For fans of the manga and anime series My Hero Academia, Shota Aizawa, also known by his hero name “Eraser Head,” is a lovable character who captured hearts with his tired eyes and habit of bundling up in a sleeping bag in his homeroom class. Now, a cosplayer has gone viral for showing his potential of being an intensely protective girl dad—which those of us with vision had already headcannoned given the paternal instinct he displays with his students.
Cosplayer gives us the girl dad Aizawa we desperately needed
In a viral TikTok, Matt Curtin (@matt_the_curtin) dresses in Aizawa’s classic black top and oversized gray scarf, ready to take on the #girldad role. “Which one?” he asks Eri, the granddaughter of a Yakuza boss who had been held captive for her powers and rescued by the story’s heroes, played by Curtin in a gray hoodie. She says “him” in response and points to a little boy, played by Curtin in a gray and white hoodie.
“Stay here, sweetie, and watch for cops,” Aizawa says as he goes to lay into the troublesome boy.
In a Batman-like deep voice, Aizawa introduces himself as the boy’s “worst nightmare” and questions whether he recently called Eri “fat and ugly,” which the boy confirms he did. Aizawa throws his head back in raucous laughter, prompting the boy to ask, “Why is that funny?”
“You have no idea what’s coming, and it’s [expletive] comical,” Aizawa says while wiping a non-existent tear from his eye. When the boy points out that the hero shouldn’t use expletives (“Language!” as Captain America would say), the hero says, “You’re quickly going to realize certain rules don’t apply to me—like all the really, really important ones.”
Aizawa says the boy lied to “his daughter to her face,” and the boy excuses his behavior by saying he was just being “silly.”
“And I’m just being killy,” Aizawa responds, as his eyes glow red. The boy, who uses his fingers to indicate that he’s only 5 years old, begs Aizawa not to hurt him. The hero says he’s not going to because he’s “wearing an ankle monitor this week,” which the boy responds to with relief.
The boy responds in terror, and Aizawa continues his threat. “You come near my daughter again, I’ll videotape these two crushing you and put that [expletive] on the internet. They’ll be making edits of your pain for centuries to come.”
The boy begins to bawl. Aizawa declares to his “perfect angel” that their work is done. Eri requests to say goodbye to the boy first, and Aizawa obliges, saying he and the other men will wait for her in the minivan. “We can all go for froyo,” he adds, to Endeavor’s delight.
Eri, taking after her “father,” threatens the boy in her goodbye, saying that if he ever cheats at Fortnite again, Aizawa would “snap [him] off like a Kit-Kat.”
‘I’M IN LOVE WITH DADZAWA’
In the comments section, viewers said variations of what we’re all thinking: I love Dadzawa, and I need more of him.
“Aizawa [is] so cute when he[’s] overprotective,” one wrote.
Another said, “Eri aizawa dont sound half bad…aizawa should adopt her if he hasnt in canon done so already.” Unfortunately, adoption in canon seems to be off the table as Eri lives with hero Mandalay.
“Never mess with Dadzawa’s kids,” another helpfully warns.
What is a #girldad?
A “girl dad” is the father of a daughter or daughters, especially one who only has girl children. The term was born out of opposition to the idea that, because a dad is a man, he must want a son. It is used by dads to signify their pride in having a daughter and that the bond between father and daughter and the experience of parenting a girl is just as strong as the bond between father and son and as fulfilling as the experience of parenting a boy.
“Being a girl dad is about working to make the world better for you[r] girls,” The Dad reports. “A girl dad plays princesses, does hair, and gives manicures, but he also teaches his daughters how to fish and play sports. There’s nothing we could teach to our sons that we can’t teach to our daughters, but there’s a lot that our daughters can teach us. We recognize the importance of raising strong, independent women. We also recognize that there are stigmas, stereotypes, and inequalities that exist that stand in the way of our daughters being whatever they want to be, and it’s our job to help knock those down.”
@matt_the_curtin My Hero Academia – Dadzawa on the Playground #fyp #weebs #otaku #mha #bnha #aizawa #eri #endeavor #allmight ♬ original sound – Matt Curtin
Some notable girl dads are the late Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Johnson, Ludacris, and Channing Tatum.
The Mary Sue reached out to Matt Curtin via TikTok comment and direct message, and Instagram direct message. It reached out to My Hero Academia via Instagram direct message to its English account.
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