Kotaro Shimura was the son of Nana Shimura and the father of Tenko and Hana Shimura. He was also the husband of Nao Shimura.[1]
Appearance#
As a child, Kotaro had dark hair and was missing a front tooth, wearing a simple T-shirt and sneakers.
As an adult, Kotaro had his hair short with a little cowlick on the right side and wore a striped polo shirt and black pants.
Personality#
As a child, Kotaro seemed like a relatively happy and normal young boy, having a close relationship with his mother. However, after his mother gave him up and left him in foster care, Kotaro's sadness developed into a deep resentment and hostility towards his mother, feeling as though she had selfishly abandoned him for the sake of her Hero duties and helping strangers. This resentment eventually grew into a hatred for all Heroes, viewing them as selfish individuals whose actions only served to harm their own families.
As a result of this bitter hatred, Kotaro strictly forbade anything about Heroes in his household and would become emotionally and physically abusive towards his children whenever they broke this rule. When his daughter Hana was almost found out for having gone into his office, she showed an immense fear of him and fell into a hysterical state of panic that caused her to blame her brother to save herself, implying that Kotaro had severely punished her before. Upon believing that Tenko was responsible for sneaking into his office and finding a picture of him and his mother, he physically attacked his son for finding out about his paternal grandmother and condemned her memory, calling her a monster who abandoned her own child.
Kotaro defended his behavior by saying that his children should not become enamored with Heroes, particularly Tenko, who had not manifested a Quirk yet, and said that his actions were only to stop them from suffering in the long run. Ironically though, he started doing the very thing he believed all Heroes were guilty of and instilled his son's future hatred of Heroes and society in the process.
However, in spite of his cold attitude, he wasn't completely heartless, eventually questioning his behavior towards his family and expressing remorse for hurting his child. According to Nao, Kotaro wanted a happy family, implying that he did not intend to become the abusive father he was towards his children. Also, despite having resented his mother, he did express sadness when looking at the picture of them both together and recalling his childhood with her, wishing that she didn't love him to ease the pain after reading her letter.[2]
Despite this realization, after seeing his son lose control of his awakening Quirk, Kotaro chose to use violence as the first method to bring his son into submission and hit him across the face with a weed clipper. Although part of this was to stop him from spiraling out of control, this physically abusive decision ultimately cost him his life, with Tenko finally snapping and killing his father in retaliation.[3]
While Kotaro was responsible for his own actions, it is revealed that he too had been manipulated by All For One. Not knowing who he truly was, Kotaro was unaware of his true intentions and became good friends with the villain, to the point where they frequently hung out together. This led to Kotaro not only having another child, Tenko, but also becoming more strict and violent, as All For One encouraged how he treated his children and cultivated Kotaro's lingering resentment for Heroes. This suggests that Kotaro wasn't a bad father from the start and, while he disliked Heroes, hadn't truly hated them until All For One guided his thoughts into hatred.
History#
Kotaro was the only son of Nana Shimura and her unnamed husband. Though he briefly had a normal, happy childhood, he was placed into foster care by his grieving mother when his father was killed by a villain, not wanting him to suffer the same fate. To protect Kotaro from All For One, Nana doctored her family register to remove any connection to him and made her close friend and pupil, Sorahiko Torino and Toshinori Yagi, both promise not to search or come into contact with Kotaro under any circumstances. [4]
Growing up, Kotaro married a woman named Nao Magi and they had a daughter named Hana. Kotaro became a businessman, making his fortune early on and building a large house for his family, while also inviting his In-laws to live with them. However, because of his mother seemingly abandoning him, Kotaro developed a strong hatred towards Heroes.
At some point, Kotaro had become friends with a man from "Koga Constructions", who unbeknownst to him was All For One, the villain who killed his mother. All For One, one time, asked if he would like to see a doctor to help him with his lower back pains, but Kotaro brushes it off as if it's not a big deal. All For One was well aware of Kotaro's upbringing and disdain towards Heroes due to his mother abandoning him and told Kotaro about how Heroes never show up to aid people when they're actually needed, so children need siblings to help each other out. Kotaro obliviously took All For One's advice and conceived a son named Tenko Shimura. Unbeknownst to him, All For One had stolen Tenko's original Quirk Factor, making him Quirkless, and bided his time secretly watching over Tenko and the family. Another time, they had dinner where All For One asked if his son had already manifested a Quirk yet, which Kotaro replies that he hasn't yet.[5][6]
Following All For One's manipulative advice, Kotaro forbade anyone from ever mentioning the concept or idea of "Heroes" in the house. Because Tenko was fascinated with Heroes, he would often punish his son for when he broke the one rule in the house: never discuss anything about Heroes. One day, Kotaro discovered his children had gone into his office and confronted his son on finding the picture of their paternal grandmother. Becoming enraged, he attacked his son and voiced his disgust of heroes and his mother's legacy. This sight was met with outrage by his family, who watched in horror as this went on. Kotaro forced his son to sit outside in the dark. Later on, he stared at the picture of himself with his mother and the letter that she gave him. His wife and in-laws confronted him, as Kotaro knew he went too far and asked himself why he acted the way he did.[2]
Later that night, Tenko lost control of his manifesting Decay Quirk, which was secretly bestowed to him by All For One several days prior, which led to him unintentionally decaying his dog Mon and later his family. Kotaro was alerted by the noise and discovered the carnage, where Tenko begged his father for help while the latter was horrified by his son's actions. Tenko's Quirk started to destroy the area around them, while he tried to go to his father for help, but the latter attacked him to get him to stop. Unfortunately, this act triggered Tenko's instincts and caused him to attack with full intent to kill. He touched his father's face and killed him in revenge for all the pain he caused. Tenko's act also destroyed the house, while bringing an excited relish to his son.[3]
His lonely son would wander and go onto become the successor of All For One, the very Villain who killed his mother, Nana, and was rechristened with the name "Tomura Shigaraki". The only thing that remained of his father was his disembodied hand that his son wore as part of his villain costume.[1]
Synopsis#
Meta Liberation Army Arc#
As Tomura faces off against Re-Destro, he is suddenly overwhelmed by the sheer power of his Stress Quirk, forcing him into a corner. As several of the hands on his suit are unknowingly destroyed, Tomura's instincts start to overload, and he begins to remember his old memories. Tomura takes the preserved hand of his father out of his pocket and tells Re-Destro that he is right about him, that he truly exists only to destroy as he begins to remember when he was Tenko.[2]
After remembering his past to the time being alone and being found by All For One, Tomura finds resolve that those helped him become who he really is. Tomura then breaks away from his past trauma by crushing his father's hand.[7] With memories of his past returning, Tomura decides to break free of the shackles of his trauma and deems the hands of his family unnecessary before Tomura gleefully unleashes his full power with nothing holding him back anymore, laughing triumphantly with a desire to destroy anything that stands in his path.[8]
Paranormal Liberation War Arc#
Even in death, the memories of the Shimuras continue to linger on within Tomura. As Tomura laid unconscious after his procedure to obtain the All For One Quirk was interrupted by the Heroes, he experienced a warped version of his past. After encountering his sister and mother, a giant vestige of Kotaro appears in his mind and shouts at him for entering his study. As he moves his hand to strike, Tomura destroys it and his vestige with his Quirk.
All of his visions culminated in a shadowy version of All For One appearing before him. As Tomura walks forward, the family grab ahold of him desperately trying to stop him from following in All For One's footsteps, with Kotaro emerging from the torso of All For One's vestige. Tomura brushes off his family however, telling them not to reject who he is.[9]
Final War Arc#
After months of recovering from his injuries, Tomura joins the Final War and ends up getting teleported to the U.A. Floating Fortress where the Heroes combat him. With his Quirks erased, his body undergoes a transformation as a result of the Quirk Singularity, due to Tomura's mental deterioration, as Tenko's memories of his family continue to flash through his head. As a result, in his ultimate defense mode where his body is completely covered in hands, his left hand is morphed into a visage of the Shimura family.[10]
When Izuku Midoriya appeared to confront "Tomura", who was currently being controlled by All For One, Izuku was able to realize that Tomura was still within his mind fighting back by seeing the visages of the Shimura family on his hand. The vestige of Nana accompanying Izuku ends up partly reuniting with her son as the two visages are able to see each other.[11]
With Tomura using these memories as a way of fighting back against All For One from within in his attempts to take over his body, and its purpose served after Izuku pummels his body, and his Quirks returned, Tomura sheds off this defensive skin with his newly returned control and determination to destroy everything.[12]
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Anime Appearances#
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Trivia#
- Kotaro's name contains the kanji for "arch, bow", "thick", and "bright".
- The kanji for "arch, bow" is also in Tenko's name.
- Kotaro shares multiple similarities with Kota Izumi:
- Both have black hair.
- Both hated their relatives for leaving them behind and for the sake of being heroes. However, both of them expressed their remorse after understanding the meaning of heroes.
- Both are connected to the League of Villains, Kotaro with his mother killed by All For One and his son would become the next leader of the League, and Kota with his parents killed by future member Muscular.
- Both of their first names start with "Kota".
- Kotaro's favorite things were stated to be his wife, his parents-in-law, his mother, and his two children.
- Kotaro's English-language voice actor, Aaron Campbell, also voices Majestic and Number 6.