My Hero Academia is known for a lot of things. It's known for reinventing the "superpower" system with Quirks, it's known for being a stereotypical shonen that is done masterfully, and it's known for its artstyle. Kohei Hoshikori is the mangaka behind this worldwide hit, and the guy can draw something fierce.
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He's a real fantastic character designer, that's for sure. And, as any artist would tell you, a character isn't designed and finalized in one go. There's design docs, endless sketches, and many redesigns before they end up on something they're happy with. Well, let's look through the proto-art and concept designs to see which ones are way better than they have any right to be.
10 A Better Designed Yuga Aoyama
Yuya Aoyama. The eccentric attention-hound who shoots a laser beam out of his belly button. The guy doesn't make a whole lot of sense, even when he's trying to. But, this design for him absolutely might even be better than the final one.
This proto-design screams like a character straight out of an 80's or 90's Shoujo manga and we love it. It's common knowledge now that MHAlikes to blend all different styles and influences into the same show, so what's one more to add to the mix?
9 A Design Better Fitting A Hero Named "Death Arms"
The more we look at this concept design for the neighborhood hero Death Arms, the more it looks like Horikoshi originally planned for him to be a villain. The design they went with for the anime is arguably better and more simplified but there's just something about this early design that has us hooked.
Maybe it's the metal in his shoulders, or the Caution Sign belt, or maybe even the idea that he looks evil when he fights. But at the end of the day, he's a side character so we can't be all too picky. Still, a construction-based Hero is a fun idea we wish they gave a bit more screentime to.
8 Shigaraki With Fewer Hands And A Wire Cape
A lot of the designs you'll see on this list we could take or leave. If they were the final designs we'd be happy but what we got was also good so thats fine too. But, this early design for Shigaraki is arguably better in every way to us. There's no jacket or accessories so the focus is entirely on Shigaraki and his hands. The hands themselves are better places with the two making up a pseudo-ribcage being a rad idea.
And, the thin wires hanging off all of them make a sort of faux-cape in a way that would be a lot of fun to animate and makes more sense than the interconnected chubby cords the final design has. Though, one thing we will concede on is that his final face design is better than the concept. But hey check out that Poison Chainsaw design on the right!
7 Hot Topic Phase Midoriya Izuku
Midoriya Izuku has twoobviousdesign elements that work for him, his hair and his shoes. But, what if we told you there was a concept design that had an equally unique hairstyle? That's right, take a look at Hop Topic Deku!
This early version looks a lot like a combo between the final design and the oddball look Deku had in the 2008 MHA one-shot that got the series off the ground. We don't exactly love it since Deku is the most neutral good character we've ever seen, but it does work well as a design regardless. Plus, this version of Deku actually seems to know how to tie and tie, and we can't credit that enough.
6 The More Un-Restrained Himiko Toga
To be honest, the final design of Himiko Toga is probably about as close as you can get to perfection for what Horikoshi was going for with the character. But, the early sketches show us how Toga could've looked once she indulged in her mysterious vampiric tendencies.
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For example, if Toga was ever to go buck wild and drink a ton of blood this messy look on the left would be perfect for that. And, the look on the bottom right could have worked for her as well as her hair is JUST barely kept in an orderly fashion, just like Toga herself.
5 What?! A Nezu That Smokes Cigarettes
Something about a mouse smoking cigarettes is just so funny to us. Maybe its the amount of reference the show makes to Disney Land and Universal Studios that has us thinking about Mickey Mouse.
Plus, Nezu is a very sweet intelligent mouse principal so showing him smoking would be a hilarious way to demonstrate that even he has vices. Obviously, there isn't much change to the final design outside of that, but we do like the double button-up cardigan look this concept-Nezu is sporting.
4 A Shockingly Wild Kaminari Design
This sketch right here is probably where a lot of the "Kaminari is the traitor" theories started. This premature design for the Chargevolt himself is shocking, to say the least. It's over-the-top, villainous-looking, and pretty rad.
Of course, you can see in the text right there that this was before Kaminari was even planned to be part of Class A, but we still would've loved to see a design this ominous sporting the U.A uniform. Seriously, it looks like a character straight out of Dorohedoro or something. The concept looks even more ridiculous when contrasted with Kaminari's "Yay" expression.
3 Sero's 10/10 Costume Design
Hanta Sero, otherwise known as Cellophane is a criminally underrated character in My Hero Academia. The dude started talking back to Bakugo almost immediately, constantly performs at a passable to above-average level in class, gets along with everyone, and makes the most out of his less than stellar Quirk. Obviously, the concept for his costume was to make him look as cool as possible while also referencing the fact that he literally shoots tape from his elbows.
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And we think they achieved that pretty well with the helmet. But, this concept for his early Hero Costume that has pieces of tape integrated into the design of the pants is just such a nice touch! We get that it would be tedious to animate but boy do we wish it was in the final design.
2 Uravity's Less Revealing Proto-Costume
Ochako Uraraka is a fantastic character who just wants to make money for her folks and help people. She's sweet, intelligent, combat-ready with a strong Quirk, and also subjected to a bit too much fanservice for a high schooler.
Her hero costume, in particular, is skin tight and oddly sexualized so we're actually more into this concept design because of it. It's missing her chunky arm and leg pads so if Horikoshi had combined the two then Uravity would have had a perfect costume.
1 Toru Hagakure's Shockingly Visible Concept Costume
And finally, let's ironically enough, talk about the design of one of the least visible characters in the series, Toru Hagakure. This girl can turn invisible! But, not like Susan Storm where she controls it, rather she's always invisible and always has been. Toru has an interesting Quirk that functions by warping light, but we don't get to see her much if at all.
Well, Horikoshi had different ideas way back when. Originally Toru was a guy whowore a mask, boots, gloves, and some mirrors on strings. We imagine that these mirrors would allow Toru to direct the light she/he warped in any direction which is a pretty neat gimmick. Though it seems like Hori is achieving the same purpose in the manga without the comical costume, still, it's a fundesign.
NEXT:My Hero Academia: 10 Things You Never Knew About UA Academy
