Manga Review: My Hero Academia Vol 1

Hey all, Dani here.

Hello everyone and welcome to the final Monday of November. This month has flown by. I can’t believe that we only have one month left in the year. Anyway, I recently bought a selection of graphic novels and manga because I enjoy having some quick fun reads around, and also my boyfriend wants to get back into reading manga, so this works for both of us. One of the series I decided to pick up to start reading is the one I’m featuring today. Clearly I enjoy superpowered individuals and their stories so I was expecting to enjoy this, and I was right. Let’s just jump into the review.

Summary

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks” at age four? 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…

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

Oh, I suppose I should have started off by saying that my boyfriend and I also watch the anime of this one and we’ve already watched both seasons and are now waiting for news about the release of season 3. So really, reading this volume felt like starting the series over again. But you know what, I still greatly enjoyed it.

Also, it has been a number of years since I last picked up a manga, but the format didn’t slow down my reading at all. For those who aren’t aware, manga is bound up like a standard book, but you read from what is normally thought of as the back all the way up to the front. And you also start at the top right of the page and read to the left before going down to the next set of panels and continuing to read right to left throughout the book. So it can be a bit daunting or confusing in the beginning, but after a while, I think you really get used to it.

It was nice to be introduced to Midoriya again. He is such an adorable nerdy fanboy when it comes to superheroes and I can’t help but like him from the beginning. All he wants to do is to become a hero as well, but he was born without a quirk, which means that pretty much everyone believes that he won’t actually make it anywhere.

But Midoriya is not one to give up. I absolutely love his perseverance. He has been studying and preparing his whole life to become a hero, and one of the first steps is to get into U.A. High School. A random encounter with the top hero, All Might, is what truly sets Midoriya on his path.

Now he has to figure out this new quirk he has been given, all while navigating other issues, like his school nemesis Bakugo, and making friends, and oh yeah, dealing with some pretty powerful villain types.

Basically there is a lot going on in this series and I adore it. I need to start collecting the rest of the volumes so I can devour them as well. Right now there are only 10 volumes out, so I should be able to catch up in no time. And what was really cool about this volume is that in between each of the issues, there is a behind the scenes page where the author/creator talks about certain characters, how they developed, and what it’s like to draw them. I just think that is a really cool addition to toss in. It adds to the reading experience.

Where to Buy

You can pick this lovely volume up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, Comixology, or your local indie bookstore or probably even your local comic book store.