Chapter Text
The Mystery of the Rising Hero, Wash
By Junichiro Sakamoto
Hero lovers all around Japan know of the Hero Billboard Chart JP’s Hero rankings chart, where many of our beloved idols have found their top spots for the past several decades.
Hawks, Endeavor, Best Jeanist, even All Might; what do all of these Heroes have in common? The general consensus is that it’s because they’re among the very best, but numerous interviews from Pro Heroes and thousands of forum-goers suggest otherwise.
Instead, past dealings generally point towards the conclusion that the ranking of Heroes depends on "their ability to resolve high-difficulty cases, their efficiency during a crisis, and overall popularity amongst the masses."*
Many rankings, however, still leave many members of the public confused, and this conclusion leaves them with more questions than answers. One of the more notable Heroes this applies to is a recent Hero who’s been moving up in the ranks - and looks as if he might break into the top ten, soon enough - ‘Wash.’
“There is no justifiable reason that the Pro Hero Wash should be as famous as he is,” one anonymous speaker tells us.
Another mentions that he’s “...undeniably strong and diligent in heroics, but there’s nothing remarkable about him as far as heroes go.”
So if this is the case, then why is Wash so famous? Or rather, why is his popularity skyrocketing despite his near-ghostly presence in the media?
Well, it appears that Hero forums and thread sites are the places to turn for the answer to these questions.
“Wash will speak in an interview for a full hour and leave the reporter looking all satisfied, but then when you turn off the broadcast, you start realizing that you’ve just been left with net zero information,” one user mentions in a thread asking about the most mysterious Heroes.
Another user’s reply adds on to say that, “He switches between moods without a moment’s pause. It’s almost scary, tbh, but it makes him super interesting too.”
Other users confer, and generally seem to believe that what makes Wash so interesting is that he leaves the viewer curious; he leaves them wondering and wanting , but he keeps them waiting . The moment you begin to believe that you may have an answer, there are a dozen more questions waiting to be asked.
There has also been much debate about Wash’s public appearances. Only recently has he been willing to humor reporters, though it seems as if there’s something else on going behind the scenes.
A question by Reddit user u/gobblessin sparks one such debate, questioning the man’s tendency to be late to his own interviews. He goes into detail about how his segments are always longer, yet there’s noticeably less time featuring the Hero himself.
Other users suggest that there’s some sort of deal going on between the Pro Hero and news stations in order to pad the runtime.
“It would make sense, since the ads before Wash’s segments are always slightly longer than the ones before other heroes’ interviews,” one user comments.
Someone else mentions that they “...wouldn’t be surprised, since he isn’t usually involved with brand deals. Guy would have to make money somehow.”
Others, of course, aren’t satisfied and chip in with their own theories. But all fall apart in the face of a comment by user u/camthecorder, who claims to have worked with Wash on more than one occasion, thanks to her job on a news set. She claims, in short, that Wash is eccentric but polite, and “All in all, he wasn’t awful, aside from the lateness. Even then, I’ve seen far worse.”
So is that the real answer here? That Wash’s popularity comes from his personality? The mysteries surrounding his character? Or are all of these answers just conspiracies, hoping to hit the nail on the coffin when the true answer is disappointingly mundane?
Perhaps we may never know. Either way, Wash will undoubtedly feature on far more top ten lists in the future, if things continue going as they are now. It remains to be seen, however, where exactly this takes him.
u/camthecorder • 17 days ago
“I ended up seeing him twice because of my job. Odd guy, but nice enough and pretty chill. He showed up late and gave some weird excuses, so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t planned.
EDIT: since people were asking and this blew up, I’ll add some more info. Here’s hoping my boss doesn’t see this lmao
Like I said before, both times he came around, he showed up late. What I didn’t mention was that it was almost by a full three hours. The higher-ups didn’t actually seem all that surprised, but they weren’t happy either, so I still doubt that there was anything suspicious going on there.
Anyway, the first time he said that he’d taken the long way around because he saw a black cat.* The second time I’m pretty sure he mentioned something about his dogs, though I really couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. The interview started almost immediately after that, though I did hear that he freaked out some of the interns when he started chatting with them near the snack table. I hear that by the time he was gone, so were half of the snacks, even though nobody saw him eat a thing. All in all, he wasn’t awful, aside from the lateness. Even then, I’ve seen far worse.
*EDIT 2: I guess people found out when this was, and apparently he fought some villain with a luck quirk and a cat gimmick an hour before the broadcast, so… that’s something.
(Please stop digging further though. I’d rather not get fired.)
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