“Never Give Up” (Izuku Midoriya)
MY HERO PRO-WRESTLING: “NEVER GIVE UP” (IZUKU MIDORIYA)
【僕のヒーロープロレス】 「ネバーギブアップ」（緑谷出久）
漫画: 僕のヒーローアカデミア
Manga/Anime: My Hero Academia
ハッピーバースデー、デク！ （７月１５日）
Happy birthday, Deku!
I hope you will like it. I would appreciate your feedback for this drawing.
Extra Notes:
July 15 is the fictional birthday of My Hero Academia protagonist Izuku Midoriya, or more fondly known as Deku. As such, I thought it would be the perfect day to finally release a piece I first conceptualized since February: Deku Cena!
To recall, some MHA fans noted back in February how Deku looked like he was doing the “You Can’t See Me” gesture of WWE legend John Cena in the movie poster of the anime. Cena apparently noted this fan observation and turned heads amongst the MHA and the general pro-wrestling and anime community when he acknowledged this on his Instagram account. Interestingly, though, hardly anybody really took this opportunity to turn Deku into John Cena. And that’s where I step in! 😁
This isn’t the first time I drew an anime character as John Cena. Way back in 2016, I drew Attack on Titan character Jean Kirstein as John Cena, mainly because of the Jean/John connection. Back then, I was trying to capitalize on the peak of the “His Name is John Cena!” meme.
For Deku Cena, though, I opted to go for a piece that resembles a John Cena t-shirt design. As such, I used the “NEVER GIVE UP” catchphrase of Cena as the background (similar to a few of the official Cena t-shirt designs). Anyway, I think the catchphrase fits Deku perfectly since he has that “never give up” attitude anyway and pushes himself to be good in what he does.
The colors were made to resemble the colors of the U.A. High School in the series. And instead of Cena’s hand sign on his wrist bands, I opted to draw a typical hand gesture of Deku. I decided to keep the “You Can’t See Me” sign on his other wrist bands, though, simply because I can’t think of any better alternative.
I hope you enjoy this piece.
Deku vs. Kacchan 2 (Figure 4 Leglock)
少年ジャンププロレス
SHONEN JUMP PRO-WRESTLING
僕のヒーロープロレス: 緑谷出久 VS 爆豪勝己２
MY HERO PRO-WRESTLING: IZUKU MIDORIYA VS. KATSUKI BAKUGO 2
プロレス技: 足4の字固め
Pro-Wrestling Technique: Figure 4 Leglock
漫画: 僕のヒーローアカデミア
Manga/Anime: My Hero Academia
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Extra Notes
Deku from My Hero Academia is becoming this generation’s top shonen hero. I’ve heard about how good MHA is, and how good Deku is. So I decided to go ahead and give another shot at drawing Deku in a wrestling match.
For this piece, I decided to put him up against Kacchan (Bakugo) once more. This time, Deku is locking Kacchan up with a classic submission move: the Figure 4 leglock.
I’ve always wanted to try the move out in a drawing. And since there’s this meme of Deku “discovering” that he has legs, I thought it’d be a good way for Deku to use his newfound legs. I also thought little taunting would be nice, so I also made a “subtitled” version of this piece.
This piece was originally intended for Deku’s birthday on July 15. Still, it’s never too late to release a wrestling illustration.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece.
Alternative versions
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- Deku vs Kacchan – Subtitle Version
Mirio Togata
少年ジャンププロレス
SHONEN JUMP PRO-WRESTLING
【僕のヒーロープロレス】 通形ミリオ
MY HERO PRO-WRESTLING: MIRIO TOGATA
漫画: 僕のヒーローアカデミア
Manga/Anime: My Hero Academia
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Extra Notes
Last year, I offered to make a fan art for an online friend. It was my way of cheering him up and wishing him the best as he started medical school. As such, he chose Mirio Togata. And since today is Mirio’s fictional birthday (July 15), I decided to catch up and release this old piece.
Admittedly, I don’t know My Hero Academia that much to know how significant Mirio is. But from what I gathered from reading various websites, he seems to be a very strong character and a good friend to Deku, though nothing is clearly set in stone at the time of writing.
For this piece, I opted to put Mirio in an NXT-like environment. The way I see it NXT is to being a WWE superstar as UA High School is to being a hero in the MHA world.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece.
Deku vs. Bakugo (Kimura Lock)
少年ジャンププロレス
SHONEN JUMP PRO-WRESTLING
僕のヒーロープロレス: 緑谷出久 VS 爆豪勝己
MY HERO PRO-WRESTLING: IZUKU MIDORIYA VS. KATSUKI BAKUGO
プロレス技: ダブルリストロック / キムラロック
Pro-Wrestling Technique: Double Wristlock / Kimura Lock
漫画: 僕のヒーローアカデミア
Manga/Anime: My Hero Academia
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Extra Notes
It’s definitely the era of My Hero Academia. It’s becoming popular in the comic world, in television, and even in social media. And quite surprisingly, it’s even becoming the manga of choice for those drawing manga-style wrestling art. As such, I’ve decided to jump in on the My Hero Academia bandwagon.
This piece started out as a sketch intended for the Goro vs. Toshi illustration series. I opted not to include the move in the series, but I still kept the rough sketch for future use. Eventually, I decided to change the characters from Goro and Toshi to Deku and Bakugo.
As for the Kimura Lock, I found the move quite interesting after seeing NJPW pro-wrestler KUSHIDA apply it as one of his finishing holds. The sketch was made a couple of years ago, so I’m guessing this was back when KUSHIDA was being promoted as the top ace of the Junior Heavyweight division of NJPW.
Besides, KUSHIDA was a babyface champion. It parallels quite nicely with the sweet but strong babyface hero Deku.
I hope you enjoy this piece.
Manga Pro-Wrestling 「漫画プロレス」 