Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia has finally taken a bow with the release of chapter 430 of the manga on 5th August 2024. The series has kept the engine running for ten years and made it to the big leagues with a great storyline and unique characters. As the narrative progressed further, the series went on to become one of the highest-grossing anime franchises in history.
While these are certainly pretty big accomplishments, it would not have been possible without Eiichiro Oda recognizing the talent of Horikoshi. When Horikoshi was trying to start his journey as a manga creator, Oda surprised him with a feature that he will remember forever.
Horikoshi once submitted a fan art for One Piece, and he was the only one who got selected. His art made it to volume 23 of One Piece, which is a big feat considering Horikoshi’s work experience at the time. Thus, it became one of the biggest motivations for the manga creator and thus resulted in the creation of My Hero Academia.
Kohei Horikoshi’s Excitement After Being Featured in One Piece
The My Hero Academia Vol. Origin interview between Horikoshi and Oda shared by Edomonogatari made an interesting revelation about Horikoshi’s art being featured in One Piece volume 23 in 2002. The artwork was based on the popular character of Smoker, and it impressed the One Piece mangaka. During the interview, Horikoshi talked about how he felt when he saw his artwork in One Piece.
Horikoshi stated:
Yeah. I remember I was a high school student when I turned the page and saw that that my art had been published in a tiny corner. I started shaking, cried out “Mom!”, and went to go show her.
Although the artwork covered just a corner of the volume, it was still a big thing for Horikoshi, as he was still a student back then. This was the first time Horikoshi gained confidence in his drawings and later on went on to create My Hero Academia. The franchise became a giant in terms of popularity as the movies alone generated a box office collection of 98 million dollars, according to The Numbers.
Eiichiro Oda’s Reason for Publishing Fan Art in One Piece
During the conversation, Eiichiro Oda pointed out that as manga creators did not have many channels to promote their artwork, being published in print was quite influential. Thus, he wanted to promote as much artwork as he could and give others a chance to earn appreciation from the manga community.
Oda stated:
Since social media wasn’t as widespread back then, people didn’t have many opportunities to display and share their art, which made the experience of being published in print an especially big deal. Hence, I wanted to fit as many people’s artwork on those pages as possible.
This small gesture from Oda proved to be a good thing for Kohei Horikoshi. However, this was not the only time Oda helped Horikoshi.
He even motivated Horikoshi to create more volumes of My Hero Academia and reach a more profound conclusion. And now, the journey of My Hero Academia that entertained and inspired so many fans has finally concluded, giving it a perfect end.
You can watch My Hero Academia on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
