My Hero Academia Chapter 430 has an adorable detail you might have missed

My Hero Academia’s last chapter contains a number of small details for discerning fans, and a particularly subtle one has Kohei Horikoshi tossing a small bone to the fandom’s shippers.

The My Hero Academia ending brought Deku’s story to an appropriately sweet finish. We see where him and All Might have ended up, and we get one last look at what his Class 1-A friends are up to.

There were questions that fans hoped would be addressed, like Deku’s father and Deku and Ochako’s relationship. The former may forever be a mystery, but the latter got a cute nod.

In one of Ochako’s appearances in Chapter 430, her costume contains a familiar neckpiece. You might miss it at a glance, but looking harder will reveal it’s the mouth guard from Deku’s costume.

Viz

He never wears it on-screen, not unlike Tsuyu’s goggles that live eternally on her head (and, funnily enough, appear to be upgraded after My Hero Academia’s timeskip). Nonetheless. the mouth guard makes for a cool aesthetic, filling the space around Deku’s neck.

The implication of Ochako wearing it suggests she’s nabbed it because they’re dating and she likes to wearing something of his. Or, at the very least, they’ve become extremely close – but given the emphasis on them as a ship, it’s clear what this is meant to imply.

“I believe that was a crumb Horikoshi threw at people to suggest that something between them did happen, whatever it was,” says a comment on Reddit. “I feel like Horikoshi just decided to say f*ck it and add all kinds of subtle shipping shit to try and please everyone,” a second adds.

“Not the only shipping Easter egg. You can see La Brava and Gentle wearing wedding rings. Jiro’s and Kaminari’s agencies are literally next door to each other,” another states, adding they’d like “outright confirmation”.

Alas, another franchise where explicit mention is kept subdued. but perhaps that’s the point, so the heart grows fonder. Whatever the case, you can check out our guides on My Hero Academia: You’re Next and Season 7 for what’s next in the franchise.