Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia is known for taking inspiration from some of the most interesting and famous elements of pop culture and turning it into a world of superheroes eager to fight for the good and bad. Whether it is through the inspiration of comic book heroes or other anime and manga characters, Horikoshi’s work has taken bits and pieces of the world into one big compilation.
When the opportunities are so vast, there is no doubt that inspiration knows no bounds either. People can get inspired by leaves and cars and idioms. So to think that soccer could play such a big role in one fan-favorite character’s development would not be too far-fetched to presume.
Soccer Found Its Way to Kohei Horikoshi
Kohei Horikoshi is no stranger to the vast forms of entertainment present in the world. One of them also happened to be the Soccer World Cup. During an interview for the Fifth Anniversary Project in 2019, My Hero Academia editor Honyasan (via Comicbook), talked about how he is heavily passionate about soccer.
During the World Cup, I told that story to Mr. Horikoshi. I love soccer and when Mr. Horiksohi found out he started putting on the World Cup whenever I was there waiting for the manuscript and such. While watching it, Mr. Horikoshi himself slowly started getting interested in soccer too
He found Lionel Messi’s story to be exceptionally inspiring and found himself narrating that exact anecdote to the My Hero Academia author. The absolute warm friend that Horikoshi is, every time Honyasan came to collect the manuscripts from him, he put on the World Cup for the editor to enjoy.
The very thoughtful act was enough to pull the author into the world of soccer as well. The more he put it on, the more he found himself intrigued with the sport. Soon enough, the world of soccer and Lionel Messi gave birth to Keigo Takami.
Lionel Messi and Hawks Go Hand in Hand
Seeing how Kohei Horikoshi’s interest in soccer was growing, Honyasan took the opportunity to tell the author more about Lionel Messi. Seeing how captivated the My Hero Academia author was, he wasn’t surprised by the fact that a new character was born out of his latest interests.
When I told him about Messi, he told me he thought it was an interesting story. The next week, or maybe the week after that, Hawks’ story was born. So it’s kind of a modification, like he kind of wanted to make the other party seem a big bad, that kind of thing.
Hawks came out of Horikoshi’s direct inspiration of Messi, claiming the soccer player to be the blueprint while the fictional character became a modified version. It didn’t take him long to base an entire character, make a unique personality and quirk with an even more interesting backstory; right after he learned about the Argentinian soccer player.
Horikoshi took one of the most renowned soccer players in the world and turned him into a strong, fierce, and inspirational fictional character. He became someone who had a story as tragic as many villains yet he chose to become such a beacon of hope.
My Hero Academia is available to watch on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
