Kunieda is a villain who was imprisoned in Tartarus for mass murder and corpse collecting. He escaped due to a prison riot caused by All For One before joining the latter's forces.
Appearance#
Kunieda is a tall, skinny man with long limbs, a thin waist, and broad shoulders. His outfit is ornate and unconventional, wearing a long, tattered cloth with a metal ring holding it together around his head like a hood. Underneath the hood, he wears a poncho lined with a triangle pattern over his head with tassels that hang down off the edges, draping over his forehead and hiding his hair. He wears a black shirt with sleeves rolled up to meet leather vambraces on his forearms. His eyes are inverted in color, having black scleras and white irises.
The bridge of his nose is wide and rectangular, the sides leading up into brows that lack any hair. His mouth and the tip of his nose are covered by a long, dark mask. Rather than pants, Kunieda wears a suit jacket around his hips along with a white dress shirt underneath and a striped necktie like a belt under the collar. As well as this, he wears a pinstripe suit on each leg. For footwear, he has simple dress shoes.
Personality#
Kunieda is very pragmatic and thinks that intangible things like trust and hope don't mean much. He is also cunning enough to gain insight on his enemies plans in the midst of battle. Having been a serial killer prior to being imprisoned in Tartarus, it is implied that Kunieda is deeply sadistic and lacks a conscience, having used the corpses of his victims to feed his Quirk. He also expresses a derisive attitude, taunting Yuga Aoyama over the young man's treachery and deeming him as pitiful for being controlled by All For One with a Quirk that doesn't function properly without a support item.
As one of All For One's deadliest assassins, Kunieda was indebted to All For One for breaking him out of Tartarus and pledged his allegiance to him, showing a degree of loyalty such that he threatens to kill Yuga for betraying him.
History#
Kunieda became a Villain and serial killer, racking up body counts and using the corpses he collected as fertilizers for his Quirk. Due to his sadistic nature, he was defeated by the Heroes, captured, and locked up in Tartarus for his heinous crimes.
While he was imprisoned, All For One uses Tomura Shigaraki's body to break into the prison and free himself. Kunieda was freed by him, along with several other high-level, dangerous Villains, telling them to join him on his path of devastation to become the greatest demon lord. In debt to All For One, Kunieda pledged his allegiance alongside several other inmates as assassins to capture Izuku Midoriya.[1]
Synopsis#
Final War Arc#
After about a month, Izuku made contact with All For One's mole agent, Yuga Aoyama to meet him at a disclosed location of a deserted construction site, where he can make his move to steal Izuku's One For All. All For One finally revealed himself before Izuku to claim One For All, however, Izuku and Yuga revealed it to be a ploy, causing him to use his Warping Quirk to warp most of the Paranormal Liberation Front, including Kunieda, to corner Izuku. But instead, the Heroes use the Warp Gate Quirk to warp themselves onto the battlefield, catching All For One and the Villains off guard.[2]
As the Final War begins, before the fighting can start, the Heroes activate the Troy system, trapping all the Villains in cages emerging from beneath the battlefield, revealing their true plan, summoning more Warp Gates around the cages to split up most of the major threats all over Japan.[3]
With the majority of Villains warped to different areas all over the country, Kunieda was able to assess that it was all of the primary fighters that were the ones warped away, and wondered what the purpose for the "dregs" left behind is to be. Looking toward Yuga, who was being watched over by Fat Gum, he states that no one has betrayed All For One and lived to tell the tale, and Yuga will be no exception. After mentioning how Dictator failed his duties, Kunieda declares that as All For One's next assassin, he'll show how to get the job done, and asks Yuga if he's ready to be the next target, which he confidently responds to.[4]
Yuga and Fat Gum face off against Kunieda after defeating the other Villains that were left behind, only for all but one of the 32 Heroes in the area to be defeated by him. He uses his plants to consume the entire area, swallowing several Heroes, and keeping Yuga and Fat Gum contained in the plants and fungus.
Kunieda mocks that there's no need for light, since his seedlings only require flesh to thrive, just as the roots begin to consume Fat Gum, rendering his Fat Absorption Quirk useless. He uses his last strength to tell Yuga to show them what he's made of, before he is transformed into a plant as well. Kunieda is surprised how big Fat Gum's plant is, before stating how after just one bloom, the spreading pollen allowed them to propagate like a daisy chain, them all being extensions of himself via their roots.
He holds up Yuga's destroyed belt, telling the "filthy traitor" he has no hope of escape, as without it, his Navel Laser will freely leak out from his body uncontrollably. He says that through his desire to fit in, he became a pawn by accepting a power ill-suited for himself, calling him a "pathetic, shameful life". Nonetheless, Yuga speaks up confidently, saying that reminding himself of how he lived is what spurred him on to follow in the light his classmates bring, giving him the desire to shine from deep down within his core.
Yuga surpasses his limits and proceeds to release a barrage of Navel Lasers that blast all over the arena, which Kunieda taunts as chasing after that which is beyond his sight will lead to a shameful death. However, unbeknownst to him, just behind Kunieda, the one missing hero reveals herself from hiding, Toru Hagakure. She shouts to Yuga that it took him long enough, calling him a hero, absorbing the Navel Lasers and releases Warp Refraction: Navel Laser, blasting Kunieda from behind with a barrage of light, and defeating him.[5] Despite him being unconscious, his plants still remained active, so Yuga and Toru proceeded to free all the Heroes from the roots.[6]
Abilities#
Overall Abilities: Kunieda is one of Tartarus' most dangerous prisoners and All For One's most deadly assassins. He was known to collect those he killed and uses their corpses as fertilizers for his Plant Quirk. Because of this, he was branded a serial killer and imprisoned in Tartarus before his escape. Kunieda has expert mastery of his Quirk, enabling him to defeat all but one of the Heroes that remained in Operation Troy, easily disabling Yuga and Fat Gum, the latter of whom was known for storing kinetic energy into his Fat Absorption, and using their bodies as fertilizers for his Quirk.
- Keen Intellect: Kunieda is a master strategist, as he was able to deduce the plan to split the Villains all over the country. Due to his high level of intelligence, he was able to dispatch the strike force of 31 Heroes that were in the parking lot with minimal effort thanks to his Quirk.
Quirk#
Unnamed Plant Growth Quirk: Kunieda's Quirk allows him to sprout, control, and grow gigantic purple-black flowers, vines, spores, and fungus-like plants from the ground. They can also sprout from people's bodies and thrive off the victim's flesh, growing into a large carnivorous plant.
The plants he grows can also pierce through targets, demonstrated when he pierced Yuga's forearms from below and held him up.
The larger the victim's body, the bigger and stronger the plants will grow, which is why Fat Gum's carnivorous plant has been the largest Kunieda has ever created. Since the roots grow in slowly and feed off the victim's body, Quirks such as Fat Absorption are powerless to defend against them. Once a single carnivorous plant reaches maturity, it will spread pollen, allowing them to propagate rapidly. The plants themselves are also veritable extensions of Kunieda himself via their roots.[5]
Even if Kunieda himself is defeated or knocked unconscious, the plants will still continue to propagate even without him being active.[6]
Battles & Events#
Final War Arc Final War Operation Troy Troy Team vs. Kunieda
Chapter Appearances#
debut
yes
yes
Anime Appearances#
debut
f
yes
yes
Trivia#
- Kunieda's name is currently the only known villain name to not have any kanjis that give a specific meaning for each other: ク - "Ku", ニ - "Ni", エ - "E", and ダ - "Da".
- Kunieda's Plant Growth Quirk to sprout plants, spores, and fungus from the flesh of living bodies is visually similar to the mutation of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis in the 2013 video game The Last of Us.
- Kunieda's English voice actor, Landon McDonald, also voices Eel Boy.
Quotes#
- (To Fat Gum and Yuga Aoyama) "Considering this match-up, it's clear that the priority with those cages was splitting up only the primary fighters on our side. As for dealing with us dregs, you planned to improvise on the spot, once in battle. On what basis, 'thought?' 'Trust?' 'Hope, perhaps?' Such things, invisible to the eye, coat this planet like an oppressive membrane."[7]
- (After turning Fat Gum into a plant) "Oh my! I don't think I've seen a flower this big!"[8]
- "A single flower blooms, then it's pollen starts a chain reaction. Their roots are like an extension of my own body."[8]
- (To Yuga Aoyama) "You don't have anywhere left to run, you filthy traitor. Without this belt, your Navel Laser leaks with no rhyme or reason. You were weak from the start, while I keep getting stronger as my flowers grow. You've been controlled like a puppet because of a useless Quirk. If I were to choose a word that defines your whole life, it would be 'pitiful'".[8]