My Hero Academia Creator Reveals the Origin of Ochaco’s Iconic Speech

My Hero Academia has been in print for just over a decade, and soon, the series will come to a close. With its final war finished, the manga is eyeing its last few chapters courtesy of its epilogue. The impending finale has left creator Kohei Horikoshi in the spotlight as he is ready to wrap his hit series. And in a recent interview, the My Hero Academia artist admitted an interesting truth about Ochaco’s most famous scene.

The whole thing comes courtesy of Da Vinci Magazine as Horikoshi did an interview with the team there recently. During the chat, the artist was asked about the story’s lead-up to My Hero Academia season seven. It was there Horikoshi addressed Ochaco’s infamous speech atop U.A. High School, and it turns out Horikoshi drafted the moment a long, long time ago.

“You know how Ochaco shouts encouragements to Deku from the school’s roof? That was based on an idea I wanted to do at the beginning of the series but never used. Originally, it was meant to happen after Deku entered U.A. High School when he’s feeling down one day because he is the only one not doing well in class. The students were going to hang out after school and get to known one another at karaoke. They all sing as introductions, but Deku is feeling down… so he doesn’t really join in and stays in the corner instead,” Horikoshi explained, revealing the scene’s origins.

Continuing, the My Hero Academia creator explained how Ochaco would have used the karaoke hangout to cheer on Deku. “When it is Ochaco’s turn, she sings the song “Fight” by Miyuki Nakajima… I was thinking about including a scene where Ochaco gives Deku encouragement by singing to him. Back then, I felt I didn’t have the time to do something like that, but I still wanted to do it anyways. So in the end, that idea tied itself to the rooftop speech scene.”

Clearly, Horikoshi was not willing to let go of this moment, and Ochaco was given a better stage to cheer on Deku later in the series. The original scene planned by Horikoshi would have been lighthearted, but in the end, Ochaco shared her powerful words at the perfect moment. After all, her encouragements not only spurred forward Deku but the entire crowd at U.A. High School. So if we had to say, Horikoshi picked the perfect place to put this scene.

If you are not caught up with My Hero Academia, you can find its manga ASAP ahead of its finale. The series is on the Shonen Jump app as well as in print. So for more info on the series, you can read its official synopsis below:

“Izuku has dreamt of being a hero all his life-a lofty goal for anyone, but especially challenging for a kid with no superpowers. That’s right, in a world where eighty percent of the population has some kind of super-powered “quirk,” Izuku was unlucky enough to be born completely normal. But that’s not enough to stop him from enrolling in one of the world’s most prestigious hero academies.”

What do you think about this My Hero Academia revelation? Let us know what you think over on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!