My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi is set to publish a new one-shot manga, moving away from his signature superhero genre into horror. The project, revealed by Comic Natalie, is titled Don't Laugh, Shijima-san and is described as a "boy-meets-girl horror story", marking a notable departure for an author best known for the bright, action-driven world of My Hero Academia. The move follows hints Horikoshi had previously dropped about wanting to try his hand at horror.

The 61-page one-shot will run in full colour and appears in the 37/38 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, on sale 10 August, with a possible same-day release on the Shonen Jump app. Horikoshi had teased the idea back in an April 2022 issue of the magazine, writing he had "a small desire to draw a horror manga." My Hero Academia, which concluded its decade-long run in August 2024 and saw its anime adaptation finish last December, already contained horror-tinged elements such as body horror and unsettling villains, making this new direction feel like a natural extension of his style.