My Hero Academia manga ending in 2023? Final Act begins, creator Kohei Horikoshi reconsiders final chapter plans

My Hero Academia key art
The release date for My Hero Academia manga’s ending may be pushed out beyond late 2022 according to Boku no Hero Academia manga creator Kohei Horikoshi. Pic credit: Kohei Horikoshi

Is the My Hero Academia manga ending soon in 2022? Or will the final chapter be pushed back into 2023? That question is on the minds of fans since the My Hero Academia Season 6 release date was in early Fall 2022.

“I feel like I can finally see the goal in sight,” manga series Kohei Horikoshi wrote when Volume 34 was released in May 2022. “It’s a rather strange feeling getting to this point. In the past, I would just be drawing without a single care [for the future], but now I wonder just how many more times can I draw these characters? Change is scary as you grow older. Well, I really shouldn’t dwell on that!

The original plan was that My Hero Academia manga’s final chapter would be coming out in the same time frame as the anime’s sixth season. On December 19, 2021, series creator Kohei Horikoshi revealed that he was planning on ending the manga in late 2022… assuming everything went as planned.

In December 2021, a written message was displayed during Jump Festa 2022 that stated that if My Hero Academia manga “continues to progress smoothly, in just about exactly a year from now it will meet its goal”.

The manga creator also revealed in December 2022 that Bakugo will play a large role in the final act of the manga’s story. Horikoshi hopes that fans who either love or hate Bakugo will love how the story ends. As manga readers know, Bakugo faced a life-threatening situation in the August 2022 chapters that had fans asking if Bakugo is alive or dead.

However, if progress on the new manga chapters does not go smoothly, then Horikoshi expected that Izuku Midoriya voice actor Daiki Yamashita will be reading the exact same message at Jump Festa 2023 on December 17-18, 2022.

On October 5, 2022, Horikoshi wrote in Weekly Shonen Jump Issue 45, 2022 that he was reconsidering releasing the My Hero Academia manga’s ending in late 2022.

“At the end of last year I said the series would be over in 1 year, but it’s already been 10 months,” Horikoshi reportedly wrote. “I’m reconsidering it.”

My Hero Academia 2022 Ending
Kohei Horikoshi released this written message during Jump Festa 2022 announcing the Boku no Hero Academia manga’s ending is coming up in a year. Pic credit: Jump Festa 2022 livestream

In late April 2021, an interview with series creator Kohei Horikoshi was published in Shueisha’s Jump Giga magazine. He spoke about how the journey to reaching the ending of the manga had been much longer than he expected. However, the manga is still on track for the story ending that he determined before the first chapter was published.

On March 21, 2021, Weekly Shonen Jump 16, 2021 announced that the manga was entering the “final act” of the series. My Hero Academia Chapter 306 was titled “The Final Act Begins (Shūshō Kaimaku)”.

This announcement should not be confused with the final story arc. The first act, or saga, lasted two years and included 9 story arcs. The second act finished after years and also included 9 story arcs. Therefore, it seems that The Final Act will be fairly long indeed and not finish for at least 2 years.

In recent times, the manga series creator has been teasing fans that the final act would be coming up. In 2020, his comments about the My Hero Hero Academia the Movie -Heroes Rising- seemed to indicate the manga’s ending may have been pushed out further in time. It turns out he used some of his ideas for the manga’s climax in the film.

During Jump Festa 2021, the Boku no Hero Academia manga creator started talking about the “conclusion” of the entire series. In Japanese narratives, there is a four-act structure known as Kishōtenketsu.

  • Ki : Introduction
  • Shō : Development
  • Ten : Twist (complication)
  • Ketsu : Conclusion (reconciliation)

During the Twist phase, the story turns toward an unexpected development, and it contains the yama, or climax, of the story. Although the My Hero Academia climax has not been announced yet, it will need to be contained in the third saga since the creator is already talking about the conclusion act.

“I think perhaps the manga will be heading towards its conclusion soon, but I’ll make sure you can enjoy it until then!” Horikoshi reportedly stated at the end of a panel.

To put this comment in context, Horikoshi once claimed there would not be a third movie. But then a My Hero Academia Movie 3 was official confirmed to have a summer 2021 release date.

In the past, he had promised fans that the entire manga series will last for years to come, claiming in 2016 that he released only about 20 percent of the planned plot thus far. By late 2017, Horikoshi mapped out ideas for the final fight but stopped short of naming which heroes and villains will battle in the last story arc of the series.

Horikoshi did not reveal how many story arcs he has planned. In mid-2018, he said that “the current arc [the hero internship arc featured in My Hero Academia S4] that is going on all has [a] purpose that will be relevant in the last arc.”

Horikoshi also mentioned that the Internship story arc had a very important character that he wanted to draw for the ending. In the end, he wants all the MHA characters “to come together and go forward into the last arc.”

  • Updated October 7, 2022: MHA creator reconsidering ending in 2022.
  • Updated December 19, 2021: Added Jump Festa 2022 message.
  • Updated April 30, 2021: Added Jump Giga interview comment.
  • Updated March 22, 2021: Added announcement of the My Hero Academia final act.
  • Updated December 31, 2020: Added new comments about the “conclusion” coming soon.

My Hero Academia Final Act Spoilers

By My Hero Academia 306, the world has been shaken up. Dozens of heroes have died and several cities destroying, resulting in the deaths of many civilians. Some heroes even defected.

All For One assaulted Tartarus prison and freed some of the most dangerous villains. These criminals and Near High-End Nomu attacked another prison, freeing even more villains and criminals.

The general populace has become aware of some startling truths and they’ve begun to lose confidence in their heroes. In order to prevent panic, Endeavor, Hawks, and Best Jeanist put on a public conference to address all of the allegations and rumors.

The press demands to know the secret of One For All, but Endeavor lies, saying he doesn’t know in order to protect All Might and Izuku.

Tomura Shigaraki and All For One are now targeting Izuku. He leaves letters for all the members of Class 1-A, revealing the secret behind One For All, and then disappears, leaving UA High behind.

Fast-forward to April and Izuku is now all alone in a city fighting against villains. With Izuku having left the Academy that the manga is named after, it certainly appears as if the My Hero Academia manga’s ending is on the horizon.

My Hero Academia Heroes Rising movie used the original plan for the manga’s ending

And it turns that the Heroes Rising movie is using concepts that he initially conceived back in 2017/2018 for the final battle. Caleb Cook (manga translator for Viz Media) released a statement by Horikoshi that discussed these plans.

“In a certain sense, one could say that this movie will be finale-ish for MHA. Let me clarify: the movie is going to feature one element that I wanted to use in the final battle of the manga. If you’re thinking, ‘If that’s true, then what’s gonna happen with the manga?!’ please rest assured. I’m worried too. The first movie showcased All Might and Deku fighting side-by-side as master and pupil (which is just about the most ultimately awesome thing I could think of), and now this movie somehow has to top that battle. Which puts me in a tough spot. I can’t imagine anything is going to top this one, so there won’t be a third movie. Probably. In short, movie #2 is going to blow the last one out of the water in a PLUS ULTRA way, so look forward to it!”

Cook also clarified that Horikoshi is “not saying movie #2 is literally the final episode/chapter/instance of the series.” What was never specified is what story changes mean for the My Hero Academia manga’s ending.

New one sheet for the 2nd My Hero Academia movie
The new My Hero Academia THE MOVIE Heroes Rising poster shows the new villain at the top-center. Pic credit: Funimation

Warning: The following two paragraphs contain spoilers for the My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising movie.

Heroes Rising will feature the new character Nine as the villain. Similar to All For One, he can steal other people’s quirks. Nine has already taken eight quirks, making him the heir apparent to All For One.

It’s possible Nine (or a villain similar to Nine) was initially planned to be the final villain of the manga’s story. The finale would have pitted all of the new UA Academy heroes against the League of Villains in a battle of the entire next generation. Now that at least one element is in the Heroes Rising film, where does that leave the manga?

My Hero Academia Volume 30 was originally going to contain the final chapter

In the summer of 2018, Horikoshi revealed that he’d considered ending the story with Volume 30, but then he realized that “ending the series at Volume 30 will be impossible.” In August 2018, an interview with Horikoshi and One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda arrived, and Horikoshi was still talking about Volume 30 as the goal.

“How many volumes do you estimate the series will be?” Oda asked, and Horikoshi replied, “Honestly, I thought about 30 or so would be about right, but I hadn’t really been counting at all.”

Oda also suggested that Horikoshi “shoot for about 50” volumes, but Horikoshi laughed and replied, “Can I really do ten years though…?”

By making that comment, Horikoshi is pointing out that adding an extra 20 volumes to the plan would mean the ending would come out in 2024, which is 10 years after the manga first started in July 2014.

What did Horikoshi mean by that comment? By Volume 30, the manga book included up through Chapter 295 since each manga volume usually comes with around 10 chapters. Volume 30 came out in April 2021 and when Horikoshi released his Jump Festa 2022 announcement the manga series was up to Volume 32, which includes up through Chapter 318. By October 4, 2022, when Horikoshi began reconsidering his plans the manga was up to My Hero Academia Volume 36, which included up through Chapter 362. 

Horikoshi may be seriously considering taking Oda’s advice. After all, he admitted during the Jump Festa 2022 message that he only planned on ending the manga series in Fall 2022 assuming everything goes smoothly. Nor has Weekly Shonen Jump announced anything about a final chapter coming up any time soon.

With Fall 2022 now here, Horikoshi still hasn’t clarified whether he is sticking to his original target or extending the plot into 2023. Nor has he discussed in recent interviews his progress toward creating a new ending for the manga now that Heroes Rising is using one plot element.

Let’s just hope that the My Hero Academia manga’ ending goes PLUS ULTRA beyond our expectations. Stay tuned!

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