The manga My Hero Academia was a crowd-pleaser almost immediately upon release, and it quickly rose to the top as one of the most enjoyable series around - a title that could also apply to its well-received anime adaptation. Series creator Kohei Horikoshi builds detailed backstories for each and every one of his characters, and as such there are a lot of miscellaneous facts about them that simply go unnoticed by fans.
Plus, there's plenty of stuff fans don't know about the series itself - from its humble origins as a one-shot to Weekly Shonen Jump's official character popularity rankings. Here are 10 generally interesting facts you probably didn't know about My Hero Academia.
10 Izuku Is 5'5"
Izuku falls squarely on the lower end of the My Hero Academia height chart, at 166 cm (or 5' 5"). This puts him in between Mina Ashido (who is 159 cm, or 5' 3") and Denki Kaminari/Yuga Aoyama (both are 168 cm, or 5' 6").
In comparison, the tallest student is Mezo Shoji, at 187 cm (or 6' 2"), and the shortest student is Minoru Mineta, at 108 cm (or 3' 6½").
9 Bakugo Is The Oldest Student In Class 1-A
As of the latest manga chapter, all of the students in Class 1-A are the same age (16), but, because he was born the earliest (April 20th), Bakugo is the oldest student in the class. The next oldest is Ojiro, who was born May 28th. For comparison, the youngest student, Mezo Shoji, was born on February 15th.
8 All Might And Cow Lady Have The Same Birthday
Speaking of birthdays, All Might shares a birthday with another Pro Hero - albeit one with not nearly as much screen time as him. Cow Lady, who appears in the first My Hero Academia film (Two Heroes), was born on June 10th: the same day All Might was born.
Other characters that share birthdays include U.A. students Manga Fukidashi and Nirengeki Shoda (February 2nd), Pro Heroes Mirko, and Slidin' Go (March 1st), and friends Izuku Midoriya and Mirio Togata (July 15th).
7 Bubble Girl And Centipeder Were Designed By Contest Winners
Friends and sidekicks Kaoruko Awata (Bubble Girl) and Juzo Moashi (Centipeder) were actually designed by fans of the series in response to a contest held by Horikoshi.
The concept for Bubble Girl (who was originally intended to be a U.A. student) was created by artist Abara Chiita, and the concept for Centipeder was created by artist Oohara Tetsuya.
6 Some Of Horikoshi's Older Characters Appear In The Series
Kohei Horikoshi had worked on quite a few projects (with varying levels of success) before starting up on My Hero Academia, so it's only fitting that he would pay tribute to those projects in his later work. Several characters from Horikoshi's previous works, especially the manga series Oumagadoki Zoo, appear in My Hero Academia.
Most notably, the character of Sakamata from Oumagadoki Zoo became Pro Hero Kugo Sakamata (also known as Gang Orca) in My Hero Academia.
5 The Series Has Several Spin-Offs
My Hero Academia is one of the hottest manga around right now, so it only makes sense that it would have plenty of spin-offs. The most well-known, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, is written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and illustrated by Bennet Court. A more gag-based spin-off, My Hero Academia Smash!!, is written and illustrated by Hirofumi Neda.
A third spin-off, My Hero Academia: Team Up Mission, is written and illustrated by Yoco Akiyama. A light novel series illustrated by Horikoshi and written by Anri Yoshi titled My Hero Academia: School Briefs, was also released.
4 The Series Was Based On A One-Shot Written In 2008
Before My Hero Academia, Horikoshi created a one-shot for Akamaru Jump titled My Hero, which followed Jack Midoriya, an ailing salesman who sells hero equipment for a living but dreams of being a hero himself. Apparently, Horikoshi rediscovered the 2008 one-shot later in his career and liked it so much that he decided to revisit the series.
3 Izuku's Father Will Make An Appearance Later In The Series
The identity of Izuku's father was, for a while, one of the biggest mysteries in My Hero Academia history. He's never seen in the manga or anime, so many fans assumed he simply wasn't important to the series.
Eventually, it was revealed that his name was Hisashi Midoriya. Apparently, he has a job that requires frequent travel, which is why we never see him throughout the series. However, Horikoshi has confirmed the character will appear at some point in the future - an event that would give fans the ultimate Izuku backstory they've been waiting for.
2 The Series Has Two Trans Characters
While many fans of the series don't know this, at least two of the characters which appear in the My Hero Academia series are canonically trans.
The first is Pro Hero Tiger (also known as Yawara Chatora), a member of the Wild, Wild Pussycats, who was revealed to be a trans male in Volume 9 of the manga. The second is villain Magne (also known as Kenji Hikiishi), who is a trans female. Coincidentally, the two characters fought during the series' Forest Training Camp Arc.
1 Bakugo Is The Series' Most Popular Character
Every year or so, Weekly Shonen Jump holds a My Hero Academia popularity poll to determine the most popular characters in the series. Ten polls have been held, five in Japan, and five in the US, and the results show that Bakugo is the series' most popular character by a wide margin.
In Japan, Izuku won the first popularity poll, but Bakugo won every subsequent poll - and in the latest poll, he received 22,876 votes to second-place Izuku's paltry 12,373 votes. The results were fairly similar in the US: Izuku won one, but Bakugo won four, making him the clear series favorite.