My Hero Academia Sparks New Controversy and Fan Backlash

My Hero Academia recently sparked a major controversy and fan backlash, over the recently-revealed name of a major villain in the series (Dr. Ujiko) that had connections to horrific WWII crimes. However, just when Boku No Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi was putting the final touches on his apology to fans, a brand new controversy has sprung up. This time, My Hero Academia fans have gone digging and found what they claim is yet another case of Horikoshi making casual reference to the horrors and crimes of WWII. You can get the full breakdown of My Hero Academia’s latest controversy, below!

As stated, this new controversy and backlash to My Hero Academia started when fans started looking into the birthdays of Katsuki Bakugo, and noticed that the date (April 20th) connects to the birthday of Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. Soon after, Twitter user @Object501 posted a conspiracy theory-style chart, which further correlated the bithdays of some key My Hero Academia characters (Tomura Shigaraki, Endeavor, and series protagonist Deku), with the birthdays of some key dictators / Evil Axis commanders from WWII. Here’s how it goes:

• Bakugo’s birthday (April 20th) = Adolf Hitler
• Deku’s birthday (July 15th) = Establishment date of Japanese Communist Party
• Endeavor’s Birthday (August 8th) = Imperial Japanese officer Kenji Doihara
• Shigaraki’s Birthday (April 4th) = WWII Japanese naval commander-in-chief Isoroku Yamamoto.

As of writing this, neither Horikoshi nor Shonen Jump Magazine publisher Sheuisha has commented on this latest controversy surrounding My Hero Academia – and it’s unclear it they will, given the proximity to the last big official apology that had to be issued.

Needless to say, this latest controversy has sparked a massive reaction in the fanbase. Some believe that between the Dr. Ujiko incident and this latest case of questionable name association, it’s hard to argue that Horikoshi isn’t doing this intentionally. Other fans think that “Canceled Culture” and toxic anime fandom was turned against Horikoshi following the Dr. Ujiko controversy, and trolls are now trying to find any small detail at all they can spin into additional controversy. Other fans point out that even if these connections are intentional on Horikoshi’s part, that doesn’t automatically mean they’re malicious in intent. My Hero Academia is well-known for its trove of Easter egg references to geek culture, history, pop-culture, etc; and with an actual major war brewing in the manga’s latest arc, the invocation of history’s darkest war could arguably be releveant.

Do you see a problem here?

My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has powers, even though he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he’s eventually scouted by the world’s best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes.