Kendo Itsuka

Overview

Kendo Itsuka, operating under the hero name Battle Fist, is a prominent supporting character in My Hero Academia. Serving as the class president of U.A. High School's Hero Course Class 1-B, she acts as a grounding, responsible big-sister figure for her eccentric classmates. Characterized by her bright demeanor, sharp intellect, and strong sense of justice, she balances martial strength with strategic insight. In combat situations and inter-class exercises, she frequently steps into the role of tactical commander, earning deep trust from her peers and maintaining a constructive relationship with Class 1-A.

Appearance

Itsuka is a striking young woman with green eyes and long orange hair styled into a high side ponytail. Her hero costume consists of a blue-toned sleeveless qipao-style outfit paired with a dark domino mask. During colder seasons, her costume features long sleeves instead of a sleeveless cut. When activating her power, both of her hands can expand to massive proportions, large enough to completely encase a smaller person within her grasp.

Personality

Itsuka possesses a pragmatic, outgoing, and warm-hearted personality that makes her a natural leader among her peers. Often described as a big sister figure, she maintains order within her class with a balanced mix of authority and genuine affection. Despite her competitive edge, she shows great sportsmanship and friendliness toward Class 1-A, willingly sharing insights when appropriate. However, she has zero tolerance for unnecessary hostility; whenever her classmate Neito Monoma attempts to taunt rivals, she swiftly incapacitates him with a sharp karate chop to the neck and drags him away. Off-duty, she enjoys riding motorcycles and drinking black coffee.

Abilities

Her Quirk, Big Fist, grants her the ability to dramatically enlarge her hands to immense sizes. This physical transformation drastically boosts her striking power, allowing her to shatter metallic shields in a single hit and knock away targets behind them. Beyond offensive strikes, her enlarged hands can be used defensively to block attacks, capture or carry allies, or function like giant fans to create powerful wind gusts capable of dispersing gases. Her signature technique, Sou Taiken, involves enlarging her fists at the exact moment of impact to maximize velocity and crushing power. Combined with her proficiency in martial arts and exceptional tactical intellect, she excels as a close-range brawler and strategic battlefield leader.

Background

During her time at U.A. High School, Itsuka repeatedly demonstrated her integrity and heroism. At the Sports Festival, she voluntarily yielded a vacated tournament spot to Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu's team, believing they deserved it more for their effort. For her work experience, she interned alongside Momo Yaoyorozu under the pro hero Uwabami, where the pair unexpectedly found themselves filming commercials due to their attractive appearances. When the League of Villains attacked the Forest Training Camp, she analyzed the movement of toxic gas, blew it away using her enlarged fists, and teamed up with Tetsutetsu to defeat the villain Mustard. In the joint battle training, she led her squad to victory against Class 1-A, and during the final conflict, she guarded evacuation routes at U.A. and neutralized saboteurs. Eight years later, she achieved the 23rd rank on the Pro Hero Billboard Chart JP.

Relationships

Itsuka maintains a close working relationship with her Class 1-B peers. She acts as the primary check on Neito Monoma, regularly interrupting his antagonization of Class 1-A with a swift physical reprimand. She shares a deep bond of mutual trust with Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, fighting alongside him during key crises such as the forest training attack. She also forms a respectful rivalry with Momo Yaoyorozu; after interning together under the pro hero Uwabami and starring in televised advertisements, the two proved to be formidable tactical opponents during class combat exercises. In spin-off material, she notably demonstrated her raw upper-body strength by defeating Eijiro Kirishima in arm wrestling without relying on her Quirk.

Trivia

Even before receiving significant screen time in the manga, Itsuka was surprisingly popular among the author's editorial team and assistants due to her appealing character design. In the first official popularity poll, she secured 13th place with 170 votes—the highest ranking among all Class 1-B students at the time. In response to this unexpected success, the manga author included a self-deprecating comment from her on the inner cover fold of Volume 7, thanking fans while lightheartedly noting that she had achieved the rank without having done much yet in the story. She later placed 50th in the fourth popularity poll.