Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of My Hero Academia, birthed a beautiful story that officially reached its conclusion with the release of chapter 430 on August 5, 2024, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Double Issue 36-37. The series ended with its epilogue arc, which set forth a new era for all the students who had now grown up after an 8-year-long timeskip.
In this time, the vast majority of the students ended up becoming Pro Heroes, and at the same time, they had also progressed greatly in their personal lives as well, especially when it comes to the field of romance. Kohei Horikoshi isn’t known to be an author who shies away from romance, and he has put quite a lot of emphasis on it throughout his story. As such, by the end of My Hero Academia, and with new releases sprinkled all the way into 2026, Horikoshi has now confirmed new couples that are officially canon.
Kohei Horikoshi Made Izuku And Ochaco Canon In The Extra Chapter Of My Hero Academia’s Last Volume
The first couple that has now been confirmed to be officially canon in My Hero Academia is that of the protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, and Ochaco Uraraka, the heroine of the series. These two were always destined to end up together, but it wasn’t until the end of the series that Horikoshi decided to bring them close. When My Hero Academia chapter 430 was released on August 5, 2024, Izuku and Ochaco’s relationship was left unexplored, which was a disappointment for many fans. Then, My Hero Academia released chapter 431 as part of the final volume of the series on December 4, 2024. This chapter finally brought Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka together.
“I’ve been wanting to talk more with you, Uraraka-san! Going forward too, I want more with you!” — Izuku and Ochaco become official, My Hero Academia Chapter #431
What expanded upon this even further was the anime adaptation, My Hero Academia episode 171, released on May 2, 2026, earlier this year. This episode also showed us the bond of Izuku and Ochaco and saw them begin their dating life for the very first time. Horikoshi himself also stated that this one-shot was to expand upon the concept of love, which he tried to avoid at first in the story, but decided to expand upon in his final one-shot. While Izuku and Ochaco form our first canon official couple in My Hero Academia, they aren’t the only one. Horikoshi confirmed many other official couples by the end of the series, and needless to say, some of them are certainly very interesting.
Question: Chapter 431 focuses on Deku and Ochako. In My Hero Academia, there wasn’t much focus on romance; was there any reason for that?
Horikoshi: Instead of wanting to portray romance in the story, I just wanted to show the contrast between Ochako and Toga with their views on love. Since romance is a very strong stimulus, as soon as you include it in the story, that’s all anyone is going to talk about, so I deliberately avoided adding it to the story.
However, since the setting of the series is at school after all, it would be rather dishonest to completely ignore romance, so it was pretty hard to think of a balance.
Thankfully, since Deku was always doing other things, he was unaware of any romantic feelings, and it turned out to be a good thing for me [since Horikoshi didn’t want to include romance in the main plot].
However, when Chapter 394 came around, the topics [discussed by Toga and Ochako] did touch upon that stimulus called love, so I knew that it would be strange to not follow up on that point later in the story, which is why I chose to write about it.
I never thought that romance would go well with the theme of the story of My Hero Academia, which is “to save and be saved,” nor would it make sense to include it in “the story of how we all became Heroes.” So that’s why I decided to touch upon it in an epilogue, like a postscript of sorts.
However, rather than depicting romance itself, I wanted to depict love in a form as part of something even greater, but I wonder how it turned out?
— Kohei Horikoshi explains his take on Deku and Ochaco’s romance
My Hero Academia’s Final Release Confirms Shindo and Nakagame Are Together
The first official couple that Horikoshi confirmed after Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka is that of Shindo and Nakagami. This new couple was first mentioned in My Hero Academia Ultra Analysis, but later made fully canon with the extra chapter release of My Hero Academia, which was adapted into episode 171 on May 2, 2026. Shindo and Tatami Nakagame were dating for a very long time and were eventually made canon by the author. In chapter 431, Mina Ashido was seen talking to her fellow girlfriends, who then ended up revealing to her that these two had been dating all along. Ashido was unaware of them dating, but by this point in time, their being together was public knowledge.
It is unfortunate that we did not get to see their romance blossom more in My Hero Academia, and fans would most certainly have loved to see it. Both of these characters are interesting, even though they only show up in certain parts of the story. Shindo himself stands as a very interesting character, especially when taking into consideration his relationship with UA High School students, specifically Izuku. The expansion of this romance in the story would most certainly have been brilliant for the fans to follow, but it isn’t one that they would lose sleep over.
Kinoko And Shihai Are Another New Couple
Another couple that was exclusively confirmed by Kohei Horikoshi in the final chapter release of My Hero Academia was that of Kinoko and Shihai. This information was brand new and wasn’t even teased previously in any guidebook, unlike that of Shindo and Nakagame. Their relationship was directly confirmed by Toru Hagakure, and once again, it came as a surprise to Mina Ashido.
At that point, Mina had recently gone on a mission alongside the two, and they hid their relationship so well that she wasn’t able to tell that they had been together all this while. Just like the relationship of Shindo and Tatami, these two were not expanded upon in the story at all. While their friendly relationship was certainly enjoyable for the fans to see, Horikoshi chose to avoid the romance and simply mentioned it at the end of his story. We would love to see them blossom as a couple together at the end of the series if Kohei Horikoshi ever decides to come back to My Hero Academia.
It is also interesting to note that Kohei Horikoshi has also practically confirmed that Mount Lady and Kamui Woods are dating, although it isn’t official, unlike the other three couples. These two have been hinted to be together for a very long time, and this romantic development between them is even woven directly into the plot.
When questioned about the dating rumors with Kamui Woods, Mount Lady chooses to leave the question unanswered, which neither confirms nor denies anything, but it doesn’t waive the speculation away either. This means that there is a strong possibility of these two being together. Furthermore, their bond is unbreakable, and these two are incredibly close to one another, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see Horikoshi putting them together at the end of the series as well.
Both of these are currently in the Top 10 in the Japanese hero billboard, with Mount Lady occupying the fourth position, and Kamui was falling outside of the top five recently. Regardless, they are interesting characters to follow.
Interestingly enough, it has already been confirmed that Kohei Horikoshi and My Hero Academia will announce new projects at Jump Festa 2027, which is going to be held in Tokyo, Japan, on December 19 and December 20. What exactly these projects are isn’t known yet, but they are set to be massive. If My Hero Academia announces any sort of continuation, be it through a full serialization, a one-shot, or even a movie, fans can rest assured that Izuku and Ochaco will play an important role.
All the chapters of My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi are available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media. The anime is available to stream in its entirety on Crunchyroll. The next My Hero Academia update is anticipated on December 19, 2026.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
