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Review: My Hero Academia, Vol. 1

My Hero Academia, Vol. 1 My Hero Academia, Vol. 1 by Kohei Horikoshi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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Series Review: (To read my volume one review, scroll down)
10/10 series. Unique characters, unique powers, awesome fights, and gorgeous art. My Hero Academia is a fresh new addition to the shonen genre. This series gets my heart racing and feeling good more than any other series or piece of media that I’ve ever consumed.

The main reason this series captivates me so much is definitely the storyline. At first it might just seem like the classic underdog story but set in a world where 80% of the population all have superpowers, called “quirks”. Izuku Midoria is part of the 20% born quirkless and it’s about his journey to fulfil his goal of becoming as great as his favourite hero All Might.

But it goes deeper than that. It's not just an underdog story or even a super overpowered main character story, it's actually both at the same time. Izuku Midoriya has the power within him to essentially be One-Punch Man, but because of his predicament he can only barely ever use 5% of his power. It's entertaining and suspenseful to see how he's going to overcome his lack of power by using his brain and other skills instead, but then also seeing him slowly start to grow into his power little by little and learn more about himself and this world he's in. There's a good balance of hardcore high-stakes fights, humorous moments, and laid back scenes. I love the battles, and the pacing always gets me extremely hype to see what’s next to come.

It is also the world and all of the amazing characters--heroes, villains, and normies alike--that bring this story to life, and that make it so fantastic. Horikoshi’s characters and powers feel so fresh and well done, and I love finding out everyone’s quirks and seeing how they use them. There are no cookie-cutter villains that are evil just for the sake of being evil, and no use of the "villain of the arc" format that is so prevalent in the shonen genre. A big theme in this series is the exploration of "What constitutes a true hero?", and Horikoshi incorporates characters with all sorts of answers to that question, effectively creating a complex psychological predicament for not only the characters but also us as readers to ponder over.

This series has my favorite art of all time.

Chapter 116 and 119 covers
Chapter 116 and 119 covers, respectively

Something about Horikoshi’s art style just completely resonates with me. He is also really great at drawing faces and facial expressions that are hilarious, and the character designs are also super appealing and nice to look at. The way he draws movement is also very effective which makes the fight scenes extremely entertaining and highly intense. Not like how in some other manga the fight scenes are just confusing and hard to follow.

Chapter 9 c0ver
Chapter 9 cover (cropped)

*NON-spoiler* Manga vs. Anime Discussion:
(view spoiler)

If you're interested in some more specific thoughts about the series, you can read my individual reviews for each volume. My volume one review is directly below, and links to my other reviews are right after it.

Volume One Review: (I've placed it in a spoiler tag in order to conserve space, so please click the tag without worry!)
(view spoiler)


Please consider giving this review a "Like" if you've made it this far, it helps me out a lot! And follow me if you want more!
Read all of my My Hero Academia Reviews:
✪ Volumes 1-10: 1* | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
✪ Volumes 11-20
✪ My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

*Current review


View all my reviews
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