Kyudai Garaki,[2] also known by the pseudonyms Daruma Ujiko[3] and Dr. Tsubasa,[4] or simply known as Doctor, is a Villain affiliated with the League of Villains. He was the faithful servant of All For One and later to Tomura Shigaraki.
Appearance#
Kyudai is a fairly old man of a portly and short stature. He is completely bald and has a very large and bushy mustache. As a villain, he wears a rather peculiar set of goggles that are shaped somewhat like gears, along with a white, buttoned-up lab coat.
As the chairman of Jaku General Hospital, Kyudai switches out his gear-like goggles in place of circular and black regular-looking ones. He also adorns a shirt and tie underneath his regular lab coat.
Kyudai's Quirk, Life Force, makes him appear younger than he actually is. Without this Quirk, his skin is paler and has many more wrinkles, with his eyes also being sunken in.
In his younger years when he first met All For One, Kyudai had thinning hair on his head and a much smaller moustache. He also wore a black suit with a spotted shirt underneath.
Personality#
Kyudai is an eccentric and deranged scientist, who dutifully follows All For One's will. Like Gigantomachia, he did not believe Tomura was yet worthy of succeeding All For One, but due to a compromise he made with his former master, he was willing to give Tomura the chance to prove him wrong. Once Tomura exceeded his expectations by defeating the Meta Liberation Army, and getting Gigantomachia to submit, he accepted him as All For One's successor.
Kyudai is very prideful of his Nomu creations, referring to them as "children" and regarding the High-End ones as "masterpieces". He treats Nomus as offerings for All For One, although he has allowed some of them to be used by Tomura under his former master's wishes.
Kyudai is overly cautious and secretive about any information pertaining to his person, preferring to stay anonymous and avoiding close contact with anyone (except All For One) under the threat of death. Because of this, he favors communicating through electronics instead of directly, doing the latter only on special occasions, and through a Warping Quirk.[3] This is likely due to his public presence as the well-reputed chairman of Jaku General Hospital. Towards his colleagues and the public, Kyudai presents himself as a whimsical, benign, and well-meaning man who is devoted to his medical research.
Despite the unethical manner of Kyudai's work, he is not completely heartless. He and All For One have been sincere friends, as Kyudai thanks him for his patronage with tears in his eyes and remains fiercely loyal to All For One for aiding and believing in his research after his past colleagues rendered him an outcast. He also truly cares for the Nomus, as shown when he is saddened by Johnny and Mocha's deaths, as well as when he apologizes to his High-End Nomus as he is forced to release them early to stop the Pro Heroes.
Despite the fact that Kyudai is usually calm, collected, and sure of himself and his goals, he is actually quite cowardly when faced with a threat, with him excessively panicking and making overly exaggerated expressions of shock, as seen when the Heroes confronted him at Jaku General Hospital and later when Mirko stormed his secret lab and intended to strike him to see whether or not he was real or just a clone. Likewise, he can just as easily be overjoyed and excited when his plans work, being prone to ranting over his achievements while gloating over the failures of the Heroes.
Much like All For One, Kyudai seems to believe in the power of hatred and how it can strengthen someone. In his recording that he left along with a cache of equipment for his master, Kyudai went on to say how much All For One meant to him and hoped his heart would be filled with hatred to aid in his goal of crushing the heroes.[5] Moreover, upon meeting Dabi again after years and seeing him face to face, Kyudai realized that it was only his desire for revenge against Endeavor that had kept him alive for so long and was even frightened seeing Dabi's rage.[6]
Abilities#
Genius Intellect: Kyudai has incredible knowledge over Quirks, being considered an expert on the field. He also appears to be a biological and technological genius. His remarkable intelligence has allowed him to create copies of countless Quirks to implant into his Nomu, even All For One, which he implanted into Nine and later used to give All For One a copy of his original Quirk while Tomura received the original. His genius also allowed him to modify Tomura's body to withstand the enormous strain of All For One.
Furthermore, Kyudai was able to find a way to replicate the Quirk-Destroying Bullets, despite the fact that he did not possess Eri, the original source of the bullets. To add to this astounding feat, Kyudai was also able to discover that the bullets were created from a person's (Eri's) Quirk Factor and was able to create a reverse-engineered version of the drug that focused solely on the effects of Rewind. All For One would use this modified version of the drug during the Final War, allowing him to heal his mortal injuries and revert the Villain back to his prime strength.
- Medical Expertise: Kyudai was able to restore All For One to life following his disastrous battle with All Might, having had to retrieve him from the morgue, presumably meaning that All For One was medically deceased for a minimum of several hours before Kyudai could operate on him.[7]
- Quirk Duplication: Kyudai is able to duplicate Quirks to allow them to be used by multiple different people simultaneously. The process is extremely time-consuming and requires specialized equipment,[8] however the copied Quirks have shown no deficits from the originals other than the copy of All For One having diminished ability to control large numbers of Quirks simultaneously.[9]
Quirk#
Life Force: Kyudai's Quirk grants him an extended lifespan and a more youthful appearance than his true age, although he still appears fairly elderly. According to Kyudai himself, he has lived for over 120 years. As a side effect, it causes his physical mobility to worsen.
He no longer possesses the original version of his own Quirk and has a duplicated version of it.[1] The difference between his original Quirk and the duplicate is unknown.
Chapter Appearances#
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Anime Appearances#
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Trivia#
- Kyudai's surname contains the kanji for "shell, husk" and "wood", and his first name contains "ball, sphere, round" and "big".
- He shares the Kanji "wood" in his name with All For One's surname Shigaraki, though there it is read as "tree".
- "Garaki" also phonetically resembles the surname of All For One, "Shigaraki".
- Kyudai's pseudonym may be a reference to a Daruma doll, which are occasionally depicted with only one visible eye, much like Kyudai himself.
- The way he experiments and clones Quirks to create the ultimate superhuman is reminiscent of the X-Men supervillain, Mister Sinister, from Marvel Comics.
- Kyudai's appearance and role as a mad scientist also resemble Ivo Robotnik, A.K.A. Doctor Eggman, and his grandfather Gerald Robotnik from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
- Because of his Life Force Quirk, Kyudai is one of the oldest characters in the series, having been alive since the uprising of Quirks, although it's unclear whether he's older than All For One.
- Kyudai's first on-screen appearance takes place in the first chapter of the series, working under the alias of "Dr. Tsubasa" at one of his clinics, where he diagnosed Izuku Midoriya as being Quirkless.
- It was eventually confirmed in Chapter 259 that Tsubasa was one of his many aliases.
- This fact means that Kyudai has worked as a doctor for both the villain All For One, and (although unbeknownst to him) a future user of One For All.
- It is also heavily implied that he turned his grandson, Tsubasa, into the Winged Nomu.[10]
- During his time creating the Nomu, Kyudai desired three rare Quirks to be stolen and transferred into them: Dark Shadow, Erasure, and Dragon.[11]
Quotes#
- (To Izuku in regards to him being Quirkless) "I'm afraid there's no hope for him."[12]
- (To Tomura) "What a childish daydream! Saying all that with such a straight face was quite impressive · Very well, Tomura Shigaraki · I'll help you out, so show me you mean it! Prove to me that you can make your villainous pipe dreams a reality · "[13]
- (To Tomura, explaining his upcoming surgery) "For the next four months... you'll endure hellish agony. But if you can overcome it... you'll find that you'll have everything in the palm of your hand. Even One For All. The one power that didn't behave as he saw fit."[14]
- (In regards to All For One) "He foresaw his downfall and entrusted all he had to his successor. He even chose to pass on his Quirk. So, just like I once did for him... He took a duplicate of his Quirk for himself... And gave the original to Tomura Shigaraki."[15]
- (About Dabi upon meeting him again) "That one glimpse told me everything. He'd kept his dying body... tethered to this world through a pure, blazing grudge."[16]
- (To Gori in regards to Dabi) "Heat... is the energy born of living things, as they move and thrive. All For One, who seeks to live forever... had no use... for that mad heat, rushing headlong toward death. The demon lord himself had to abandon... that frenzied flame of death."[16]