My Hero Academia: Why Eri giving up her Quirk for Deku's sake makes perfect sense, explained

Modified Apr 17, 2024 14:30 GMT

Eri as seen in the anime (image via Bones)

My Hero Academia chapter 420 saw one of the most interesting developments take place in the story, as Eri risked damaging her Rewind Quirk in order to help Deku. Since she wasn't allowed to step into the battlefield herself, Eri sought the help of Ectoplasm in breaking off her horn and handing it to Aizawa so that he could use it to heal Deku.

As pointed out by several fans and Aizawa himself, doing something so reckless as breaking off the source of her powers could lead to Eri losing her Quirk forever. While it is unclear whether she will retain her powers without her horn, one thing is certain: she is willing to give up her powers if it means continuing to enjoy her life with Deku and the others who took her in at U.A. High.

My Hero Academia: Eri giving up her powers might be the best-case scenario for her character

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Among the entire cast of characters in My Hero Academia, Eri is among the select few whose Quirk proved to be a curse for her rather than a blessing. While her Rewind Quirk is extremely useful for healing those who have suffered irreparable bodily damage, it has caused her nothing but misery her entire life. Losing it would mean a better life, surrounded by friends who had helped her overcome her traumatic experiences.

Eri's Rewind Quirk allows her to reverse a living being to it's previous state. However, she once used her newly-emerged Quirk on her father and ended up accidentally erasing him from existence.

Due to this, Eri was disowned by her mother, following which she was taken in by Kai Chisaki, aka Overhaul, who conducted several horrific and inhumane experiments on her in order to develop a Quirk-Destroying Drug by using her Quirk.

Eri and Deku as seen in the anime (image via Bones)

Because of everything she had to endure due to her Quirk, Eri lost the ability to smile and was traumatized for life. Fortunately for her, she ended up coming across Izuku Midoriya, aka Deku, who went on to put his own life on the line to rescue her from the clutches of Overhaul.

Apparently, Deku's touch was the only time she had ever felt genuine kindness in her life. After he rescued her from the despicable villain, Eri was taken in by Deku and others at U.A. High, who treated her like one of their own, making her smile for the first time in her life.

Given how Deku went out of his way to save her life and gave her a place she could feel at home, Eri became greatly indebted to him. His genuine kindness and compassion resulted in her being able to live a better life with her new-found friends at U.A. High.

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As such, when Deku lost his arms and was left in a hopeless state in front of All For One in My Hero Academia chapter 419, Eri was determined to do whatever it takes to help her savior. Although she initially tried to go out into the battlefield herself, she was fortunately stopped by Ectoplasm. That said, he did end up helping her break off her horn so that she could give it to Aizawa to help Deku.

Given that the horn on her head was the source of her powers, Aizawa was concerned that Eri might lose her Quirk now that she had broken it off. However, Eri didn't seem to mind giving up her Quirk, as she revealed that she wanted to help Deku in any way possible and that it was her dream to sing for him and all the others who welcomed her at U.A. High.

After taking into account everything that Eri had to go through because of her Quirk, losing it might be the only way for her to get over her past trauma and have a fresh start with Deku and the rest of her friends at U.A. High.