ScreenRant and author Emily Clute called for the erasure of My Hero Academia character Minoru Mineta from the upcoming live-action film being created by Legendary.
In an article titled “The Live-Action My Hero Academia Movie Must Cut One Problematic Character,” Clute writes, “Mineta Minoru has been one of the most divisive My Hero Academia characters— here’s why he needs to be eliminated from the live-action movie.”
Clute specifically claims Mineta needs to be removed for “his sexually charged antics.” She writes, “This behavior is exactly why Mineta needs to be cut from the live-action movie.”
As the article continues Clute lists her laundry list of objections to Mineta.
She writes, “He’s made inappropriate comments towards female classmates and heroes alike, objectified their bodies, and taken any chance he can find to spy on them, like in the locker rooms and during their trip to the hot springs.”
“He has groped his classmates without consent on multiple occasions, grabbing Asui’s chest during the USJ attack, attaching himself to Yaomomo, and taken advantage of rescuing Ashido Mina to press himself against her breast,” Clute adds.
Clute concludes the article citing the #MeToo movement, “In a cultural climate that is fighting for sexual assault to be taken seriously — especially with the rise of the #MeToo movement — including Mineta Minoru in the live-action My Hero Academia film would be a disservice.”
It’s easy to object to Mineta’s behavior and “his sexually charged antics,” in fact both the manga and the anime routinely show that Mineta’s behavior is wrong and inappropriate.
As an example, in Chapter 70 when Class 1-A is about to go to training camp during their summer break, Mineta can only think of a “bountiful babe buffet.”
However, while Mineta drools in anticipation, Kirishima comments, “You’re starting to cross the line…”
In the next chapter, when they actually arrive at training camp, Mineta attempts to scale a wall separating the men and women’s bathing facilities. As he reaches the top, a young Kota appears and knocks Mineta back down telling him, “A hero, really? Try learning how to be a good person first.”
In the anime adaptation leading up to the above scene, Mineta is even lectured by Aizawa aka Eraserhead to behave himself.
Aizawa tells him, “They’re separated by gender. And you’ll behave yourself.”
In another instance, seen below, when Mineta begins foaming at the mouth, Aizawa attacks him with his Binding Cloth and tells him, “I expect you all to be on your best behavior, today.”
When Mineta tries to spy through a peep hole into the girl’s locker room, he’s met with a strike to his right eye from Kyoka Jiro.
Ashida expresses her disgust saying, “Ugh! Thanks Kyoka!”
Momo Yaoyorozu adds, “Despicable! We’ll close up this hole immediately.”
One of Mineta’s biggest challenges is his Final Exam where he’s teamed up with Hanta Sero and tasked with either defeating or escaping from Midnight.
The task is especially challenging for Mineta given his inclinations, but on top of that Midnight’s Quirk is called Somnambulist and allows her to put nearby people to sleep using an aroma from her body. It works better on males than females.
Midnight easily disables Sero from the very beginning, so Mineta must devise his own strategy to not only overcome his own inclinations towards women, but Midnight’s powerful quirk.
It works and he’s able to get past Midnight, rescue Sero and escape in order to pass the Final Exam.
Related: My Hero Academia Just Massively Upgraded U.A. High School
It’s pretty clear that Mineta’s behavior is not approved of by his fellow classmates and he’s routinely criticized for his perverted behavior.
And the character’s behavior should not be a reason to cut him from the upcoming live-action film. First off, he was created by Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of My Hero Academia, and has been a relatively important character throughout the series.
On top of that, Mineta’s perverted behavior is a character flaw. And as demonstrated during the Final Exam, it’s something that he can work to overcome to truly go Plus Ultra.
Arguing to cut out Mineta from the story because of his behavior is the same as arguing to cut Bakugo because of his behavior of bullying Deku in the beginning of the story. But if you cut out Bakugo, you wouldn’t have the awesome rivalry between him and Deku, and you wouldn’t have the amazing character growth Bakugo undergoes that has eventually led him to acknowledge his past behavior as wrong and ask forgiveness from Deku for it.
It’s quite possible Mineta will have a similar arc and he will realize his perverted behavior is wrong and eventually apologize for it and overcome his past bad behavior. You never know, the story is still being written.
In fact that growth appears to be happening as in Chapter 241 while receiving media training from Mt. Lady, Mineta comments to Eraserhead, “Not too long ago, she didn’t give a crap about anything except being on camera…”
Aizawa responds, “Mt. Lady’s not the only one who has changed. Every hero out there is being pulled up…by the number one hero’s rising tide.”
And then there’s also the fact that Mineta was the 18th most popular character when Shonen Jump conducted its first popularity poll. He beat out the likes of Endeavor, Sero, Mt. Lady, Stain, Midnight, and Shigaraki.
What do you make of ScreenRant calling for Mineta to be cut from the live-action My Hero Academia movie?