Neito Monoma

Neito Monoma, also known as Phantom Thief (ファントムシーフ), is a student in Class 1-B at U.A. High School, training to become a Pro Hero.

Appearance
Neito is a young man of average height with slick blond hair, which gets shorter the further down his head it goes, styled so that it’s parted to the right, his bangs left hanging over his right eye. His irises are a periwinkle purple, his pupils white and his eyes are shaped so that they’re slanting downwards towards the far sides of his face, usually left half-closed, this, along with his signature smirk and head tilt, giving him a rather contemptuous look. The girls admit in the Light novels that Monoma has a handsome face, but it’s ruined with his personality.

His hero costume is a black, double-breasted tuxedo with two long tails reaching almost down to his ankles. Three clocks hang on one of two belts around his waist, presumably to help him keep track of his Quirk's time limit, and he leaves his shirt collar upturned, a blue and black dotted tie done up around his neck. Both his tailcoat and his pants are plain black, with the exception of the cuffs of his sleeves and the inner-facing sides of his tails, and his shoes are white with a simple design.

Personality
Neito is shown to be a slightly unhinged but intelligent young man. He has a strange fascination with beating Class 1-A in any possible way. Among Class 1-B's students, he's the most fervent about wanting to topple Class 1-A's popularity. He can also be disagreeable, sarcastic, and vocal when around the rivaling class. He seems to be jealous of Class 1-A's popularity and is prejudiced towards them, but also worries that because they're always getting into trouble, they will also get the rest of the school in trouble, too. When he hears that Class 1-A fails in some way, he will usually laugh out loud and passive-aggressively ask how it's possible for them to fail since they are meant to be the superior class. Most of the time when this happens, Itsuka Kendo manages to restrain Monoma by hitting him on the head with the side of her hand before he gets too out of hand, apologizing on his behalf to whoever he was insulting, but on one occasion, when she was absent, Yosetsu Awase took up her role.

Neito is shown to have something of a superiority complex, as he takes whatever opportunities he can get to mock and challenge, one up and surpass anyone in Class 1-A. This even extends to mocking himself in order to mock the students in 1-A, like when he teases the five of them who had to take remedial lessons during the Forest Training Camp Arc, saying it's weird that so many of them failed, as he's the only person present from Class 1-B. He's been quoted by people as being mentally unstable, but this is more than likely a joke regarding his obsession with overtaking Class 1-A.

In spite of his bitterness and overconfidence, he does seem to feel somewhat threatened and intimidated by Class 1-A because of their skills and strength, this being shown when he sighs in relief after learning that he does not have to face them in the provisional license exam. He does switch back to his usual disdainful outlook straight afterward, but he is possibly using this as something of a cover-up for revealing his true emotions.

Even though he puts on a narcissistic and disdainful front, it does seem like his outbursts are simply desperate attempts to cheer himself and his class up. In his backstory, it’s noted that he had a hard time justifying his goal to become a Pro Hero because of the Quirk he possesses, and because of this he thinks he can never be the "main character" in the story, instead being forced to take up the role of the "side character."

Despite his scornful and competitive attitude towards Class 1-A, he has been shown to demonstrate compassion and understanding towards his fellow Class 1-B students. He tends to approach them with an encouraging attitude, and doesn't ever put them down, only giving them constructive criticism where it's needed, an example of this being when he tries to comfort Setsuna Tokage after her and her team's loss to Class 1-A in the Joint Training Arc. He also seems to be relatively confident in Class 1-B's abilities, and he is seen boasting about the Quirk of Kinoko Komori to the rivaling class, saying that they shouldn't have underestimated her and that she's one to be feared. Neito is also shown to be capable of putting aside his disdainful front outside of a classroom setting, as seen when he explained the nature of his Quirk to Shota, Izuku and Eri.

His manner of speaking is similar to that of Seiji Shishikura, as he tends to use more eloquent words than strictly necessary, especially when he's addressing the students of Class 1-A. This is seen most prominently in the Joint Training Arc.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: Neito may not possess melee combat abilities, but he makes up for it with the proficient handling he has on his Quirk, Copy. With a copied Quirk, Neito essentially possesses the same advantages and disadvantages of the original Quirk user from whom he copied. In addition, his ability to swap between Quirks makes him a more versatile and unpredictable opponent to battle against in group battles, where he has more opportunities to copy various Quirks, be it from friend or foe.

In the Cavalry Battle of the U.A. Sports Festival, he copied Quirks from Katsuki Bakugo and Eijiro Kirishima and flawlessly used the copied Quirks to take the highly capable Katsuki by surprise, twice. During the Joint Training Battle, he nonchalantly had enough mettle to singlehandedly take on Izuku Midoriya, one of the most powerful students in Class 1-A, but before he could, Izuku's Quirk went awry. After Izuku's Quirk was tamed, Neito was still able to take him by surprise, knock the former back, and make an attempt on copying his Quirk. Unfortunately, Neito's efforts proved futile, as he realized he could not copy One For All, an accumulation-type Quirk, resulting in the tuxedo-wearing student being subdued by Ochaco Uraraka's hand-to-hand combat skills.

Keen Intellect: Neito is shown to be a very intelligent individual, coupled with a strategic and analytical mind. He formulated a strategy for Class 1-B during the first stage of the Sports Festival, which involved the students of the said class purposely placing low in the Obstacle Race, guessing correctly that it was only the preliminary round and none of them would get cut from the Sports Festival. This tactic was employed so that Class 1-B could observe the other students and later have the advantage of knowing their Quirks, all while keeping their own powers concealed. During the combat portion of the Festival, Neito was able to easily see through Ochaco's true strategy when she battled against Katsuki, something many of the audience members, including the present Pro Heroes, failed to notice until much later.

Neito's craftiness was further showcased during the final round of the Joint Training Battle. Neito had Hitoshi Shinso use his "Artificial Vocal Cords: Persona Chords" to mimic Ochaco's scream in order to successfully catch a scouting Izuku off-guard. He explained that Class 1-B knows better than to underestimate a powerful combatant such as Izuku, so Neito planned to have his team defeat Izuku's teammates before engaging the latter. As part of his provocations, Neito claimed Izuku's teammates were in trouble, and then inquired as to how Katsuki can smile after being the cause of All Might's retirement, causing Izuku to finally snap, which consequently lead to One For All running out of control.

After he was subdued by Ochaco, Neito explained that while he uses the watches on his hero costume to keep track of the time limits for his copied Quirks, he keeps three watches visible to deceive his opponents into believing the number of watches represents the maximum number of Quirks he can copy. In addition, despite being captured, Neito was aware of Izuku pursuing Hitoshi, and, through a delayed reaction, was able to hinder Izuku with Twin Impact, which Neito had copied from Nirengeki Shoda.

Quirk
Copy (コピー): Neito's Quirk allows him to duplicate and use another person's Quirk after coming into physical contact with the user. He is currently able to hold four Quirks at a time and can maintain any copied powers for ten minutes. After the time limit runs out, he loses the copied Quirk until he once again touches the original user.

He gains full access to the Quirk he has copied and can use it however he likes. However, he cannot simultaneously use multiple Quirks, only one at a time.

He can't effectively use copied Quirks that require a previously stored resource, such as One For All (power), Fat Absorption (body fat) and Rewind (unknown). He is also limited by his own body; he wouldn't have the strength necessary to properly handle powerful Quirks that require years of physical conditioning to use without bodily harm.

Equipment
Stopwatches: Neito wears three watches on his belt that he uses to record the duration of time it has been since he copied a specific Quirk, letting him know when its usage is up. Neito also seems to use these to trick his opponents into assuming the limit of his copied Quirks is only three when it seems to be four at minimum.

Chapter Appearances

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Trivia

 * Neito's rankings in the Popularity Polls are the following:
 * Ranked 25th in the 2nd Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 24th in the 3rd Popularity Poll.
 * Ranked 38th in the 4th Popularity Poll.
 * Neito's surname contains the kanji for "object" (物) and "gap" (間), and his first name contains "repose, serenity, preferable" (寧) and "person" (人).
 * Neito's name comes from the word "mimicry, imitation" (物真似), which references his Quirk.
 * When written together, the kanji in his last name means "among things" (物間).
 * His name may also be a play on the word "monomaniac," meaning "exaggerated or obsessive enthusiasm for or preoccupation with one thing," with his case being his obsession with toppling Class 1-A.
 * Neito likes French cuisine and Franco-Belgian comics.
 * According to Horikoshi, Neito is based on a real person.
 * Neito shares his birthday with Yo Shindo.
 * His hero name, Phantom Thief, may be based on the literary character archetype of the same name. A Phantom Thief is characterized by being a criminal (usually a thief) who keeps a moral code and often does bad things for the sake of good. They also leave calling cards and use tricks, illusions, and disguises to achieve their goals.

Quotes

 * (To his classmates) "Class A thinks it's so great. Well, let's show 'em... why we in Class B hung back and placed low in the preliminaries."
 * (To Setsuna Tokage) "I'm happy to see my inexperienced peers reflect and grow. Yes, victory is no longer within Class B's reach but we haven't truly lost yet. Because what I want us all to learn is which lass treads the correct path… the earnest one that keeps its nose clean? Or the class of wholly undeserving reprobates that batches in limelight for all the wrong reasons? We are all, to the last, merely bit players in the lives of others and the stars of only our own!"
 * (To Hitoshi Shinso) "The paradox is that to become heroes, we must act unheroically. Otherwise, we'll never measure up to those capable of greatness. Emulating our idols isn't enough. Surely you've felt this way before... how the hopes and dreams of childhood grow heavy as burdens? As if we are cursed."

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Neito Monoma