My Hero Academia Creator Kohei Horikoshi Really Doesn’t Want to Think About Deku’s Popularity

My Hero Academia might have come to an end, but the creator behind it all doesn’t really want to think about how popular of a franchise it’s become around the world. My Hero Academia recently ended its run with Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine after ten long years, but it’s far from the end of it all as the TV anime is now in the midst of Season 7 and a new feature film is working its way through theaters across Japan before it starts its international release later this Fall. But the creator is trying his best to stay humble in spite of all that. 

My Hero Academia: You’re Next is currently in theaters across Japan, and to celebrate the new movie and recent end of the manga, ComicBook got the chance to speak with creator Kohei Horikoshi about his thoughts on how popular the series has become worldwide. But as the creator views it, Horikoshi tries his best to avoid seeing what kind of popularity the series has in order to keep from changing his writing in the face of it though grateful for it he truly is. 

How My Hero Academia Creator Views Popularity

“I have heard about the popularity of this work overseas, but it doesn’t quite feel real to me,” Horikoshi began. “When I started drawing this manga, I didn’t necessarily have the readers abroad in mind and my attitude was rather ‘as long as I’m having fun drawing, that’s all that matters.’So once the manga was serialized, it was already surprising to me that so many people in Japan supported it.” But as the series gets bigger, Horikoshi chooses to avoid analyzing as to why. 

“To me, it’s just remarkable how people from different cultures are enjoying my work now,” Horikoshi continued. “So I can’t tell you the reasons behind the series’ popularity myself. Also in a way, I try not to pay attention to it. I feel that if I become conscious of the fact that my manga is widely read abroad, it might change my writing completely. I am grateful, but I don’t dare to analyze it.” 

My Hero Academia: You’re Next will be releasing in the United States and Canada in English subtitled and dubbed audio beginning on October 11th. TOHO Animation teases the film as such, “‘Next, it’s your turn!’ In a society where heroes and villains continuously battle in the name of peace and chaos, Deku, a U.A. High School student who aspires to be the best hero he can be, confronts the villain who imitates the hero he’s long admired. Can Deku and the rest of U.A. High Class 1-A protect the world by putting an end to Dark Might, the man claiming to be the new Symbol of Peace?”