Shouto Todoroki is the first Quirk user at UA High to reveal himself as a dual-Quirk user. If his coloring didn’t give you a big enough hint, then you should know that Shouto has the power of fire and ice, which exist in his different sides. His left side, as indicated by his red hair, is capable of wielding the power of fire, while his right side, as indicated by his white hair, wields the power of ice.

This makes Shouto one of the coolest students at UA High that we have met so far! His two sides are opposing in elements, but that means it is just that much harder to beat Shouto. As a hero, Shouto is more well rounded in that aspect. Should one power not work, the other will. This results in a great check and balance so that Shouto cannot be stopped easily. Of course, that does not mean he is all powerful. However, it is also due to this dual-wielding Quirk that there is more to Shouto than just his power. His Quirks have more relevance to his character depth and history as well.

As stated earlier, Shouto Todoroki’s Quirks have added more depth to his character. In fact, Shouto’s Quirks were a result of his father’s pride and selfishness. Enji, Shouto’s father, forced a marriage between him and Shouto’s mother using his influence. This marriage was an unhappy one. Enji was focused on siring a child with the Quirk to surpass All Might, which eventually resulted in Shouto Todoroki.

At a young age, Shouto was forced to intense training under his father and according to the manga, Shouto was not able to interact much with his siblings, nor did they have to train the way Shouto was expected to. As explained in the manga, Shouto’s mother was forced to deal with Enji’s abuse which eventually led to her pouring boiling water on Shouto in an attempt to eradicate Enji’s influence on Shouto’s appearance, which was mentioned in the anime. Shouto loves his mother a lot, but she can hardly bare to look at him due to his resemblance to his father. And so, Shouto’s mother is sent to a mental hospital.

Shouto Todoroki has to deal with a lot of his father’s abuse but even his mother’s love is withheld from him just because of his dual Quirks. This causes Shouto to develop an intense hatred for his father, Enji, who never saw him more as anything than a puppet to surpass All Might, something that Enji could not do himself. Shouto denies himself of using both of his powers for this reason and concentrates all of his efforts to use his mother’s power to attain his revenge against his father. It is for all of these reasons--Shouto’s childhood, his inability to connect with his family, his father’s abuse--that Shouto is a wounded soul and you cannot help but sympathize him. It’s this depth of personality and character that really starts Boku no Hero Academia off well in the second season and will help Boku no Hero Academia to be a great shounen anime.

After hearing about Shouto Todoroki’s story, there is no doubt that Shouto is a momma’s boy. He really cares about his mother, who has led an unhappy adult life thanks to Enji and is now in a mental hospital for treatment. Shouto wants nothing more than his mother’s love and acknowledgement, even though he knows she cannot look at the left side of his face.

It’s this quality of Shouto’s that is especially endearing. In the face of all the abuse from both sides of his parentage, Shouto is seeking the loving nature that he expects from his mother. He wants to be coddled and reassured by a mother’s love. And even when he has had a terrible lot in life, Shouto Todoroki still sympathizes his mother and has an understanding of the things that put her in her current mental state. It can also be said that Shouto’s anger towards his father stems from his love of his mother.

During the field training arc when all of the students are separated so that they can work under a hero’s tutelage, Izuku gets into some trouble with the Hero Killer while trying to save Tenya from himself. Tenya was so consumed with hatred that he challenged the Hero Killer without having a strategy, and Izuku was there to help. However, Izuku needed help and merely sent his location to all the heroes in hopes of getting help. That is when Shouto Todoroki comes into the picture.

Despite getting ONLY a direction, Shouto drops everything and leaves all of the hero work to his father to find out what happened to Izuku. That takes a lot of trust in someone to just drop something important, possibly get into trouble for abandoning his mentor and disobeying orders, and help that person. However, for Shouto, he put his friends first and foremost. He had faith in Izuku and that was what compelled him to abandon Endeavor and their mission.

Not only that but Shouto Todoroki does a great job during this story arc of telling Tenya what he truly must do in order to achieve his revenge: just stand up. Shouto is the voice of reason that Tenya needs to snap back into sense since Tenya was willing to throw everything away to take down the Hero Killer. Tenya’s life was on the line and yet, Shouto did not allow Tenya to throw everything on the way for his own revenge. This story arc may have been centered on Tenya and the ideals of the Hero Killer, but we must say, The field training arc still manages to speak volumes about Shouto Todoroki.

One thing that really stood out about Shouto Todoroki was his ability to put pride second. He began the series with such an intense hatred for his father, Enji, that Shouto outright refused to utilize his fire Quirk. Then when Izuku entered the fray, Shouto became so focused on defeating Izuku that he forgot his own grudge and used his left side so that he could win the match. Since then, Shouto has shown his flexibility with using his fire Quirk if it would result in greater results for himself, which usually revolve around beating others like the Hero Killer, although not in a petty match with Bakugo (to Bakugo’s chagrin).

Shouto Todoroki also shows humility when he chooses to work under “Endeavor” for his work-study experience. This was not because Enji forced Shouto to, but it was because Shouto knew that if he had to get stronger, working under Endeavor, the second best hero, would be better. Shouto exercises a great amount of humility to do this and has to put his pride and grudge aside to advance farther in power. Unlike many shounen characters like Bakugo, this is rather mature and modest of Shouto, which is quite the endearing quality in a shounen character. How could you not love Shouto by this point?