For this character's identity while being possessed by the Queen Bee, see Bee☆Pop. For the song named after her, see POP⭐︎STEP.
Kazuho Haneyama is a former Vigilante and freelance idol, known as Pop☆Step or simply Pop. She is one of the protagonists of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.
Appearance#
In her civilian attire, Kazuho looks like a timid and shy young girl, mostly seen wearing a black long-sleeved seifuku, with the collar white with red accents, paired with a red tie, white knee-high socks, and blue sneakers. Her eyes are seen mainly blue in color, with her pink hair being a tad messy while her eyes are normally concealed by the glare of her round glasses.[3]
As a child, Kazuho's hair was much shorter, which caused Koichi to mistake her for a boy.
When Kazuho wants to use her Quirk and express herself as her alter ego, Pop☆Step, she paints on a black mask with pink along her upper eyelashes, ties her hair in high pig-tails, and dresses in a devilish themed, backless, one-piece black leotard with a pink heart-shaped opening in the center of the chest and a smaller one in the back, where it's located just below two bat wings. In addition to it, she also wears a red bow tie, a pair of indigo pearl earrings (silver in the manga), black elbow-length fingerless gloves with puffy ends, a black super-miniskirt with three purple hearts on a black belt, and black knee-high boots with pink details. In the anime, she wears pink lipstick, and her outfit is slightly modified, wearing black stockings to cover her legs, and the skirt of the costume is longer and positioned differently to cover her backside. The heart-shaped opening on her chest is also smaller.[4]
When performing with the FeatherHATS, she still wears her vigilante costume, but dons a maroon-colored sleeveless long tailed jacket and a top hat with a yellow ribbon and long red feather.
When disguised as "Kazuha" on a mission with Midnight, she wears a long, straight, black wig that falls past her shoulders, a white, long-sleeved blouse, a beaded necklace and diamond-shaped earrings, both blue in color, a short burgundy skirt held up by a black belt with a gold heart-shaped buckle, and black leggings. She also wears a pink jacket and beige knee-high boots before taking them off for the mixer.[5]
After the time-skip, her appearance hardly changes except that now she is a little taller.[6] When she temporarily became the new host of Queen Bee, her vigilante costume was modified to be more villainous and more bee-themed; the costume was more revealing, she lost the mini-skirt, the devil wings were swapped for bee wings, and her tight stocking boots were replaced with looser knee boots. Her skin also was darken, along with wearing thick black eye shadow, lipstick, and nail polish, and her hair swept over her left eye.[7]
After being freed from her possession, she wears an eyepatch over her lost left eye, similar to Tamao Oguro.
Personality#
Kazuho is a very logical and intellectual person; she acts as the brains of the Naruhata Vigilantes. As an idol, Kazuho appears to love singing and performing, despite not being particularly skilled or talented in either. She does her performances with lots of enthusiasm and seems to take pride in her appearance when she performs. This vanity seems to extend to her looks at all times, including when she is not dressed up. She once told Koichi that if he called her civilian attire plain, she would kill him.
Kazuho is also guilty of being rather secretive, though it could be argued that this is for good reason, as Koichi finds out her family never knew about Narufest, which also suggests they were oblivious of her status as an unlicensed street performer or a vigilante.[7]
Kazuho has a notable fierce side. While she cares for her allies, she will often berate them when they act in ways she disapproves of, with this sharp and fierce attitude often clashing with Koichi's naïve nature and Knuckleduster's penchant for violence. Koichi notes that she has difficulty apologizing, likening her to a child, and the overall way she acts resembles that of a moderate tsundere. While she repeatedly claims to have nothing to do with the Naruhata Vigilantes, she is still willing to aid Koichi and Knuckleduster by providing support on the field and cares about helping innocent people.
She feels guilt and is genuinely apologetic towards Koichi for an incident in the past, which resulted in her being saved by him, though at the cost of him missing an examination to attend a Hero High School, thus ending his dreams of becoming a Hero. While she wants to thank him for saving her and apologize for costing him his chance at being a Hero, she seems unable to do this easily, particularly around other people. Her crush on him also makes it even harder for her to speak to him about said topics without getting overly embarrassed.
Kazuho has shown to be somewhat unsure of her future, as upon seeing everyone else involved in Narufest eventually moving on with their lives, including Koichi planning to retire from vigilantism, she becomes lost and worried about being left alone again. She's eventually able to find a sense of expression through her music, however her innate jealously and self-deprecation towards Makoto Tsukauchi and her own crush on Koichi, allows her mental state to become vulnerable enough to be manipulated by Number 6 and become possessed by the Queen Bee.
After being freed from the Queen Bee's possession and waking up from her coma, Kazuho remains in a despondent manner while being reunited with Koichi. Regardless, she gains the courage to return the All Might hoodie he gave her years ago, though he doesn't recognise it. Shortly after however, Kazuho tearfully embraces Koichi in relief that he's okay. Over the following year, Kazuho manages to return back to a more positive mindset during her rehabilitation, and while she's been cleared as innocent from the damage she caused as Bee☆Pop, she still wishes to help make amends for what she did under the villain's control. She's now happy for Koichi and his new life as Captain Celebrity's Sidekick: "The Skycrawler", with him finally being a hero like he always wanted. At the same time, she's been able to proceed with her own life, no longer troubled over her own feelings and concerns.[8]
Abilities#
Overall Abilities: While not a combatant, Kazuho provides valuable help to the Naruhata Vigilantes in a supportive role. Her Leap Quirk grants her easy transportation, allowing her to easily hop onto buildings and reach the scene of incidents while remaining out of harm's way. She often helps her teammates in various ways, such as aiding with investigations, helping civilians evacuate from Villain attacks, calling for help, acting as a distraction against the Villains, as well as providing first aid to any injured passer-by.
Keen Intellect: Kazuho has shown to be quite clever and pragmatic when it comes to facing problems, advising Koichi and Knuckleduster to check the local news feed in order to investigate the recent outbreak of Instant Villains and signs of the Ideo Trigger drug. She also informed Koichi that a person has to commit multiple Quirk-based offences to be deemed a Villain, and warned him that he would be arrested for using his Shooty-Go-Kablam to shoot at people without proper authorization, indicating that she has a good knowledge of laws in Japan.
- Skilled Performer: Kazuho is an avid singer and dancer, as seen during her unlicensed street performances as Pop☆Step. While at first, her performing itself wasn't too highly reputed, being more popular due to showing off her Leap Quirk and the fanservice of her costume, Kazuho goes on to improve her singing and dancing as she performs legitimately as part of the FeatherHATS for Narufest.
Quirk#
Leap: Kazuho's Quirk allows her to leap very high. She requires a solid surface to jump off of and the strength of her Quirk is decreased if she leaps from a non-solid surface, such as muddy ground. Her Quirk can cushion her landing after she leaps, but it won't cushion a normal fall.
Former Quirk#
Queen Bee: While under the possession of the Queen Bee, Kazuho, as Bee☆Pop, gave her control of a massive swarm of bees, which can also grow more hostile the more she sings. Nearly all the bees are destroyed by Koichi and Endeavor, while the host bee is removed from Kazuho at the hospital.
Equipment#
- Microphone: As Pop☆Step, Kazuho often carries a microphone that also serves as a music player and a megaphone. She is always using this for her street shows and for directing people to safety during villain incidents.
Battles & Events#
Vigilantes Beginnings Arc Nice Guy & Knuckleduster vs. Soga, Moyuru & Rapt Naruhata Vigilantes & Eraser Head vs. Mario, Soga, Moyuru & Rapt Naruhata Vigilantes vs. Teruo Unagisawa
Vigilantes Chapter Appearances#
debut
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
flash
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
f
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
m
m
p
m
flash
flash
flash
m
m
yes
yes
yes
yes
flash
m
p
yes
flash
m
p
yes
yes
yes
flash
f
m
flash
yes
flash
m
yes
f
flash
yes
yes
yes
yes
Vigilantes Anime Appearances#
debut
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
flash
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
Trivia#
- Kazuho's given name contains the kanji for "harmony, peace, soften" and "walk, a step", and her surname contains "feathers", "root, source", and "mountain".
- According to Kazuho's Volume 1 profile:[9]
- Her favorite food is yogurt.
- Her Vigilante costume is based on Masakazu Katsura's Shadow Lady.
- Despite Kazuho's harsh nature, she is secretly the type to fawn over people and even when scolding Koichi or someone else, her expression gives it away that she's worried about them.
- Betten Court initially omitted the wings on her vigilante costume, but they were added back at Hideyuki Furuhashi's request.
- As Pop☆Step, Kazuho initially had a more devilish motif, but her dynamic with Koichi and Knuckleduster caused her to evolve into more of a stabilizing role, with Kazuho gradually becoming the most mature of the three. She was also planned to be more sharp-tongued at first, but this character trait didn't hold up as the story progressed.[10]
- While Koichi's silhouette is purposely reminiscent of Izuku Midoriya, Betten made sure that Kazuho gave off the complete opposite impression of Ochaco Uraraka.[11]
- She shares her birthday with Mashirao Ojiro.
- Kazuho's English voice actress, Macy Anne Johnson, also voices Nao Shimura.