User blog:Lover of the Muse/U.A traitor investigation part 1

Let's investigate the msytery of the U.A traitor. I'm going to walk you through the evidence and my analysis of what's been presented and introduce you to the suspects, then I'll let you draw you're own conclusions.

I look forward to getting you're feedback.

What do we know about the traitior?
There's strong circumstantial evidence that there is indeed a traitor at U.A, either among the staff or the students. We know the teacher's schedules are a closely kept secret, but during the USJ attack Kurogiri mentioned that they had received a copy of it.

This could have been stolen by a student when the teachers were distracted by the media invading the campus, or it could have just been given to them by a teacher. I think we can confidantly rule out All Might, Eraserhead, and Thirteen as suspects.

Episode 39 aka the most important filler episode ever
"Season 3 Episode 1: Game Start" was an anime original episode dedicated to recapping the plot of the past two seasons.

Near the end of the episode we see Ereasurehead telling Vlad King that the training camp location was changed at the last minute as a precaution against info being leaked to villains. At the end of the episode we get a scene with Tomura Shigaraki and he praises his his master saying how "easiy he found the destination of those guys. I couldn't find no matter how hard I looked."

Suspect List for Students
There's two major questions you need to answer if you're going to accuse one of the characters of being the U.A traitor, those questions are "Why?" and "How?".

If we take episode 39 as canon to the manga then the first three students on this list are the only ones who could possibly be the traitor, but even if isn't I stil consider the top 3 to be prime suspects.

Suspect 1# Toru Hagakure
If you have any interest in the U.A traitor you've probably heard most of the evidence towards Toru Hagakure before. She has a quirk uniquely suitable for stealth, meaning she could potentially be in any scene and we wouldn't know it.

Toru Hagakure was also absent from class the day that Tomura crumbled the gate and let the Reporters flood the building. In chapter 12 they held elections for a class rep, most students only got one vote because they voted for themselves but Izuku and Momo got more than one.

Izuku got 3 votes (one from himself, the other two were Iida and Ochako), Momo got 2 votes (herself and Shoto). The number of votes and the number of students however do not add up. There's one person whose vote is unaccounted for and that would be Toru.

In the entire series we have never seen her fight a villain. She along with Aoyama were conspiciously absent during the USJ attack and this was even specifically pointed out. I think it's implied that Aoyama was hiding but Toru says she got transported with Shota Todoroki. If she was with him then why wasn't she frozen, and why didn't she say anything to Todoroki?

Remember that time Izuku ran into Tomura Shigaraki at the mall? Do you remember who suggested they go there? Yes it was the Invisible Girl.

If you're familiar with Traitor theories you've probably heard all of this before, but if she is the traitor then I think we also know what her motivation is. During chapter 193 we see that All for One gained people's loyalty and built his empire by taking quirks away from those who saw their powers as a curse and giving quirks to people wo were scared and defenseless or who were simply ambitious.

Toru Hagakure has consistently been portrayed as socially eager and with a desire to stand out, so if she is the traitor then I don't think she's doing it for money or because she has an idealogical goal that aligns with the League of Villains. I thinks he wants All for One to take her quirk away from her.

If Toru Hagakure isn't the traitor then she is a masterful red herring. She's at the top of the list because she had the means, the motive, and the oppurtunity.

Suspect 2# Mezo Shoji
There's numerous reasons to suspect Mezo Shoji of being the traitor. His quirk is great for gathering information and allows him to hear and see things happening far away.

During the USJ attack when Kurogiri was about to stop Tenya Iida from escaping to go get help, Mezo Shoji tackled Kurogiri stopping him from stopping Tenya. Why does this constitute evidence for Shoji being the traitor? Remember that the purpose of the USJ attack was to kill All Might not to kill the kids.

Allowing one of the kids to escape to go get help could have been a smart move tactically since the first hero to arrive would of course be All Might.

During the Summer Training Camp Arc, he got one of his arms severed by Moonfish. This injury was meaningless because his Dupli-Arms can duplicate themselves and basically grow back, but it had the effect or sending Dark Shadow into a rampage.

We later see that his dorm room is mostly empty and while he claims not to be materialistic, we could instead see this as evidence of him being secretive.

"Walls have ears. Doors have eyes

Trees have voices. beasts tell lies

Beware the rain, beware the snow

Beware the man you think you know"

Suspect #3 Koji Koda
Koji Koda's quirk Anivoice allows him to communicate with and control animals, which could also be great for information gathering since he could turn any small insignificant animal into a spy for him. In U.A this quirk has another advantage because the principle of the school is not a human being, the principle is an animal with an intelligent hightening quirk.

The traitor being able to take control of the principle could help explain why Nezu hasn't sniffed the traitor out already.

Koji Koda is an introvert but for a spy this actually makes sense, like Toru Hagakure he's somebody that the audience can forget exists but he's even more invisible since he doesn't even try to stand out.

I know this isn't actually evidence but I'd like to draw attention to Koji Koda's design. He looks like a hulking rock monster. Similar to Alphonse Elric, he could easily be made to look like an intimidating brute. Al from FMA was badass sometimes but other times he was adorable, but with Koji Koda the adorable switch is on almost constantly.

If Koji Koda is revealed to be the traitor then this reveal will be preceeded by a fake-out where they make us think Principle Nezu is the traitor only to reveal Nezu was being controlled by Koda.

Suspect 4# Ochako Uraraka
Uraraka has a very clear cut motivation for being the traitor, she needs the money. Attending U.A and becoming a pro hero could help her in the long run, but we don't know how much it's costing her parents to send her to this school. This motivation would tie thematically into Stain's point about for profit heroes. If Ochako is the traitor I can imagine her being conflicted but rationalizing her actions. So what if giving this information to the League of Villains causes them to attack USJ and try to kill All Might, if All Might is there then he'll win the day and stop the bad guys won't he? The fact that "everything worked out" in the USJ incident could have reinforced this idea and made Ochako believe she was worried over nothing, which is why she did the same thing again. Of course the price of victory at the USJ was that All Might was weakened and couldn't stay in his hero form as long but Ochako doesn't know that. If I'm right about the way Ochako rationalizes her trechery then it could tie thematically into Tomura Shigaraki's backstory and his belief that heroes are ultimately dangerous as they make people more complacent. Unlike the previous three people on this list, we don't know how she got her hands on the teacher's schedule to allow for the USJ Attack. If we take episode 39 as canon, then we don't know how she figured out where the training camp was ahead of time. Another piece of evidence against her being the traitor can be found in how poorly she hides her crush on Izuku Midoriya. Ochako Uraraka has been portrayed as extremely honest and blunt and somebody who wears her heart on her sleeves, and in her crush on Deku we see her trying to keep a secret and supress her feelings but sucking at it.

Next week
Next week I'll publish part 2, which will include an analysis of the teachers.