The U.A. High School Hero Course teaches young hopefuls everything they need to become heroes. Between killer events like the Sports Festival and internships, there’s even Parents’ Day! That’s when all the kids get the chance to show their parents what they’re made of!
* * *
Being a My Hero Academia fan, when I opened this gift for Christmas from my husband, I was so excited to read it! I am slowly getting through the manga and loving it. I am hoping to be caught up sometime this year. However, one thing I've said often in my MHA reviews is that although I understand for plot reasons why we can't have more character "day in the life" moments, I wish there was a way to have them anyway. So, when my husband discovered these light novels that are focused more on the everyday lives of Class 1-A he rightfully knew it would be up my alley.
I love Class 1-A so much (with the exception of one member in particular - Mineta, but more on that later) and to see them all together doing some normal teenager things together honestly made me really happy. There are a lot of sweet moments of the characters either together helping each other out and lifting each other up or them with their parents. The scene of Shoto with his sister and mom was incredibly sweet.
The book is split into parts, each art being it's own short story but all of them tied together building to one event, which is Parent Day at UA (their school). There are action-y moments in almost all of the chapters, so it isn't only character driven. However, the majority of the book is more focused on the characters. I loved so much of this book as a whole, and it made me love these characters even more.
However, it is not a perfect book. Some of the characters felt a little out of character at times because of the dialogue feeling off or because it sometimes didn't fit the established characters from the manga/show. I read a fair about MHA fan fiction, so it gave me fan fiction vibes at times. However, I feel like if I'm essentially paying to read fan fiction, I do wish the writing was a little better. I am thinking maybe it was a translation issue, and it was fairly easy for me to let it slide, mostly because I had so much fun reading.
My biggest issue is one of my biggest issues with the manga, which is something I am mentioned briefly earlier in this review and my manga reviews, which is Mineta. I think because in the anime/manga he isn't a main character is earlier to ignore him and his nasty dialogue. However, in this first light book Mineta has more dialogue and page time than I prefer and even plays a big role in one of the chapters. The way he talks about women is misogynistic, predatory, creepy, and incredibly uncomfortable to read. The good thing is that he is often called out by the girls in Class 1-A, Deku, and Iida. But the overall vibe often gives off a "boys will be boys" feel that almost excuses his actions and behavior as a joke. I hate it so much. Mineta and Kaminari (who plays along with Mineta a lot of the time, even finds him funny, but is less crude vocally) spend half of one of the stories trying to pick up girls and it's not great. He has awful lines scattered in the entire first volume too, sometimes even attacking his girl classmates.
Overall, I enjoyed the majority of this book and I absolutely plan on reading the second one! Do I wish Mineta would be replaced by Shinso in Class 1-A? Absolutely, but until then anytime I read or watching anything MHA and Mineta is taking up screen/page time by being a creepy little troll I'll call out the character on his behavior. Because if I'm going to keep enjoying MHA, whcih I plan to because the majority of this franchise is pure and good, I want everyone reading my reviews to know I don't condone Mineta or the way he's written.
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment