My Hero Academia has introduced fans to a world of pro heroes and the young upstarts hoping to become pros someday, and with such a variety of characters there are plenty of options to choose from when it comes to picking fan-favorites. But there’s one duo that’s stood out to many fans for more than one reason as Kirishima and Bakugo have really caught attention due to their bond built through mutual respect despite Bakugo’s more prickly demeanor. This is further emphasized through the series itself, which cements their relationship even more through big moments.
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A new bio from the My Hero Academia spin-off SMASH has surfaced online (thanks to @aitaikimochi on Twitter) and it teases that Kirishima and Bakugo’s bond may be much deeper than initially led on in the series itself.
As the bio reads, “This all-around good dude is always cheery, but his tendency not to sweat the small stuff makes him something of an airhead. Still, that positive attitude of his is positively infectious! Katsuki likes to pretend to be pissed off by their friendship, because he can’t admit that Kirishima is like chicken soup for his soul.”
The “chicken soup for his soul” might seem like a little extra flourish from the English translation, but it’s hilariously right on the money from the Japanese translation, which @aitaikimochi relays as “Kirishima cares about Katsuki as a friend, and although Katsuki pretends to always be mad about it, he secretly knows that Kirishima provides nourishment for his soul.”
So while the series has given fans nuggets of just how close Bakugo and Kirishima’s bond really is, it appears that it’s officially much deeper than that. The two of them make each other better as they rely on one another during their hero training and growth, and it appears that their opposite personalities completely gel on a wavelength that isn’t always seen in the main series. It’s not as close of a bond that some parts of the fandom expect it to be, but it’s certainly a tease of a deep connection.
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. My Hero Academia will also be launching its second big movie, Heroes Rising, in Japan this December.