My Hero Academia, a popular anime series, features Izuku Midoriya, a young boy without any disabilities who has been given the One for All programme to become a professional hero like his idol, All Might. Izuku enrolls in the AU Hero School and meets several other children who also aspire to become heroes. Tenya Iida is one of them.
Lida is the son of a hero and is determined to stay in the pack. He has his eye on the prize, just like Izuku Midoriya, and his career has taken off. So, what are the ten facts every viewer should know about Tenya Iida, the one and only? Find our My Hero Academia Pencil Box and My Hero Academia Notebooks in our online shop along with our collections of clothing featuring your favourite heroes.
10) He Is Like A Coach
Don’t let Iida fool you with his mood swings. He can handle the classroom in an acceptable manner, and he adds even more in the summer. In fact, Iida is such a sharp swimmer that he has unofficially taken on the role of swimming coach!
Mineta, Denki and Izuku convinced Aizawa to let the 1-A boys use the school pool, and while Mineta and Denki wanted to see the girls, Iida organised extra activities and a bonus training session! There were a few grumbles here and there, but it was a good day overall, and shows what a great Iida can do.
9) Just Like His Brother
Here is one of the two Iida brothers, Tenya, side by side, a scene from a few years ago. Tensei is pictured with Tenya, his elder brother; he is a very restless boy with a heart of gold. He is a member of the professional troupe and we support his career.
Not surprisingly, Tenya wanted to do much the same, and Tensei’s light leadership is an endless source of motivation and inspiration for his younger brother. What a healthy brotherhood!
8) He has a reckless side
Tenya Iida is generally composed, disciplined, and fully responsible. How could he not be as a hero in training and as president of the 1-A class? That’s how we know him, but he’s just one person. Even Tenya can be impetuous or emotional, get angry and then regret it.
At the UA Sports Festival, Tensei fell victim to Stain the first time. Tenya heard the news from his mother and immediately rushed to… to need to preserve himself! When the Villains captured Katsuki Bakugo later on, Iida joined the rogue students who were going to search for him.
7) It's A Diligent
Lida is at the top of his class, and he has a strong sense of leadership, but he is not just a motivational speaker or a bookworm. He is also excellent at training, and will never stop training to improve his alter (motor) and fighting skills. Complacency leads to defeat!
More than once, we see Iida working ethically. For example, during a swimming training session and during the training montage, we saw Iida running on a precisely timed track. In his building, we spotted lots of top books on his shelves as well as spare glasses for training obligations. He is a boy scout who is always ready!
6) Merciful Fighting
He certainly knows how to handle a fight, but he is not bloodthirsty or reckless like some people. In fact, he knows exactly how much strength is needed and only uses it to win a fight.
Lida accomplished this feat at the UA Sports Festival, where he used only the power of his alter against Shoto Todoroki, the child prodigy. Against Ibara Shiozaki of Class 1-B and Mina Ashido of her own class, Iida neither gave a heavy foot nor needed to. Instead, he defeated them by running at full speed and pushing them off the courts.
5) Additional Equipment
Lida gives a fairly tough costume, unlike the rest of her classmates, who have simpler hero outfits. A helmet keeps the strong winds out of her face and the skirt is perfect for her alter engine, with large exhaust vents to fit her nature. We’re trying this out primarily for fun, but it’s also useful.
Also, at their UA Sports Festival showdown, Mei Hatsume was willing to test any new gadget (“baby”) on Iida and it further perfected Iida’s abilities. These are only prototypes, but one day maybe Iida could use them for good.
4) A Sense Of Pride
Fortunately, Tenya Iida doesn’t have a penchant for extreme vanity or arrogance, and he’s more down to earth than you might think. But he doesn’t completely give up his hair either! Iida is quite rigid and uptight in the way he matches his intelligence as an officer and leader.
Lida frowns on tardiness and jokes, and he won’t tolerate anyone making fun of his bravery or his school. When Mei revealed to him that their “duel” was in fact nothing more than an opportunity for her to expose her inventions to the public, he immediately opposed her. It was rather embarrassing for him to learn that he was just a laboratory sample!
3) It's Taken Halfway Seriously
All of this is not to say that everyone is on Iida’s tail or giving him the runaround. His classmates know that this is a real story. However, Iida’s friends don’t take his homework as seriously as he does, for comic effect. He asks them to be quiet, to study more carefully or to put their feet up on their desks, but they gently refuse.
Lida gets irritated, but he always bounces back, eager to take the lead. Ochaco, on his honour, once comforted Iida when he felt embarrassed in class.
2) His Original Appearance
We’ve looked at several pictures of Tenya Iida, both in his school uniforms and in his beautiful heroic armour. He is easy to identify, but he doesn’t look particularly strange. He draws your attention in the right direction.
Tenya didn’t always look like this. Early sketches of him show that he would be much older and not even a student. He looked like a scruffy Aizawa, laughing like a paranoid. His original concept of a terrifying suitwas; he wore an organic lizard-like head. We are relieved that the script is going in a different direction!
1) His namesake
What did he come up with as a name for “Tenya Iida”? Many of the heroes and students of My Hero Academia have significant kanji in their names that represent their alters or other attributes. Tenya Iida is not an isolated case.
Skanda’s name is taken from a Mahayana defender of Buddhist shrines named Idaten. Skanda is an extremely fast runner, and he was created as a symbol for all athletes who can run fast. You can combine this with the furiously exuberant exclamatory “ya” to get “Idaten-ya,” or better yet, write the full name. Find our My Hero Academia Bookmarks and My Hero Academia Thermos in our online shop along with our collections of clothing representing your favourite heroes.
