Ibara Shiozaki, also known as Vine, previously Maria, was a student in Class 1-B at U.A. High School.
Eight years after the Final War, Ibara has graduated from U.A. High School, and has become a Pro Hero.
Appearance#
Ibara is a girl of medium height with green, thorn-covered vines for hair, one set wrapped around her forehead a couple of times in the shape of a cross. Because of her Quirk, she can grow them at will, but she likes to keep her vines at a reasonably manageable length, just above her waist. Her eyes are dark green with long lower eyelashes, and she's regarded as cute by Denki Kaminari.
Her first Hero Costume comprises a plain white robe, similar to a toga, and dark brown thigh-high boots (shown in the sketches). This costume gives her the appearance of an ancient Greek or Roman goddess.
Ibara's current costume consists of a strapless white dress, and she now ties her hair into a ponytail and wears ornate, red earrings.
Personality#
Ibara is a very modest and courteous person who clarifies her humility after Present Mic calls her an assassin. Although graceful and soft-spoken, she is not afraid to make her pure intentions known. She seems highly religious due to her talking about heaven and divine beings in passing on multiple occasions, and her ultimate moves having somewhat religious names such as "Faith's Shield" and "Crucifixion".
Despite initially seeming very pure and kind, Ibara shows an unexpected vindictive side, best demonstrated in the Joint Training Arc, with her harsh judgment of Class 1-A as well as her telling Jurota Shishida that she hoped the "fires of hell" would relieve him of his sins and viewed his strategy of using her as a decoy to be "sinful".
Ibara showed her gratitude after receiving a second chance to participate in the U.A. Sports Festival and made her objective to spread well across the world apparent before her fight with Denki.[4] She also prefers to be fair and square as she disagreed with Neito Monoma's plan to throw the Obstacle Race and placed fourth instead. She also viewed having discreetly stolen Minoru Mineta's headband with her Quirk as an underhanded tactic and regretted it.
Ibara values honesty and is heavily fixated on the concept of truth, often refusing (if not being reluctant) to participate in strategies she deems as deceitful. This honest nature is demonstrated when she said that Shihai Kuroiro needs to "drastically reexamine" himself for his sneaky tactics as well as apologizing to Gigantomachia for their ambush during the Paranormal Liberation War.
Abilities#
Overall Abilities: Ibara has proven herself to be a highly capable individual, as her skills allowed her to earn fourth place in the U.A. Entrance Exam, having a fair balance of villain and rescue points. She has incredible proficiency in her Quirk applications, utilizing it in the same manner as Kamui Woods' Arbor Quirk, which the arboreal hero himself and several others have noted. Ibara is the stationary-type combatant, relying on the restricting properties of her vines in battles while she stands still. However, this fighting style leaves Ibara vulnerable to attacks from opponents with superior speed or close-quarters combat abilities, such as Tenya Ida. Her abilities eventually garnered the attention of The Lurkers (consisting of Edgeshot, Kamui Woods, and Mt. Lady), allowing Ibara to intern under the trio of powerful heroes and improve on close and efficient team maneuvers.
Quirk#
Vines: Ibara's Quirk gives her hair-like vines that grow on her head. She can lengthen and manipulate the vines, allowing her to attack, defend and grapple. She also can detach them at will. The vines will grow back, provided her head receives proper sunlight and water.
Ultimate Moves#
- Via Dolorosa: Ibara covers an entire area with her vines, trapping anything that touches them.
- Crucifixion: Ibara uses her vines to trap her opponent in a ball of vines suspended in the air to restrict their movement. The shape resembles that of a rubber band ball. She uses this move on Denki to insulate him, making him unable to discharge his Quirk.
- Faith's Shield: Ibara swiftly creates a wall of vines to protect herself before detaching the vines. She used it as a second line of defense against Denki.
- Big Tree:[3] Ibara creates a wall of vines to block an upcoming attack while the roots capture her opponent.[4]
Stats#
Battles & Events#
U.A. Sports Festival Arc U.A. Sports Festival Obstacle Race Cavalry Battle Denki Kaminari vs. Ibara Shiozaki Tenya Ida vs. Ibara Shiozaki Forest Training Camp Arc Quirk Training Camp Vanguard Action Squad Invasion U.A. School Festival Arc U.A. School Festival Joint Training Arc Joint Training Battle Round 1 Endeavor Agency Arc Hero Work-Studies II My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission Mission: Humarise Pro Heroes vs. Humarise Paranormal Liberation War Arc Paranormal Liberation War Gunga Mountain Villa Raid Villa Raid Team & Trainees vs. Paranormal Liberation Front
Chapter Appearances#
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Anime Appearances#
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Trivia#
- Ibara's name contains the kanji for "salt", "promontory", and "thorn".
- Ibara ranked fourth during the U.A. Entrance Exam with 36 Villain Points and 32 Rescue Points.
- Ibara is the student of Class 1-B with the most named Ultimate Moves, at 3.
- According to Ibara's volume profile:[5]
- Her favorite food is bread.
- Kohei Horikoshi finds it hard to draw Ibara's thorny hair, having not noticed the difficulty during her early sketches and deems her a character to be feared.
- Ibara was originally planned to be in Class 1-A.
- Horikoshi describes her as full of compassion. As such, she hates scheming and trickery, making her an open and honest person.
- Notably, the only person Ibara ever deceives is Minoru, both taking his headband in a sneaky manner during the Sports Festival, as well as lying to lure him out during the Summer Training Camp.[6] She only expresses regret for the first occasion, likely due to him attempting to peep on her and the other 1-B girls in the second.
- According to Ibara's Ultra Analysis profile:
- Horikoshi finds her hair especially agonizing to draw during her action scenes, to the point where he has to psych himself up before illustrating her.
- Her personality is described as "fair, square, and aboveboard".
- Denki refers to Ibara as "acorn-eyed", a slang term for someone with large, dark eyes.[7]
- Ibara appears to sympathize with Endeavor, believing that those with the fiercest tempers often have the deepest wounds. This turned out to be true, as Endeavor watched his father die in a villain attack when he was young, leading to his unyielding desire to become a strong hero.[6]
- Ibara's religious nature, appearance, and Quirk allude to Christianity in several ways:
- Ibara's thorny hair, especially the pair of locks wrapped around her forehead, is similar to the crown of thorns that is said to have been placed on Jesus Christ's head at the time of his crucifixion.
- Her Hero Costume consists of a plain white robe, which looks similar to the one worn in many depictions of Jesus Christ.
- Her favorite food, bread, is said to resemble the body of Jesus and is often given alongside wine (said to resemble Jesus's blood) in church communions.
- Her former hero name, "Maria", is the Latin name for the Virgin Mary.
- Her birthday is September 8, which is also the birthday of the Virgin Mary.
- All of her Ultimate Moves are named after biblical terms.
Quotes#
- (After defeating Denki) "Yes... I have not wasted the opportunity bestowed upon me..."[4]
- (When Eijiro Kirishima was thrown at her) "A lost lamb descends from the heavens."