This is just a character study on Sinsou based on my opinions. I had found a few things that were pretty interesting to me and wanted to share my findings~
Most of the following bullet-pointed information has been taken from Wiki about the character Shinsou. But I will be presenting this as fairly solid information about what we see Shinsou from the manga: – He is straightforward, could be said to have a cold personality and a bit sarcastic. Characterized as “in your face” by Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida. Though, he’s also passive aggressive as it’s readily apparent in Japanese. There’s a lot of “Don’t you think that [insert something rude here]” type of underhanded brashness (this info was given to me by the wonderful sugarmagic). – Shinsou could not make it through the entrance exams, so he entered Yuuei though the regular department. Though we do not know specifically what happened during his entrance exams that made him fail. – He has been labeled as someone with a “villain quirk”, a “quirk unfavored by fate”, though he claims that he is used to this criticism. – Shinsou’s quirk is rare, as other students comment about never having heard of one like it before. – He harbors resentment against those he views as having “perfect quirks”, and thinks that they could not possibly understand someone who has a quirk like his. – He has revealed his disappointment about class 1-A openly and has “declared war” on them during the lead-up to the Sports Festival. Specifically, this was aimed at Katsuki’s attitude. – He wants to not only become a hero, but a hero greater than anybody in Class 1-A. – During the festival, he used his quirk on others in order to make his own way through the obstacles and the cavalry battle. Very passive and even underhanded maneuvers. – Through the entire festival, he did not hurt a single person other than Midoriya when he lost his cool and punched him, once, and began just pushing Midoriya back before he got beaten. – After the festival, the Gen Ed students considered him a “star of hope” for everyone who wants to go into Heroics in their department. – Shinsou revealed his new-found admiration for Midoriya after their fight as well as his renewed determination to surpass him and everyone else in 1-A – He has a tendency to cover the back of his neck / head. – Shinsou is considered tall, 5’9” ish. An inch above Katsuki. Four inches above Midoriya. – Shinsou and Midoriya have almost the same STATS in the character data book, with the only difference being Shinsou has an E in Cooperativeness and Midoriya has an A. – Shinsou is a Cancer in the Western Zodiac. – Shinsou likes cats and biking.
Reading over the manga, it’s easy to see Shinsou as a strong-willed character, but how strong willed is Shinsou, really? Shinsou seems like a straightforward individual when we first meet him, with him declaring war on the Heroics Dept. Further into the story arc, however, there were times when Shinsou turned away from / was hesitated to react to others opinions. Examples of this include not even attempting to counter his classmates’ words when Shinsou is being told that he has a villainous quirk in the flashback, the fact that Shinsou turns away from Midoriya when Ojiro opts out of the festival as well as his inability to face Midoriya when he makes a speech about showing all of them up as a “fantastic fucking hero.” Midoriya very well seems like he is about to say something positive until Shinsou takes over his mind, preventing him from doing that. It had seemed like Midoriya tries to cheer for Shinsou, but Shinsou sees it coming and doesn’t let him. What would we call this hesitation to accept others’ perception of himself, whether it be positive or negative? Certainly not boldness, that much is clear.
Shinsou’s lack of being intimidated can be seen throughout his appearance in the manga… Still it seems he can definitely be intimidated by circumstance. We have only seen this kid meet other students at his level; I don’t think this would apply to, let’s say, a Villain or meeting All Might in the flesh… But in the end, we just don’t know for sure because so little has been offered to the readers about this character. Also, it seems that Shinsou got flustered pretty fast once he lost control of the situation during the fight against Midoriya.
While Shinsou can be a prickly individual, him covering the back of his neck/head is an interesting action that can tell a lot about an individual’s inner thoughts. Found on the site Psychology Today – “… when people are insecure, troubled, scared, concerned, worried, or nervous, they covered or touched their neck …” If you would like to read more, this quote is from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/spycatcher/200911/body-language-secrets-the-neck. Plus, culturally, it’s a well-known gesture of self-consciousness in many regions.
We don’t see the character blush at all in the manga (much like Bakugou) Then there are a lot of fanworks out there (including my own) where we see the character blush. Just because I like the concept, let me say this: blushing is natural. If you are human it will happen at certain points, whether you want it to or not. Charles Dickens once had said “blushing is an involuntary reaction that seems to serve no purpose beyond making an embarrassing situation even worse.” And that is the key word, involuntary. While we do not see this in the manga, I believe Shinsou could blush given the right situation 😉
So, we don’t really know what happened during the entrance exam for Shinsou, thus we cannot determine if his quirk is considered a weakness. Only Shinsou thinks lowly of his own Quirk. It’s curious, because if we take a deeper look, there are many other quirks that are more or less not combat oriented in the Hero Dept. How on earth did Kouji with his animal voice quirk make it through the exams, for example? How did Tooru? What about Manga from Class 1-B with their Comic quirk? How do you take down the giant entrance exam robots with quirks like these? Yet again, there just isn’t enough data provided to us to figure things out, but, at the end of the day, Shinsou’s perception of his own quirk and himself definitely feels like it’s being warped by his insecurities and self-effacement.
Shinsou’s Western Zodiac Sign, sorry, but I am going to get into it because it’s interesting… Shinsou is not a people person. He is of a sign that is not too easy to get along with (which is all theory). But then again, the Zodiac Signs of the characters in BNHA seem to match their personalities, so this could very well be an intentional development made by Horikoshi. Example: Bakugou is borderline Taurus / Aries [Insert an elaboration on how it is?], Tokoyami and all of his darkness is a Scorpio, Pony Tsunotori from class 1-B is another borderline Taurus / Aries (pun?), Endeavor for all of his pride is a Leo, the list goes on and on… So if Shinsou is an accurate Cancer, then that would mean :
Strengths: Tenacious, highly imaginative, loyal, emotional, sympathetic, persuasive Weaknesses: Moody, pessimistic, suspicious, manipulative, insecure Cancer likes: Art, home-based hobbies, relaxing near or in water, helping loved ones, a good meal with friends Cancer dislikes: Strangers, any criticism of their mother, revealing of personal life
“Deeply intuitive and sentimental, Cancer can be one of the most challenging Zodiac signs to get to know. Cancer is very emotional and sensitive, and they care about family and home. Cancer is sympathetic and is very attached to the people who surround him. People born under the Cancer sign are very loyal and empathetic people, able to empathize with your pain and suffering. Because of the ruling planet the Moon, the many phases of its lunar cycle can deepen Cancers internal mysteries and create fleeting emotional patterns that the sensitive Cancer cannot control, especially when a child. This can show itself as mood swings, selfishness, manipulation and fits of rage. Cancer is quick to help others and avoid conflicts. One of his greatest strengths is persistent determination. Cancer doesn’t have great ambitions because they are happy and content to have a loving family and tranquil and harmonious home. They often take good care of their co-workers and treat them as family.”
Again, these are my own thoughts and theories on the Shinsou Character from BNHA. Please feel free to disagree with them as they are only my opinions and to create your own theories on this interesting character as so little is provided in the manga that all we can do, at this point, is to speculate until he, hopefully, returns to make an appearance 🙂
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