Shihai Kuroiro,[2] also known as the Scheming Hero: Vantablack, was a student in Class 1-B at U.A. High School, training to become a Pro Hero.
Eight years later, Shihai graduated from U.A. and has become a Pro Hero.[3]
Appearance#
Shihai is a tall young man with fluffy white hair and black eyes, which are long and thin in shape. His most prominent feature is his pitch-black skin, its unusual color most likely due to the Quirk he possesses, and his face usually holds an irritated expression as his teeth are always shown.
His Hero Costume consists of a simple high collared black jumpsuit with light shoes with a dark collar and large sliver wristbands, with three rectangular indentations on them and the tongue of the shoes.
Eight years after the Final War, Shihai has gotten taller, with his hair parted in the middle and less fluffy. His hero costume hasn't changed much.
Personality#
Shihai is a sly, deceitful schemer who prefers to catch people off guard. He appears to enjoy dark concepts and has a penchant for dramatic speech, similar to Fumikage Tokoyami.[4]
Shihai appears to have a crush on Kinoko Komori, as he nervously averts his eyes and stammers while speaking to her and internally celebrates when she praises him in the Joint Training Battle.[5] Shihai's also seen standing jealously behind her while she talks to Juzo[6] and to Fumikage.[7] Shihai struggles to talk to girls in general and tends to think they have a crush on him if they speak to him.[8] In the future once they've become Pro Heroes, he ends up dating Kinoko.[3]
Abilities#
Overall Abilities: Shihai may not be the close-quarters combat type, but he makes up for it with his great handle on his Quirk. In combat, Shihai uses his Black Quirk to hide from enemy attacks or to execute ambushes. Once merged with a black-colored object, Shihai can move through its whole structure at very high speeds, even while carrying a person. Shihai has proven himself a formidable individual who dramatically excels in espionage and is the stealthiest student in Class 1-B. During the Joint Training Battle, Shihai used his Quirk efficiency to briefly take control of Fumikage's Dark Shadow and catch the Jet-Black Hero by surprise.
Tactical Intellect: Shihai has been shown to possess incredible ingenuity in battle. Before the second match of the Joint Training, he devised an effective strategy against the opposing team—Fumikage. By taking advantage of the fact that both he and Fumikage have darkness-based Quirks, Shihai intentionally made himself Fumikage's primary target. Shihai even used the industrial piping of Ground Gamma to make it impossible for the opposing team to ascertain his location. An impeccable strategy that was effectively employed in conjunction with the camouflage capabilities of Shihai's Black Quirk. Using his incredible speed in unison with the narrow complexity of Ground Gamma and taking into account the "umbilical cord" of Dark Shadow getting in the opposing team's way, Shihai made a highly strategic attempt to elude his rival. However, Shihai didn’t anticipate Fumikage's "Black Fallen Angel" technique and the speed it granted him, which allowed Fumikage to catch up to him eventually.
Quirk#
Black:[8] Shihai's Quirk allows him to merge his body into anything dark in color, whether naturally dark or dark via external circumstances, such as shadows.
With further training, he can now move said black things upon possession, although this is limited to entities that are typically capable of moving. As such, he could merge into Fumikage's Dark Shadow and briefly take control of it to attack Fumikage.
- Enhanced Speed: When he is merged with the darkness, Shihai demonstrates his ability to move at great speed, such as when he took Yuga Aoyama prisoner before his teammates could react.[9] He was also able to evade the nets thrown by Momo Yaoyorozu by leaping into the shadow of a neighboring pipe.[10]
Ultimate Moves#
- Darkseek[8]: While emerged into a black substance allows him to move around and capture opponents in a sneak attack.
Stats#
Battles & Events#
U.A. Sports Festival Arc U.A. Sports Festival Obstacle Race Cavalry Battle Forest Training Camp Arc Quirk Training Camp Vanguard Action Squad Invasion U.A. School Festival Arc U.A. School Festival Joint Training Arc Joint Training Battle Round 2 Endeavor Agency Arc Hero Work-Studies II Paranormal Liberation War Arc Paranormal Liberation War Gunga Mountain Villa Raid Villa Raid Team & Trainees vs. Paranormal Liberation Front
Chapter Appearances#
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Anime Appearances#
debut
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Trivia#
- Shihai's surname contains the kanji for "black" and "color", and his first name contains "branch" and "distribution".
- Put together, the kanji for his first name means "domination, control, guidance".
- Shihai's Hero name "Vantablack" is based on a substance that is known to absorb more than 99.9% of light, making it one of the darkest substances in the world and causing it to appear as nothing but a black void.
- In the localized version of the anime, Shihai's Hero name is presented as Vantadark. This is likely due to "Vantablack" being a trademarked name, with the rights for its artistic use being exclusive to the sculptor Anish Kapoor. The name of his Quirk was also changed to correspond to it like before, now being called Dark.
- According to Shihai's Volume 21 profile:
- His favorite food is squid ink pasta.
- He shares this trait with Mezo Shoji, who is also fond of the dish.
- His favorite things are taboos.
- He is considered to be Fumikage's Class B counterpart, and despite attempting to mess with him before their Joint Training round began, Shihai does feel a sense of kinship towards him.
- Shihai and Fumikage share a few similarities with each other:
- Both enjoy dark concepts.
- Both have a penchant for dramatic speech.
- Their Quirks, Dark Shadow and Black, are darkness-based, which share the function of being more effective in darkness, as well as the weakness for being less effective when exposed to light.
- Their hero names or epithets contain the word "Black".
- Both were born with black-colored physiology.
- Shihai shares his birthday with Death Arms.
- Shihai's Japanese voice actor, Kōhei Amasaki, also voices Neito Monoma.
- Shihai is the only member from Class 1-B to have an epithet with his Hero name.