VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
MANGAKA: Kohei Horikoshi
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Caleb Cook
LETTERS: John Hunt
EDITORS: Mike Montesa; Jon Bae
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0437-8; paperback (April 2019); Rated “T” for “Teen”
184pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K.
My Hero Academia is a Japanese superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi. It has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since July 2014. VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of My Hero Academia as a series of graphic novels since 2015 under its “Shonen Jump” imprint.
The series is set in a world where, one day, people start manifesting superpowers called “Quirks.” Some use their powers to commit crime, which creates the need for heroes. If someone wants to be a superhero, he or she enrolls in the Hero Academy. What would a person do, however, if he were one of the 20 percent born Quirkless? Middle school student Izuku Midoriya has no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes. Then, Midoriya meets the greatest hero of them all, All Might, who gives him a chance to change his destiny…
As My Hero Academia, Vol. 18 (Chapters 158 to 167; entitled “Bright Future”) opens, the battle of the heroes against Chisaki Kai, a.k.a. “Overhaul, the leader of the secretive yakuza organization known as “Shie Hassaikai,” comes to a conclusion. As Overhaul unleashes his terrible power, Midoriya is forced to push his power, “One for All,” to 100 percent. No matter who wins, the League of Villains plots to capture samples of Overhaul's Quirk-killing drug.
Then, Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki join Inasa Yoarashi and Seiji “Camie” Shishikura, two students from rival hero academy, Shiketsu High, for make-up licensing course training. What will this quartet face in order to get closer to gaining their provisional hero licenses? They will be shocked at the size of their challenge.
THE LOWDOWN: The My Hero Academia manga is a Japanese superhero manga series that is quite similar to American comics in the way that it depicts superheroes and super-powers (called “Quirks” here, of course). My Hero Academia is as powerful as the most powerful American superhero comic books. And I am a huge fan.
My Hero Academia Graphic Novel Volume 18 is almost all battle manga, but not in the way that Vol. 17 was. Like Vol. 16, Vol. 18 offers some character drama and some humor, and the battle, especially the fight that dominates the last four chapters of the volume, is a nice change of pace. Vol. 17 was an ultimate superhero fight comic and also a shonen battle manga on steroids, and it washed over me like a tsunami, but Vol. 18 is a change of pace... for the most part.
Vol. 18 is a transitional volume, as most of the chapters that comprise it are about leading to what is the next big story arc. Thus, Caleb Cook's translation and English adaptation are important in conveying the shifts in narration and the change of pace. There is a good meeting of the minds between All Might and Endeavor (who is Shoto Todoroki's father), as Endeavor becomes the new #1 hero as All Might retires. Cook captures the important moment in a way that is as intriguing as My Hero Academia's usual intrigue and conflict.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of superhero comics and of shonen battle manga will want to enroll at the “Shonen Jump” school, My Hero Academia.
A
8.5 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Read You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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