[Manga Review] My Hero Academia Vol. 1-3 by Kohei Horikoshi

I recently watched the current available seasons of an anime titled My Hero Academia, a show  I have easily fallen in love with. It probably won't be until Autumn until the next season, so until then I want to try to read all of the manga that has been published and the chapters that haven't been bound yet into volumes. I plan on reviewing them in collections of three volumes so I don't have like twenty posts on My Hero Academia alone. Once I pass the volumes and I am forced to read the chapters on their own online I'll probably review thirty at a time (it varies by volume but they typically do about ten a chapter, give or take). To avoid spoiling anyone, I am going to always have this opening in each post along with in future posts I'll have a link to previous reviews.

In a world where people with superpowers (known as Quirks) are the norm, Izuku Midoriya has dreams of one day becoming a Hero, despite being bullied by his classmates for not having a Quirk. After being the only one to try and save his childhood friend Katsuki Bakugou from a villain, All Might, the world's greatest Hero, bestows upon him his own Quirk "One For All". The story follows Izuku's entrance into U.A. High School, a school that cultivates the next generation of superheroes. As Izuku and his new friends try to balance their Hero training with ordinary school duties, they must face new challenges including the League of Villains, an evil organization established by All Might's archenemy, All For One, to destroy all Heroes and take control of society.

My Hero Academia Vol. 1

Kohei Horikoshi

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am not surprised  I ended up loving this volume, the story in this one in particular is the reason I knew the show was going to be a new obsession for me. Deku is such an amazing character and I immediately had no issues when it came to rooting for him. You feel his desire to become a hero and his determination despite what everyone around him says. Although he is persistent about being a hero even with being quirkless, you see his insecurities poking out at times because he has worked so hard. Deku isn't only this hardworking determined little green haired kid but he's also incredibly selfless and empathetic. He is compassionate to everyone and honestly just wants to help anyone who needs it, even Bakugou, who hates him. 

Bakugou now is my favorite character, but in the first couple volumes (and episodes) it's hard not to hate him. He's harsh to Deku and often bullies him because Bakugou doesn't like anyone who is weak. It's his own insecurities of needing to be the best coming out and he sees Deku, a smaller kid who is quirkless, as a weak person. I remember while watching the show I immediately didn't like Bakugou, you're really not supposed to at first. In the beginning there is a scene where Bakugou tells Deku to jump off the building, and although it's canon because it was published, the creator Kohei Horikoshi mentioned that he thought it was too harsh for Bakugou's character and that is why he's working so hard to give him a good character arc. 

I really love the art style. I know anime/mangas all have similar type styles because that's the way they all look but I think it fits the story really well. The covers, which are in color as you can see above, really show how colorful everything is supposed to be and I think the anime does a good job making it looks as vibrant. 

My Hero Academia Vol 2. 

Kohei Horikoshi 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This volume is more action based than the last one, which makes sense because the first volume was setting everything up. We are now getting into the actual school part of U.A. where the students of Class 1-A are attending classes. Which is great, because we start to see Deku use his newfound quirk. We also start to get to know Deku's classmates, most of them obtaining bigger roles as the story progresses. One of my favorite things about the anime is watching the characters working together, and you get to see that in a more controlled setting with these exercises being run by their teacher, Shota Aizawa who is easily one of my favorite characters. 

In this volume we get a little bit of the dynamic between Deku and Bakugou. It's evident there is more between them that isn't being said, especially since we don't know why Bakugou just hates Deku the way he does. However, it's clear that Bakugou is an insecure teenage boy trying to gain power and control of what is happening.  However, I do like that we get to see Deku's intelligence at play during the Battle Training. Because Deku has been quirkless all his life until this moment, he's been studying superheroes and kids around him with quirks while also learning strategies. He's incredibly good at thinking on his feet and I think that along with his added knowledge of strategy is something that helps him throughout the entire series. 

My Hero Academia Vol. 3

Kohei Horikoshi 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Volume three continues where the second one left off, in the middle of the villain attack at U.A. High School. Similar to the second volume, we get to see Class 1-A work together, but this time in a more dangerous frantic situation because they're under attack and not performing some sort of drill. Seeing their quirks work together is something I'll never get enough of and it makes it easier to get to know the students.

I'll never get over how sweet Midoriya is as a character. He is so pure and good, and he only wants to help. His selflessness is a theme that comes into play often in this series. It's honestly the reason All Might even wanted to give him One For All. He throws himself into danger to help/save someone else no matter what and it's one of my favorite things about him.

After the villain attack we are kind of thrown into the U.A. Sports Festival, which is one of my favorite plots from the anime. I think that although the anime did a better job showing the action and fuller picture of what was happening, I still had a lot of fun reading about the first challenge of the festival. I'm all about the events in the story being centered around story arcs that give the students the time to show off their quirks. I am so excited to start volume 4 to read of the other challenges.

Have you watched/read My Hero Academia? If you haven't I highly recommend checking it out! All of the episodes are on Funimation's website!

Thanks for reading!