What are Ultra Archive and Ultra Analysis?

The official record: every hero, rated and filed.

Shueisha published two great character guidebooks for the series. Ultra Archive: The Official Character Guide appeared on 2 May 2016, a month into the anime’s first season, profiling the cast of the early story. Its successor, Ultra Analysis: The Official Character Guide, followed on 4 October 2019, a far larger file covering the story to the threshold of the final war: profiles, Quirk data, relationship charts, and the official power statistics fans argue over.

The guidebook shelf around them includes the 2016 Ultra Archive art book and the 2017 Ultimate Animation anime guide. Of the character guides, only Ultra Analysis crossed the Pacific: Viz published it in English on 2 November 2021. The 2016 Ultra Archive remains a Japanese-only book, which is precisely the sort of gap the Library exists to record.

Ultra Analysis official character book cover

Ultra Analysis (2019)

The second official character book, covering the first five years and more than 200 characters. The first, Ultra Archive, appeared in 2016.

THE TWO GUIDES

2016 and 2019

Ultra Archive (2016)

2 May 2016. The early-story file: the first full official profiles, published as the anime’s first season aired. Japanese only, to this day.

Ultra Analysis (2019)

4 October 2019. The mature file: five more years of cast, the official stats, and Horikoshi’s commentary. The one guidebook Viz licensed, in English November 2021.

Ultimate Animation (2017)

4 September 2017: the anime’s own official guide, covering the Bones production through its second season. The third book on the guidebook shelf.

WHAT THEY HOLD

The data-book value

The stats

Power, speed, technique, intelligence, and the joke fifth stat: the official numbers every fan debate quietly cites.

The margins

Horikoshi’s notes, unused ideas, and design commentary appear in these books and nowhere else in print.

The gap

One of two guides in English. Collectors of the data books read Japanese or go without the 2016 file: the Library records both books in full either way.

What are Ultra Archive and Ultra Analysis?

THE TWO GUIDES

WHAT THEY HOLD

THE MY HERO ACADEMIA SHELF

THE FIRST WORD