Mei Hatsume was once one of the most popular characters from the My Hero Academia series. This support hero is a very important stepping stone in the series and helps represent another type of potential hero that attends U.A. Academy.

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While she may not have too much bearing on the story anymore, Mei is still a well-loved character that could use a bit more spotlight. This list will be focusing on the things many may not know and others may have missed about the brilliant mutant, Mei Hatsume.

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10 SHE LIKES STEAMPUNK

One thing that many fans of the My Hero Academia series may notice is that the mangaka behind the series, Kohei Horikoshi, pays a lot of attention to the style of clothing on his characters. Mei Hatsume is one character who has a heavy emphasis placed on her style.

The accessories that Mei wears (such as her goggles) and her other gadgets show that she is a big fan of the steampunk style.

9 SHE CREATED AN IRON MAN-ESQUE SUIT

My Hero Academia loves to reference other anime, manga, comic books, music, and movies. This is seen in one moment featuring Mei Hatsume and her Power Suit that she had Midoriya in for a scene.

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This Power Suit was a direct reference to a prototype battle suit that was created by Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2 that twisted the torso section 180 degrees and probably killed the test pilot. The same happened to Izuku but thankfully Mei cut off the robot before he got hurt.

8 SHE WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO BE A MALE

Mei Hatsume wasn't always supposed to be Mei Hatsume. According to Kohei, this support based hero was originally planned to be a guy. This was stated in chapter 35 of the manga as part of the notes section.

"At first, she was going to be a guy, but then I thought it'd be more interesting if I made her a girl. I did the gender swap thing a lot, didn't I?"

While she may have been fairly popular back when she was first introduced, Mei actually wasn't too popular when it came to the first popularity poll for the series. This first poll opened in chapter 52 of the manga and was then reported in chapter 52.

In this first character poll, Mei placed lower than a recently introduced Tomura, Mineta, and even creator Kohei Horikoshi himself. The support hero tied with Toru Hagakure in 20th place.

6 SHE HAS SHOWN OFF 12 INVENTIONS IN THE SERIES

While Mei is said to have created more inventions than most can count during her time at U.A. Academy, she has only shown off 12 of her inventions during her time in the series.

These inventions include Mei's always worn goggles, hydraulic bracers, her net firing capture gun, electromagnetic soles, a wire arrow, hover soles, auto bracers, her jet pack, high-density weights, the power suit, an electric booster, and her robot suit called "My Adorable Baby." Fun fact, "My Adorable Baby" is Mei's 202nd invention.

5 HER STATS ARE VERY LOW

In the My Hero Academia: Ultra Archive and My Hero Academia: Ultra Analysis books, it is shown that Mei actually is nowhere near being a well-rounded student of U.A. Academy.

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Most of Mei's stats are actually fairly low, as she fares pretty poorly in everything except intelligence, technique, and of course, motivation for inventions.

4 SHE COULD BE MORE THAN A SUPPORT HERO

While Mei is said to be simply a support hero and is probably just at U.A. to get a career in inventing going, she actually has more skill than most realize. This was seen during U.A. School Festival arc when she actually was matched up in combat.

During her fight against Iida, Mei actually was able to drag the battle out for ten minutes. Despite his quirk, Iida wasn't able to do anything until she forfeited.

3 SHE IS VERY SIMILAR TO TONY STARK

mei hatsume

Not only does Mei make a reference to Iron Man but she could very well be the equivalent of Tony Stark when it comes to the My Hero Academia series. Mei has a lot of similarities to the Iron Man creator.

Not only is she an amazing inventor with a knack for creating power suits but she is a businesswoman who is mostly in the hero business for money.

2 HER QUIRK HAS YET TO BE USED FOR ANY REAL HEROICS

Many forget that Mei even has a quirk. Her quirk is called Zoom and it gives her amazing eyesight that can zoom very far away. This allows her to clearly see distant targets no matter where or what they are.

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However, these targets are usually people of interest such as potential business investors. This quirk hasn't been used for any real heroics so far.

1 HER NAME IS A PUN

Mei hatsume looking happy in my hero academia

One ongoing gag of the My Hero Academia series, as well as a popular trope in many other Japanese series, is using puns when naming characters. This is a trope that continues with Mei Hatsume.

Mei's name comes from the kanji for the word "invention" and the kanji for the word "eyes." However, the second and third kanji in her name are swapped in positions. This a direct reference to her role as an inventor and her quirk which uses her eyes.

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