When it comes to storytelling, creators have to go through a good few stages to get to their end result. From coming up with an idea to drafting an outline and more, it takes a lot to make a story, and the same goes for characters. The creator of My Hero Academia found that out the hard way when he began working on the series, and he admit his first go at Bakugo Katsuki was way different from what fans know.
Over on Reddit, a user named HEXAMENDLE posted another behind-the-scenes page pulled from a My Hero Academia manga. It was there fans learned more about Bakugo, and an included interview from Kohei Horikoshi confirms the hotheaded hero was not always so belligerent.
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“At first, I made him a natural-born genius who would inadvertently insult people, but that got pretty boring,” the creator said.
“I went the other route and turned him into a nasty guy with an explosive personality. I’m glad he came out so unlikable. His face just screams, ‘I’m a rotten thief.’”
As you can see above, the design for Bakugo was the same way back when, but the boy did have a more oblivious expression. His wide eyes contrast with his now-famous smirk that suits him so well. These days, Bakugo is known for being a surly smart aleck than a smartypants, so Horikoshi had to do some serious fine-tuning to get this explosive hero right. Clearly, he succeeded as Bakugo has become a fan-favorite character despite his anger issues, and the hero only has more room to grow from here on out.
Are you glad Bakugo was changed ahead of My Hero Academia‘s debut? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi and has been running in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump since July 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. The series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release since 2015. The much anticipated fourth season of the anime will be debuting on October 12th.
