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My Hero Academia owes much of its popularity to it’s big, charismatic characters like All Might and All for One, but it also does an impressive job of maintaining an interesting supporting cast as well. Among that side cast though, there’s a character who seems to always blend into the background.

At the top of Class 1A in terms of popularity, characters like Shoto Todoroki, Katsuki Bakugo and protagonist Izuku Midoriya easily take the limelight with their strong personalities and flashy quirks. For Toru Hagakure though, her invisibility quirk seems destined to make her one of the most forgettable members of MHA’s cast. So who is Invisible Girl really, and what is she all about?

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Who is Tooru?

Invisible girl tooru

While she hasn’t received a proper backstory or character study yet, Toru is one of the stronger personalities in 1A. Similarly to Mina Ashido, she is shown to be extremely peppy and excitable, often being a driving force in getting her classmates to socialize with each other. We also get a peak at her tastes during 1A’s room showcase, but her room isn’t that surprising, being an average girly girl’s room, full of pink furniture and stuffed animals. So sadly, she’s not a secret otaku like Deku or Fumikage.

She’s unfortunately average in school as well, as she had the 5th lowest grades in Class A, and the 3rd worst score in the quirk aptitude test. However, she makes up for it in her raw enthusiasm. Just like the rest of the class, she feels driven to be a great hero, and can be seen working hard towards that goal at all times.

Her Quirk

Toru_choses_their_hero_name

Her hero name “Invisible Girl” will no doubt sound familiar to comic book fans. Particularly, it brings to mind the Fantastic 4’s “Invisible Woman” Sue Storm. Just like Sue, Toru is able to make herself completely invisible, but their powers diverge significantly from there. Unlike Sue, Toru lacks a costume that can go invisible with her, so she’s forced to settle for a pair of boots and gloves when on the job, lest she defeat the purpose of her power and be too easy to spot. This also allows her to quickly remove her costume when she needs to be fully invisible, but being naked on a battlefield isn’t the most comfortable position to be in.

Another difference in their powers is that Tooru can’t seem to turn her quirk off. We aren’t told how early in her life her quirk developed. She might’ve been born an invisible baby, or her quirk might’ve developed at the average age of 4 like most MHA characters. Either way though, we aren’t shown anything of her appearance except that she has a fairly standard build for a girl in her class. Another example of her being average.

It is later revealed however, that her quirk isn’t purely about invisibility. Toru’s body is able to reflect and refract light itself, thus explaining why it can make her appear invisible. She goes on to evolve this ability into some useful super moves. Her “Warp Refraction” attack for example, sees her emitting a burst of light, thus making her a human flash bang that blinds her opponents. She not only uses this in the Provisional License arc to give her class an opening to strike, but also in the Joint Training arc to help calm Fumikage Tokoyami’s “Dark Shadow”, which is sensitive to light. As of Season 5 of the anime, she has also been shown to have developed the ability to bend and redirect lasers.

How She Fits into the Story

Toru and Shoji vs Snipe

Toru is far from being a big player in MHA’s story. Her quirk isn’t suited for direct combat, so she most often sees use as an espionage hero. Her light bending abilities give her some support utility in group battles, but she’s not going to be defeating any big villains any time soon. Like some other less relevant characters in 1A, she’s mostly there to fill out the ranks of the class and add an occasional touch of levity to the often dark story.

There is some intrigue to be found in her relationships with the rest of the class though. She is often shown to be good friends with the 5 other girls in 1A, but there are some boys in the class she is close with too. Mashirao Ojiro for example, is often paired up with her in class exercises, and some fans even ship the two of them together. She is also often seen with Mezo Shoji, as his quirk’s strong observation is well-equipped to let her practice her stealth, and vice versa.

What Fans Can Expect from her in the Future

Deku, Ojiro, Toru and Jiro

My Hero Academia’s anime is about to enter the darkest period of the story in season 6, but the manga has been in this period for over a year, and is approaching its end. While Toru mostly retains her supportive role going forward, a recent manga plot twist did give her some time in the limelight, so there’s a chance Horikoshi has bigger plans for the role she is going to play in the story’s conclusion.

Fans might also one day get to see her full appearance, perhaps if her quirk is stolen or temporarily turned off mid-battle. Whatever the future has in store for her though, Toru will likely be meeting it with a smile on her face and a pep in her step.

MORE: My Hero Academia: All Quirks In Class 1-B, Ranked