Who is Eri in ‘My Hero Academia?’ Her age, quirk, and why she’s so special, explained

My Hero Academia is, above all else, a story about heroes in a world where the vast majority of the population has some type of special power. While “meta-abilities” is the correct term for these powers, they’re most often referred to as “quirks” in the series, and boy, have we seen some incredible ones.

If you think the best quirks in the My Hero Academia universe are reserved only for the main characters, or even the heroes, think again. Sometimes the best things come in small packages. Very small. Six-year-old type of small, like Eri. Although she may not look like much at first glance, this child has one of the most powerful quirks in the entire series, which, of course, is enough to put her in harm’s way.

When we first meet Eri, she is running away from Kai Chisaki, who calls himself her father in front of the heroes in training, Izuku and Mirio. Judging by the bandages wrapped around the child’s body and her facial expression, it’s easy to assume that something about the situation is very wrong. It’s only later, though, that we come to understand exactly what Eri has been put through.

Who is Eri?

Eri is hands down one of the most likable characters in My Hero Academia. It’s simply impossible not to like and empathize with her past.

When she’s first introduced to the series, Eri is a soft-spoken, shy, and terrified child, held hostage by Chisaki so that he can run cruel scientific experiments on her. Through that process, the villain hoped to turn the child’s quirk into a weapon, after realizing that the properties of her blood could suppress other people’s meta-abilities. Needless to say, this meant that Eri was the subject of unwilling experimentation, as well as extreme neglect and abuse.

With no family to turn to, the child only began to experience joy after she was rescued by the heroes and moved to U.A. Academy. Despite the psychological damage Eri suffered due to her time with Chisaki, eventually, she learns to trust others again, slowly opening up, and letting go of the guilt that has always haunted her because of her quirk.

What is Eri’s quirk in My Hero Academia?

Simply put, Eri has power over life and death, in a much more unsettling way than most other characters in the series, who rely on combat to defeat their enemies or healing abilities to save lives. Her quirk is called Rewind and allows Eri to reverse a living being’s body to a previous state of existence. With this ability, the child can undo bodily modifications, restore lost quirks, heal injuries, and make someone younger, all simply by touching them. It’s sort of like rewinding time, but affecting only the body.

This also means that Eri can reverse someone back to a state before they were even brought into existence, effectively erasing them from it. Unfortunately for Eri, that’s exactly what she unintentionally did to her actual father, by touching him when her quirk first manifested.

Like some meta-abilities in this universe, Eri’s also manifests itself in the form of a body mutation. As mentioned before, the quirk has an effect on her own blood, altering its properties so that it can be used to erase other people’s quirks. This happens when her blood properties enter the target’s body via an injectable drug created by Chisaki, reverting their body to a point before their meta-ability manifested.

While the blood mutation can naturally go undetected by others, the horn on the right side of Eri’s head can’t. This horn seems to be the source of her power, and it changes size to proportionately reflect the accumulated strength of her quirk. The bigger the horn, the more power Eri has stored. Similarly, when she uses too much of her quirk, the horn shrinks. This also means that, because Rewind is an accumulation-type of ability, enough power has to be built up and stored before it can be used at all.

With a quirk such as this, Eri may very well grow up to become one of the most powerful characters in My Hero Academia. I mean, she already is one, but imagine how much powerful she can become with time and by mastering her unique ability. She’d make an impressive heroine, that’s for sure.