Recently, a heated debate has emerged on social media in the West about Mina Ashidoone of the most charismatic characters in “My Hero Academia“The subject came up later Revealing a preview of the next episode of the anime, showing Mina losing her pink skin due to overuse of her powers. To the surprise of many fans, her natural skin turned out to be clear, which caused controversy on social media and forums, such as many assumed she had dark skin.

In a Japanese forum the situation that caused the controversy was summarized:

• «In “My Hero Academia” there is a pink-skinned character named Mina Ashido -> Due to the overuse of her abilities, her real skin became exposed, and a big uproar was made because her skin wasn't actually pink. -> It is worth mentioning that in the past someone had drawn Mina imagining what she would look like with normal skin, which earned him criticism for having drawn her with light skin, leaving comments such as: “Don't whitewash!”».

The Japanese people's comments were immediate and many netizens expressed their astonishment and opinions about it:

• «If it's pink, then you're not dark-skinned, right?».
• «Just as they do with Picorus and his green skin, they consider him as colorful.».
• «Since there are few dark-skinned heroines, as soon as they see a character with different colored skin, they assume he is dark-skinned.».
• «It's pink, right? It's not dark skin! What are they thinking?».
• «Why would anyone think it's dark skin if it's pink? It's ridiculous».
• «In history, there are many heroes in America, so of course there would be black heroes there. Why would a character with a Japanese name in a Japanese school have dark skin?».
• «It's absurd that they get angry if the voice actor isn't the same race as the character.».
• «It's ridiculous to try to relate a fictional character with pink skin and horns to a real race.».

One of the factors that has contributed to this confusion is that Mina Ashido has a very different look due to her pink skin and horns, which made her stand out visually among the characters in “My Hero Academia”. Some fans, especially in the West, assumed that this pink hue was a stylized representation of a dark skin tone (something they also assumed with Piccolo from “Dragon Ball,” for some reason). Additionally, the fact that there are few characters with darker skin in the series has contributed to some considering it a representation of a character of African descent.

The revelation that her natural skin is fair was unexpected for many and sparked a range of reactions online. Some fans in the West have even criticized this revelation as an example of "whitewashing", arguing that it would have been preferable for the character to have dark skin.

Source: Otakomu