Kohei Horikoshi is the creator ofMy Hero Academiawhich started its publication in Shonen Jump in 2014. Since then the popular series has had thirty combined volumes, two movies, and four seasons of an anime with the fifth just starting. Needless to say, it is currently one of the mostpopular anime/manga seriesright now which might be boosted by all of the live-action superhero love right now from films and TV.
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This was not Kohei Horikoshi’s first series though. His first story was actually in 2007. All three of his first works were one-shot mangas, which were followed by two more longer, but still short stories. Are any of these five stories any good, or should fans keep toMy Hero Academia?
5Tenko
Tenkowas Kohei Horikoshi’s first manga. It was a one-shot, roughly around fifty pages, and it was published in Akamaru Jump in 2007. The manga begins on a battlefield, with a young boy running away from a fight. Someone shouts after him, wondering if that was someone called the Battle Vandal. There has been a rumor going around that this child goes into conflicts and destroys weapons and armor with a mere touch.
The manga then switches over to Hana,a female in trainingwarrior who keeps getting shot down because she is a woman. While training she meets this boy and finds out his real name is Tenko. Soldiers come for the boy, fights ensue, with the conflict ending with Hana defending Tenko. She teaches him that there are more ways to fighting than just blatantly destroying every piece of weapon and armor in sight. It’s an interesting take fora samurai manga.
4My Hero
My Herowas also a one-shot in Akamaru Jump, but this was in 2008. As the name obviously suggests, this is the closest Kohei Horikoshi came to a prototype forMy Hero Academia. In fact, it is sometimes referred to as chapter zero. The main character’s name is Midoriya Jack. Jack, in Japanese, sounds close to Jaku which means weak. Jack looks like a combination of Deku and Mr. Aizawa and he’s a salaryman that works for a support group that helps out heroes.
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Jack looks close to Deku, yes, but there is a bigger link via Snipe. He looks and acts the same although it is revealed at the end of the manga that he is hiding a big identity from the world. Much of this narrative is actually more reminiscent ofthe spinoff series,My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. That is not written by Kohei Horikoshi, but it’s still worth mentioning as another spinoff from the mind that created one of the biggestcurrent anime/manga franchises.
3Shinka Rhapsody
Shinka Rhapsodywas a one-shot manga that was published in 2008 for Akamaru Jump. Reporting on this story is a bit hard because the manga was never translated officially or by fans. The best source to work off of comes from Twitter user@HeroFletch, or just Fletch. They bought this issue of Akamaru Jump and shared images on their account in the hopes and getting more of the story from the community, which has since blossomed into a small thread.
Shinka Rhapsodybasically sounds like another attempt at a demo forMy Hero Academia. One day random humans on Earth started evolving with powers based on their desires. Crime rates are going up and that’s about the end of it. Fans can assume based on that that maybe someone with powers would eventually turn into a hero of some sort but that’s only a guess.
2Oumagadoki Doubutsuen
Oumagadoki Doubutsuen, orOumagadoki Zoo, was Kohei Horikoshi’s first entry in Weekly Shonen Jump. It was published from 2010 to 2011 and lasted for ten chapters. The manga starred a young girl named Hana who decides to work at a zoo for the summer because she loves animals. What she finds there is beyond her wildest dreams.
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The owner, Shiina, was cursed as a child by a ghost rabbit and is now, in fact, a rabbit himself. He has to make up for being cruel towards animals and mankind. This has persisted for years so he set up a zoo to try and give animals the best life possible. The small arc in the ten chapters sees Hana trying to be a less clumsy and more confident person while trying to teach Shiina the error of his ways. And there is some light fighting as well involving some animal poachers as well as some internal conflicts. Loversof animal mangamay like this.
1Sensei No Bulge
Sensei No Bulge, orBarrage, was an eight-chapter manga that began and ended in 2012 for Weekly Shonen Jump. Out of all these entries, this is the one that sounded like it has potential beyondMy Hero Academia. It’s about an alien invasion of a planet called Industria. They’ve been at war for over fifty years, with the people of Industria being incredibly suppressed with the war for domination all but over. It’s actually similar to arecent video game’spremise,Tales of Arise.
The manga stars Astro, a hardworking peasant trying to make a livable wage for his family. One night the prince of the kingdom, Bulge, comes to visit him. It’s revealed that they look like twins, a definite nod to thePrince and the Poppertale only in this version the Prince dies. At least, it looks like he dies. Astro inherits this deadly weapon called the Org, assumes the position of Prince Bulge, and the manga focuses on his exploits to try and stop the war.
As it is set in an alien world, there’s a lot of creativity with the characters, weapons, environments, and so on. Maybe one day Kohei Horikoshi can return to it. After all,My Herowas published in 2008 beforeMy Hero Academia started in 2014. By that logic,Sensei No Bulgeshould have already been rebooted by now but the point is there is always hope. Check this manga out for sure online.
