My Hero Academia Teaser Snips Chainsaw Man Cameo From Season 6

By Megan Peters

My Hero Academia is one of the biggest titles in manga, but there is new blood coming for its crown. Like with Demon Slayer, the manga is facing new pressure from series like Chainsaw Man. Of course, it is good to know My Hero Academia's creator has a thing for Chainsaw Man, so there is no love lost between the tales. In fact, Chainsaw Man even had a cameo in Horikoshi's manga way back, but a promo for season six seems to have scrubbed the exchange. 

If you did not hear, My Hero Academia stirred up lots of conversation this weekend thanks to Jump Festa. The event ended with a nod to Kohei Horikoshi's hit series. It was there a teaser for season six went live, but fans were rather surprised when a certain character was missing.

As you can see above, Twitter user Atsushi101X shined a light on the whole ordeal. To the left, a panel from the My Hero Academia manga can be seen, and it shows a character to the left of Fatgum. It does not take much to figure out the person is Chainsaw Man, the eponymous hero of Tatsuki Fujimoto's hit manga.

But in the teaser for season six, well – the character is missing. Fatgum is shown as expected, but the hero beside him has zero chainsaws. Instead, the tool has been swapped for some serrated blades, but his business suit confirms this man is the same as the one in the manga. You know, just without the chainsaws.

Clearly, fans of the two series were bummed by the cut cameo, but others aren't surprised. After all, copyright law in Japan is rather strict, and anime guidelines don't translate to manga rules. Kohei Horikoshi might have gotten express permission to use Chainsaw Man as a cameo by Fujimoto, and that tracks given how much control manga creator's have over their IPs. But when it comes to anime, there is a lot more red tape.

My Hero Academia is produced by a committee with Bones Inc., but Chainsaw Man is not in that group. The anime will be handled by MAPPA, so there is a conflict of interest. To make things worse, Chainsaw Man's own anime may not have debuted by the time this cameo would have hit My Hero Academia. Sadly, the timing of this cameo did not work out, but here's to hoping Fujimoto approves some more cameos for Horikoshi in the near future.

Are you surprised by this cameo shake-up? Or did you expect My Hero Academia to cut the Chainsaw Man nod? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.

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