My Hero Academia, created by Kohei Horikoshi, has secured its place among the most cherished shonen manga series, making the anticipated end of its anime adaptation a moment filled with mixed emotions. After nearly a decade of captivating audiences, the anime is set to broadcast its final episode on December 13. Yet, there’s a silver lining amidst the nostalgia of its conclusion.

Though the series is wrapping up, fans can take solace in the fact that the ending will be exactly what they’ve been hoping for. The 8th and concluding season of My Hero Academia is confirmed to consist of just 11 episodes. As the 10th episode approaches, it has become evident that the anime is venturing beyond the initial manga ending, opting instead to present the true conclusion of the series, going beyond expectations.

Even though MHA is coming to an end, it’ll at least be the ending fans of the series always wanted to see. It has been officially confirmed that My Hero Academia’s 8th and final season will only run for a total of 11 episodes. Ahead of its 10th episode’s release, it has become clear that the anime is ignoring the original manga ending to go plus ultra and adapt the series’ real ending.

The Anime Still Has a Lot of Space to Adapt My Hero Academia’s Additional Storylines

My Hero Academia Season 8, Episode 9 ended at the conclusion of manga Chapter 426. The original release of the MHA manga only adapted 430 chapters, meaning there’s only 4 chapters to adapt in two full anime episodes. The series has actually been following a pacing of about 2 1/2 to 3 chapters per episode, so this would suggest a major slowdown in the final two episodes.

However, what’s more likely is that the anime is disregarding the original ending of the story to adapt Horikoshi’s “true” ending in the additional chapter 431 that was released alongside the final volume of the My Hero Academia manga. This indicates a more complete adaptation of the story than fans got with the weekly manga release.

It’s currently difficult to find MHA’s additional Chapter 431 to read online at all, as the Shonen Jump app only includes the original 430 chapters of the manga. The only current way to officially read this chapter is to either physically or digitally buy the last volume of the MHA manga, Volume 42. That’s not even the only post-manga chapter release Horikoshi has put out for his opus, either.

There’s also an additional “Chapter 432,” which is really just a 5-page one-shot released in the Ultra Age My Hero Academia guidebook, which has itself never gotten an official English release. Fans will have an even harder time finding that chapter, considering the only way to read it in English is through fan translations. It’s unclear whether the anime will actually go as far as to adapt the extra one-shot, but it’s quite obvious that it will at least adapt Chapter 431.

Shonen Jump

The anime’s decision to adapt this additional part of the manga is great news for fans. The original ending of MHA is still the most criticized aspect of the series’ story by far. There are various aspects of it that fans didn’t like, even after the epilogue was all said and done at the end of Chapter 430. While Chapter 431 doesn’t exactly fix all the problems, it does provide more closure for the characters and their stories.

While adapting Chapter 431 isn’t at all essential for fans to get the gist of where the ending is going, it simply brings things to a more satisfying close. In this single chapter, pretty much every main cast member has their official hero rank revealed, and fans get to learn what all their favorite characters did after the series’ most substantial time skip. Without spoilers, there are personal development arcs that come to a close, friendships that are further fleshed out, and perhaps most importantly, romances that finally come together.

Most of the places MHA Chapter 430 left things open for interpretation, MHA Chapter 431 provides definitive answers to. While arguably not fully necessary, it’s nonetheless heartwarming and, insofar as the impression it leaves with its final panels is concerned, even powerful. It’s the kind of ending MHA always deserved as a series that always put so much emphasis into its individual characters.

My Hero Academia has arguably already received an excellent ending by way of Deku’s victory over All For One. At this point, everything left is just extra, plus ultra, further building on the characters and themes of one of the greatest modern shonen battle epics.

My Hero Academia’s final season is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Release Date

April 2, 2016

Network

TBS, MBS, Nippon TV

Directors

Shouji Ikeno, Tsuyoshi Tobita, Ikuro Sato, Takudai Kakuchi, Masashi Abe, Tetsuya Miyanishi, Kazuma Komatsu, Yoshifumi Sasahara, Masayuki Otsuki, Daisuke Tsukushi, Takayuki Yamamoto, Yohei Fukui, Takuro Tsukada, Masatoyo Takada, Naomi Nakayama, Sayaka Morikawa, Takanori Yano

• Daiki Yamashita

  Izuku Midoriya (voice)

• 

  Kaito Ishikawa

  Manga Fukidashi (voice)