New artwork from My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi shows the popular League of Villains characters having a good time amid the spooky season. Creator of the My Hero Academia manga Kohei Horikoshi published a new drawing on Twitter showing off the series’ villains as they prepare to celebrate Halloween, and the squad has never looked to be having quite as much fun as they are right now.
This year, the villains of My Hero Academia took centre stage when the anime adaptation embarked on the “My Villain Academia” arc, which shifted the focus away from the hero students and onto the League of Villains, who went through their own training regimen. However, despite their popularity in the anime at the moment, many of the villain characters have played a minor role in the manga this year, with several of them having died or gone into hiding following the conclusion of the Paranormal Liberation War arc in early 2021.
In fact, even Tomura Shigaraki, the League’s most notable member, has experienced significant transformations, prompting some readers to wonder if he can really be considered the same character anymore. Horikoshi’s sketches are much more detailed than what one would traditionally expect to be a “sketch,” and this is certainly the case with this particular piece of work.
Aside from Spinner, who appears to be pouting in the background, the photograph displays the key villains Shigaraki, Dabi, Mr. Compress, Twice, Himiko Toga, and Spinner, who appear to be in high spirits for the most part. Especially noticeable are the movements of Shigaraki and Toga, the latter of whom appears to be imitating the famous creatures from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. Additionally, Dabi stands out due to the fact that he is not strolling, but rather standing and glaring through the fourth wall, as if to remind readers that he has a totally distinct agenda that is still in the process of being implemented.
The fact that the villains are dressed in their regular clothes rather than Halloween costumes is also interesting to point out. One of My Hero Academia’s greatest assets has always been the connections between the villains, which makes them just as entertaining to watch as the protagonists.
However, unlike many other comic book villain team-ups that end with the bad guys tearing each other’s throats, the members of the League have managed to find friendship and belonging with these other outcasts from society, forming real bonds that mirror those between the heroes, as demonstrated by the My Villain Academia storey arc and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Since their disappearance from the manga hasn’t gone unnoticed, this sketch from Horikoshi is a welcome breath of fresh air, serving as a reminder of simpler times for both the series’ world and its viewers.
Considering that the My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission movie has just opened in theatres in the United States, the anime’s fifth season has just concluded, and both the My Hero Academia main series manga and spinoff My Hero Academia Vigilantes are nearing the end of their respective runtimes, it’s an exciting time to be a My Hero Academia fan. One of the ways that Horikoshi likes to thank his fans for their support of the series, as well as provide them with a little more of what they want to see before it all comes to a close, is through these small sketches.