Who Is Hound Dog in My Hero Academia?

Quick Facts

Ryo Inui, also known as the Hunting Dog Hero: Hound Dog, is a Pro Hero and was the Head of Student Discipline at U.A. High School. He is 33 years old. His Quirk is called Dog. He is voiced by Eiji Hanawa in the Japanese version of the anime and by Zach Bolton in the English dub.

What Is Hound Dog's Quirk?

The Quirk is straightforwardly named Dog, and it does what it says. The Dog Quirk is used by Ryo Inui, and it gives the user an increased sense of hearing and smell. For Ryo, his sense of smell was to the point where he could tell how many people there were inside a forest from outside. It's not a flashy combat Quirk in the way All Might's or Bakugo's are — it's a sensory upgrade, which fits a character whose job is noticing when a teenager is about to do something reckless before it happens.

The physical side is just as literal. The Quirk also gives him the characteristics of a dog, including paws, claws, fur, and a long, black nose. Ryo has the appearance of a dog due to his Quirk, with a scruffy mane of blond hair sticking straight out behind his head.

Hound Dog's Role at U.A. High

Homeroom & counseling duties

Hound Dog isn't a subject teacher in the traditional sense — he's the school's discipline and welfare backstop. He was the Head of Student Discipline at U.A. High School. Fan wikis frame this in gentler terms too: he is a lifestyle guidance counselor at U.A. High School, and as a high school guidance counselor, it is implied that he is skilled in helping youths deal with their problems.

The intimidating exterior is mostly theater. Despite his imposing presence and violent-sounding outbursts, he is deeply considerate of his students' well-being, willingly accepting being feared as part of his assigned role to keep them on the right track. There's even a documented soft side: Hound Dog's rough behavior, such as when he tossed Izuku and told him to have fun at the School Festival after fighting Gentle Criminal, is just his way of showing affection, much like a hyperactive dog.

Key appearances/arcs

Hound Dog shows up at several of the series' biggest set pieces rather than carrying his own arc. Ryo and several other U.A. teachers arrive at the U.S.J. to help Class 1-A and All Might against the League of Villains' attack. He resurfaces during the School Festival crisis, and later in the war against All For One: Hound Dog is among the many Heroes warped to Mt. Fuji to face off against "All For One." The Villain prepares to attack them, but before he can, Hound Dog gives Thirteen a ride on his back and she starts to pull him in with her Black Hole, and is then countered by Gang Orca's Orcinus and Seiji's Meatballs.

Long after the war, his story quietly resolves: eight years after the Final War, he has resigned from the school and now works as a dog park owner. Fittingly on-brand for a hero named after a dog.

Hound Dog's Personality & Design

The visual design does a lot of the character work before he says a word. He has a scruffy mane of blond hair sticking straight out behind his head, he also wears a muzzle over his slightly pointed snout in his hero costume, and when angry, Ryo speaks in an incoherent and violent manner with a mix of words and a sound akin to a dog's growling.

Underneath the growl is, by most accounts, a workhorse. His personality describes him as a "workaholic." There's also a small, oddly charming detail fans have dug up about what actually delights him: he loves bones, staring at them with almost blissful delight when he sees them. For a site that hands out "bones" as its own currency of affection, that's a coincidence too good not to mention.

He also isn't the only canine face on the show's roster — he shares a canine face with police chief Kenji Tsuragamae, though the two are not related by blood, and their similar appearances are simply a result of their respective Quirks.

Voice Actors (JP & EN)

He is voiced by Eiji Hanawa in the Japanese version of the anime and by Zach Bolton in the English dub, per Behind the Voice Actors and the My Hero Academia Fandom wiki. Hanawa's other anime work includes roles in Solo Leveling and Dragon Ball Super, per his Anime-Planet credits. Bolton, credited in some sources as Z. Charles Bolton, voices Hound Dog alongside other My Hero Academia roles — his English voice actor, Zach Bolton, also voices Sansa Tamagawa and Centipeder in the same show.

Hound Dog vs. Other Anime Dog-Mentors

Here's the thing about strict, dog-coded mentor figures in anime and cartoons — they're a minor tradition unto themselves. Half of them growl first and mentor second, which is more or less the Hound Dog formula: intimidating enough that nobody tests him twice, soft enough that the toss-across-the-room actually reads as a hug. He'd fit right in alongside the gruff-but-loyal archetype that shows up across pop culture whenever writers want a mentor who barks louder than he bites.

Real dogs, refreshingly, don't need a muzzle-and-Quirk backstory to have that same contradiction built in — the guarded-looking breeds who turn out to be the softest company in the room. If you'd rather meet the four-legged, non-fictional version of that energy, our breed guides cover the real dogs with real personalities, no discipline committee required.