With the final war in My Hero Academia ending, the series is getting really close to its conclusion, and fans are definitely going to miss Kohei Horikoshi’s magnum opus that entertained the manga community for ten years. However, the manga was not the only aspect of the series to which Horikoshi contributed.
The mangaka also minimally helped the anime series get better with each episode, but his major contribution besides the manga was in the somewhat canonical movies that became a big part of the My Hero Academia franchise. Horikoshi has contributed to almost every My Hero Academia movie there is, and his contribution is one of the main reasons why they are such a big success.
However, initially, Horikoshi might not have been as focused on the movies as he was supposed to be. But during the production of the second My Hero Academia movie, the manga creator became serious and went plus ultra to save the movie from repeating the mistake of the first film.
The Mistake Made by the First My Hero Academia Movie
In an interview for the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising Bonus Booklet, which was later shared by Stripes on My Anime List, Horikoshi talked about his role as the general supervisor and character designer in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising. The manga creator revealed that he wanted every character to be more intense in the movie.
Horikoshi revealed:
I really did. I told the director and staff I didn’t want them to write a movie where “everyone has a role” I wanted it to be a movie where “everyone goes plus ultra”. So the way it turned out it’s not just “everyone is there”, it’s “everyone is participating in a life or death fight”. The battle is more intense than the first movie and I think it’s a movie worth seeing.
Horikoshi wanted Plus Ultra to be the major focus of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, as he wanted every character to feel the importance of a life-or-death fight. He believed that fighting in the first movie was not as intense as he and the fans expected, which is why he wanted more concentration on the battle scenes.
Kohei Horikoshi Went Plus Ultra For My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising
Talking about My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, Kohei Horikoshi revealed that whenever he read the script, he imagined what the scenes would look like and then asked for changes and edits to those scenes. He was much more focused on My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising than he was on My Hero Academia: Two Heroes.
Horikoshi stated:
I always imagined the scenes while reading the script, and I requested edits after parts where I felt like “You can do more than that!” or “People’s lives are on the line, you can do more!”. I told them to write it to show how each of them can work harder, and all work together.
The manga creator further pointed out that the biggest difference between the two movies is that they didn’t have any help from All Might, and thus they had to work hard together.
When they realized that they were stronger together, the students of U.A. managed to defeat Nine and save Nabu Island.
You can watch My Hero Academia on Crunchyroll.
