My Hero Academia

About

Boku no Hero Academia (translated as My Hero Academia) is a manga series created by Kōhei Horikoshi and published in the magazine Weekly Shounen Jump. The story is set on a world where people with superpowers (known as "quirks") are commonplace and following the life of Izuku Midoriya, a boy born without a quirk who wants to become a superhero.

Premise

Boku No Hero Academia takes place in an alternate universe where each person is born with a superhuman power, or "quirk." The story follows the exploits of Izuku Midoriya, who finds himself having no useful quirk, until he meets the strongest hero, All Might. As Midoriya discovers the secret behind All Might's quirk, he is determined to train into gaining All Might's power and to enroll to Yuuei, the academy where all heroes apply to.

History

The first version of the manga series was published as a one shot manga in the magazine Jump Plus in 2008. Although it already had the concept of a superhero world and a main character who wants to became a hero, the one-shot has many differences with respect to the serialized manga, the main ones being the main character working for a gadget company and the heroes not having powers but using special gears.^[6] Boku no Hero Academia's serialization began in the 32nd issue of Weekly Shounen Jump on July 7th, 2014, as part of "a special project."^[1]

2016 Anime Adaptation

On October 27th, 2015, a possible anime adaptation was hinted after Kōhei Horikoshi published a screencap of a Shonen Jump's cover announcing the green-light of an anime adaptation (shown below), and was reported on some news sites after its deletion.^[16] The anime adaptation was announced on the 49th issue of Weekly Shounen Jump, set for release on November 2nd, 2015.

Live-Action Adaptation

On October 24th, 2018, the production company Legendary announced that it has begun planning a' live-action adaptation of My Hero Academia.^[26] According to the Hollywood Reporter,^[27] "Alex Garcia and Jay Ashenfelter will oversee the My Hero Academia movie for Legendary, while Ryosuke Yoritomi will oversee for Shueisha, which publishes the manga. Toho will distribute the film in Japan."

The reaction to the announcement was largely negative, as many fans of the manga opined that anime adaptation generally failed to meet their expectations in the past. Others believed that a live-action the 2005 live-action superhero film Sky High fulfilled their need for a My Hero Academia adaptation (examples below).

That day, Twitter^[28] published a Moments page on the announcement and the reaction.

Reception

The first volume was released on November 4th, 2014, selling over 71,000 copies in its first week.^[4] A series of vomics (video comics) was announced, the first one being released on January 11th, 2015 and the fourth being released on January 31st,^[5] adapting the first chapter of the series with voice acting.

Online Relevance

Starting from the apparition of English scanlations in November 2014, Boku no Hero Academia quickly gained a fan following in the English net. In December 2014, a dedicated subreddit was created, gaining over 4,000 subscribers in the following 10 months.^[11] A Wiki^[9] and a MyAnimeList page^[12] were also created during that time. As of October 28th, 2015, searching the keyword "僕のヒーローアカデミア" on the Japanese artist community Pixiv leads to over 4,000 results,^[17] while searching "boku no hero academia" on the artist community deviantART leads to over 520 results.^[13] The series has also gained a significant presence on websites like Tumblr^[10] and 4chan’s /a/ board.^[14]

Asui Tsuyu / Frog Girl

Asui Tsuyu, also known by her fan given name Frog Girl, is a supporting character from the series whose quirk gives frog powers. Due her unique appearance and other character traits, she quickly gained a fan following on pages like 4chan's /a/ ^[2][3] or Tumblr.^[15] Her popularity has also resulted in Asui getting a large quantity of fanart on image boards such as Pixiv^[7] or Danbooru,^[8] especially in comparison to the rest of the supporting cast.

Related Memes

Surfing Todoroki

Surfing Todoroki is an exploitable of Class 1-A student Todoroki Shouto using his ice quirk to glide through the air in the anime's Season 1 opening. The image was first picked up by Japanese Twitter on April 3, 2016 under the hashtag "空中サーフィン轟クソコラグランプリ" (lit. "Aerial Surfing Todoroki Shit Collage Grand Prix") ^[18]. It was subsequently continued by 4chan's /a/ board, where further exploitables were created ^[19].

Deku's Real Quirk

Deku's Real Quirk is a gag theory on the main character Izuku Midoriya's true quirk. Prior to Izuku's inheritance of the quirk One For All, Izuku was quirkless, however, certain plot points and comedic moments prompted users to suggest Izuku had a natural quirk all along. The most common example of this gag theory is Izuku's tendency to cry tears that shoot out like water cannons, where the anime's fanbase noted other characters seem to respond and interact with the tears in a Fourth-Wall fashion. The gag theory has prompted several threads in anime boards, such as 4chan's /a/ board and /r/BokunoHeroAcademia^[20], as well as fanart.

Traitor Theory

Editor's Note: This section includes spoilers from the manga series

Traitor Theory is a fanbase brainstorm on the reveal of U.A. High's traitor to the League of Villains. During Page 6 of Chapter 83 in the manga^[22], U.A. High Teacher Present Mic first addresses suspicions that there is a traitor among the school, either a student or a teacher. While there are numerous ways in which the suspect could be a traitor, there is a consensus that the prerequisites of being the traitor boil down to:

1) Being able to steal the USJ student schedule and reveal the location to the League of Villains without getting caught, and
2) Being an inconspicuous link between the highschool and the league of villains to transmit intel at any given moment.

Discussion of the UA Traitor has become a popular guessing game on message boards /a/ and /r/BokunoHeroAcademia, where the most common traitor pointing to Denki Kaminari, a Class 1-A student with the Electricity quirk ^[21]. On June 18, 2017, Youtuber Joy_Boy Theories postulated through manga and anime evidence that Tooru Hagakure, another Class 1-A student with the Invisibility quirk, was a strong candidate for being the traitor. The video has reached over 160K views since July 19, 2017.

Uraraka Hugging Things / Hugaraka

Uraraka Hugging Things, also known as Hugaraka, is an exploitable image of Class 1-A Student Uraraka Ochako with her arms and legs wrapped around a mock bomb in Season 1 Episode 7 "Deku vs. Kacchan" which aired on May 15, 2016^[23]. A day later on May 16, 2016, a thread on 4chan's /a/ board named "What is Best Girl Hugging, /a/?"^[24] was posted, which prompted a series of exploitable images. On May 17, 2016, Reddit user MIllawls posted a thread called ''Someone on /a/ shopped Uraraka hugging into other pictures'' on /r/Anime^[25]. The post received over 2000 points and over 200 comments as of July 30,2017.

Half My Respiratory Organs Were Destroyed

Half My Respiratory Organs Were Destroyed is a quote said by All-Might in the second episode of My Hero Academia while detailing an attack he suffered in his past. The screenshot of All-Might saying the quote has been turned into a reaction image and has grown popular on Reddit and Twitter.

The second episode of My Hero Academia aired April 10th, 2016 in Japan and May 12th, 2018 in the United States.^[29]

On December 14th, 2018, Redditor 1530320584 used the screenshot as a reaction image with the caption "When your older sibling hits you and it barely hurts you but your mom is watching, gaining over 10,000 points in /r/memes.^[30]

Over the following months, the template saw more use in subreddits like /r/animemes and /r/dankmemes. For example, on March 13th, Redditor Odie_theodie gained over 39,000 points using the template to make a joke about the Anti-Vaccination Movement (shown below, left). User tucklebuckle gained over 8,500 points making a joke in /r/animemes (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References