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MY HERO ACADEMIA/ BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA

Author: Kohei Horikoshi

Volumes: 35 English/ 39 Japanese (ongoing at 407 chapters)

Publisher: Shonen Jump [click HERE for digital chapters]

This entry is a little “quirkier” than the others *ahem*

Until making this list, I wouldn’t have pictured a name as big as this one to be outside of the top 10 spaces. I didn’t realise there’d be so many great comics, and so it really just boiled down to nitpicks that separate each one. Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia isn’t exactly problem free though, and when it comes to some of the issues I have, your own personal mileage may vary.

There are series in Jump even now that fail to pull off keeping a large cast as memorable as My Hero Academia manages to do, and this is partly down to the fact that their character traits do manage to extend further than their visual extremes. While the students of class 1-A are introduced very early, it never felt like readers would have to take notes in order to keep track of them all.

The series makes sure that we get plenty of time throughout the now 400+ chapters to acquaint ourselves with each student of class 1-A without it feeling like the story has to slow down the key plot points in order to do so too. It’s a masterclass in how to showcase a large cast of characters.

The main story follows Izuku Midoriya, a young boy born without super powers (known as a quirk) in a world where nearly everyone else has one. A quirk is an ability that dictates your ability to function in society, and is especially troubling for anybody wanting to save lives from villains, accidents, and/or natural disasters, if they themselves don’t have one at all.

Though this follows the currently common shonen formula of granting a seemingly powerless individual a power that is conveniently one of the strongest (if not THE strongest) in that story’s world, Midoriya does at least prove beforehand through selfless actions that he deserves it.

It’s also nice to see that the strongest power (in the sense it literally grants super strength) takes human physical limits into account, while your arm would probably explode rather than break if you were to (for an early example) punch a giant mech, not to mention, the mech would probably stay stood where it is without so much as a nasty stain, it’s believable enough to see him train to use it, so that we can get onboard for his journey to master his new power capable of hitting things really hard.

The series is pretty solid for the most part, but like a lot of Shonen of its era, it has a mixed bag of female representation. It’s not terrible, but it contains the usual rubs that detract from a lot of shonen series. Characters like Ochako have pretty okay moments, with the biggest chance to stand out in any given arc, but despite how much the female students get placed at the forefront (seemingly more than the male cast a lot of the time) they are often used as spectators for the main character with barely any use made of their support skills at all.

What’s worse though is how we still have “gag” stereotypes such as the pervert character who, despite being played off as a joke, is never confronted by anybody or dealt with for his clearly problematic behaviour. His role may be exceptionally minor, but he does taint the experience more than a bit when in any given scene.

Don’t get me wrong, the story is worth your time, just be aware that it has problems that I feel shouldn’t exist in such a relatively modern piece of media. As the images show though, it has plenty of spirit with its gripping underdog tale that thankfully makes up 99% of the story!