Kōhei Horikoshi

Biography

Kōhei Horikoshi is a Japanese manga artist from Aichi Prefecture who created My Hero Academia, launched in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2014. Before MHA, Horikoshi published two earlier series — Oumagadoki Zoo and Barrage — that were canceled due to insufficient readership, making his success with My Hero Academia all the more remarkable. An open admirer of American superhero comics, Horikoshi designed MHA as a love letter to the genre while grounding it in Japanese shōnen traditions. He has discussed in interviews how his earlier failures were valuable learning experiences, and how the character of Izuku Midoriya — who succeeds not through natural talent but through relentless effort and observation — reflects values he holds personally. My Hero Academia became one of the defining shōnen series of the 2010s and generated one of anime's most active global fandoms.