MHA: Vigilantes Season 2 Fan Service Ruins Pop Step’s New Outfit

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The last episodes of My Hero Academia will air in December, marking the beginning of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes taking over the story. Following the positive reception of the MHA spin-off in 2025, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 now has a confirmed release date and some exciting new previews.

Koichi Haimawari, known as “The Crawler,” will be back in January 2026 with the returns of Knuckleduster and Pop Step. However, many fans of My Hero Academia are unhappy with Pop Step’s new design. Similar to her original appearance in MHA: Vigilantes Season 1, her outfit is considered too revealing for a young character, leading to concerns that the series’ issues with overly sexualized depictions will continue.

Pop Step’s MHA: Vigilantes Season 2 Design Hits All the Wrong Notes

Fans of My Hero Academia are looking forward to the return of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes in 2026 and enjoying the appearances of familiar heroes. However, many are critical of how the character Pop Step is depicted in promotional materials. The new poster for My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 features Pop Step in an outfit that fans feel is overly revealing, with a very short skirt that focuses on her appearance rather than her heroic qualities, regardless of the in-universe explanation for the costume.

I just saw the new poster for Vigilantes, and it doesn’t really reassure me about how much fan service we’re going to see in the next season. In the first season, a lot of fans, myself included, were uncomfortable with how Pop Step’s character was written – it felt like they focused too much on fan service, especially considering she’s a teenager. It’s a concern that seems to be continuing, judging by this new promotional material.

The Fan Service in MHA: Vigilantes Makes a Joke Out of Pop Step’s Character

Pop Step, also known as Kazuho Haneyama, was between 14 and 15 years old during the first season of MHA: Vigilantes. A flashback showed she was several years younger than Koichi Haimawari, who was 19. Despite her age, Pop Step’s usual costume is a very tight bodysuit with a short skirt that barely covers her.

The original manga design for the character in Vigilantes actually showed even less clothing than what appears in the anime. The anime team thankfully made some modest adjustments to her design, but they weren’t enough to make it truly appropriate for a character her age. The latest teaser art for Vigilantes Season 2 completely ignores those considerations, showing an even more revealing outfit.

Some fans believe Pop Steps’ experience with being objectified is a key part of her story, highlighting the negative aspects of the idol industry and the costs of fame. Kazuho deliberately chose a provocative outfit to overcome her own introversion and connect with her audience.

Considering everything, her clothing actually fits her character’s development and the story’s ideas. However, this doesn’t excuse the unnecessary camera angles focusing on her body or scenes that put her in awkward positions. The way Kazuho was portrayed relied too much on fanservice, which undermines the important message of her personal story.

My Hero Academia Has a Known Female Character Problem

The recent focus on Kazuho’s character isn’t the first time My Hero Academia has been criticized for overly sexualizing its characters. This has been an ongoing issue since the beginning of the series. Many fans point to Momo Yaoyorozu as an early example, as her hero costume is notably more revealing than even that of a character like Pop Step.

Momo wears very revealing clothing because her Quirk, Creation, allows her to make anything she imagines using the fat in her body – and clothing would get in the way. While her Quirk explains the skimpy outfit, it doesn’t excuse the way she’s often posed or the focus on her body in certain scenes.

Toru Hagakure’s hero costume—or lack thereof—has often been a point of discussion. She’s completely invisible, and only wears gloves and shoes. The creators have explained that a full suit would make her power not work, but it’s unusual to show a 15-year-old character consistently without clothes. Even when her face is finally revealed, she’s still nude.

Himiko Toga, much like the character Mystique from the X-Men, has the ability to perfectly copy another person’s appearance. She can transform to look exactly like anyone after consuming their blood, even replicating their clothing. Unfortunately, many important scenes featuring Toga unnecessarily sexualize her character, prioritizing fan service over meaningful storytelling.

Pop Step Deserves Better in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2

In My Hero Academia, female characters are often shown with very revealing outfits because of their superpowers, while male characters rarely face the same issue. This has led many fans to believe the show is unnecessarily sexualizing its female characters to appeal to certain viewers.

If Pop Step is intended to critique the way idols are often treated as objects, portraying her with excessive fan service actually weakens that message. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes originally presented Pop Step as a character with much more depth than just appealing to fans. A simple way to acknowledge this would be to give her a more substantial outfit – a skirt that isn’t just a thin strip of fabric.

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2025-12-12 22:08