Horikoshi was right to make Aoyama My Hero Academia's traitor, but wrong on timing

Modified Dec 21, 2024 18:32 GMT

My Hero Academia didn't time Aoyama's traitor reveal well (Image via Bones).

My Hero Academia has one of the most awaited subplots in the UA traitor storyline and the handling of Yuga Aoyama's character was overall well-received by the fandom. However, while this was mostly well executed by author Kohei Horikoshi, there was one issue and that was the decision to reveal Aoyama's role as the traitor so late into the story.

According to reports and statements, Horikoshi was originally planning to reveal Aoyama as the UA traitor during the Forest Training arc, which is a lot earlier in the My Hero Academia manga. This doesn't mean that the characters would be aware but rather the audience, which could have resolved his own personal arc a lot more compelling to witness rather than analyzing it in hindsight.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a publication.

Explaining why the My Hero Academia series didn't time Aoyama's traitor reveal well

Yuga Aoyama as seen in the anime (Image via Bones).

Author Kohei Horikoshi always planned for Yuga Aoyama to be the UA traitor in this subplot but was originally aiming to reveal to the audience during the Forest Training arc, which is when the League of Villains kidnaps Katsuki Bakugo. Fans can already see Aoyama hiding from the conflict and the mangaka was planning to reveal it there but the plans changed, with the reveal made after the Deku Vigilante arc.

The problem with this change in direction, whether it was because of the editorial or the author's own decision, was that Aoyama's reveal lacked the impact it could have had if the audience knew for most of the story that he was the traitor. If the readers knew he was and the characters didn't, it would have made a lot of interactions a lot more poignant, such as the times he helped the protagonist, Izuku "Deku" Midoriya, with his Quirk.

This narrative tool is called dramatic irony because the audience knows and the characters don't, which seems to be what Kohei Horikoshi was aiming for. Instead, by the time he was revealed as the traitor, most people thought that the plot point had been abandoned and there were greater focuses, such as the threat that was All For One, Tomura Shigaraki, and the remaining League of Villains members.

What this decision could have meant

Toru Hagakure would have also benefitted from this twist to be revealed earlier (Image via Shueisha and Bones).

Some characters in My Hero Academia could have benefitted from this twist being revealed earlier and one of them was Toru Hagakure because of her friendship with Aoyama. The Invisible Girl doesn't have a lot to do in the story beyond comic relief and could have gotten herself more involved in the UA traitor subplot if it had been confirmed sooner.

Another character who seemed poised to take over his position if he had been expelled earlier was Shinso Hitoshi, who was already confirmed in the Sports Festival arc that he wanted to be a hero despite his powers being deemed "villainous".

While is difficult to tell because Horikoshi has never revealed it, it seems that he had greater plans for Shinso because of his motivation and was pushed aside, with him perhaps suffering from the traitor subplot being delayed.

Final thoughts

The traitor subplot in My Hero Academia had a very well-executed resolution but could have benefitted from an earlier reveal. It would have given Aoyama's character a lot more time to shine and its conclusion wouldn't have been shoehorned during the final arc of the series.

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Edited by Tiasha