Emi Fukukado, also known as Smile Hero: Ms. Joke, is a Pro Hero and a teacher of second year, Class 2 at Ketsubutsu Academy High School.[2]
Appearance#
Emi is a young woman of a strong athletic build with noticeably muscular arms. She has seafoam-green hair that reaches just past her shoulders, and short fringe with splayed ends which is usually obscured by her bandanna. She has dark green eyes with bright pupils, but by far her most prominent feature is her unwavering joyous smile.
Her hero costume consists of a sleeveless navy blue shirt with a high collar that’s buttoned up all the way to her chin, puffed shorts with a green and orange pinstripe design and a corset adorned with yellow smiley-face pins, dipping down in a shallow "U" in the center. Below this, she wears a white V-shaped belt, and on her hands she has padded yellow gloves with golden plates over her knuckles and lower fingers, which extend in orange-striped tubes down her lower arms, with thick metal cylinders acting as wrist-guards over the top. She also wears an orange bandana and her costume sometimes includes a white hygiene mask with a circular smiley-face protrusion on either side.
Personality#
Ms. Joke is known for her cheerful and outgoing personality. She always has her goofy and somewhat obnoxious sense of humor on full display and jumps at the chance to make others laugh. She takes no shame in flirting with Shota Aizawa, endlessly trying to break his cold exterior to get out a smile. She enjoys poking fun at him and finds his stoic personality amusing, indicating her playful and teasing nature. Her playful attitude plays into her hero work as she fights by distracting her opponents with laughter.
Though her behavior may appear unprofessional, Ms. Joke takes her job as a teacher and Pro Hero very seriously, and clearly has a thorough understanding of heroics, as demonstrated through her commentary with Shota throughout the license exam.
Ms. Joke deeply values her students and believes in their abilities. She believes that Shota didn't share this same connection with his students because he didn't warn them about the licensing exam's traditions. She takes offense to Shota placing his students above her own and believes all kids have dreams of becoming great heroes. She appears to find U.A. High School somewhat distasteful, believing they hold an elitist attitude and overvalue their prestige.
Abilities#
Overall Abilities: Ms. Joke is a famous Pro Hero known for incapacitating her opponents in the wackiest fashion. She passes on her skills and knowledge to the future generation of heroes at Ketsubutsu Academy.
Hand to Hand Combatant: According to Izuku Midoriya, Ms. Joke's main strategy is to incapacitate her enemies with her Quirk before taking them down with her hand to hand techniques, suggesting a level of close combat proficiency.
Quirk#
Outburst: Emi's Quirk forces her targets to burst out into uncontrollable laughter. This laughter impairs opponents' cognitive abilities, allowing Ms. Joke to take them down.[2]
Equipment#
Laugh Mask: Ms. Joke wears a grey mask with happy face symbols on her cheeks. This allows her Quirk to be neutralized in a public setting.
Battles & Events#
Paranormal Liberation War Arc Paranormal Liberation War Gunga Mountain Villa Raid
Chapter Appearances#
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Anime Appearances#
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Vigilantes Chapter Appearances#
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Vigilantes Anime Appearances#
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Trivia#
- Emi's name contains the kanji for "fortune gate" and "laughter, beautiful smile".
- Her name is a play on a Japanese proverb about fortune coming to those who laugh.
- The two buttons on her neck may symbolize that her costume was created by the same designer as Ochaco Uraraka and Katsuki Bakugo. Though in the manga she has three buttons
- According to Emi's Volume 12 profile:
- Her favorite thing is comedy.
- Emi has tried countless times to make Shota laugh using Outburst, but the latter manages to erase her Quirk every time she tries.
- Ms. Joke's general aesthetic seems to be inspired by the DC supervillain The Joker.
- Both have a clown/comedy theme and have green hair.
- Emi's Quirk, Outburst, is similar to the effects of Joker Venom.
- Their aliases—Joker and Ms. Joke—sound extremely similar.
- Her annoyance to Shota reflects Batman's irritation to The Joker's taunts.
- Given her heroic nature, she may have also been inspired by DC Earth-3's Jokester (Earth-3), the heroic parallel counterpart of The Joker whose outfit is buttoned with smiley faces and primary green (his whole color palette being an inversion of The Joker's).