Yu Hojo

Yu Hojo is one of the Eight Bullets who works for Shie Hassaikai.

Appearance
Yu is a tall, muscular man with shadowed eyes and his head shaven to use his Quirk more efficiently.

He wears a dark dress shirt, the top few buttons left undone, and plain pants, along with a pair of black dress shoes. Yu's choice of mask is a simple medical mask that he wears over his mouth, unlike the signature beak-like mask worn by the rest of the Eight Bullets.

Personality
Yu appears reasonably serious, and loyal to Overhaul and the Shie Hassaikai. He is straightforward and brutish toward the enemy but dedicated and reliable to his allies.

Yu holds a grudge against the people who took advantage of him in the past. He feels abused and considers himself garbage. However, Overhaul gives him a purpose, and Yu is prepared to die for his young master. Yu believes that Heroes can't understand the bonds between trash like the Eight Bullets.

History
At some point in his life, Yu had the job of producing gems for an unspecified individual who planned to sell the minerals for large profits. However, the gems turned out to be worthless, leading to Yu being beaten within an inch of his life and discarded.

Yu was eventually found by Overhaul in the streets, with the Yakuza offering him the opportunity to become his subordinate. With nowhere else to go, Yu accepted and became one of the Eight Bullets.

Shie Hassaikai Arc
Yu, Toya Setsuno, and Soramitsu Tabe of the Eight Bullets are tasked with ambushing the heroes raiding the Shie Hassaikai hideout. Mimic drops a group of the heroes inside a small room where the three villains greet them. Suneater of U.A. High School's Big 3 challenges the trio alone.

Yu and Toya launch a preemptive attack on the entire group of heroes, but Eraser Head halts their Quirks, and Suneater leaps into action. Suneater restrains the criminal triad and tries to knock them out, but Toya buys them enough times for their Quirks to resurface. Yu immediately activates his Crystallize Quirk and breaks free from his tentacle bonds.

Toya uses his Larceny Quirk to take away Suneater's defense, leaving him open to a crystal-enhanced punch from Yu. However, the villains underestimate Suneater's resolve, and he catches the punch using the maximum output of his Manifest Quirk. Suneater repels the villains with his Kraken Ultimate Move, and they're forced to make Soramitsu wake up after being knocked out by Eraser Head earlier.

Soramitsu can counter Suneater's Quirk by eating his manifested tentacles. Soramitsu and Toya's teamwork leaves Suneater vulnerable to a powerful punch from Yu. When the hero is on the edge of defeat, the three villains explain their past and why they're loyal to Overhaul. Suneater comments that they're just being used, and Yu gets angry, claiming a hero will never understand.

Suneater quickly breaks up the villain's teamwork by blinding Toya. He then manifests Yu's crystals to halt the next attack. Suneater finishes off the villains with a mighty talon and tentacle combination that defeats the Yakuza thugs. After Deku defeated Overhaul, Yu was arrested along with the rest of the Shie Hassaikai.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: Being an Eight Bullets member of the Shie Hassaikai, Yu is a formidable individual. He also possesses a great handle on his Quirk, Crystallization, which he uses to manifest crystals on his body to amplify the strength of his melee attacks. Yu commonly tag-teams with his fellow Eight Bullets members, Soramitsu Tabe and Toya Setsuno, and employs effective camaraderie when working alongside the two. Yu capitalizes on the openings Toya creates with his Larceny Quirk to disarm opponents, then uses his crystal-enhanced attacks to barrage his opponents, giving Yu the upper hand in brute force. The impeccable teamwork the Shie Hassaikai ternion caused Tamaki Amajiki, the second strongest of U.A.'s Big 3, to get caught off-guard and overpowered multiple times in his battle against the three. While Soramitsu, Toya, and Yu did overwhelm Tamaki, the trio was taken by surprise when the hero took advantage of their teamwork and Quirk abilities, resulting in the 3 Shie Hassaikai members being defeated.

Tactical Intellect: Despite his gruff appearance, Yu is a very analytical person. When he threw a crystal-augmented punch at Tamaki, the latter countered the attack, and Yu meticulously deduced that Tamaki created octopus arms filled with thick muscles to absorb the shock of the impact while simultaneously protecting himself from crystal damage using a thick layer of shells. Even as he continued to barrage Tamaki, Yu took notice of the hero's impressive reflexes.

Quirk
Crystallize: Yu's Quirk grants him the ability to produce sharp, durable crystals from his skin. This power is effective for both close-ranged offense and defense. He can grow his crystals into a sword around his arm.

Equipment
Handgun: Yu is armed with a pistol, which he uses in combat when his Quirk isn't reliable.

Overhaul
After being deemed useless in his previous job, Yu was discarded on the streets, where he was found by Overhaul. As a result, Yu is incredibly loyal to him.

Trivia

 * Yu's name contains the kanji for treasure (宝), life (生), and connection (結).
 * "Hō" could come from "jewel/gem" (宝石), and his first name came from the first kanji for the name of his Quirk, yū (結).
 * Yu's Japanese voice actor, Kenichiro Matsuda, also voices the Shiketsu High School teacher.
 * Yu shares the same first name as Yu Takeyama, otherwise known as Mt. Lady. However, the kanji symbols for their names are different and therefore have different pronunciations.
 * Yu seems to represent a corruption of the seventh tenet of the real eight precepts of Buddhism, which, among other things, forbids the wearing of jewelry and decorations such as crystals.

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Yu Hojo