Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Heroes at the Top


You know, I don't read much manga these days. I mostly stick with the old school where heroes are heroes but they also have brains in their heads to think out problems instead of rushing in unprepared. I've probably posted about that before, but it needs to be restated.

So getting into volume 3 of My Hero Academia made me more than bit worried. Sure I enjoyed the first two volumes, but would it continue its fresh yet traditional take on heroes and old school action manga, or would it devolve to a formula of mindless fight after fight where nothing really matters at all.

However, there is nothing to worry about. Volume 3 of My Hero Academia is even better than the first two. As Izuku Midoriya, our main character quickly learns, the world of being a superhero is more challenging than even he thought it would be. Not only does he have to fight off a group of villains coming for his personal hero, All Might, thirsting for blood but he has to prove to the hero world that he has what it takes to rise to the top.

While volume 1 was more of an introduction to the world of My Hero Academia, a world where 80% of the world's population has a power (called a "quirk") of some kind and how some rise as heroes with their quirks to protect people, and volume 2 went deeper into the characters and their quirks, volume 3 one-ups them both. Kohei Horikoshi showed that there is definitive good in the world with his heroes in the first two volumes, and now we meet definitive evil as the villains introduced want nothing more than to tear the world of heroes, and the world of good, to pieces.

Not only that, but the fight scenes are very thoughtful for an action series like this. Midoriya thinks things out the whole way, trying new paths with his quirk, using the environment to his advantage, and building up the courage he never had to become better. The fight scenes show that the villains are for keeps, and that there is no playing around when they're involved.

But outside of the villains, there is something called the Sports Festival that U.A. Hero Academy holds every year to let young aspiring heroes show their stuff. It's a bit like an Olympic event to let them cut loose and compete to become number one and get offers in the hero world for various things. There are multiple events where more participants get eliminated until only one left standing, though we only see the first in this volume. Just based on that, though, we are in for a treat.

So all in all, three volumes in and My Hero Academia is only improving. I can't wait for the anime to come out in April and hopefully lead more people to this great series. As far as superhero comics and shonen manga go, this is one of the best at both out there.

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