My Hero Academia chapter 393 finally gives a proper timeline to the series

The alleged spoilers and raw scans for My Hero Academia chapter 393 were released on Wednesday, July 5, 2023, promising an exciting and engaging issue. One of the highlights is that the series has finally returned to a full-fledged length of 17 pages, which is hopefully a sign of author and illustrator Kohei Horikoshi’s good health.

Within these 17 pages, My Hero Academia chapter 393’s alleged spoilers also claim that the manga's focus continues to be on the fight between Ochaco Uraraka and Himiko Toga. The issue does indeed start by continuing the focus on Toga’s villain name, doing so with a flashback to the League of Villains era of the series.

However, there’s another seemingly small detail within My Hero Academia chapter 393 that comes from this flashback, and fans are seemingly more focused on it. Assuming this detail is confirmed via the issue’s official release on Monday, June 10, 2023, readers may finally have the beginnings of a timeline for the series’ setting.

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My Hero Academia chapter 393 gives essentially first concrete timeline point to go off of for setting

Brief spoiler recap

My Hero Academia chapter 393 allegedly begins with Himiko Toga discussing villain names with the League members.

“Pikachiu” and “The Vampire Carmilla” are both suggested, with Dabi shooting them down since they reference things that existed before the era of Quirks. Shigaraki explains that he doesn’t need one due to how comic book-esque the concept is, which helps Toga decide to just go by her own name.

Back in the present, Uraraka is still fighting Toga despite her stab wound. She uses Zero Gravity on Toga, prompting the villain to say that the young hero’s feelings for her aren’t pity but egoism.

Toga then uses Dead Man’s Legion to gather multiple clones of several people, sending them to Uraraka, who manages to defend herself. Toga says making them float is useless, but Uraraka says her Quirk isn’t meant to hurt others.

They continue discussing their pasts both individually and together, with Uraraka eventually saying she admires how open Toga is about her love. As the two start to cry, Uraraka’s fingers glow as lightning bolts come out of them, seemingly showing her that Quirk Awakening does not need to touch its target.

My Hero Academia chapter 393 ends with Uraraka extending her bloody hand to Toga. The last panel shows the duo as kids, with Uraraka comforting a crying Toga.

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The timeline point, explained

As seen in Toga’s flashback at the issue’s alleged onset, Dabi emphasizes that the villain name, “Pikachiu,” is a reference to something that was famous before the era of Quirks came. While not officially confirmed, it seems all but certain that this is a reference to the lovable Pokémon mascot, Pikachu.

As many fans of the household name video game series know, Pikachu first debuted in 1996 with the Japanese release of Pokémon Red and Green, known as Red and Blue internationally. Considering that Dabi emphasizes that Pikachu was “famous” before the era of Quirks in My Hero Academia chapter 393, it’s likely that Quirks began appearing in the 2000s at the earliest.

In turn, this gives fans the first concrete piece of timeline evidence they’ve had in the entire series. While a general timeframe for how long Quirks have been around has been previously established by fans, no definitive starting point was given.

However, with this latest tidbit from Dabi, fans can at least establish a fairly definitive minimum starting point for the series’ overall timeline, including the initial appearance of Quirks.

One drawback to this revelation from My Hero Academia chapter 393 is that Quirks could have first appeared any time after 1996 given what Dabi says in the issue. In other words, fans only know that the first Quirk appeared sometime after 1996, not exactly when it appeared.

Likewise, with Pikachu still considered the Pokemon franchise’s mascot nearly 30 years after his debut, a wide window of time opens up resultantly. While this revelation doesn’t provide a concrete answer to what year Quirks first appeared in, fans at least know the absolute earliest real-life time period in which they could’ve appeared.

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Be sure to keep up with all My Hero Academia anime, manga, and live-action news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.