My Hero Academia entered its final act last year, and creator Kohei Horikoshi is still pacing through the series. After all, the final war between our heroes and villains is getting more intense by the day. With so much left to do, My Hero Academia has taken time as of late to answer questions as they come up, but some theories haven’t been given the space. But now, Horikoshi himself has confirmed one theory about Deku’s many quirks is true.
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As it turns out, the hero’s Gearshift power does have a little tic to it. Izuku relies on visualization to use the quirk, and he does picture a car in his mind when doing so.
“This “kachak” thing Deku does with his hands is as if he were shifting gears in a car. He has never driven a real car, so it’s all just based on visualization,” Horikoshi revealed in the most recent volume of My Hero Academia (via DabisPoleDance). “This method of visualizing something in his head comes from advice he received from All Might in the first volume, and is what he always uses to practice.”
The fact, which went live this week, has vindicated fans who suspected as much about Gearshift from the start. The power hasn’t been around for a long time, but Izuku was seen using unfamiliar arm movements while powering the quirk. It seems like All Might managed to help Izuku visualize the quirk long before it appeared, and this is not the first time our hero has used cars to train.
After all, Endeavor did the same with Izuku during his internship arc. At that time, the boy was struggling to use Black Whip with any consistency while also juggling One For All. It was there Endeavor used driving as a teaching illustration as the pro told Izuku he needed to practice parallel processing. Just like people do a lot unconsciously while driving, Izuku needed to do the same while shifting between quirks. And now, it looks like Gearshift has brought Endeavor’s little lesson full circle.ย
Were you on board with this theory before now…? Which one of Deku’s quirks is your favorite? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.