While it's been known since March of 2021 that My Hero Academia has entered its final act, mangaka Kohei Horikoshi has offered a real timeframe for the series' ending, and it may be a bit closer than some fans would like.
A My Hero Academia panel was held at Shonen Jump's annual Jump Festa event this weekend, where a teaser for season six of the anime was revealed. While Jump Festa often has more of a focus on anime adaptations of manga than the manga themselves, the presenters also had a special message to relay from series creator Kohei Horikoshi, expressing the intent to end the series in 2022.
As reported by Kotaku, an official statement from Horikoshi was presented at Jump Fetsa which read, "If things progress smoothly, the original My Hero Academia [manga] will reach its goal, for instance, in just about a year. If things do not go smoothly, I think at next year’s Jump Festa, I’ll have [Deku voice actor] Mr. Yamashita read the same statement." With the manga's content having revolved around a series of major reveals for the last year, this does seem like a realistic end date for the series. Long-running plot lines which were left in the background, such as the U.A. Traitor, have finally returned to the forefront, which tends to be one of the biggest indicators of a manga approaching its natural end. Characters like Stain have been coming out of the woodwork, and help from outside of Japan has been more or less exhausted. There's also the fact that Deku has learned to use all but one of the quirks within One For All. The ultimate confrontation is imminent, even if it might take a while to play out in full.
Of course, there's more to ending a manga than just seeing the story through. Horikoshi will have to be able to stick to a firm schedule, something that's been difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic. My Hero Academia's delays and unexpected hiatuses over the summer of 2021 already saw the creator issue an apology, so it's likely some of the leeway in the statement is to prevent similar problems. There's also a delicate balance to be maintained between the primary story arc of All For One and Shigaraki and the secondary arcs such as the Todoroki family drama or the restructuring of Hero society. If Horikoshi feels that some of these secondary plotlines needs a little more time, that could also affect the series' final arc.
At the very least, working towards a set end goal should help ensure that My Hero Academia continues to stay on pace and move forward at a sensible rate, avoiding one of the biggest pitfalls faced by shonen series: overstaying its welcome by dragging the plot out forever.
Source: Kotaku