My Hero Academia is a series attracted to classic underdog tales. Protagonist Izuku Midoriya is one such example, a boy born powerless in a world packed with diverse Quirks. Izuku had to make up for this with his sheer grit and resolve, but he's not alone. Eijiro Kirishima is in a similar position... and so is the pompous Yuga Aoyama.
It can be easy to dismiss Yuga Aoyama as a comic relief character like Minoru Mineta, with his goofy demeanor and underwhelming performance as a student. But all this makes him more like Izuku, not less, and he could practically be the star of his own underdog tale.
Yuga: His Empty Sparkles
Yuga Aoyama's personal story is remarkably similar to that of Izuku and Eijiro Kirishima. Yuga was born with a Quirk, unlike Izuku, but Yuga suffered an inferiority complex about the nature of his Quirk. His Quirk gave him painful cramps and an upset stomach, and he feared that having such a weak body and unsustainable Quirk would doom any chances of him becoming the sparkling, dazzling hero he wanted to be. Over time, he learned to face his fear rather than submit to it. Yuga viewed himself as a disco ball, sparkly and glitzy but hollow on the inside, and he resolved to prove to himself (and the world) that this was not the case.
Emotionally, Yuga compensated for all this with his haughty, princely demeanor, which boosted his self-esteem (though it could annoy the people around him). He bravely applied for U.A. and qualified for class 1-A, despite his mediocre Quirk and poor grades. Yuga may have acted like he was in a league of his own, a prince among peasants, but deep in his heart, he felt much differently. He actually saw himself in Izuku, another boy with a troublesome and self-damaging Quirk. Yuga saw a reflection of himself as he watched Izuku struggle to master One For All, and it may drive Yuga to new heights.
The Dazzling Underdog
At first, Yuga really was just comic relief. He made it to the top 16 in the U.A. sports festival, where he confidently faced Mina Ashido and quickly lost to her. Yuga's belly button laser was too slow to hit the agile and nimble Mina, and he fell when Mina got in close and slugged him on the jaw. Yuga didn't take this defeat too hard, though; he wouldn't let his sparkling exterior fall apart so easily.
Yuga confidently gave himself the hero name "Can't Stop Twinkling" to reinforce his theme. He worked hard to improve his Quirk during the forest training arc. Despite his weak body and aching belly, Yuga kept firing his laser to work it like a muscle, allowing him to keep pace with the other students. Yuga's big break came during the provisional hero license exam when he realized that he was too weak to fight off all the rival students, but he could draw their attention with his dazzling Quirk. To Tenya Iida's astonishment, Yuga nearly sacrificed himself by firing his laser high into the sky, to draw away dozens of rival students and clear the way for the rest of class 1-A. Fortunately for Yuga, this act inspired his classmates, and they rallied around him and launched a full-scale counterattack. Yuga managed to clear the exam with his classmates after all.
Yuga has nothing but his own grit and creativity to make up for his weak body and iffy Quirk. That's not too different from how Izuku trained like crazy under All Might's tutelage to prepare himself for One For All earlier on. It's similar to how Eijiro Kirishima resolved to use his unimpressive skin-hardening Quirk to fuel his resolve instead of sabotage it. Tenacity, resourcefulness and self-reliance are the bedrock of how these three underdogs operate, and Yuga, despite not being as physically tough as Izuku and Eijiro, walks the same path. Underdogs like them have to look out for each other in a sea of Shotos and Bakugos.
