Kohei Horikoshi Reveals Which 'My Hero Academia' Character is Inspired by Goku

My Hero Academia series creator Kohei Horikoshi is not shy about his love of other works, and some [...]

By Nick Valdez

My Hero Academia series creator Kohei Horikoshi is not shy about his love of other works, and some of them even go on to influence his work. But it turns out that one character in his series is inspired by another famous character, Dragon Ball's Goku.

But which one? When asked about the inspiration behind All Might at San Diego Comic-Con, fans got a surprising answer.

According to Twitter user @debaoki, who attended the Shonen Jump panel Horikoshi was a part of, and a question from the audience was, "All Might is such a supportive mentor. Do you base him on anyone in your life?" and Horikoshi responded that the character isn't from his life at all, and instead is inspired by fiction.

Horikoshi stated, "No, not anyone in real life. I based him on Goku in Dragon Ball." The inspiration might be surprising, but it also makes a ton of sense. All Might was the symbol of peace in My Hero Academia, a lone hero with immense strength bringing him to an almost iconic level. This is a direct parallel to Goku.

In Dragon Ball, Goku is basically a symbol of peace as well. His immense strength makes others rely on him, and in most cases each of them feels a sense of relief when he arrives. If you want a direct comparison, take Goku's late arrival on Namek when he saves Krillin, Gohan, and Vegeta from the Ginyu Force.

Their relief in seeing Goku following their intense struggle alone mirrors the League of Villains' attack on the USJ early on in My Hero Academia. All Might arrives on the scene after Midoriya and the others struggled alone, and also had a huge sigh of relief. It's definitely a cool tie between series.

For those unfamiliar with the My Hero Academia juggernaut, the series 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 super powers but 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 collected into 15 volumes so far, and has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release since 2015.

My Hero Academia's first movie, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, is scheduled to open August 3 in Japan and later in the U.S theaters this Fall. The film recently premiered at Anime Expo 2018 to heaps of praise from those in attendance. The film will cover a story not seen in the original manga with series creator Horikoshi noting that, "Of course the movie will be filled with Class A's great efforts, that character's past that hasn't been in the manga yet, flashy action scenes, and much more." The film also previously revealed its first key visual depicting a character fans have never seen before, and a trailer revealing an All Might in his prime.

Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV, and Crunchyroll.

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