Atsuhiro Sako

Atsuhiro Sako, also known as Mr. Compress (コンプレス), is a villain affiliated with the League of Villains and was a member of the organization's Vanguard Action Squad. A nationwide wanted thief, he is seen as one of the more 'experienced' members of the league. He and the rest of his team serve as the main antagonists of the Forest Training Camp Arc.

He later became one of the nine lieutenants of the Paranormal Liberation Front, an organization formed from the remnants of the League and the Meta Liberation Army.

Mr. Compress currently serves as a commander for the "Vanguard Action Support Regiment: Brown" along with Spinner.

Appearance
Atsuhiro is a tall, slim man with pale skin and brown eyes that are semicircular and slightly slanted inwards, and he has a notably pointed nose. He wears a combination of a mask, balaclava, and hat. Underneath his mask reveals that he has short dark eyebrows, and a head of curly, equally dark hair.

In his villain attire, he wears a dark orange shirt, the collar left upturned and a green striped bolo necktie with an oval-shaped azure brooch hanging around his neck, a black waistcoat and black dress pants. He wears knee-high white boots with wedged heels and black toe-caps, plain dark red gloves and a tall brown top hat, a red ribbon tied around it and a pale feather sticking out on the left side.

Over his head, he wears a black balaclava with a hole for his mouth as well as his eyes, over which he wears one of multiple white masks he owns, each with a different black geometric design. In his first appearance, he also wears a dark yellow, double-breasted overcoat with buttoned shoulder tabs and a high collar, which reaches below his knees, and he additionally carries a silver walking stick with a gold handle.

After Overhaul destroys his left arm, Giran gives him a replacement prosthetic which he wears from then on.

Personality
Mr. Compress is a showman at heart who likes to command every event he's a part of and be as flashy and entertaining as possible. He is talkative, humorous and arrogant with his allies and enemies alike.

Mr. Compress has a habit of monologuing and showing off his entertainer skills. This has proven to be a flaw in his skills as a villain; he allowed the Bakugo Escort Squad to catch him because he spent so much time taunting them. Mr. Compress also nearly lost possession of Katsuki Bakugo after taking a moment to bow after his victory.

Mr. Compress is often the voice of reason among the League of Villains and appears to care for his comrades; he acts as a mentor to the younger members and often keeps them in check. After Magne's death, he immediately leaps into action and tried to subdue Overhaul by himself. This action cost him his arm, but Compress is quick to get his revenge by destroying Overhaul's arm later on.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: Atsuhiro is very capable and resourceful villain, with incredible stealth abilities, coupled with speed, agility, and the proficiency with his Compress Quirk. Compress is primarily useful when it comes to setting traps. If Atsuhiro has marbles containing certain compressed objects, he can use those as a way to obstruct the path of enemies, by throwing said marbles in his adversaries' direction and returning the objects to their original size. Thanks to Atsuhiro's creativity and ingenuity, he is able to take advantage of the deactivation property of his Quirk to affect the environment around him, like placing a marble holding a compressed large rock below a car, and then launch the vehicle into mid-air through the marble's decompression process. In another offensive manner, Atsuhiro uses his Quirk to selectively compress only one part of a person's body, severely maiming, or sometimes, killing them. Compress also works as a way to dig through solid objects, making Atsuhiro pivotal for escaping and infiltrating enclosed areas. Using Compress on himself allows Atsuhiro to be carried anywhere, undetected. He often uses his Quirk to capture people within compressed marbles without being noticed, and before the victim can alert nearby allies.

During the Vanguard Action Squad Invasion, Atsuhiro activated his Quirk, that requires physical contact, on Katsuki Bakugo and Fumikage Tokoyami while they were in a group of 5 people, among which was Mezo Shoji, whose Dupli-Arms Quirk grants the latter enhanced senses, demonstrating the efficiency of Atsuhiro's espionage capabilities. Overall, Atsuhiro singlehandedly captured the former two students before their classmates noticed, and was only caught when the masked villain made his presence known. Succeeding in the Vanguard Action Squad's mission and making his escape, Atsuhiro easily outpaced the U.A. pursuers in the Beast's Forest by jumping across the treetops and even evaded Shoto Todoroki's multiple employments of his "Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall" technique. While he did elude the trailing students, Atsuhiro was taken by surprise when Mezo, Shoto, and a battle-worn Izuku Midoriya crashed him into the ground. In the course of the Kamino Incident, Atsuhiro, along with Himiko Toga and Twice, forced Katsuki on the defensive, before he was rescued by his classmates. With Magne's help, Atsuhiro was nearly successful at recapturing Katsuki, only to be intercepted by Mt. Lady, who knocked out the airborne villain.

When the League of Villains encountered Overhaul, who had killed Magne during the exchange, Atsuhiro was fast enough to catch him off-guard, and make an attempt at capturing the yakuza leader. Unfortunately, the hat-wearer's efforts were wasted because he was struck by an experimental Quirk-Destroying Bullet, temporarily erasing Astuhiro's Quirk, leading to his left arm being destroyed by Overhaul. Much later, Atsuhiro incapacitated Snatch, by circling around and touching the sand hero, while the latter was fighting Dabi. By compressing the flame-engulfed Pro Hero, the two villains effectively defeated and killed Snatch. At the Revival Celebration, Atsuhiro faced various members of the Meta Liberation Army, but began to struggle until he was saved by Twice's "Sad Man's Parade" technique. After the Revival Celebration, Atsuhiro became a lieutenant of the now unified Paranormal Liberation Front.

Keen Intellect: Atsuhiro is an ingenious villain who thrives in a supporting role. He can act as the brains of an operation as well as act efficiently on his own. Being a former stage magician, Atsuhiro is a self-proclaimed master of deception, escapology, and illusion. True to his words, Atsuhiro employs many creative tactics in combination with his Compress Quirk in order to mislead his opponents. A key example of this misdirection is when he compresses a target into a marble and is prepared to be relived of them by his opponents. Exceptionally cautious with his captives, Atsuhiro utilizes his illusionist skills to clandestinely create decoy marbles and swap them around with the ones holding the actual targets, thus deceiving anybody who attempts to steal from him. Atsuhiro also has good judgment, as he knows the limits of his own abilities, and can gauge the level of strength another person possesses after seeing them in action once. He decided against fighting hero candidates from U.A. High School, so he instead made a hasty retreat.

When the Bakugo Escort Squad caught up to him, and seemed successful at reclaiming the captured Katsuki and Fumikage, Atsuhiro flawlessly tricked his pursuers into thinking the marbles in his pockets were the ones housing Katsuki and Fumikage. In reality, those were actually decoys containing ice he had discreetly prepared while dodging Shoto’s cryokinetic assault, and Atsuhiro kept the original marbles in his mouth. Once the Hideout Raid Team appeared at the villains' bar, Atsuhiro realized that the televised press conference was being used a ruse for the team of heroes to get the drop on the League of Villains. During the Revival Celebration, Twice attempted to make clones of Dabi and Astuhiro, but the latter villain refuted the notion, pointing out that if all of the M.L.A members and Deika City are destroyed, then the League of Villains won't have the fodder necessary to hold off Gigantomachia once the behemoth arrives in the town.


 * Enhanced Agility: Mr.Compress on numerous occasion has shown above average feats of agility. For most part Astuhiro has displayed the ability to go from one motion to another effortlessly, effectively dodging attacks, sprint, leap across to high ledges and rapidly through forest canopies while able to perform numerous other athletic feats with little effort. His most notable feats of agility comes from the application of his Quirk, being able to swiftly compress targets into small marble like objects without his opposition knowing.

Quirk
Compress: Atsuhiro's Quirk allows him to "compress" anything in a spherical area around his arm into a small, marble-like object without actually damaging it.

The weight of the target is reduced alongside them, making them very easy to carry. If used on a person, it effectively entraps them, terminating the fight instantly and allowing Mr. Compress to abduct them without difficulty.

The Quirk can also be used on select body parts, maiming the target.

Atsuhiro's Quirk Factor lies within his arms, and after losing his left arm to Overhaul, Compress's activation is now limited to Atsuhiro's right arm.

Equipment
Prosthetic Arm: After losing his left arm to Overhaul, Atsuhiro wears a functional robotic arm as a replacement. This arm was provided by Giran. After becoming a PLF lieutenant, his new arm enables him to shoot out his marbles from his fingers.

Chapter Appearances

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Trivia

 * Atsuhiro’s given name contains the kanji for "pressure" (圧) and "large" (紘). The kanji used in his surname means "urge/force" or "imminent" (迫).
 * Mr. Compress' rankings in the Popularity Polls are as following:
 * Ranked 47th in the 3rd Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 58th in the 4th Popularity Poll.
 * Atsuhiro's Japanese voice actor, Tsuguo Mogami, also voices the U.S.J. Nomu and Hood.

Quotes

 * (To several U.A. students) "We're just a bit fanatical when it comes to our values. All we wish is to show him that there are other ways. Because you kids today... you have your values chosen for you."
 * (To Kai Chisaki) "For the arm."
 * (To Dabi) "I believe Twice was... killed. Alas, I tried but failed to stop her. Even though jumping into the fray was tantamount to suicide. I've never seen little Toga lose her cool like this."
 * (To himself) Harima... The reformation that you could not achieve I now hand off to my boss. The Paranormal Liberation Front's... No. the League of Villains' Shigaraki will change the world in my stead.

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