Summary
The popular mangaMy Hero Academiaended with chapter 430, finishing Izuku Midoriya’s story that has inspired and touched the hearts of fans across the world. What many fans don’t know is thatMy Hero Academiawouldn’t have existed in the first place without a one-shot published by its author, Kohei Horikoshi, calledMy Hero. However, a closer look into the final chapters ofMy Hero Academiashows that its manga artist has revisited its original one-shot while crafting Deku’s ending.
My Herowas published in the winter issue of Akamaru Jump magazine in December 2008, almost six years before the release ofMy Hero Academia, and is the basis on which Kohei Horikoshi would later build the universe of heroes and villains beloved by fans.
Despite both stories having slightly different settings,My Hero Academia’s endingrevealed thatMy Hero’s protagonist doesn’t just share a last name with Izuku Midoriyabut also foreshadowed how his story would end in the manga.
Deku Becomes a Pro Hero Who Uses Support Items Like in My Hero
My Hero Academia’s Author ConsideredMy HeroHis Masterpiece
The one-shotMy Herowas originally compiled in the final volume of Kohei Horikoshi’s previous workThe Fantastically Creative Oumagadoki Zooin 2011, and later released in Shōnen Jump+ in August 2018, and has great emotional value for the manga artist, according to what he wrote in its prologue:
“Since the main character is a salaryman it’s not terribly suited to a shounen magazine. However, this one-shot is, to me, my foremost masterpiece. If I can brag, this was my peak. If I ever get the chance, I want to draw it all out again. That’s how emotionally attached I am to it”. Kohei Horikoshi.
The Universe ofMy Herois very similar toMy Hero Academia, presenting a society where people with great physical abilities become heroes authorized by the government, who are dedicated to patrolling the city and seeking to eliminate all kinds of threats, in this case monsters instead of villains.My Hero’s protagonist, Jack Midoriya, like Deku, despite having no power, has the dream of becoming a hero one day. However, he is not a teenager but an adult who works in a company dedicated to selling support items for heroes.
Jack Midoriya ends up using these items to save the idol who inspired him, and he becomes a different kind of hero in the end.In the last chapter ofMy Hero Academia, Deku shares many similarities with Jack,since he is able to be a pro hero by using support items, but more advanced since it is a battlesuit. Deku was also told by All Might, his idol and the one who gave him his dream, that he was his hero, just like Jack and Positive/Snipe.
Additionally, Jack’s clothes look quite similar to Izuku in the last chapter, and in both stories, their ties symbolize their growth. Jack wore his tie wrong throughout the one-shot and wears it correctly in the last panel, just like Izuku did during the entire manga, only wearing it properly in the last chapter, showing how they both grew to become who they wanted to be.
Deku Was a Hero From the Beginning, Just Like Jack Midoriya
The Message ofMy Hero AcademiaIs the Same asMy Hero
While Izuku is able to keep working as a pro-hero in the end, he was always a hero in the story.MHA’s final message is that everyone can be a hero, but it goes further than thatand is the same theme addressed in the original one-shot, summarized in a quote that the director Akahashi says to Jack:
You are the one who is saving me right now. Heroics ain’t the only work when you can be a hero. People become heroes when saving people who are in trouble.
The director, Akahashi, tells Jack that he is her hero for saving her just by giving his utmost effort for the company, showcasing howthere are different kinds of heroes and that you can become one just by helping othersand reaching those in trouble, which is the main message at the end ofMy Hero Academia. A message reinforced by Hawks' statement inMHAchapter 429, and by the statues of all the people next to the one of All Might in chapter 430, which proves that society has acknowledged these new types of heroes.
Horikoshi said in the prologue ofMy Herothat if he had the chance, he wanted to “draw it all out again.” Deku’s ending serves as a modern re-envision of the original one-shot, confirmingHorikoshi achieved his goal of retelling his “foremost masterpiece”in a satisfying and touching way in the story ofMy Hero Academia.
My Hero Academia
Cast
Anime series My Hero Academia follows Izuku Midoriya, a boy born without superpowers in a world where most have them. Despite his lack of abilities, he enrolls in a prestigious hero academy, striving to learn the true essence of heroism and fulfill his dream of becoming a hero.
