including their alias and costume. Most students opt for a positive theme, such as Yuga Aoyama’s colorful outfit or Eijiro Kirishima’s manly persona as Red Riot. Others go for a more antihero style, such as Fumikage Tokoyami and his shadowy theme, and the same is true of his Class 1-B counterpart Reiko Yanagi. There is no doubt Reiko aspires to be a true hero, but she isn’t necessarily all smiles about it. In fact, from her face mask to her hero name and even posture, her theme is downright eerie.
Reiko’s theme is based on the occult, such as poltergeists and zombies. This even reflects in her first name, with “rei” meaning “spirit.” True to her title, Reiko is largely silent, drifting around in the background while holding her hands limply. She is likely imitating the typical demeanor of ghosts in Japanese mythology, not to mention the broader concept of zombies who often hold their hands similarly. Reiko only abandons this pose when using her Quirk, which requires moving her hands around to control objects telekinetically.
Meanwhile, Reiko’s hero name, Emily, is a pop culture presence referring to the movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a 2005 feature directed by Scott Derrickson. Clearly, Reiko has gone all-in on her spooky theme, but she’s at least a little subtle about it, choosing an otherwise ordinary name that only makes sense in a certain context. There’s nothing inherently eerie about “Emily,” but an exorcism is certainly scary.
Reiko Yanagi’s Poltergeist Quirk & Combat Record
Reiko’s Quirk is called Poltergeist, and true to the real-life legends, she can use her ability to remotely lift and throw objects around. Its main limitation is based on weight — Reiko cannot easily lift an item heavier than the average person, so she’s not liable to toss cars and trucks around. Instead, she can maneuver many smaller, harder objects to pelt her enemies from all directions, making it difficult to completely evade all her attacks. It is unknown if she has any super moves with this Quirk.
So far in the My Hero Academia anime, Reiko has taken part in two events: the U.A. sports festival and the joint training exercise. In the festival, Reiko was part of Itsuka Kendo’s cavalry team along with Setsuna Tokage, but this team failed to make it into the final tournament. She was one of many background characters during this time, so her big reveal came during Season 5’s joint training exercise instead.
Reiko put her Poltergeist Quirk to good use against Izuku’s team, mostly engaging Mina Ashido and Ochaco Uraraka with it. She combined her talents with the object-enlarging Quirk of Yui Kodai, meaning even tiny objects such as bolts and screws became sizable projectiles to wield, while Nirengeki used his Twin Impact Quirk to boost Reiko’s firepower further. Reiko’s performance was remarkable, but she still suffered defeat. She failed to capture or knock out any of her foes, and one blow to the back of her neck (courtesy of Ochaco) knocked her out and led to her capture.
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