Shota is a very stern and reserved man who has lofty expectations of his students. He is primarily motivated by logic and does not believe in the necessity of maintaining a clean-cut appearance or filtering his words or ideas for others. He often comes off as cold, apathetic, and impatient, exerting very little energy in most situations, preferring to take naps in his sleeping bag instead. As a teacher with notoriously high expectations, Shota is known to expel students who he feels are not suited for U.A High. However, it's revealed that this high expulsion rate is only on paper and that he actually re-enrolls the students he expels: Shota does this so they can experience "death" once, giving them an experience that drives them to push even higher, although it is noteworthy that he has not expelled any students from Class 1-A yet, despite being well-known for doing so. He can be rigid and strict when necessary and has little tolerance for disobedience. Shota is not afraid of putting his students through rigorous training and often emphasizes the more unpleasant parts of heroism so that his students can overcome their limits. Shota has proven to be very vocal and unafraid when expressing his ideas. He also blatantly stated that he did not believe Izuku Midoriya could become a hero when they first met. He is also known for lying to his students to manipulate them into giving their best, a technique he describes as a "logical ruse" or "rational deception". Despite his apathetic traits, Shota genuinely cares about his students and will go to great lengths to protect them. He has also expressed belief in his students on multiple occasions and is confident that even the likes of Katsuki Bakugo would not be swayed by the League of Villains. Even with his stern demeanor, Shota has a softer side that shows itself on occasion, genuinely wanting the best for all his students and being confident they will all go on to become great Heroes. Shota is also quite nurturing, as he has been seen attending to his duties as Eri's temporary guardian without complaint; he has demonstrated to be very attentive and involved in his role as a provider even outside of his duties as a teacher and mentor. Thanks to his Erasure, Shota was able to keep Eri's dangerous Rewind Quirk in check, and was later able to help teach her how to control it by using small ounces of Rewind to heal bugs and lizards. Despite his personality, Shota has shown on several occasions that he is not completely devoid of joy or humor: he often grins whenever he is impressed by one of his students or after he tricks them with one of his "rational deceptions." During his time as a student at U.A. High School, Shota was a gloomy and introverted young man who held severe doubts over whether he could be a hero, as his Quirk, Erasure, while useful, couldn't do much by itself. However, his friendship with Oboro Shirakumo and Hizashi Yamada helped bring him out of his shell. Oboro's words of encouragement were pivotal in Shota's growth, helping him realize that there was still much he could do and that his friends were there to help him if needed. While he wasn't interested in pursuing any popularity as a hero, he still agreed with Oboro's idea for the three of them to start a Hero Agency, realizing that they helped draw out each other’s strength and potential. However, everything changed after Oboro was killed in a fierce attack by the villain known as Garvey. The grief of losing his close friend strongly impacted Shota and caused him to lock in on his commitment to becoming a hero. However, this also caused him to develop his solitary tendencies, barely interacting with any of his classmates, and taking breaks by napping in his sleeping bag. This behavior change worried his teachers, who thought he had become too complacent for his own good, though his drive to become a hero remained strong during the rest of his time at U.A. While his teacher advised him not to rush his career, upon graduating from high school, Shota decided to become an underground hero who would specialize in fighting villains, leading to him becoming the serious and driven man that he is now. Before becoming a teacher at U.A. High, Shota had a more reckless and apathetic demeanor as a Hero. While still taking his duties seriously, he was willing to overlook the illegal actions of the Naruhata Vigilantes along with unethical yet well-meaning dealers such as the HottaBrothers. He even allied himself with them multiple times to help take down the Villain Factory. Despite this, he didn't hesitate to try to arrest Koichi Haimawari when the latter was wanted by the police, telling the young Vigilante that he was being reckless by resisting the Pro Heroes who wanted to help and believing that he wouldn't stop until someone got hurt. Even so, he soon abandoned his attempt to arrest him so the two of them could fight Number 6 and his army of Anonymous together, though he still warned Koichi that he would break his legs if he tried to run away. Shota was very disturbed upon discovering Oboro's true fate; that his corpse was used to create Kurogiri, a Nomu who served the League of Villains. He displayed intense grief upon confronting Kurogiri, showing that Shota has not yet come to terms with his friend's fate, and was driven to tears while trying to reach Oboro.