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In a world where people were growing tired of the superhero genre, Kohei Horikoshi’sMy Hero Academiadid an outstanding job of getting the Otaku community to love his superhero series. While superheroes have always been portrayed as flawless characters who have a larger-than-life personality, the manga artist took a different approach with his heroes and his villains, which made them so relatable.
With a wide and immersive world and Quirks of all kinds, the audience had grown close to not only the heroes but also the villains. Though viewers love the main cast of the series, one side character in particular became a much-loved figure and gained a massive fan following.
This in particular made Horikoshi-Sensei delighted because of the growing popularity of the character, which made him realize that everyone in the series doesn’t necessarily have to be the main guy.
Shoji’s Rise in Fame Made Kohei Horikoshi“Genuinely Happy”
Despite the subpar ending,Kohei Horikoshi’sMy Hero Academiahas remained an esteemed name in the Shonen genre and is often hailed as one of the greatest new-gen anime series. The series featured a long list of characters, and what made it more fun to watch was how each hero showcased signs of growth, even the ones who had limited screen time.
Tentacole, or Mezo Shoji, has always been a popular name in the series and has one of the coolest character designs. Though he plays a minor role in the show, fans grew to like him, and it was evident because, in the9th popularity poll, he secured the 10th spot, which is quite impressive.
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This massive rise in popularity was noticed globally, and this phenomenon was brought forward to Horikoshi-Sensei during an exclusive interview withVIZ Media.
The mangaka was taken aback by his rise in the rankings and explained how he remained professional at all given times. However, Shoji was an exception that made him“genuinely happy.”He said,
I was pleasantly surprised by Shoji’s rise in the rankings. It made me really happy. Other than that, there weren’t many surprises. I see the popularity polls as a celebration for the readers who vote, so as an author, I try not to get too emotionally involved and try to keep a distance if possible. It’s more like, “Oh, this character is indeed popular,” but I was genuinely happy about Shoji.
He further added how he told his editor that the character’s“limited appearances”in the story did not keep him a nobody, and he was pleased that the community appreciated him.
I told my editor, Imamura-san, that Shoji has limited appearances in the story and his unique looks don’t typically qualify as ‘handsome’ … so I’m pleased. I drew him thinking he’s really cool, so I’m glad people appreciate him.
Though he was pleased with Shoji’s rise in popularity, the mangaka explained how he came up with the superhero names of the heroes, and the process is quite interesting nonetheless.
Kohei Horikoshi Explains His Inspiration Behind The Superhero Names of Each Character
ThoughMy Hero Academiahas a lot of strong points that include a wide immersive world and epic fights with bewitching animation, what the fans loved the most was how each character came up with their superhero names. As a result, fans were curious about how he came up with so many names that sparked curiosity among them.
In the same interview with VIZ Media, the interviewer asked his inspiration behind the“cool and interesting names.”Kohei Horikoshi answered that there was not much thought put into the process, and chose the names on how they sounded and appeared. He explained,
I don’t recall putting that much thought into it. I think I chose names based on how they sounded. I wanted the names to be catchy and memorable and to intuitively connect with the character’s appearance.
He further added that he does not remember coming up with the name“Star and Stripe.”
However, we haven’t had many new characters recently—the last one might have been Star and Stripe. Honestly, I don’t remember much about naming them.
Indeed, Horikoshi-Sensei would keep his secrets; after all, it is one of the best new-gen Shonen series that took the anime industry by storm, which the fans can’t get enough of.
We Know Why Kohei Horikoshi Will Never Gives Us My Hero Academia Backstories: ‘I wanted to create something like Terminator 2’
My Hero Academiacan be streamed on Crunchyroll.
Tushar Auddy
Senior Writer
Articles Published :1784
Tushar Auddy is a Senior Writer at FandomWire, primarily covering WWE. He has contributed to anime, MCU, DCU, animation, and TV Series, giving sharp insights and coming up with his own unique theories, which take the fandom by storm.
