After 10 years, Kohei Horikoshi‘s My Hero Academia manga has come to an end. To commemorate the conclusion of the long-running series, a special webpage containing messages from the anime’s staff and cast, as well as illustrations from various animators, has been launched.
One of the messages was from Kenji Nagasama, the director of the TV anime’s first three seasons and the first three My Hero Academia anime movies, as well as chief director of Seasons 4 to 7. He congratulated Horikoshi on the serialization’s conclusion and said that the manga was the “greatest hero” for him. “I didn’t just receive joy from the manga, but went through new experiences during the production of the anime and matured together with Deku and the other characters,” Nagasama wrote, before mentioning his appreciation for having encountered the life-changing work.
Naomi Nakayama, the director of My Hero Academia Season 7, said that the characters gave her motivation, while Deku voice actor Daiki Yamashita said that he was always encouraged by Deku’s words and kindness. Kenta Miyake, the voice of All Might, wrote, “I’m not good with words, so I’ll borrow All Might’s to express my current feelings. ‘When I heard about the serialization’s conclusion, strangely enough I accepted it without question. With the goal (conclusion) in sight, I figured I’d just finish with a sprint. So even now, I’m fighting to live. I’m still alive!’”
For the special illustrations, 11 animators contributed to the lineup. Check them out below.
Yoshihiko Umakoshi (My Hero Academia character designer)
Hitomi Odashima (My Hero Academia Season 2-4 assistant character designer, Season 5-7 co-character designer)
Takahiro Komori (Darker than Black character designer, various roles on My Hero Academia)
Yutaka Nakamura (co-storyboard artist of My Hero Academia: You’re Next and My Hero Academia Season 6 Cour 2’s OP Animation, among other contributions)
Takashi Murai (My Hero Academia co-animation director et al.)
Yoshiyuki Kodaira (My Hero Academia co-animation director et al.)
Noriko Morishima (My Hero Academia co-animation director et al.)
Tetsuro Uetake (My Hero Academia co-animation director et al.)
Nami Fujii (My Hero Academia Season 7 co-animation director et al.)
Mao Tsunoda (My Hero Academia Season 7 co-animation director et al.)
Anna Yamaguchi (My Hero Academia co-animation director et al.)
The My Hero Academia manga concluded on August 5 JST with the release of a double issue of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump (accounting for 2024’s 36th and 37th issues). It began its serialization in July 2014 and has 41 tankoubon volumes as of August 2024.
Viz Media describes the premise as:
Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…
Want to keep up with our anime and anime-adjacent news stories? Subscribe to our newsletter, where you can get updates on our user-voted anime chart rankings as well.
Source: @heroaca_anime