My Hero Academia Fans Are Heartbroken Over Gentle's Backstory

My Hero Academia is really good at tugging your heart in all the best ways, but the anime isn't afraid to shake up emotions for the worst. The show has its highs and lows, but fans were reminded of how stark its sadder moments can be. After all, netizens were fine disliking the villain Gentle Criminal given his alignment, but all of that changed after the anime detailed the man's tragic backstory.

For those who have seen the most recent episode of My Hero Academia, they were surely torn to bits over Gentle. Izuku found himself respecting the villain a great deal after learning about his opponent, and it is all because the Hero Society failed Gentle when he was in high school.

Back in those days, the villain wanted nothing more than to be a hero known in textbooks for his deeds. Danjuro Tobita, as he was known then, got into an average high school to train but failed miserably at his tests. After failing enough tests, his high school counselor pressured Danjuro into dropping out as he would never cut it as a hero.

With his parents immensely ashamed of their son's failure to become a hero, Danjuro tried to do school the regular way. He was fine until he tried to save a man falling from a window, but his actions got in the way of licensed Pro Heroes. The man was injured because of his interference which forced Danjuro's family to pay debt to the victim and a fine for their son's action. This led the man to be kicked out of his home, and Danjuro finally cracked when he tried to greet an old friend of his from school. The other man had become a top hero by this time, and he refused to give Gentle the time of day since he failed to remember him.

All of this tragedies led Danjuro to become a villain who strove to gain fame while pointing out the injustices behind the Pro Hero system. Izuku admits he understands where Gentle comes from even if he cannot approve of his actions. And by the end of Gentle's anime arc, fans are left rooting for the baddie in tears as you can see in the slides below:

Did this villain's backstory take you by surprise? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!