It’s not an exaggeration to say that My Hero AcademyMinoru Mineta may be the most controversial character in the entire franchise, but Mineta’s English voice actor seems to be fed up with the hate the character receives. Turning to Instagram, Mineta’s voice actor, Brina Palencia, defended the character as “just a kid.”
Mineta is an often controversial character for falling into the “pervert” archetype, an unfortunately common character class in anime and manga. Mineta approaches most things with a sexual bent, often harassing the Class 1-A girls (and even pro heroes) he finds attractive. While these moments are often played for laughs, many My Hero Academy Fans, especially in the West, tend to find the character distasteful at best and downright offensive at worst. As Mineta’s English voice actor, Brina Palencia felt the need to address some of the criticism directed at the character in a social media post.
Mineta’s controversial behavior is due to his age
Mineta’s voice actor attributes his behavior to immaturity
On his Instagram reel, Palencia wrote about Mineta that “he’s literally a kid who hasn’t gone through puberty yet” and claims that other adult characters can do much worse things than Mineta without receiving the same kind of hate. She ends the post by asking fans to tone down the rhetoric, mentioning death threats directed at the character and how they might make children who identify with Mineta’s character feel. There’s certainly a valid point to be made amid the level of hate directed at Mineta, but it can also be made without excusing the worst of Mineta’s behavior.
There are, of course, many other characters who fit this “pervert” archetype who don’t see as much hate as Mineta. chainsaw manDenji has some of the same lecherous tendencies, but is generally seen as a fool and surrounded by such powerful figures that he is not considered a pest on the same level as Mineta. This character archetype also has a long history in anime and manga, dating back to characters like Master Roshi in dragon ball, which often also receives repercussions in its behavior for being from another time.
Are Mineta’s antics really worthy of so much hate?
Why fans often have issues with Mineta in particular
In the end, Mineta is just a relatively small character in My Hero Academyand he doesn’t get much screen time devoted to him. His role is supposed to be comic relief, but his antics, directed most often at his classmates, tend to irritate Western fans, who see him first and foremost as a sexual pest rather than a hero in training. Mineta has captured more than his fair share of hate due to a combination of factors: changing attitudes about what constitutes harassment, being one of the prime examples of the perverted trope in the modern era, and generally not being all that useful in serious moments.
Although there are many reasons to dislike Mineta, Palencia is right that the hatred for the character is perhaps too intense. Fans should take a deep breath and remember that, at the end of the day, Minoru Mineta is a fictional character, and his behavior, while often deplorable, is equally fictional. He, like others My Hero Academy students, at the end of the day he is just a child and does not understand how harmful his behaviors are.
Source: Brina Palencia (Instagram)