Shoto is a reasonably tall, rather muscular young man who is well-built for his age. He has quite long hair, though it doesn't pass his neck, and wears bangs, parted twice as to not obscure his vision. His hair is evenly split between two colors: white on his right-side and crimson red on his left, this unusual colouring being due to his . As another result of this, he also possesses , which causes his left eye's iris to appear turquoise, while his right is a somewhat brownish dark gray. His eyes, in shape, are quite thin and reserved, and he also has a large burn scar on the left side of his face, which reaches from his hairline to halfway down his cheek. Despite this, however, several of the girls in his class have claimed that he is incredibly handsome, even going as far as to say that he's the best-looking guy. During school hours, he wears the regular male U.A. uniform, replacing the usual brown dress shoe with casual pale cyan lace-ups.
In his initial hero , he wears a plain off-white shirt with matching pants and boots, with two gold-colored straps going over his shoulders. He has what appears to be a material resembling ice covering his whole left side, even his head although it is detachable, which he wears as a way of rejecting the fire side of his Quirk.
His updated hero costume consists of a dark blue jacket with elbow-length sleeves, its collar high and joined in the center by a gray neckpiece, baggy pants of the same color, a metal-plated combat vest and white boots, their soles and a thin line running down the center of each of them a darker pale gray. He also sports a brown utility belt around his waist, with little metal capsules containing medical supplies hanging off the front. Shoto originally had a cold, aloof personality which stemmed from his abusive upbringing. Focused and unemotional, Shoto preferred to keep to himself instead of hanging out with other people. After the events of the , however, Shoto has become noticeably more sociable, even gaining a sense of humor and occasionally smiling, although still retaining the remnants of a distant attitude. After the events in the , he has begun to open up more to his classmates and has lightened up from his usually serious demeanor. Despite his usual reserved demeanor, Shoto did initially possess a moderate level of arrogance, which, combined with his solitary tendencies, sometimes made him take the initiative without considering the opinions of others, as he was confident that he could take on any obstacles with his own strength. He used to be much more unfriendly as well, to the point of causing to resent him. Shoto is quite seasoned in battle, being able to stay calm and composed even while fighting real villains. Though brutal in combat, Shoto is well-grounded on the ethics of heroism, only wishing to subdue his frozen opponents as opposed to killing them by prolonging their frozen states. Shoto appears to draw his heroic values from , which is a trait he shares in common with and However, Shoto still harbors a grudge towards Endeavor, even if he respects his father's ability as a Hero, admitting to himself that such resentment can't vanish so easily and that he was wrong in trying to bury it. Having been denied a normal childhood so that his father could train him to realize his own selfish ambitions, Shoto still holds various psychological scars, which tend to reemerge when others compare him to Endeavor. Because of this and Izuku's influence, Shoto now strives to become a Hero, but without walking the same path his father did. Shoto still remains cold towards Endeavor and has made it clear that forgiveness for his past treatment of him and his mother is difficult, but has demonstrated worry pertaining to his father's safety. With Endeavor now attempting to improve his relationship with his family, Shoto has taken a cautious, yet hopeful approach to this development.
During his match with Izuku in the , Izuku's speech made the memory of his mother's supportive words resurface, and for the first time since his childhood, Shoto used his fire power in combat. After the battle, Shoto had mixed feelings about using his left side, but after reconciling with , Shoto eventually came to terms with the half he once hated. Despite being scarred by her when he was a young child, Shoto showcases no hard feelings towards his mother, visiting her often ever since the end of the Sports Festival. Using the right side of his body, Shoto can drastically lower temperatures and freeze anything he touches. Shoto is able to swiftly freeze entire buildings, as well as create large waves of ice instantaneously. Despite its incredible raw power, Shoto possesses great control and direction over his right side. He can restrict the ice to avoid fatally freezing someone, or . If fighting alongside others, he is capable of covering enemy territory with ice while simultaneously preventing it from getting in his allies' way. Shoto is capable of molding the ice into certain shapes to support himself, such as protective barriers, stairs to elevate himself or a moving wave of ice for him to surf through. Shoto has many mobility options too, like stacking ice shards behind his back to propel himself forward or freezing the ground to skate on it.
