My Hero Academia: Vigilantes focuses on three vigilante protagonists, and fans are still getting to know more about them. Fans have seen Koichi’s Slide and Glide Quirk in action, and Knuckleduster has established himself as a middle-aged man who fights despite not having a Quirk of his own. Meanwhile, fans also want to know more details about Pop Step, the musical girl of the group, including basics like her age.
Anime fans can’t help but be curious about basic personal info about new characters whom they meet, especially if there appears to be some ambiguity. While it’s not vital to know exactly how old the main characters in My Hero Academia: Vigilantes are, knowing the characters’ ages may provide some extra context about how they think and what they are doing. The official data for the My Hero Academia universe has not disclosed Pop Step’s exact age, so fans can use clues to make an estimation, and then see how that impacts her character.
Pop Step Is Likely a Minor in MHA
Pop Step Is Almost as Old as My Hero Academia's Main Cast
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes fans can look at Pop Step’s character in the anime to try to determine her age, but as seasoned anime fans know, appearances alone may not reveal much. Anime is well known for making characters much older or younger than they look, sometimes by a handful of years or even decades or centuries, if the supernatural is involved. Looks alone can be hugely deceiving, such as the burly teens in Tokyo Revengers being the size of adult men at age 14, or Tatsumaki in One-Punch Man being a woman in her late 20s despite her almost child-like appearance. As for My Hero Academia‘s own anime universe, the characters tend to look more or less their actual age, with few examples of extreme age vs. appearance gaps. Still, this is not an easy way to determine how old Pop Step is.
Questions about Pop Step’s exact age and its implications can be answered based on other clues present in the anime. With or without those clues, fans can be reasonably sure Pop Step is indeed a minor, seeing how her friend Koichi Haimawari is 19, and Pop certainly looks and acts younger than him. One big giveaway is Pop Step’s civilian outfits, with her wearing school uniforms typical of Japanese middle schools. Middle school students in Japan tend to be ages 12 to 15, so Pop Step is almost certainly in that range. However, Pop does not seem to be a mere 12-year-old, and even 13 feels like a stretch, so fans can be almost certain Pop Step is 14-15. Pop Step is likely in the 9th grade, ready to move on to high school within a year or so.
Pop Step Is at a Crossroads Just Like Deku
If Pop Step is indeed in her last year of middle school at age 14-15, she’s 4-5 years younger than Koichi. It also makes Pop Step the same age as a few of My Hero Academia‘s own characters when they appeared in their pre-U.A. days. Interestingly enough, this a link between Pop Step and the students of Class 1-A, with Pop Step being in their position right before they were accepted into U.A. Fans may recall the flashback sequence where 9th grade Mina Ashido declared her intent to get into U.A. and her confrontation with a villain, both of which inspired her classmate Eijiro Kirishima to apply to U.A. as well. Both Mina and Eijiro were good-hearted youths who wanted to make a difference, and at the last minute, they applied to U.A. before they ended up at a more typical high school.
Pop Step’s age and school grade also make her similar to both Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo in the first few episodes of My Hero Academia. Since MHA‘s early episodes covered Deku’s origin story, fans got to see what daily life was like for the pre-U.A. Deku and Bakugo, while they were classmates in 9th grade. It’s clear that for every youth in Japan, 9th grade is the turning point between continuing their civilian life or going to a hero high school like U.A., Shiketsu, and Ketsubutsu. Going into high school is a life-changing event in a world of Quirks and pro heroes, which highlights the contrast between Pop Step, the then-Quirkless Deku, and Bakugo.
Right now, Pop Step is at the same age where Deku had his sole chance to get into a hero school, and time is running out for Pop Step. Pop Step probably won’t attend a hero school, but it still feels thematically relevant to show her standing at the same crossroads where Deku and Bakugo once stood in 9th grade. This is the thematic watershed moment where Deku and Bakugo took the U.A. route for their high school education, while Pop Step is almost guaranteed to go the other way and attend a normal high school, forever cutting her off from the possibility of becoming a pro hero. It’s yet another way to show how Pop Step, Koichi, and Knuckleduster are not repeats of Deku and the students of U.A.’s Class 1-A. These three new heroes are vigilantes, working outside the law and outside the pro hero system.
Pop Step Is the Right Age to Start Figuring Herself Out
So Far, Pop Step Relies Heavily on Her Idol Persona
Another implication of Pop Step’s apparent age at 14-15 is that she is at the right age to seriously figure herself out. A person’s self-image, identity, and role in society are only gradually determined as they grow up, and the same is true for anime characters who live in Quirk-filled worlds. Elementary school students may not give it much thought, but starting in middle school or so, youths are more conscious of how they fit into their community — or don’t fit in — and work on determining exactly who they are. The process may take longer for some students and may be easier or tougher for some, but the fact remains that by age 14-15, any teenager is taking this topic seriously. They aren’t just kids anymore — they are approaching adulthood, and they need to be someone by the time adulthood arrives.
In My Hero Academia, the teenage characters usually approach the self-identity process in terms of Quirks and being pro heroes, such as figuring out their hero costumes and names, not to mention striving to emulate role models like All Might or Crimson Riot. However, the My Hero Academia: Vigilantes anime is a spinoff, meaning it has spare time to explore character arcs in new ways — ways the main anime didn’t have time for. Pop Step is at the right age to undergo the relatable process of carving out her own identity. The process might include hardships or false starts, but it must be done, and it enriches Pop Step’s personal arc.
Pop Step doesn’t often comment on this, but she does show it through her actions, at least. Rather than base her emerging identity on being a pro hero student, Pop Step is expressing herself and carving out a niche as an amateur pop idol, performing on the streets to express her love of music and have an outward identity to hang onto. This isn’t just a way to set Pop Step apart from the other vigilantes, though — it’s a sympathetic way for Pop Step to figure herself out. This may also go in various directions, which may say much about Pop Step as she grows up. She might outgrow idol performances and pursue something else as her identity evolves, or Pop Step might commit to music, which would also say much about her. Being just 14-15 years old, Pop Step has plenty of time to decide if music is indeed her career and identity, or just a phase in her personal journey.
Pop Step Must Not Be Used For Fan Service
Pop Step Shouldn't Seek Romance, Either
There are two more implications of Pop Step’s apparent age, both of them straightforward. Pop Step must not be used for fan service any more than she already has, and she should not get romantically involved with Koichi. Already, Pop Step is wearing an alluring outfit as a vigilante music star, and in the original manga, Pop Step showed even more skin. Even when the anime partially censored Pop Step’s outfit with an adjusted miniskirt and new leggings, she is testing the limits of fan service for a character who is 14-15 years old. The anime industry has already gone this far or even further with characters at this age range already, but that’s no reason to do it again. Preferably, Pop Step won’t be used as a fan service engine any longer, not even when slimy villains arrive to slather her in ooze.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes should also keep the relationship between Pop Step and Koichi platonic in light of their ages. There is a 4-5 year age gap between them, which is a large gap for teenagers. Such a gap means far less when characters are in their mid-20s and older, but if Pop Step is a mere 14-15, she has no business getting romantically linked with someone 4-5 years her senior. Based on what fans have seen, Koichi can be trusted around Pop Step in daily life, which is certainly a relief, but it’s still no reason for them to begin a real romance. Pop Step is simply not old enough for a partner Koichi’s age, so if she wants romance, Pop Step should seek a romance with someone in her age group. Koichi is Pop Step’s friend and ally, but based on everyone’s ages, by no means should Koichi become her boyfriend.
