My Hero Academia Author Struggles With Series’ Success With “Hard-to-Please” U.S. Readers
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The final chapter of My Hero Academia will be released on Aug. 5, 2024. Series creator Kohei Horikoshi recently reflected on the upcoming end of his superhero series, revealing that he still can’t come to terms with its global appeal.
North American manga distributor Viz Media released a new interview with Horikoshi about his work on My Hero Academia, which will end in August with the release of Chapter 430. The interviewer asks Horikoshi how he feels about My Hero Academia reaching 100 million copies in circulation worldwide, with the English version consistently making the bestseller lists in America. In response, Horikoshi says it “doesn’t feel real” to him. Instead, he gives most of the credit to the overseas teams responsible for marketing and releasing My Hero Academia outside Japan. However, the interviewer assures Horikoshi that My Hero Academia’s strong international appeal comes from the work itself, as overseas readers aren’t easy to please.
“International readers evaluate manga quite strictly,” the interviewer says. “Many people stop reading it halfway through if they find it boring, so My Hero Academia’s continued sales success means that many people find it entertaining.” The interviewer then suggests that North American readers “are hard to please, so it’s impressive that every new volume of My Hero Academia ranks highly upon release.” Flattered, Horikoshi responds with, “Well, if you put it that way… No, thank you. Really. It must mean that people are acknowledging it as a quality series.”
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