This article is about the former Class 1-A student whose Hero Name is after her Quirk. For this character's Quirk, see Earphone Jack.
Kyoka Jiro, also known as the Hearing Hero: Earphone Jack, was a student in Class 1-A at U.A. High School, training to become a Pro Hero.
Eight years after the Final War, Kyoka has graduated from U.A. alongside her classmates, and is currently the No. 30 Hero.[4] She has also become a musician and Eri's mentor.[5]
Appearance#
Kyoka is a young, petite girl with a slender build. She has black, triangular eyes, with notably long lower eyelashes and small eyebrows. Her dark-purple hair is chin length, with an asymmetrical fringe that has two reflections shaped like sound waves on either side. She also has two chin length strands framing her face, and keeps the rest up to her neck. Her most prominent features are the flexible, plug-like earphone jacks hanging from each of her earlobes; they act like extra limbs that she is able to control at will, and change their length if so desired.
At U.A, she wears the regular U.A. uniform for female students. It is topped with a gray dress jacket, two teal stripes, two pockets with folds, and two golden buttons. Underneath, she wears a white dress shirt, a red tie with a small, golden button, and a teal pleated skirt. She also wears brown dress shoes and knee-high socks.
Her Hero Costume consists of a black leather jacket, long salmon-colored shirt with several rips at the collar and hem, black pants, and boots with stereos built into their shafts. She also has two small, triangular red paint marks just below her eyes, a plain black choker, and white fingerless gloves.
Later on, her costume gains a set of headphones with two bracelets that double up as her amplifiers and she changes her face paint to two larger chevron-shaped marks.
Following the Paranormal Liberation War, she gains a small scar on her right earphone jack.
During the Final War, most of her left ear and its entire earphone jack are blown off by All For One. After the Final War, Kyoka wears a whitish-gray, shell-shaped prosthetic ear over her left, where an artificial earphone jack is dispensed from the bottom.[6]
Eight years after the Final War, Kyoka has grown taller, and the back part of her hair is currently shoulder-length, as well as her asymmetrical bangs facing the opposite direction. Her updated costume now consists of a black sleeveless jacket over a white tank top, a new set of white and purple headphones with some red accents over her prosthetic left ear, and two mid-length black bands and red gloves for her Amplifier Jacks. She also wears purple nail polish and no longer has her red face paint, and her boots are now bulkier with two red holes in the soles of them. The artificial jack on her left ear is now flesh-colored, with the front end separated by a shade of pink.[7]
Personality#
Kyoka has a pragmatic, unenthusiastic, blunt, and teasing personality that is mostly shown to those she finds irritating or those like her classmate Denki Kaminari, whose cluelessness makes him an easy target for her snarky comments. Kyoka is not always like this, though, as she does enjoy socializing with others, in which case she is usually nice and friendly, most notably with Momo Yaoyorozu and the other girls in her class.
Kyoka often gesticulates through her elongated earlobes in place of her hands.[8] She can also be quite aggressive, evidenced by when she uses the Earphone Jacks her Quirk provides to physically punish people when provoked or to keep them in line via jabbing them in the ear or neck, most notably Denki and Minoru Mineta when they make inappropriate comments. During Hero activities, however, Kyoka prefers smarter approaches, usually by coming up with a plan herself. She is surprisingly organized and makes sure to convey her ideas in a way that's easy to understand.
Despite the fact that she comes off as cold and indifferent, Kyoka also has a much more sensitive side, being very defensive towards her friends, empathetic with others' feelings, and getting flustered when her talents and capabilities are brought up.[9][10][11]
While Kyoka is hard to unnerve or surprise, she is afraid of horror-based activities and has an aversion to nudity. She is a bit self-conscious about her looks and style as well, becoming noticeably upset when she was not seen as attractive by Minoru, and attacking Denki and Yuga Aoyama for commenting that her dorm room was "unladylike".
Like her parents, Kyoka has a major interest in rock music and owns several instruments which she is able to play to some extent. However, she seemed to be somewhat embarrassed about her interests at first, because she perceived them as completely unrelated to heroism, but thanks to encouragement from a few of her classmates, most notably Denki, and a great presentation during the U.A. School Festival, she was able to outgrow that mindset.
During the Final War, Kyoka shows her growth as a Hero when she and Fumikage Tokoyami face All For One in the sky, aided by Hawks. Despite feeling intense fear from All For One's presence, recognizing the overwhelming evil that Izuku has been facing this whole time, Kyoka manages to power through. She dismisses All For One's derisive comments about her being one of the "gnats around One For All", expressing her rage towards the Demon Lord for targeting and hurting Izuku and Yuga Aoyama.
Although she lost an ear in the process, Kyoka's efforts helped force All For One on the defensive, allowing him to almost be beaten by Endeavor. Kyoka then aids Ochaco Uraraka and Tsuyu Asui in stopping Himiko Toga and her rampaging army of clones, and much later, arrives to help Izuku during the final battle alongside the rest of her classmates and fellow Heroes.
Eight years later, Kyoka has graduated from U.A. High School, becoming a fully-fledged Pro Hero. Her friendly and supportive attitude has remained, frequently hanging out with Denki who started his Hero Agency next to hers. Outside of her hero work, she has also become an avid musician and teaches Eri how to play bass during her days off while also attending the latter's band performances.
Abilities#
Overall Abilities: While she doesn't commonly employ close-quarters combat efficiency, Kyoka makes effective use of the handling she has on her Quirk, Earphone Jack. She utilizes the prehensile nature of her Earphone Jack Quirk in whip-like fashion, and uses the sound-generating effects of her Quirk to shock targets with vibrations, effectively stunning and sometimes defeating them. By the time of the Provisional Hero License Exam, Kyoka improved the efficacy of her Quirk, allowing her to plug her earphone jacks into the ground, and generate sound waves strong enough to make the ground quake, cause fissures, and disrupt large enemy formations.
Her abilities eventually garnered the attention of Gang Orca, giving Kyoka the opportunity to intern under the No. 12 (formerly No. 10) Pro Hero, and improve on her search techniques. On Nabu Island, Kyoka, alongside Mashirao Ojiro, acted as the fourth line of defense against Nine, and effectively ambushed him before he subdued the two with his Hydra Quirk. Soon after, Mashirao and Kyoka aided Mezo Shoji against the powerful foe, forcing Nine into using the full power of his Air Wall Quirk to defeat the trio of students.
Keen Intellect: Despite her unenthusiastic demeanor, Kyoka is quite intelligent, scoring 7th place in the midterms, displaying her skill in academics. She is also quite strategic, as she took advantage of the volatile nature of Denki's Quirk to allow the Stun Gun Hero to electrocute multiple villains during the U.S.J. Incident.
Indomitable Will: In a rare sense of moment, Kyoka displays remarkable willpower. Though not as strong as All For One, Tomura, or Izuku, she managed to shrug off her fear after feeling the overwhelming power of All For One during the Final War. Her spirit was strong enough to stir up resistance from within All For One's vestige world, causing some of the former users of the Quirks he has stolen to rebel against him, although All For One also surmised that this was due to him using a duplicate of his Quirk rather than the original.
Musical Talent: Kyoka is able to play the bass, which is her preferred instrument alongside the guitar. She can play other instruments as well, like drums, but only to a limited extent. Her singing voice is described as "husky, but heavenly".
Quirk#
Earphone Jack: Earphone Jack's eponymous Quirk is that she has a pair of headphone jacks hanging from her earlobes. When the jacks are plugged into something, Kyoka can channel the sound of her heartbeat through them in the form of a violent vibration attack. She can stretch her earlobes several meters. This Quirk also allows her to hear minuscule sounds and vibrations from her surroundings.
As part of her training, Kyoka honed her headphone jacks by repeatedly piercing them into a stone cliff, all to increase the amount of audio she can hear with her Quirk.
Ultimate Moves#
- Counter-Balance: Plugging her jacks on the legs of her hero costume, Kyoka sends out a powerful soundwave from the amplifiers on her legs that cancels other sound-based attacks.[10]
- Heartbeat Distortion: Plugging her jacks on the special sound amplifiers on her forearms, Kyoka slams the amplifiers onto the floor and channels a powerful soundwave, shattering the ground due to the vibrations.[12]
- Heartbeat Surround: Plugging her jacks on the special sound amplifiers on her forearms, Kyoka uses her elongated earlobes to remove the amplifiers from her wrists and direct them towards her target at close range, releasing a powerful, short-range soundwave to incapacitate them.[13]
- Legato: Kyoka performs her Heartbeat Surround move on a larger scale, with more power, and with more sound generated.[14]
- Heartbeat Wall: Similar to Heartbeat Surround, Kyoka once again plugs her jacks on her forearm amplifiers and uses her earlobes to remove them and aim them towards a target, but instead channels her heartbeat to form a sound wall that blocks and impedes her enemies' movement.[15]
Stats#
Equipment#
Amplifier Jack: Devices that Kyoka can plug her jacks into, amplifying even further the sound and vibration of her heartbeat. They are worn on both of her forearms.
Stereo Boots: A pair of boots that Kyoka can plug her earphone jacks into. They amplify her heartbeat and can direct the vibrations in a certain direction. She can even direct the vibrations through her feet to propel herself into the air.[4]
Headphones: A device that presumably compliments her jacks' ability to pick up sound vibrations.
Prosthetic Ear: A device that serves as a replacement for Kyoka's missing left ear and earphone jack, presumably replicating an artificial version of her earlobe to complement her Quirk. It possesses the ability to extend and retract like her original earphone jack.
Battles & Events#
Quirk Apprehension Test Arc Quirk Apprehension Test Battle Trial Arc Battle Trial U.S.J. Arc U.S.J. Incident Momo Yaoyorozu, Kyoka Jiro & Denki Kaminari vs. Villains U.A. Sports Festival Arc U.A. Sports Festival Obstacle Race Cavalry Battle Vs. Hero Killer Arc Hero Agency Internships Final Exams Arc First Term Final Exam Team Koda & Jiro vs. Present Mic My Hero Academia: Two Heroes I-Island Incident U.A. Students vs. I-Island Security Bots Forest Training Camp Arc Quirk Training Camp Class 1-A vs. Pixie-Bob Vanguard Action Squad Invasion Provisional Hero License Exam Arc Ultimate Move Training Provisional Hero License Exam Crushing of U.A. U.A. Students vs. Seiai Students Shie Hassaikai Arc Class 1-A vs. Mirio Togata U.A. School Festival Arc U.A. School Festival Pro Hero Arc Class 1-A vs. Nejire Chan & Suneater Joint Training Arc Joint Training Battle Round 4 My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising Hero Work Recommendation Project U.A. Students vs. Nine Endeavor Agency Arc Hero Interview Training 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 Dark Hero Arc Deku vs. Class A Final War Arc Final War Endeavor, Hawks & Trainees vs. All For One Uravity & Gunga Mountain Team vs. Himiko Toga & Doubles
Relatives#
Chapter Appearances#
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Trivia#
- In the preliminary stages of the manga, Kyoka was virtually unchanged from her original design, albeit her hair lacked its signature streaks.
- Kyoka's surname contains the kanji for "ear" and "son, male", and her first name contains "sound, reverberation", and "incense".
- Kyoka's first name contains syllables coming from her parents' names. "Kyō" (響) from her father, Kyotoku, and "香" (Ka) from her mother, Mika.
- According to Kyoka's Volume 3 profile:
- Her favorite thing is rock.
- Kyoka may have been the first My Hero Academia character Kohei Horikoshi came up with. He was inspired to make a character that could plug their ears into objects while listening to music on his earphones during a trip back home.
- According to Kyoka's Ultra Analysis profile:
- She started getting into classical music after being introduced to it by Momo.
- Kyoka's personality describes her as a "shy rock fan".
- Kyoka's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
- Kyoka ranked 16th in the First Popularity Poll.
- Kyoka ranked 7th in the Second Popularity Poll.
- Kyoka ranked 22nd in the Third Popularity Poll.
- Kyoka ranked 21st in the Fourth Popularity Poll.
- Kyoka ranked 12th in the Fifth Popularity Poll.
- Kyoka ranked 15th in the Sixth Popularity Poll.
- Kyoka ranked 20th in the Seventh Popularity Poll.
- Kyoka's known U.A. data is as follows:
- Student No. 12 in Class 1-A.
- Ranked 17th in the Quirk Apprehension Test.
- Ranked 7th in Class 1-A's mid-term grades.
- Ranked in the Top 42 of the U.A. Sports Festival First-Year Stage.
- Kyoka's hairstreaks are drawn similarly to the waves of an EKG, a possible reference to how she uses her earphone jacks to amplify her heartbeat.
- Kyoka recently started taking an interest in tea, likely from spending time with Momo.[16]
- Kyoka is so far the only student in Class 1-A whose hero name is the exact same as her Quirk (Earphone Jack).
- Kyoka and Denki share the same costume designer.[17]
- After becoming a Pro Hero, Kyoka frequently engages in music-related work, as she finds her regular work growing more and more dull. She also teaches Eri to play bass and guitar on her days off.[5]
- Kyoka's Japanese voice actress, Kei Shindō, also voices Kinoko Komori, Fuyumi Todoroki, and Shoto Todoroki as a child.
Quotes#
- (To Koji about using his Quirk to combat Present Mic) "If you do this, we just might win. But there's no time to hesitate, so do it now! You wanna be a hero, don't you?! Then let's pass this test."[18]
- (To her classmates, agreeing to host a live show for the U.A. School Festival) "Turning down... all these requests... wouldn't make me much of a rock star!"[19]