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All great things must come to an end. After 10 long years of consistent publication, the manga My Hero Academia finally finished. In fact, by the time you are reading this, the final chapter of the manga might be out in your region! Looking at the current state of the anime, it won’t be long until its conclusion too. But when all is said and done, My Hero Academia does not need a sequel after it ends.
One of the first thoughts fans and perhaps even creators alike think when a popular property like My Hero Academia ends is, “What’s next?” Oftentimes, this leads to speculation and the eventual announcement of a spin-off or sequel. But this series doesn’t need any of that. I believe it is fine to leave it as it is.
While the temptation may be there for Shueisha and even series creator Kohei Horikoshi, My Hero Academia would be better off not going down the Naruto and Boruto route. This is largely due to the fact that this series ends on a pretty conclusive note. I won’t delve into spoilers here, but we get the satisfying finish and end to the battles that have been brewing since the series’ inception.
In addition, I adore the full-circle nature of Deku’s particular character arc. The series remembers how it started, and Horikoshi honors that with how it ends. For me, at least, it is a fully satisfying conclusion unlike some other manga and anime series in recent memory. Continuing it with a sequel or “new generation” of heroes almost feels like a disgrace to that.
Even beyond that, My Hero Academia already feels like a sequel in a way. Deku’s journey to fulfill his promise of becoming the world’s number one hero is actually vastly different from other shonen characters like Naruto Uzumaki. In Naruto’s case, there are legacies and histories from before him, but he is pretty much a standalone hero from zero. We see Naruto rise alongside the other members of Team 7, go through trials and tribulations, and cement themselves in history as world changers. It is then after that that we see his son Boruto take the reins and follow in his footsteps, “finishing the fight” against the Otsutsuki, so to speak.
In a way, My Hero Academia feels more like the story told in Boruto than the one in Naruto. In this manga and anime world, All Might is Naruto. The entire series is reminding Deku and everyone of All Might’s greatness. How he changed everything about superheroes and even defeated the mighty All for One. In this way, Deku — and pretty much everyone else — goes throughout the series in the shadow of All Might. This is quite similar to how Boruto relates to his father.
This goes pretty deep, too. After all, there is Shigaraki, too. While Shigaraki as the “big bad” of the series, he shares this role with All for One, who isn’t new. This is the same villain All Might previously took down. So, you have the themes of a returning threat from the past alongside the “next generation” trying to finish the fight. My Hero Academia is already like a sequel in everything but name alone. So, having a sequel or “next generation” of superheroes after Deku and the others almost feels redundant and unnecessary.
Any potential sequel to My Hero Academia would also have to create a new threat that arises after the original series ends. More likely than not, this new threat or conflict would almost assuredly feel less impactful, derivative, or forced. If anything, perhaps the best route to continue this franchise would be to finally tell All Might’s entire story as a prequel. But a direct My Hero Academia sequel with returning characters or their descendants would only be a disservice to what Horikoshi accomplished with this series.
The My Hero Academia manga is available to read on Viz Media and Manga Plus. The anime adaptation is available on Crunchyroll.
