My Hero Academia Quietly Proves Bakugo Won’t Become The Number-One Hero

Warning: spoilers ahead for My Hero Academiachapter 348!

While fans of My Hero Academia have been speculating that Katsuki Bakugo will become the number one hero, comments by the manga’s narrator suggest this won’t be the case.

Before now, fans always took for granted that the narrator of the story is Deku, but chapter 348 hints that it’s most likely Bakugo. After Himiko Toga confesses her love for Deku, the narrator explains that the reason why Deku can’t believe that anyone could have feelings for him is because he’s a “damned nerd.” Because calling Deku a “damned nerd” is essentially one of Bakugo’s catchphrases, it’s pretty much definitive proof that My Hero Academia is narrated from Bakugo’s perspective. While an interesting little twist, this revelation doesn’t come with any major consequences – at least, not at first.

Thanks to the anime, even manga readers believe that, at the very beginning of the story, Deku says, “This is the story of how I became the greatest hero.” But in the pilot chapter of the original manga, the narrator (originally believed to be Deku) actually says, “I forgot to mention this, but this is the story of how I became a great hero.” If Bakugo is the real narrator of My Hero Academia and not Deku, as this latest chapter suggests, then the manga just strongly implied that Bakugo believes that My Hero Academia is about how he became a great hero, not how he became the greatest hero or the number-one hero. Even going by the anime’s version of this line, it’s highly questionable that any hero who became the official number-one hero would then refer to themselves as “the greatest hero,” as this would only diminish the accomplishment.  

Combining the obvious conclusions from the anime’s version – that Deku becomes the greatest hero, but not the number-one hero – and the manga – that Bakugo only becomes a great hero – it can be inferred that neither Deku nor Bakugo will hold the official top spot. This would explain why mangaka Kohei Horikoshi approved the change in language from the manga to the anime, as both readings would be correct despite differing narrators.

Rather than suggesting the anime and manga will diverge in some huge way, these differences – and the narrators’ early claims – suggest that Deku is the anime’s narrator and (due to his “damned nerd” outburst) Bakugo is the surprise narrator of the manga, with neither actually destined to become the number-one hero, even if their accomplishments are the stuff of legend. The big question that remains is – since Deku and Bakugo are theoretically out of the running – which of the manga’s young heroes will actually become the number-one hero of the future, or if the position will even still exist when My Hero Academia reaches its upcoming conclusion.

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