My Hero Academia Creator Explains How Dragon Ball, Jujutsu Kaisen Influence His Anime's Movies

Kohei Horikoshi talks about the influences on UA Academy's feature-length films.

By Evan Valentine

My Hero Academia: You're Next has already hit theaters in Japan, presenting a new challenge for Class 1-A in the form of a dark doppelganger known as All Might. While fans in North America will have to wait until October to see the film, that isn't stopping creator Kohei Horikosh from spreading the word on the fourth film of the franchise. Now, in a new interview, the manga artist talks about how the UA Academy films 

To start, Kohei Horikoshi recalled when he would catch new Dragon Ball movies. In the series focusing on Son Goku and the Z-Fighters, the movies mostly took place outside of the main continuity. Seeing how Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer presented movies that are a part of their respective canon, Horikoshi commented on the differences between these popular shonen franchises on the silver screen, "In the past, I used to watch the new Dragon Ball movies at my local community center. However nowadays, series like Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen have movies focused on events that actually happened in the manga series."

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(Photo: Studio Bones, MAPPA, Toei Animation)

My Hero Academia Takes a Page From Dragon Ball

Rather than taking the approach where each My Hero Academia film would present a story necessary to the overall plot, like Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer, Horikoshi went with the Dragon Ball approach. Each UA Academy-focused film does take place in the overall story but aren't necessary viewing to understand what is taking place in Deku and company's lives, "While that's fine and all, I personally prefer movies like the Dragon Ball ones that I enjoyed in the past, with original stories that only exists within those movies. I'm very thankful that all our movies have been like that thus far."

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Since My Hero Academia's manga has ended, many anime fans are wondering what the future holds for the film past the release of My Hero Academia: You're Next. So far, the fourth movie hasn't been confirmed to be the franchise's last, meaning it's possible that we'll continue to see new movies in the future. Where and when these movies would take place is anyone's guess.

Want to see what the future holds for Class 1-A on the big screen? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook to stay up to date on UA Academy and its strongest superheroes. 

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