Kohei Horikoshi Refused to Inform Eiichiro Oda About His Rising Success Despite Getting a Push Because of One Piece

It is no secret that Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of My Hero Academia, drew inspiration from Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece for the series’ longest story arc. Horikoshi wanted to challenge himself to write a story that could rival One Piece‘s legendary length and surpass the duration of all previous arcs in My Hero Academia.

Horikoshi undoubtedly looks up to Eiichiro Oda as a mangaka. 16 years later, Horikoshi now walks shoulder-to-shoulder with his idol, Eiichiro Oda. In a special talk between Horikoshi and Oda, Horikoshi reveals how he felt when he saw his illustration featured in the One Piece Volume 23 illustration corner and about his rising success.

Kohei Horikoshi’s Experience With Being Featured In a Graphic Novel

According to the interviewer, Horikoshi and Oda first interacted in One Piece Volume 23’s illustration corner, Usopp’s Pirate Gallery. In response, Oda said Horikoshi’s work was published in a particularly good volume, which was the last one in the Alabasta arc, with the famous “sign of fellowship” scene.

Also Read: “I was pretty depressed about things”: Kohei Horikoshi Created My Hero Academia after His Previous Manga Was Mercilessly Axed

Horikoshi revealed that he was shaken when he saw that his art was published in a tiny corner of One Piece. Apparently, he cried out for his mother and went to show her. Horikoshi had only submitted one drawing along with his friend who liked One Piece and his work got selected. Oda joked that Horikoshi was like a pop idol who passed his audition.

Kohei Horikoshi Took 5 Years To Confess His Success To Eiichiro Oda

The interviewer revealed that by the time Horikoshi told Oda about his connection in person, it was already 2015 and quite a bit of time had passed. Oda said that they had met at New Year’s parties even before My Hero Academia was published and his previous work, Barrage, was being serialized. Oda wondered if Horikoshi was waiting for his manga to be a hit before informing him.

Also Read: Kohei Horikoshi Came up With My Hero Academia’s Most Well-Known Feature “To avoid making the story too dark”

Oda even wrote, “You should have told me earlier!” in Volume 77 of One Piece, and said that Horikoshi did not have to be so low-key about it. Understandably, Horikoshi was too shy, and even though they had many opportunities to interact, he did not want to bring it up since his work was still being published at the back of the magazine. Oda praised him in response and said that he made the right choice.