My Hero Academia V. 1

 

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My Hero Academia is written by Kohei Horikoshi and published by Shueisha Inc. in 2014. Kohei Horikoshi is known for creating Omagadoki Dobutsuen and Barrage. My Hero Academia is rated T for teen for violence and some language. 

Superheroes are a norm in this world where most of the population have some kind of power, called quirks, and everyone is scrambling to get into the top school for heroes, the U.A. High School. Middle school student Isuku Midoriya wants to be a great hero like the most famous hero—All Might—but Midoriya was born without a quirk. This doesn’t stop him from learning everything he can about heroes. After saving his classmate and bully—Katsuki Bakugo—from a monster, All Might gives Midoriya his own quirk and promises to teach him how to use it so Midoriya can take over as the greatest hero in the world. 

Midoriya is accepted into the U.A. High School and begins classes, however, he is unable to control his new quirk. When he does use it, he injures himself. He starts to make friends and has to figure out how to control his power without hurting himself. Classes and challenges ensue. 

This is a fun idea because who doesn’t like superheroes and hasn’t wanted to be one? But this first volume does bring in the question of equality—“People are not born equal”—and the difference between working for something and having a talent for it ahead of time. Midoriya is bullied because he has no quirk, even by his childhood friends, he’s in the minority of the population, and has to work even more to earn his way into the high school he wants. At the same time, once he has his quirk, he has to be smart about using it; there are only so many times he can injure himself before his body refuses to heal. In his case, relying on his own strength and brains needs to be his first defense, but how good is that against someone who shoots lasers from their naval (yes, this is a character) or levitate things or create fire blasts from his hands? Midoriya’s redeeming factor in this school is his instinct to protect others, regardless of his own safety. 

So, characters.

Midoriya is supposed to be the guide for the readers. He’s an outsider who’s watched superheroes his whole life, taking notes on their powers, fighting styles, and weaknesses. The ultimate fanboy. Suddenly his wish comes true and he has the chance to become a hero. He is a scaredy cat and doesn’t stand up for himself but he does try his best and manages to make it on his determination to help and protect others. 

All Might is the greatest hero in the world. I believe he’s supposed to be a kind of Superman/Captain America type character. There isn’t anything he can’t do and all of his moves are named after different States, but he is shown to have a weakness. His muscular form is what he looks like with his quirk activated. Normally, he is thin and frail looking and he is losing his ability to use his quirk after an injury he’d sustained during a battle. He is looking for a successor, explaining his quirk is special in the sense it can be passed from one person to the next, making it stronger. 

Katsuki Bakugo is the bully who used to be Midoriya’s friend until he got his quirk and Midoriya didn’t. He’s a loud-mouth and a hot head, the typical bad-ass character. I suspect there’s some tragic backstory as to why he needs Midoriya to be the weakling—the “pebble in my path”—and isn’t willing to treat him as anything other than that. Yet he was the one Midoriya saved before getting his quirk, so the two are going to be connected throughout the series.

There are other characters here but it seems like Horikoshi is trying to decide who to focus on and who to make background characters. Once it becomes a little more clear, I’ll introduce them.

Visually, this is a good action manga. Expressions are exaggerated without looking too silly, the artists had fun with the character designs, everyone is different, movement and action is clear and solid without being grotesque. A lot of it is a bit exaggerated like old comic book heroes, but that adds to the charm. I do wonder if they plan on keeping up the level of shading that is in this volume. It looks great but there’s a lot of it. There are some times that the panels get a bit busy and I’m not sure if that’s because of how much shading there is combined with the amount of movement and details used, or if the panels need to be bigger in order to capture more. 

The writing style is good. It’s easy to read and get into, there’s a distinct voice for everyone and scenes can shift from silly to serious and back to silly again seamlessly. Sense this is the beginning of the story, it is mostly focused on explaining the set-up and the quirk system as well as introducing the characters. I am looking forward to reading more but I have a feeling I’ll be able to predict some of the events. Kids in a school setting having to best each other and tests planned by their teachers isn’t new to shounen manga, but I’ll be interested to see what kind of spin Horikoshi puts on it.

I do like this volume. It’s not amazing and I feel like I already know some of it from reading other series, but I enjoy seeing how the idea of superheroes being the norm is being used. All Might still feels too much like a caricature for me and doesn’t really interest me, but Midoriya is sweet and his relationship with the other students is great. 

My Hero Academia is extremely popular right now and with good reason. It’s well written and the art is great, characters are fun and readers don’t have to stop and read over long explanations about the power system as it appears because that’s the hook that pulls readers in. The action is good, emotions are real, and humor is sprinkled throughout in order to keep this a light series. For fans of Naruto or Fairy Tail or Hunter x Hunter, this may be a good next read. And anyone just starting their manga journey, this is a good one to get started on.