Denki Kaminari

**Denki Kaminari**, also known as **Stun Gun Hero: Chargebolt**, is a character from the *My Hero Academia* series.

Denki is a feisty but goofy and slightly dim-witted young boy who often tries to show off and look cool in front of the girls. His Quirk, "Electrification", allows him to discharge electricity from his body. While this is extremely powerful, there is a limit to how much electricity he can release at once; going over this limit short circuits his own brain, temporarily turning him into a giggling idiot.

In the XP4 fics, Denki debuted in XP4 Heroes Coalition - Kick-Off!.

In the AWA fics, Denki is a student at the AWA Academy and is part of Class 6.

## **Appearance**

Denki has short gold hair, parted to the right with a black lightning-shaped streak on the left of his side fringe, which is angled to partially obscure his left eye. He has slanted, somewhat triangular golden eyes and notably small eyebrows. He's slimmer than most male students in his class, with little visible muscle mass. During the Paranormal Liberation War, Denki gained a scar on his upper left forehead following his injury from Mr. Compress' attack, although his hair covers it rather well.

Denki wears the standard U.A. uniform during school hours, the second button of his blazer undone. He also wears dark brown shoes.

In his original hero costume, Denki wears a plain white shirt, over which he wears an open black jacket with a white lightning pattern across his back and matching pants with two lines running down his legs. He has a single, square-shaped earphone over his right ear, resembling a radio antenna sticking out of the top.

Denki's updated hero costume consists of a slightly shorter black jacket with fewer white patterns, only two near the hem and collar, and a yellow-rimmed lightning bolt around each of his shoulders. He still wears matching black pants, but they only have a small zig-zag near each of their cuffs, and he wears a belt and a white V-neck shirt. Around his right wrist, he wears a wristband with a circular mechanism from which he can shoot disc-shaped Pointers, which aid him in aiming his Quirk. He also wears a black choker with a silver buckle on the left side and a headset with a blue-tinted visor.

## **Personality**

Denki is a friendly, social, and energetic boy who enjoys hanging out with others. He is rather casual when interacting with other people, including the generally unfriendly Katsuki Bakugo, although he's not above petty complaining or overreacting if he feels annoyed or shocked enough. Denki may come off as blunt and reckless at times but is always well-meaning. He encourages others to be themselves and become more comfortable doing what they like. This motivational aspect is shown when he compliments Kyoka's skill with multiple musical instruments during preparation for the U.A. School Festival.

Denki is somewhat flirtatious towards the girls in and out of his class, sometimes accompanying Minoru Mineta on his schemes and trying to pass himself off as a smooth talker. He is not very lucky with his approaches, though, frequently having his advances ignored or outright rejected by those he asks out. Denki is also a bit of a jokester and sometimes teases others with playful comments. Overall, Denki is interested in appearing cool and trendy to impress people but has a shallow understanding of how to do so correctly. Because of that, he is easily influenced by what's popular or stylish at the moment, even if it's due to villain action.

Denki could be more academically bright, requiring massive help with studying due to his general disinterest and neglect of school duties. He does not appear to pay much attention in classes, gets quickly bored from lectures, and suffers anxiety attacks when dealing with tests, at which point he becomes increasingly agitated and aggressive. Frequently showing a lack of tact and smarts in and outside of school, Denki may give off the impression of being stupid or foolish, leading others to throw snide remarks at him, especially Kyoka Jiro, or underestimate his capabilities as a hero. Despite this, Denki can show surprising knowledge about specific areas such as literature, art, and music, possessing an extensive vocabulary that shows up now and then.

Denki becomes distraught when put into stressful situations, appearing spineless and incompetent to foes and allies alike. During combat, he is swift to panic and may accidentally activate his Quirk in the face of imminent danger, leaving himself vulnerable. He becomes more reluctant to use his full power when there are allies close to him, being afraid of hurting them through collateral damage from his explosive bolts. He becomes more confident in his fighting abilities when he is assured that all his allies will be safe from his powers. He does not tolerate others looking down on him, and his classmates and will defend them if necessary.

Whenever Denki exceeds his wattage limit, he loses his ability to discharge energy, with his entire personality changing into that of a giggling idiot for a certain period until he reverts to normal. In this state, he is always giving thumbs-ups as a way to let others know that he is okay.

## **XP4 Fanfics**

Denki is a member of the Heroes Coalitions and is part of The Flaming Honor. He also attends the Vanguard Academy as a student.

### **XP4 Heroes Coalition - Kick-Off!**

In Chapter 6, Denki, alongside his team, The Flaming Honor and another team called The Mighty Never Kneel, are seen in Magnum City taking on a group of Emotionless and successfully defeated them.

### **XP4 Heroes Coalition - Neo-City Diaries**

In Chapter 24, Denki, alongside Yosuke Hanamura, Kyouka Jirou, Rock Lee and Cana Alberona, are seen having a conversation in front of a row lockers inside the Vanguard Academy.

## **Abilities**

While Denki doesn't possess any direct combat abilities, he compensates for this with his moderate handle on the destructive, widespread power of his Quirk. When using Electrification, Denki gains a defense mechanism that shocks anyone who comes into contact with him, leaving them slightly, if not wholly, paralyzed. As a result, Denki can be somewhat difficult to face in battle, especially for those that rely on close-quarters combat. If Denki emits enough electricity, it automatically discharges in all directions, shocking anyone close to him regardless if there's physical contact or not. This aspect of Electrification makes Denki very effective in battles involving many opponents, but it can also turn him into a burden if there are allies around who can't protect themselves from his bolts. Denki can also use his electrokinetics to turn himself into a makeshift lightning rod to diffuse the electrical attacks of his opponents.

Denki incapacitated several villains that had surrounded him, Kyoka, and Momo at the U.S.J Incident and single-handedly short-circuited a giant Villain Bot at the U.A. Sports Festival. He showcased significant improvement during the Provisional Hero License Exam, wherein he teamed up with Katsuki and Eijiro Kirishima to battle Seiji Shishikura, one of the most formidable students of Shiketsu High School. After Seiji overpowered Katsuki and Eijiro, Denki utilized his improved Quirk handling in tandem with his new Sharpshooting Gear to catch the flesh-manipulating student off-guard and successfully subdue him, allowing Katsuki and Eijiro to break free from the effects of Seiji's Meatball Quirk, and ultimately defeat him. During the first round of the Joint Training Battle, Denki demonstrated the mettle to take on Jurota Shishida, one of the strongest students in Class 1-B, but couldn't keep up with the latter's enhanced prowess. During Nine's attack on Nabu Island, Denki teamed with Eijiro and Katsuki to efficaciously take on Mummy 's puppet assault and acted as a lightning rod to counteract Nine 's Weather Manipulation Quirk to protect Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki. His abilities eventually garnered the attention of The Lurkers (consisting of Edgeshot, Kamui Woods, and Mt. Lady), allowing Denki to intern under the trio of powerful heroes and improve on close and efficient team maneuvers.

Despite not being one of the more intelligent members of Class 1-A, Denki possesses some strategic and tactical skills. During the Joint Training Battle, he devised a strategy to defeat Ibara Shiozaki, one of Class 1-B 's most formidable students. Having learned from his first battle with her at the U.A. Sports Festival that her vines are immune to electricity, Denki allowed himself to act as a decoy and be the only one captured so that he could produce enough electricity to divide the attention of the opposing team. Denki's plan enabled Hitoshi Shinso to discreetly brainwash Ibara while Tsuyu Asui captured her before subduing Hiryu Rin, which in turn defeated Jurota. Denki's ingenuity, which secured victory for his team, can be rather impressive when the situation calls for it.

Denki is highly skilled at playing the electric guitar and can draw detailed portraits.

### **Quirk**

* **Electrification** (*Taiden*): Denki's Quirk allows him to generate electricity and cover his body in it. While he can also emit this energy over a distance, Denki has little to no control over it, meaning it will go everywhere indiscriminately. Exceeding his wattage limit causes his brain to short-circuit, leaving him in a vulnerable state for 1 hour. Denki is also able to absorb and neutralize electricity and other lightning-based Quirks. As part of his training, Denki ran his currents of electricity through a high-capacity battery so he can handle larger amounts of electricity.

### **Super Moves**

* **Indiscriminate Discharge 1,300,000 volts** (*Musabetsu Hōden 130-man boruto*): Denki releases a large amount of electricity to shock everyone around him.

### **Equipment**

* **Communication Earpiece:**Denki wears an earpiece on his right ear that allows him to channel his electricity into it and create electrical communication signals. This allows him to communicate with other channels remotely, however, signals can also be blocked out by outside electrical disturbance.
* **Sharpshooting Gear**: A device Denki wears on his right forearm that fires the Pointers. It contains a dial that allows Denki to choose the pointer he wants his electricity to be directed towards in case multiple Pointers are set up.
	+ **Pointers**: Disc-shaped projectiles that stick to targets. When Denki releases his electricity, it converges to where the released pointer is. The working distance limit is 10 meters.
* **Optical Visor**: A headwear that updates Denki with info about the location of the Pointers.

## **Trivia**

* In the preliminary stages of the series, Denki's design was radically different from his current one. He looked far more villainous, with longer, spikier hair. Also, he was not yet known as Denki Kaminari, but rather as a random electricity Quirk user.
	+ Denki's original design also shares a lot of similarities with Present Mic, who was also conceived as a completely different character from what he is currently.
* According to Denki's Volume 3 profile:
	+ Denki's favorite food is hamburgers.
	+ Denki's favorite things are anything that's currently trending.
	+ Denki's role is to tie Class 1-A together with his personality, just like Eijiro.
	+ Horikoshi thinks Denki is fun to draw but has trouble drawing his hair with consistency.
* Denki's known U.A. data is as follows:
	+ Student No. 7 in Class 1-A.
	+ Ranked 16th during Shouta Aizawa's Quirk Apprehension Test.
	+ Ranked 20th in Class 1-A's grades.
	+ Ranked in the Top 16 of the U.A. Sports Festival First-Year Stage.
		- Denki received a total of 272 nominations from Pro Heroes for his U.A. Sports Festival performance, making him the fifth most nominated Class 1-A student.
* Denki's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
	+ In the First Popularity Poll, Denki ranked 10th.
	+ In the Second Popularity Poll, Denki ranked 11th.
	+ In the Third Popularity Poll, Denki ranked 8th.
	+ In the Fourth Popularity Poll, Denki ranked 16th.
	+ In the Fifth Popularity Poll, Denki ranked 14th.
* Denki's surname contains the kanji for "above, hair" (*kami*), "sound, to ring" (*nari*), and his first name contains "electricity" (*den*) and "spirit" (*ki*).
	+ When written as one word, the kanji in Denki's first name translates to "electrical, electricity" (*denki*).
	+ Denki's surname is pronounced the same way as the Japanese word for "thunder" (*kaminari*).
* The black, lightning-shaped streak on Denki's hair is apparently natural.
* Denki and Kyouka share the same costume designer.
* Denki's Quirk is similar to the Marvel Comics villain Electro.
* When Kyouka suggests the hero name "Jamming-Whey" for Kaminari (as an insult, since when in his "moron state", he just makes the sound "wheyy"), he immediately thinks she's making a connecting to Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist.

## **External Links**

* Denki Kaminari at My Hero Academia Wiki