Why Gunhead Feels Like the Strangest āNormalā Pro Hero in MHA
Gunhead is the ultimate example of Horikoshiās love for deliberate tonal whiplash and subversion of expectations. On paper he looks and sounds like a walking 80s-90s action-movie clichĆ©, yet everything about his actual personality and role in the story is the exact opposite. Hereās a full breakdown of why heās so weirdly fascinating:
1. Visual Design vs. Personality: Maximum Contrast
Looks like: A grizzled, gun-obsessed mercenary who should be voiced by a chain-smoking ex-soldier.
Actually is: A soft-spoken, skincare-loving, cutesy mentor who teases teenage girls about their crushes and strikes adorable poses.
Ochaco literally calls him ācuteā multiple times while describing the most hardcore close-quarters combat training imaginable. ā This gap is played 100% for laughs and it works every single time.
2. The āBattle Heroā Who Never Gets a Real Battle
His agency literally specializes in armed, violent crime takedowns.
His Quirk is built for suppressive fire and CQC.
His martial arts are so good he turned Ochaco into a knife-fighting monster in one week.
Yet in the entire manga he never gets a single on-screen fight against a named villain.
Hosu Arc: off-screen patrol only
Shie Hassaikai: too busy to take interns
Final War: chases Tajima, catches the U.A. spies off-screen, then just yells at civilians to run ā Heās a walking Chekhovās gun that never fires. The strongest background adult hero who exists only to make everyone else stronger.
3. The One-Week Wonder Teacher
In just five days he taught Ochaco:
Knife defense and counter-attacks
Fluid evasion and redirection
How to fight armed opponents bare-handed
This training directly allowed Ochaco to:
Survive Toga multiple times
Beat a giant in the Joint Training Arc
Go toe-to-toe with Awakened Toga in the Final War ā Gunhead indirectly has one of the highest āplot impact per panelā ratios of any adult hero. He changed the entire late-series power curve for Class 1-A girls and we barely see him.
4. Quirk That Looks OPā¦ But Isnāt Really
Gatling: Shoots keratin claw-bullets from arm guns.
Sounds insane on paper (basically organic machine guns).
Reality: Described as āsuppressive fireā only, low individual bullet power, short range.
He never uses it on-screen even once. ā Another deliberate subversion. His real weapon is martial arts, not his Quirk.
5. Final War Role: Perfectly Fits His Personality
Instead of fighting villains, he spends the entire war protecting terrified civilians and catching the U.A. traitors.
Heās the guy making sure old ladies and children donāt die when the shelter collapses.
Even when he finally gets to chase a villain (Tajima), he does it calmly and professionally, then immediately switches back to evacuation mode. ā Heās the embodiment of what a ārealā pro hero actually does 99% of the time: paperwork, patrols, civilian safety, and training the next generation, not flashy battles.
6. The Ultimate Proof That Looks Mean Nothing
Gunhead is Horikoshiās blunt message to the audience: āDonāt judge a hero by their costume or Quirk name.ā He looks like a violent anti-hero from a different manga, but heās one of the kindest, most responsible, and most effective adult heroes in the entire series.
Final Verdict
Gunhead is strange precisely because heās the most normal pro hero in the entire story, just wrapped in the most misleading packaging possible. Heās what every hero is supposed to be when the cameras arenāt rolling: professional, kind, protective, and dedicated to teaching the next generation.
In a series full of tragic backstories and world-ending stakes, Gunhead is the quiet reminder that most heroes are justā¦ good people doing their job. And somehow that makes him one of the most memorable side characters in the whole manga.