My Hero Academia and Fullmetal Alchemist’s endings are more similar than fans realize

Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia manga reached a definite conclusion several months ago. However, the fanbase is still quite active on social media, as they continue to discuss theories, unresolved plotlines, and most importantly - the series' ending.

Anime fans often argue over the endings of a particular series. Be it the universally praised ending of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, or the divisive ending of Attack on Titan, fans will jump at the opportunity to compare and contrast their favorite shows.

For instance, fans have recently started comparing the ending of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood to My Hero Academia's ending. One particular comparison paints Edward Elric's conclusion as the gold standard, while it throws Deku's ending under the bus. However, these are only surface-level comparisons, because if we actually break down their respective endings, the two shows actually have more in common than the online comparisons suggest.

Disclaimer: The article is based on fan theories and also contains the author's opinions.

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Exploring the similarities between the endings of My Hero Academia and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Perhaps the biggest flaw in the fan comparisons between My Hero Academia and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood's endings, is the claim that Edward Elric "lost the powers he never wanted", whereas Deku "lost the powers he always wanted". This is a completely inaccurate and reductive way to view their respective character arcs, especially if you take a closer look at Edward's character.

Edward Elric never lost the powers he "never wanted". He actually loved alchemy - it was a part of his identity, passion, and his life's work. He never really saw it as a burden. Rather, he saw it as his responsibility. Even after sacrificing it, he tried to perform alchemy, only to fail and realize that he had lost it permanently. He sacrificed his alchemy not because he hated it or anything, but because he loved his brother more, and used it to save his life.

As for Deku, his loss of the One For All Quirk is also being twisted in the fan comparison. For starters, Deku's willingness to become a Hero wasn't just to be powerful, flashy, or famous - it was about his desire to save people. One For All is what allowed him to do that, but it didn't necessarily make him the Hero he is today. Rather, it was his relentless drive to help others, even if he were a weak and Quirkless young boy.

Even after Deku lost his Quirk, he continued helping others by becoming a teacher at U.A. High and nurturing a new generation of aspiring Heroes. When his friends gave him the opportunity to become a Hero again, Deku jumped at the chance, all while continuing his teaching job.

Deku in My Hero Academia (image via Shueisha)

It's evident that Deku continued to be a Hero even after losing One For All. Moreover, the reason why he lost his Quirk in the first place, is because he wanted to help and save Tomura Shigaraki's life, who was also his worst nemesis. As such, he essentially made the same choice Edward did - sacrificing the thing he loved the most for the sake of saving someone's life.

Then there's the popular argument that fans often love to bring up - Edward's friends never abandoned him, while Deku's friends ghosted him for 8 years. However, if Edward's journey is followed from the beginning to the end, it becomes evident that he isn't exactly always surrounded by his friends. He did experience long stretches of loneliness and self-doubt at times. He just handled it differently than Deku did.

However, that's not to say Deku went about complaining and crying about his problems and loneliness. After graduation, he and his friends went their separate ways - as most people in real life usually do. Other than Deku, all of them became highly successful Pro Heroes, with each of them being involved in something or the other. Deku understood that and didn't really blame anyone for any of it.

Then again, this doesn't necessarily mean everyone completely forgot about or abandoned Deku after high school. They must have surely kept in touch in some way or the other. All of them are adults in the current timeline of the series. They each live their own personal lives and are also occupied with Hero work.

As such, meeting up with each other all the time would have obviously been difficult. More importantly, let's also not forget that Deku's former classmates gave him the opportunity to become a Hero and work alongside them once again. Therefore, acting like Deku spent almost a decade in isolation is simply not true.

Lastly, there's the claim that Edward had a better ending because he married his love interest, Winry after giving up alchemy, whereas Ochako Uraraka supposedly ghosted Deku after he lost his powers. This claim about Deku might have been a possibility - only if chapter 430 was the final chapter of the My Hero Academia manga.

Kohei Horikoshi released one final chapter, i.e. chapter 431 in My Hero Academia's final volume, which provided a much better ending than chapter 430. Not only did Deku reunite with his former classmates once again, but the end of the chapter strongly implied that Deku and Ochako would finally end up together.

This is because the final scene of the chapter showed them holding hands, which signified the start of a romantic relationship between the two. As such, we can now conclude that the similarities between Edward Elric and Deku's conclusions in their respective series are more prominent than initially thought.

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Final thoughts

While Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood's ending is undeniably brilliant, that doesn't necessarily diminish the quality of My Hero Academia's conclusion in any way.

Instead of outright dismissing and hating on Deku's character arc because it doesn't have a clear resolution like Edward's, fans should focus on the actual themes that tie these two iconic protagonists together, because they definitely share more similarities than what initially meets the eye.

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