This article contains spoilers from My Hero Academia's one-shots.

Summary

Deku and Ochaco are confirmed as a canon couple after starting to spend more time together.
The author, Horikoshi, subtly confirms Deku and Ochaco's romance in My Hero Academia.
Horikoshi didn't originally plan for romance in the main plot but included it in an epilogue.

My Hero Academia wrapped up about a year ago, but fans have been talking about the series to this day, largely due to the side projects that the author dropped, which also include two very special oneshots.

My Hero Academia: Deku Is The Number 4 Hero, But Horikoshi Confirms His True Power Is Far Greater

Deku is only the number 4 hero, but his potential is far greater in MHA.

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The first one-shot that Horikoshi dropped, which came along with the release of My Hero Academia’s last volume, was especially important as it went over the romance between Deku and Ochaco, which fans had been waiting to see for a very long time. Although the ending was quite easy to understand, some fans still had trouble accepting the truth. But now, Horikoshi has finally commented on it, and clarified it once and for all.

My Hero Academia One-shot Proves Izuku Midoriya And Ochaco Are Dating

Ochacho and Deku Start Spending More Time Together
Their Future Is Only Together

My Hero Academia fans always knew that Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco would end up together and that doesn't come as a surprise to anyone. They were built up to be together right from the beginning, but the author never clarified if he intended for them to truly end up together or not. My Hero Academia’s Final chapter, MHA 431, was the chapter where Deku and Ochaco officially started dating. Although they had been separated following the end of the war and didn't spend as much time together, they still held the same feelings for each other. Following Deku becoming a Hero once again, the two got closer to each other once again.

I wanted to spend some more time with you. — Izuku Midoriya

In the most surprising turn of events, Deku and Ochaco confessed to wanting to spend more time with each other, and while Horikoshi didn't officially show them dating or getting married in the future, it was quite obvious to most fans what he was going for.

Horikoshi Subtly Confirms Their Romance

Kohei Horikoshi Wonders If Fans Understood What He Intended

Fans will always want to know what Kohei Horikoshi thinks of the romance between Deku and Ochaco, and while he didn't comment on it fully, he certainly did talk extensively about the last chapter. Here's what Horikoshi had to say:

Question: Chapter 431 focuses on Deku and Ochako. In My Hero Academia, there wasn't much focus on romance, was there any reason for that?

Horikoshi: Instead of wanting to portray romance in the story, I just wanted to show the contrast between Ochako and Toga with their views on love. Since romance is a very strong stimulus, as soon as you include it in the story, that's all anyone is going to talk about, so I deliberately avoided adding it to the story.

However, since the setting of the series is at school after all, it would be rather dishonest to completely ignore romance, so it was pretty hard to think of a balance.

Thankfully, since Deku was always doing other things, he was unaware of any romantic feelings, and it turned out to be a good thing for me [since Horikoshi didn't want to include romance in the main plot].

However, when Chapter 394 came around, the topics [discussed by Toga and Ochako] did touch upon that stimulus called love, so I knew that it would be strange to not follow up on that point later in the story, which is why I chose to write about it.

I never thought that romance would go well with the theme of the story of My Hero Academia, which is "to save and be saved," nor would it make sense to include it in "the story of how we all became Heroes." So that's why I decided to touch upon it in an epilogue, like a postscript of sorts.

However, rather than depicting romance itself, I wanted to depict love in a form as part of something even greater, but I wonder how it turned out?

As is evident, Horikoshi confirms that My Hero Academia chapter 431 is romance indeed, and that Deku and Ochaco’s exchange is meant to be romantic. Hopefully, fans will see more of them together later down the line.

My Hero Academia: Horikoshi Reveals The Strongest Class 1A Pro Heroes

There are many powerful characters in Class 1A, but one stands out in MHA.

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Where To Read And Watch My Hero Academia

The My Hero Academia manga was wrapped up by the mangaka, Horikoshi, in 2024. The story features 430 chapters for fans to read. All these chapters can be found on Manga Plus, as the story used to be serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump when it was still ongoing.

When it comes to the anime, this series is still awaiting its final season, which will be released later this year. The series can be watched on Crunchyroll.

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Release Date: 2016 - 2025-00-00
Network: TBS, MBS, Nippon TV
Directors: Shouji Ikeno, Tsuyoshi Tobita, Ikuro Sato, Takudai Kakuchi, Masashi Abe, Tetsuya Miyanishi, Kazuma Komatsu, Yoshifumi Sasahara, Masayuki Otsuki, Daisuke Tsukushi, Takayuki Yamamoto, Yohei Fukui, Takuro Tsukada, Masatoyo Takada, Naomi Nakayama, Sayaka Morikawa, Takanori Yano