My Hero Academia Explains Why its Main Vigilante Hasn't Shown Up in Full Series
My Hero Academia has officially ended the prequel spin-off series, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, with its latest chapter, and with that finale explained why Koichi Haimawari's Crawler has yet to be seen in the main series so far! One of the biggest draws of the spin-off series was the fact that it's set several years before the events of Kohei Horikoshi's main manga series, and fans have gotten to see some of the main series' pro heroes in a much different light before their full jump into action in the main series. But there's been a question as to whether or not it's going to work the other way around.
With the penultimate chapter of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes teasing that Koichi was finally becoming a true pro hero after all of his years of work as a vigilante, and the final chapter explains that Koichi has indeed become a pro hero. But as to why we haven't gotten to see him in action in the main series yet is apparently because he's no longer in Japan at all. If the final chapter holds true for his fate in the main series, Koichi has essentially been forced to move and do hero work in the United States thanks to all that happened in Naruhata.
The final chapter of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes takes place a year after the penultimate chapter and reveals that Koichi has become the pro hero "Skycrawler" working under Captain Celebrity's agency in New York City. He explains that the fallout of the Naruhata War had led to a number of open cases against him. He's not only incurred a lot of debt over damages, but many potential lawsuits due to his vigilante work as well. It's become so untenable that he had to move to the United States in the meantime.
He's going through all of the same acceptance struggles he did at Naruhata, but it's clear that his future as a hero is over in America. That means that the main series' largely Japan focused conflicts have been largely outside of his own scope. If he's still a pro hero at the time of the main series, and still racked with all of the same legal and money troubles as before, it appears that there might not be an opportunity to bring him into the main series fold just yet.
What do you think? How do you feel about this explanation for Koichi's absence from My Hero Academia? Are you hoping to see the Skycrawler pop up in the main series anyway? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!