My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi can be considered as a love story dedicated to western comic books but, in fact, it has its roots in the golden ages of Japanese anime. Many years before he became one of the finest mangaka, Horikoshi was a student of Nagoya University of Arts, who was spending his early life drawing giant mechs and tactical ninjas all day and night. The process of learning how to draw was not his only path to becoming a former assistant to Yasuki Tanaka; it was also about capturing the storytelling genes of the legends that preceded him.
The MHA's universe is not simply a solitary piece of work; it is a sophisticated combination of the childhood obsessions that characterized the life of Horikoshi. From the 80s mechanical nostalgia to the Big Three of the 90s that would literally change the world, the series does so well since it knows the emotional heart of what makes Shōnen work. Taking a glimpse back at the particular series that helped him discover his creative voice, we can better understand how a child who could dress up as Wataru characters would grow up to reinvent the genre of superheroes in the eyes of the whole world.
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Mashin Hero Wataru
Horikoshi always had an interest in heroic archetypes much earlier than he ever took up a pen on a professional basis; it was at kindergarten, with this typical robot anime. He has stated in the interview he did before the anime that he used to draw these characters as a child and this interest was evident several years later in the final act of the series. The Armored All Might (Iron Might) suit is a love letter directly to the mechanical chunkiness of Mashin Hero Wataru, demonstrating that the mangaka could never grow past his affinity to the mecha designs that had characterized his early years.
The impact extends beyond the imagery to the definite heroic spirit Horikoshi enjoys. Most Western observers may not see the linkage, but people who have spent their childhood with Zurugibe Shibaraku and the colorful gang of Wataru can find the DNA of the designs in the support items and costumes of MHA. Horikoshi fills the gap between classic Shōnen and the mecha-intensive inspiration of his childhood to create a world that is nostalgic and mechanical at the same time.
Akira
Although My Hero Academia is much more optimistic than Akira, the tone, scale, and thematic importance are more influential than superficials. Akira has been called one of his favorite manga by Horikoshi, and it is reflected in the way My Hero Academia views power as volatile, destructive, and psychologically dangerous instead of being simply heroic.
Societal breakdown in Akira is reflected in subsequent arcs of My Hero Academia, where the society of heroes starts splitting due to the burden of the unregulated Quirks. His educational experience at Nagoya University of Arts, combined with his time working as an assistant to Yasuki Tanaka, also helped sharpen Horikoshi in terms of his ability to balance spectacle and down-to-earth consequences, a juggling act that Akira had first made public in the 1960s. Power in My Hero Academia, as in Akira, never comes without a price.
One Piece
Horikoshi has not been hesitant in his desire to compete with the sheer epic scale of One Piece. He considers the work of Eiichiro Oda to be the gold standard of world-building and this admiration is evident in its approach to its huge ensemble cast. Rather than moving side characters to the margins, Horikoshi tries to give each student of Class 1-A a narrative point, a lesson learned directly through watching Oda balance the Straw Hat crew over two decades.
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This influence can be attributed to the sense of world alteration that major arcs, such as the Paranormal Liberation War, give. Horikoshi examined the manner in which Oda increased the stakes not only in the amount of power he wields, but also in the emotional history and legacy of the world itself. He created the same feeling of historical gravity that makes the One Piece universe feel breathing and inhabited by people with the mythos of One For All as a lineage through time.
One may stray from the path of a man, one may stray from the path of a woman, but there is no straying from the path of a human! - Bon Clay
Bleach
My Hero Academia, with the so-called shadow mastermind major antagonist of the series, takes on its spiritual predecessor from Tite Kubo's masterpiece, Bleach. The calculated, cold, and devastatingly efficient orchestration of All For One (AFO) is a perfect reflection of the legendary Sosuke Aizen in chilling ways. Similar to how Aizen had used the lives, births, and battles of the Soul Society as tools to serve his god-like desires, AFO had spent generations manipulating the lives of humans as a means to a greater end, a character that only served to build himself higher.
The influence of Kubo also penetrates into the dynamics of the inner world of the series. The manner in which Deku is talking with the remnants of the past owners of the One For All subconscious is quite similar to the inner conversation between Ichigo and Zangetsu. Horikoshi borrowed the idea of a source of power within a source of power as possessing its own sentience and history and transformed it into a multi-generational legacy, which characterizes the whole series.
Dragon Ball
Being the blueprint of nearly all the modern Shōnen, the presence of Dragon Ball is traced even on the very basis of the power system of MHA. The narrative successor of the “Symbol of Peace” archetype introduced by Goku is All Might himself, the unique hero who makes the world seem safe, through his presence alone. The slogan of the cult of Plus Ultra is a direct extension of the Saiyan struggle, which is taking everything to an extreme when the odds seem to be completely against them. Each fight makes them stronger, same with every hero in MHA.
The battle scene aesthetics in MHA are also a tribute to the legendary feeling of impact and scale created by Akira Toriyama. The feeling of scale and the fallout of the environment is a typical Dragon Ball cliché fight scene between rivals destined to be friends too, when Deku or Bakugo are unleashing their full potential. Horikoshi captured the larger-than-life essence of the 90s and bottled it in a new superhero universe, keeping the legacy of the classic Shōnen battle at the center of his narrative.
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Naruto
Horikoshi has even put on record that Naruto is the greatest Shōnen manga of all time, and the comparison drawn between Midoriya and Uzumaki cannot be denied. However, both heroes began at the lowest of the low, a boy who was labeled a Quirkless, and one who was an outcast destined to be untalented, but each of them had a special, borrowed strength which they each eventually owned as their own. Modernized reflection of the Naruto and Kurama relationship is reflected in the developing relationship of Deku with the One For All quirk, which demonstrates how power is not only owned, but also earned through personality.
The philosophy that nothing is accomplished alone is the thematic essence of both series. During the final arc of Shippuden, Naruto defeated Kaguya and Sasuke due to the relationships he established with his friends and with the whole world of shinobi. In the same way, the ultimate battle of Deku with AFO and Shigaraki was characterized by the fact that Class 1-A had no desire to leave him alone in the battle. It is this focus on the power of friendship rather than the power of the individual that is the final ode to the legacy of Kishimoto.
My Hero Academia
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2016 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- TBS, MBS, Nippon TV
Cast
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Daiki YamashitaIzuku Midoriya (voice) -
Kaito IshikawaManga Fukidashi (voice)
