My Hero Academia Creator Kohei Horikoshi Honors Kobe Bryant in New Heroes: Rising Illustration

John F. Trent |

Jan 28, 2020

My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi honored Kobe Bryant by sharing a new illustration of Deku from the My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising film.

As you can see below, the illustration shows Deku flying through the air with Mahoro and Katsuma in his arms.

In the background Bakugo appears to be heading for the moon or the sun that looks very similar to Todoroki.

Horikoshi captioned the photo writing, “I saw [My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising] in 4DX at the movies. It was very cool how they had (added) more realism! I wanted to eat with Mahoro and Katsuma.”

4dx映画観てきました！臨場感増し増しで凄かったです！真幌ちゃんと活真くんを養いたいと思いました pic.twitter.com/VEsFI8vjcT

— 堀越耕平 (@horikoshiko) January 28, 2020

Here’s a better look.

While it might not be obvious that the image honors Kobe Bryant, sharp-eyed fans were quick to pick up on the homage.

You’re a legend for this Horikoshi 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/y5Jz9d3VDW

— rexsvns (@rexsvns) January 28, 2020

Fellas I just noticed this but ಥ_ಥ pic.twitter.com/vMBUPiuH4a

— ダニー🦈 (@sketchydanie) January 28, 2020

The shoes Deku is wearing are actually Nike’s Zoom Kobe 1’s. The Zoom Kobe 1’s were Bryant’s first signature shoe with Nike.

My Hero Academia: Heroes: Rising released in Japan on December 20th.

It was recently converted into 4D and re-released on January 24th. Following the 4D release, the film broke back into the top 10 at the Japanese box office coming in 9th according to Eiga.

It has currently earned about $14.25 million with 1.21 million tickets sold.

The film will hit theaters in North America on February 26, 2020.

What do you make of Kohei Horikoshi’s homage to Kobe Bryant?

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