My Hero Academia Epilogue Introduces the New Class 1-A

My Hero Academia‘s manga is continuing to explore its epilogue chapters – and Chapter 428 makes the grand introduction of the new Class 1-A, who is taking the place of our heroic team of series protagonists. As Izuku Midoriya, Bakaugo Shoto Todoroki and the rest begin their second year of U.A. high school as “Class 2-A” they are shocked (and a little taken back) to find that their milestone war against All For One and the League of Villains army has already inspired a whole new generation of heroes to step up for training – even in the backdrop of a destroyed world. 

The new Class 1-A comes in real hot, fanning out over seeing Todoroki and Bakugo in the hallways of U.A. – to the point that class rep Tenya Ida has to step up as a security guard for his two classmates. While the members of the new Class 1-A aren’t distinguished by name, we do get dialogue from a few of them, which reveals that some of them became fans of Deku’s class during the battle with All For One, while others decided to become heroes before that – some as far back as seeing the old Class 1-A step up to compete during the Sports Festival. The new Class 1-A shows up again later in the chapter, as their instructor, pro hero Ken Ishiyama (aka Cementoss), brings them to help with efforts to rebuild the city. 

The point of this latest epilogue chapter of My Hero Academia highlights the internal conflict of moving on after the war with All For One, and how the kids of the old Class 1-A are living with deeper pains and scars than is conveyed through the tales of their heroism. So, while a new Class 1-A is inspired to take of the duty and obligation of hero work, the members of Class 2-A (Midoriya, Ochacho Uraraka, Todoroki, Bakugo) are either too shell-shocked, injured, or both to feel like the heores they worked and fought so hard to become. The theme is driven home by the climatic scene in which Uraraka is finally overwhelmed by everything she went through – including her final battle with Himiko Toga – and has an emotional breakdown, which is exactly the state that Izuku Midoriya finds her in. 

So, while Class 1-A may have won the war, there’s still a war inside that must be fought. 

My Hero Academia releases new chapters in Shonen Jump Magazine.