My Hero Academia, written by one Kōhei Horikoshi, is one of the biggest Shonen series of the past decade, easily earning itself an anime adaption during its first year. Now, obviously, much of its popularity is due to the incredibly interesting setting of a world based on superhero-society. But, many people underestimate the appeal value that Hoshikori's insane detail-work adds to the series. Heck, people are clamoring for MHA games constantly after all.
You may be thinking, what detail work? No, we don't mean artistic detail, though he is a genius-level artist. Rather, we're talking about the miniature details, habits, and world-building both the characters and setting itself show to us subtlely over the course of MHA's 4 seasons. Now, what are some of our favorites? Let's dig into it.
10 Chargebolt Literally Charges Himself
Right off the bat, let's talk about Denki Kaminari, the Static Shock of Class 1-A. Kaminari is commonly paired up with either Mineta or Jiro but unlike Mineta, he's not a completely awful human being (yeah we said it).
In fact, he's one of the more relatable heroes in the class. But, one of his least relatable traits is something author Horikoshi has never directly talked about in the manga, Kaminari eats electricity! Throughout the 200+ chapters, there are numerous moments where Chargebolt is just in the background sucking on a portable battery or charging all his classmate's phones at once.
9 Deku Can't Stop Talking Once He Starts
Izuku Midoriya is one of our favorite Shonen protags in a long time. The kid is just so adorable! We love his obsessive nature and the fact that he loves to "steal" and integrate other fighting heroes fighting styles or moves into his own repertoire. This is thanks to his years and years of studying up on heroes due to his Quirkless beginning. Now, there are tons of moments where Deku moves his fingers in the air like he's writing invisible notes or he mutters to himself in the background.
But, what we love most are the moments where Deku's over analyzation is applied to more than just aspects of heroics. The best example is in the most recent chapter where Deku takes up an entire page just analyzing the food he's eating in order to compliment the cook. Such a little dweeb!
8 Costume Designers Love To Sign Their Work
There are a couple of big designers on-call for UA that construct the costumes for the incoming students, and some have made costumes for multiple students. The most obvious example is Bakugo and Ochako thanks to an insert that points out the two of them share the designer's "signature" of two black dots on their costumes.
But, there are others! Jiro and Kaminari both feature a rocking yet casual appearance, Sero and Tsukishima both have bulky shoulder pads and minimalist designs, and Deku along with Todoroki both just essentially wear jumpsuits. It's a neat little fact that really adds to the overall depths of MHA's world.
7 Aoyama Always Looks At The Camera
Yuya Aoyama, otherwise known as The Shining Hero aka "Can't Stop Twinkling" is one of the more eccentric characters of Class 1-A. He's not one that gets a ton of screentime, mostly because he tends to have a "weak" quirk like some other minor characters. But when he is, the guy soaks up his camera time.
So much so, that he's willing to kick down that fourth wall in order to look directly at us, the audience. It's a neat little ongoing joke that he ends up looking directly at the camera more than the person he's actually talking to. Everyone on screen could be staring straight to the left and Aoyama would still just be staring straight into our souls. Little more creepy than charismatic, in our opinion, but we still love this Lazer-navel dork.
6 Uraraka Picks Up On Subtle Emotional Cues Often
Much like her Quirk, Ochako Uraraka's thoughts sometimes float away. She's not an airhead like Nejire per se, but the main female character does have plenty of moments where her indestructible optimism comes off as more "head in the clouds" than intelligent. But, there are more than a few times throughout the series where Uravity manages to pick up on emotional subtlety more than anyone else.
The primary example is she's the only other one who knew how Bakugo would feel about being rescued during the Kamino arc, but there are tons of other examples. Uraraka is just a good girl, and she takes notice of those around her!
5
Plus Ultra Isn't Gibberish!
Maybe it's just us, but we always thought the phrase "Plus Ultra" sounded like utter nonsense. It doesn't mean anything! At least, not in English. We had always thought that maybe it was a localization/translation thing. But, it turns out, the phrase Plus Ultra is actually Latin! It actually translates to "Go Beyond" as in go beyond your limits.
How fitting! Both the phrase itself and the fact that a teaching institution would use Latin as its motto. Now that we know the meaning, every usage of the phrase makes so much more sense, guess we'll just have to rewatch the entire show again. Oh no, how tragic.
4 Some Have Animal Quirks, Some Just "Happen" To Look Like Animals
So, in MHA, quirks have been around for about four generations. And, since then, they've mixed and mingled thanks to how dominant and recessive genes work. But, one thing that never made sense to us is how some people look like animals, objects, or mutants. Froppy is the perfect example of where it makes sense, she has frog traits, so she looks frog-like. But what about Tokoyami? Yeah sure, Dark Shadow is in the shape of a bird, but his quirk is shadow control!
The likely theory is that someone in Tokoyami's family history had a "bird-appearance" quirk and it just became part of their DNA. But this weird blending of Quirks has led to some of our favorite yet weirdest powers, especially with the villains.
3 Hoshikori Is Absolutely Obsessed With Hands
You might've noticed this next one, considering there's an entire character who is essentially made up of hands, but Horikoshi loves to draw the dang things. This is unique, mostly because people hate drawing hands, even most professional artists do. But, it seems like Hori surpassed this hurdle long ago, and now just loves to experiment with them.
Seriously, look at the hands in every "close-up" scene. They'll always have nail detail, wrinkles, and even more micro-details. And, Horikoshi's own "avatar" whenever he answers fan-questions in Shonen Jump is a horror-esque creature made up of a giant hand. So cool!
2 A Tragic Past For A Character From Episode 1
This next one is something most of the fanbase is already aware of. But, for those just hopping on the MHA train, there's a sad story behind one of the Nomu's released on Hosu City. The winged-Nomu, in particular, is who we're talking about. Horikoshi actually confirmed who this creature was originally.
Remember in the first episode how Bakugo had 2 little cronies that followed him around to help bully Deku? Turns out the one with the wings was sacrificed for Nomu research. Explains why he was so dead-set on Deku. There's more to this tragic story, but its all theories at the moment.
1 Quite Fittingly, Some Pro Heroes Show Up Early
And finally, a detail we absolutely love about MHA is how fleshed out its world feels. And one such example of that is how the Pro Heroes tend to make cameo appearances long before they're officially introduced in the story. It really makes us feel like Horikoshi has the entire story planned out.
The primary example is Ms. Joke who appears in the audience during the Sports Festival Arc. But there's more! In the manga, a billboard showing Endeavor actually shows up during the first chapter. Lastly, tons of heroes show up early during the Kamino arc, such as Gang Orca and even Hawks.