My Hero Academia Is Currently Wrapped Up In a Whitewashing Controversy For No Good Reason

My Hero Academiahas just become embroiled in a whitewashing controversy, and it makes absolutely no sense. As beloved as My Hero Academia is, it hasn’t been without its controversies, whether it’s from the physical or narrative depictions of certain characters or from how the overarching story was handled, and while some of those complaints have merit, overall, most of them are people overreaching to make problems out of nothing.

Even with the series being over for almost a year now, My Hero Academia will always strike up its share of controversies, and its latest one is just as annoying to watch. Series creator Kohei Horikoshi recently posted new artwork of Mirko, and when people noted that she looked slightly less tan than normal, My Hero Academia’s creator was almost immediately hit with accusations of whitewashing for not making Mirko look as dark as usual. Overall, it’s a problem that shouldn’t exist, and My Hero Academiagetting those sorts of complaints is nothing but disappointing.

Why My Hero Academia’s Whitewashing Controversy Makes No Sense

All The Problems With My Hero Academia's Latest Controversy Explained

My Hero Academia’s whitewashing controversy is impossible to ignore, and that just highlights how it makes no sense, whatsoever. For starters, while Mirko doesn’t look as dark as normal in Kohei Horikoshi’s new artwork, many people have already discovered that the issue is less how Mirko was drawn and more how the artwork was posted, as adjusting the brightness will make her look more in line with the anime and manga. The latest artwork of Mirko only looks problematic depending on the brightness settings of someone’s device, and that makes the controversy all the more ridiculous.

The bigger reason why the whitewashing controversy doesn’t make sense is the fact that Mirko isn’t black. While Mirko’s dark skin often has people label her as a black anime character, it’s very common for anime characters to have dark skin while still being fully Japanese, whether it’s because of a tan or because they belong to the small subset of Japanese people with naturally dark skin. There’s nothing that suggests Mirko is a person of color beyond her skin tone, and as such, My Hero Academia’s whitewashing controversy makes no sense because it’s based solely on headcanons for Mirko.

Why My Hero Academia’s Whitewashing Controversy Even Became A Controversy

The Main Impetus Behind My Hero Academia's Whitewashing Controversy

As ridiculous as My Hero Academia’s whitewashing controversy is, it makes sense why it ended up happening. The obvious implications of racism are one thing, but more than that, one of the biggest reasons Mirko became popular was because people loved the idea of a woman of color being a major character in an anime, something that rarely ever happens. Even if Mirko isn’t actually a black character, the idea of her being whitewashed still meant that anime was being robbed of what little representation it had, so in that regard, it makes sense that people would be upset.

None of that changes how misguided the controversy is, of course. Even if Mirko was a black or Hispanic character, the issue with the art is still mostly with the brightness, and more importantly, My Hero Academia’s creator and creators, as a whole, shouldn’t be hit with controversy for drawing characters slightly different from how people would prefer to see them. This probably won’t be the last controversy My Hero Academia suffers through, but hopefully, any future ones will at least have some merit to them.

Source: Kohei Horikoshi's official X account.

My Hero Academia

Movie(s)

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018), My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (2019), My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission (2021)

First Film

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018)

Cast

Daiki Yamashita, Kenta Miyake, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Ayane Sakura, Yûki Kaji, Aoi Yuki, Kaito Ishikawa, Toshiki Masuda, Marina Inoue, Yoshimasa Hosoya

TV Show(s)

My Hero Academia

Video Game(s)

My Hero Academia: Battle for All, My Hero One's Justice, My Hero One's Justice 2

Character(s)

Izuku Midoriya, All Might, Katsuki Bakugo, Ochaco Uraraka, Shoto Todoroki, Tsuyu Asui, Tenya Iida, Eijiro Kirishima, Momo Yaoyorozu, Fumikage Tokoyami

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