My Hero Academia depicts a world where superpowered Quirks are all over the place, and they come in a remarkable variety of powers and forms. Some, like All For One, are meta-Quirks, meaning they are based on the existence of other Quirks. Then there's the curious matter of Neito Monoma, a student in Class 1-B.
Neito is known for two things: his bitter rivalry with Class 1-A, and his ability to mimic other people's Quirks with his own Copy Quirk. He's put this adaptable ability to good use many times in My Hero Academia, and a number of intriguing factors have gone into its design and function. Here are five of the Copy Quirk's lesser-known secrets.
Neito's Quirk Fits Horikoshi's Fondness For Drawing Hands
Some manga authors are known for their particular preferences in drawing. Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto likes drawing toes, while Bleach's Tite Kubo loves to portray characters wearing trendy, fashionable urban outfits. My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi, meanwhile, enjoys drawing human hands. This is made clear with the dead hands all over Tomura Shigaraki as well as Itsuka Kendo's Big Fist Quirk. Meanwhile, Neito's Copy Quirk only activates when he touches another person with his hands, so naturally, his fighting style is based on his own two hands.
Neito's Copy Quirk Inspired A Villainous Fighting Style
Many students and Pro Heroes in My Hero Academia shape their fighting style, costumes and personas on the nature of their Quirks, and Neito Monoma has really taken this to heart. He's aware that a copycat Quirk can't do anything on its own, even as a support method, so it's not very heroic in nature. Instead, Neito must sneakily ambush and touch his enemies to obtain their Quirks if he has no allies on hand, rendering his actions rather like that of a villain.
Villains in My Hero Academia and plenty of other anime rely on trickery and underhanded tactics to get ahead, and Neito has no choice but to emulate them so he can get the most out of his Quirk. He's not thrilled about this, but it's his best option, so his Copy Quirk is what shapes his persona as a hero -- but not Neito himself.
The Copy Quirk Can Gradually Enhance Itself In Many Ways
A variety of Quirks have been upgraded over time, and as Shota Aizawa/Eraser Head once explained, Quirks get stronger as they are repeatedly used, just like building up a muscle. This is how U.A.'s students develop super moves, and Neito is the same. At first, his Copy Quirk could only store up to three borrowed Quirks at a time, and each one would last for only five minutes.
These drawbacks have since changed -- as of My Hero Academia's Joint Training arc, Neito can now store four copied Quirks, with each one usable for up to 10 minutes. It is possible that these limits will shift again as Neito continues to exercise his power and gains experience using a wide variety of Quirks. Perhaps one day, he might store as many as 10 borrowed Quirks at a time.
Neito Must Juggle His Borrowed Quirks, Not Combine Them
In some ways, Neito's Copy ability can be compared to the mighty All For One. While Neito can borrow Quirks just like AFO, his abilities are only usable for a brief time. He also cannot use two copied Quirks at the same time -- even if they are simple in function -- so he must rapidly switch between Quirks to take advantage of his flexibility.
For example, Neito could borrow Hawks' wings -- but if he wants to shoot Yuga Aoyama's laser beam from his chest, he would lose those wings, so he'd have to land first. He will never perform combo strikes the way All For One can, but if Neito practices enough, he can quickly rotate through borrowed Quirks well enough that it's not much of a problem.
Neito Can't Copy Other Quirks' Auxiliary Resources Or Prerequisites
Some Quirks, such as emitter-types, are easy for Neito to borrow. By contrast, others are problematic or pointless to copy, since their usage requires a certain physical constitution of the user or stored energy. For example, he can copy the basic nature of One For All by touching Izuku, but it would be useless. One For All is extremely powerful due to its nature as an energy stockpiling Quirk, and Neito cannot replicate the stored energy that Izuku has access to. Even if he could copy the energy, Neito lacks the physical conditioning to handle One For All, so it's just as well.
Similarly, Neito copied Eri's Rewind Quirk -- complete with the forehead horn -- but it was no good. Rewind also requires stored energy to function, so Neito cannot successfully replicate it. He decided to call these Quirks "blanks," and he must watch out for them when hunting for Quirks to copy during a real battlefield situation. He can't afford to use a weapon with no ammo inside.
