My Hero Academia's Bakugo has a Surprising Anime Inspiration (2024)

My Hero Academia draws inspiration from a wide variety of sources, including western comics by DC and Marvel and Star Wars. But the series has plenty of Japanese anime influence in it as well, and it turns out that deuteragonist Katsuki Bakugo happens to be one of those more anime-influenced characters, who can trace his origins back to one of anime's biggest hits ever: Akira.

As a character, Bakugo is extremely hot-headed and rude, and he has a very contentious relationship with series protagonist Izuku "Deku" Midoriya. He's quite unlikeable in his first appearances, and undergoes a long and slow character development until finally reaching the point where he doesn't outright hate Midoriya any longer. These more negative traits of Bakugo's are defining elements of his character, and it's hard to imagine the series without Bakugo's explosive temper as a part of it.

Bakugo's villainous traits apparently have a direct connection to the character of Tetsuo from 1988's Akira, according to series creator Kohei Horikoshi.

Bakugo's Early Personality Drew Heavily from Akira's Tetsuo

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In an interview with Toho Cinema Magazine in its August 2018 issue, translated by Tumblr user Aitaikimochi, Horikoshi states that he likes to watch Akira to get his creative juices flowing, and that he finds Tetsuo, the villain of Akira, to be a very cool and interesting character. He states that he deliberately made Bakugo similar to Tetsuo in the movie, after having noted Tetsuo's gestures and manner of speech. Horikoshi's love of the film is easy to see in the manga itself, especially in recent chapters where Shigaraki's body had been morphing into some body horror forms straight out of Akira. Bakugo's character being influenced by Tetsuo is a much more subtle example, but clearly the two share a lot.

Horikoshi: We play Akira often in the office. From the world up until the characters, it’s a vast and complex piece. I really like the character Tetsuo. Not just his character design, but his gestures and the way he talks is super cool. That’s why I made Bakugou Katsuki from BNHA similar to the character of Tetsuo in the movie.

Tetsuo begins the film as friends with Kaneda, the protagonist of Akira, and their strained relationship mirrors that of Bakugo and Midoriya quite clearly. Tetsuo has a strong inferiority complex as well, something which Bakugo develops towards Midoriya after the latter is granted the One for All Quirk. While Tetsuo becomes a full villain, Bakugo manages to avoid that fate by working through his feelings and eventually reconciling with Midoriya. Bakugo's strong desire to be a hero is arguably the key trait which sets him apart from Tetsuo, as Tetsuo never had any intentions of using his power to help people.

Horikoshi has said in the past that Bakugo turned out more popular than he expected, and that the character was nearly made a villain. If Tetsuo was really part of the inspiration of the Bakugo fans now know and love, it makes sense that he might've been a character leaning more toward villainy than heroics. However, Bakugo was able to grow as a character and become more than that, a fact which has granted him a far more interesting character arc over the course of the series. It's interesting that one of My Hero Academia's most popular characters is inspired by such a classic film as Akira, and how he diverged from that inspiration to become a unique character is a testament to Horikoshi's skill.

Source: Toho Cinema Magazine (Translated by Aitaikimochi)

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My Hero Academia (2016)

In My Hero Academia, some humans have superpowers called quirks. Izuku Midoriya, nicknamed Deku, is not one of them. Deku has always idolized heroes like the number one hero, All Might, and since he was a child, he has always wanted to be a hero. However, his lack of a quirk has always held him back, but a chance encounter with All Might after discovering a classmate in danger sets Deku on the path to becoming a true hero. My Hero Academia centers around Deku and a class of heroes-in-training at UA. This school shapes young quirk users into future heroes through fake rescue missions, combat training, and other hero-tempering tasks. With young Deku inheriting the "One-For-All" quirk, he will learn what it means to be a true hero while facing off with dastardly supervillains.