This article contains spoilers for My Hero Academia and Solo Leveling.
Solo Leveling’s growing popularity saw to it that it had an absolutely phenomenal year. The series made a huge comeback with its second season, and garnered even more worldwide popularity. Solo Leveling is a series all about the battles, and naturally, the protagonist of the series, Sung Jinwoo, gets all the spotlight for the majority of the time. As such, it isn't a surprise to see that Jinwoo became the winner of the Best Main Character of 2025 Award for his performance in Solo Leveling Season 1.
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While Jinwoo's win is certainly great, he is far from being the real best main character of 2025, even after his amazing moments in Season 2. My Hero Academia’s Izuku Midoriya, also known by his hero name of Deku, is far more deserving of this title. While MHA's Deku didn’t win the title in 2025, he could go on to be crowned as the best main character of 2026, and he is one of the favorites for it.
Sung Jinwoo Is Popular But Deku Is The Real MC Of The Year
When talking about new anime series, Solo Leveling absolutely stands out as one of the most popular ones. This anime series, based on a Korean manhwa, has taken the world by storm, and it keeps getting bigger with each passing season. This is in large part thanks to Sung Jinwoo, its main character. Throughout the incredible run of two seasons of Solo Leveling, Jinwoo gave the fans incredible battles to enjoy one after another.
Jinwoo is a bit of a standout character among the usual MCs fans see as he’s nonchalant, and has a cool attitude all the time. Undoubtedly, he is hugely popular, and the fact that he won the title of Best Main Character of 2025 at the Crunchyroll Awards goes to show for it.
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Nevertheless, while Jinwoo is incredibly popular with fans, he is still nowhere as iconic as MHA’s Izuku Midoriya. Izuku has shown to be a huge figure in shonen anime over the last decade, and MHA Season 8 has done incredibly well to showcase some of his best moments. Deku’s fight against Shigaraki has been a highlight of the season, but he's been amazing all around.
"I Feel Like Something Within Me Is Lost Every Time I Get Stronger." — Sung Jinwoo
With such an incredible performance, and many more character moments to come, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say Deku is the one who truly deserves to be referred to as the best main character of the year.
Izuku Midoriya Could Be Voted The Best MC Of 2026
With 2025 almost at its end, fans have already turned their eyes to Crunchyroll’s Anime Awards for 2026. These awards take place once a year, and the results are decided by a mix of jury and fan votes.
If I can't save the one small girl in front of me, how can I become a hero that saves everyone? — Izuku Midoriya
My Hero Academia’s Deku was snubbed in 2025 even though the last season of the story was also phenomenal. Crunchyroll didn’t even nominate Deku for the title of Best Main Character, which was surprising to many fans.
There will always be people beyond our reach that we can't protect. Which is why we have to save people we can reach. — Izuku Midoriya
However, he has one final chance to shine at the Crunchyroll Awards for 2026. As many fans know, MHA season 8 marks the end of the series, and it is the last opportunity for Izuku to be crowned the best main character.
MHA season 8 is currently the highest-rated anime of the year, and seeing how involved Deku is, fans are definitely enjoying his character to the max. Hopefully, Izuku will be nominated, and if that’s the case, he should go on to be the best main character of the year, especially considering everything that he's achieved with My Hero Academia Season 8.
Solo Leveling has two seasons out right now, one with 12 episodes, and the other with 13, for a combined episode count of 25 episodes available to watch right now. The series can be streamed on Crunchyroll for fans to enjoy while awaiting any more news concerning the third season. For fans who can’t wait for season 3 to come out, checking out the Manhwa might be a great option.