My Hero Academia's Ejiro Kirishima is a well-loved character by the fandom with his manly attitude and amazing hairstyle. Kirishima is in love with being the best possible version of himself, which happens to be the manliest version he can think of.
He's so manly, in fact, that he has a bunch of exercise equipment and motivational posters in his room - something the girls of Class 1-A didn't appreciate. Ejiro is a little bad at school and kind of insecure, but he has so much to offer to My Hero Academia.
Personality
Kirishima is a kind, caring hero in training. While he’s a little insecure, he strives to be super manly! He has a lot of drive heavily inspired by Crimson Riot. He looks up to the hero so much that he based his hero outfit and name off him. He regrets not saving Mina from a villain in middle school, which causes him to have a depressive episode where he binge-watched Crimson Riot media.
During this time Crimson Riot admits that he’s terrified all the time but fights through it. This, in turn, inspired Kirishima to be the best possible person and train like a mad man. It’s even the reason his hair is red and spiky. His natural hair is black and straight, which only Mina knows about.
Quirk
Kirishima’s quirk is called Hardening. He can harden his body to harder than steel. His quirk is similar to Testu Testu, who’s a match for him in all aspects. This is seen during the tournament arc in a hilarious fight where they knock each other out and end up having a tie. This also happens to spark a good friendship between them that can be seen in certain episodes when Class A and Class B get together. It's Testu Testu that actually points out one of the ways Kirishima can improve his quirk. Kirishima's quirk weakness is that he can only take so much damage before his quirk wears off. This can be seen in early training where bits of Kirishima crack and fall off when he takes a hit.
His quirk is a bit underrated in comparison to flashier ones such as Bakugo's nitroglycerin sweat, which is unfortunate because Kirishima's quirk makes for both amazing defence and offence in battle. Kirishima’s ultimate move is Unbreakable. During this, his body becomes the hardest it possibly can all around, making it so knives, bullets, and even explosions can’t harm him. His entire body becomes hard and resembles a sharp rock but in human colors. During the internship episodes, Kirishima can be seen using his quirk to the fullest.
Relationships
Kirishima is good at being friends with people. He’s so friendly and pushy that even Tamaki and Bakugo open up to him a little. During the movie My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, he brings along formal wear for Bakugo and Bakugo actually wears it. Kirishima seems to be great at getting people to have soft spots for him. Kirishima is part of the “bakusquad,” which is a small group of people Bakugo either considers friends or people he puts up with more than others.
These include Mina, Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari. Mina and Kirishima are good friends and have been acquaintances since middle school. Kirishima gets along well with other heroes at the Fatgum agency as well, getting a lot of praise from Fatgum himself.
Role in the Series
Kirishima is in Class 1-A, which is the “main” class that the series follows. The “manliness” aspect of his personality tends to be used as comedic relief. He refers to many things that show honesty or integrity as “manly,” which tends to come across as funny due to the fact that most people don't associate manliness with those things. Kirishima and Bakugo are seen as good friends, which puts Kirishima in an interesting role throughout the series.
Similar to Shoto Todoroki, Kirishima brings out a “softer” side of Bakugo, which can be seen in the background of the manga or anime screenshots. Kirishima is also one of the first people Bakugo stops yelling at frequently as the series goes on. In the Hideout Raid Arc, Izuku Midoriya points out that Kirishima has to be the one to grab Bakugo's hand.
Conclusion
Kirishima is one of the characters in My Hero Academia that has gotten a lot of character development, which includes backstory. Due to the vast array of characters in my hero, not all of them are able to get a lot of character development on screen.
Alongside his development, his lovable personality makes him a character that fans hope to see more of. For fans who want more Kirishima, they can look forward to the current season of My Hero Academia, as he should be getting more screen time. If fans haven’t seen it yet, they might also want to check out the OVA baseball episode because Kirishima has more screen time in that as well.