Deku starting his Pro Hero life again in My Hero Academia may be inspired by Horikoshi's real-life experiences

Modified Aug 10, 2024 21:00 GMT

Deku starting his Pro Hero life again in My Hero Academia may be inspired by Horikoshi's real-life experiences (Image via Shueisha)

My Hero Academia manga series just concluded after 430 chapters and almost 10 years. Where the climax of the series was a hit or miss for the majority of the fandom, the author's feelings regarding the series were pretty complicated as he couldn't believe his magnum opus had already reached its end.

While some fans have taken to the internet to showcase their dissatisfaction with the series ending, the reality could be that they failed to understand the true essence of the series' climax. The story of My Hero Academia portrays the life struggles of the author who stood up from rejection and continued trying his best to serialize his story for 10 years, despite all the casualties that came his way.

Disclaimer: This article contains potential spoilers from the My Hero Academia manga series and has the author's opinion.

Exploring the link between Kohei Horikoshi's career and the My Hero Academia story

Deku as seen in the anime (Image via Bones)

My Hero Academia was the story of Izuku Midoriya, a boy who was inspired by the Pro Heroes around him but was born without any quirk. Despite being quirkless, Izuku jumped forward to protect his friends from a villain and as the #1 hero, All Might, was also around, he recognized Izuku's hard work and chose to make him his successor.

Izuku's starting journey was pretty hard. To receive All Might's quirk, his body needed to be muscular and strong. So, while studying, Izuku had to do some drills that All Might assigned him. After becoming stronger, All Might passed his quirk to Midoriya.

Izuku Midoriya as seen in the anime (Image via Shueisha)

However, this was not the end of his worries as whenever Izuku used One for All, his body would break due to its impact. It was not until a few hundred chapters that Izuku learned to control his quirk through his hard work and patience. During the final war, Izuku reached his peak and became the greatest hero. Moreover, after the final war, he continued his journey as a hero.

Despite the fandom's controversial reaction to the series ending, the true meaning behind the climax could be evident from the life of the author, Kohei Horikoshi. Kohei Horikoshi started his journey as a mangaka with the one-shots like Tenko and My Hero.

Oumagadaki Zoo (left) and Barrage (right) (Image via Shueisha)

Witnessing his one-shots getting a little bit of spotlight, the author published his first manga series in Weekly Shounen Jump titled Oumagadaki Zoo in 2010. Unfortunately, the series had to be axed after 37 chapters as it wasn't getting the attention of the readers.

The author didn't give up and continued his journey by publishing his second manga titled Barrage. Unfortunately, this series received an even lesser readership and was axed after 16 chapters. The fandom might not believe it but after this rejection, the author decided to end his career as a mangaka as he felt like he had ran out of ideas.

This point in Horikoshi's life could be considered parallel to when Midoriya was declared quirkless. After the rejection, at the request of Hitoshi Koike, one of Horikoshi's editors, the author decided to give his all on his last project which was inspired by his one-shot My Hero. So started the 10-year-long journey of My Hero Academia.

Deku as seen in the anime (Image via Shueisha)

Where Midoriya got a golden chance to become a hero, Horihoshi got a golden chance to make an impact on the world through his magnum opus. Where Midoriya broke limbs, Horikoshi met deadlines and was reported sick various times.

At the end of the series where Midoriya was declared the greatest hero, Horikoshi also enjoyed his peak through a worldwide fandom and over 100 million copies worth of sales (as of April 2024). So, the message behind the ending of the series was to never give up as good things come to those who wait and continue doing their best.

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Edited by Tiasha