My Hero Academia, Vol. 1 (My Hero Academia, #1)

by Kohei Horikoshi

Midoriya inherits the superpower of the world’s greatest hero, but greatness won’t come easy.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

Middle school student Izuku Midoriya wants to be a hero more than anything, but he hasn’t got an ounce of power in him. With no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes, his life is looking more and more like a dead end. Then an encounter with All Might, the greatest hero of them all, gives him a chance to change his destiny…

• ISBN10: 1421582694
• ISBN13: 9781421582696
• Publish Date: 27 August 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Viz Media, Subs. of Shogakukan Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

I’m a bit behind on the times with this one, but I recently watched through all of My Hero Acadamia and I’m totally hooked. Combine that with all the news/spoilers I’ve been seeing online…and well…I’d very much like to read through the manga.
Having watched the anime first, it’s so clear to me how closely they followed the manga as a script. I absolutely adore it when they do this (as opposed to book adaptations that frequently do whatever the heck they want).
The first volume of MHA has a lot going on in it, obviously. There are heroes to introduce, main characters for us to get to know, the plot itself, and of course there’s that whole quirk system too. It’s a fascinating world when you think about it. Actually, the more I think about it the more interesting I find it to be.
Normally when I enjoy a manga/anime like this, I find myself adoring the secondary characters, while tolerating the main character. In the case of MHA, the former is certainly true, but the latter not so much. I actually really like Deku. He’s funny and passionate, though he obviously has a lot of room to grow. What I like about his character in particular is his complete awareness of the fact that he still has a lot of growing up to do in order to be the person he wants to become. It’s refreshing how self-aware he is.
The secondary characters didn’t get a ton of screen time in this volume, obviously. But they did get some! I saw glimpses of some of my favorites, as far as the anime is concerned. I’m sure they’ll be my favorites in the manga as well.
And of course while the anime did follow the manga pretty closely as a script, I did notice that some information got dropped along the way. So I’m insanely happy for any extra details I can get.
So on the whole this series is off to a great start. It’s really no wonder that the series has been so popular. I’m anxious to keep reading and get to some of my favorite moments. Plus I really really want to get caught up so I don’t have to keep dealing with dodging spoilers. That’d be a nice change.
So…what do you think the odds are that I can binge the rest of this series within a couple of weeks?

For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[inlibrisveritas]

This was pretty fun. Thus first volume doesn't stand out in a sea of similar concepts but it is a solid start with some promise. I will definitely try to find the next few volumes.