Boku no Hero Academia

So picture this: You're Japan's greatest hero, your power is fading fast because of the terrible injuries you sustained while fighting your archnemesis while you were at full power. You know he's going to return and you need somebody to pass your powers on to so that they can stop him. Do you choose:

A) One of the top 3 best students in the best hero training school in the country with 17 years of practice handling a high difficulty ability that makes him nearly invincible, the attitude and drive of a professional and a recommendation and combat training from your trusted sidekick who can see the future
OR
B) A kid who threw his bag at a villain, ran into danger with no plan whatsoever that you met that day but he said he wanted to be a hero and cried about it despite not even putting in the effort to be physically fit.

If you answered B you have what it takes to be the number 1 hero in Japan according to this manga.

In case you were still unsure from that one example the characters in this are as flat as the paper they're drawn on and act in ways that are beyond my mere mortal understanding.

We have our main character Midoriya "Deku" Izuku a boy who was born without a quirk like around 10% of the total population in the HeroAca world. Instead of choosing to get a normal job he decided that because of a YouTube video he watched when he was like 5 he wanted to be a hero, not just any hero mind you considering all kinds of heroes exist in this world but a hero like All Might, the punchiest , liftiest hero in all of Japan. He plans to accomplish this through a strict regimen of doodling in notebooks while whispering to himself and crying until one of the strongest abilities in the story falls into his lap along with a free mentor character. The story also wants you to believe that Izuku is a very smart boy but it took him until much later in the story to realize that kicking was a thing. He moves the story along by doing nothing at all until the next arc finds him.
The rest of the cast are just as bad going from the background fodder who have like 1 character trait (read literally every U.A student that isn't a main character) to Endeavor the man who mentally scarred every single member of his family but it's cool now because he had an awesome fight scene.
The best character is Shigaraki Tomura the villain that is being built up as Deku's nemesis since he is the only person in the story who learns and develops as it goes on and has a clear motivation.

The setting of HeroAca is as baffling as its cast. Imagine if everyone in the world suddenly got superpowers, for good or bad society as we currently know it is done. Yet in this world the only difference is that there is a new job called "hero". That's it. No different infrastructure to accommodate the different kinds of people that have evolved, no tension from people with bird heads riding the bus with you, everybody is fine with needing a license to use their quirks except for the most extreme villains or unorganized street thugs.
The majority of the story takes place in U.A the hero school the main characters attend yet somehow we've only managed to see 3 senior students. Where the hell is Class 2A? Nobody knows.

The art is great and Horikoshi is a master of character design. The fight scenes are well drawn and if the characters had as much personality as their designs promised this manga would have been excellent.

The story is bland shonen fare and anybody that tells you " but it does shonen better" is wrong. If you like shonen you'll like this ( at least for a while till the inconsistencies and lack of depth get you). There are no surprises, no plot twists worth mentioning. The students go to school and do school stuff, villains do their thing, they fight, students win. Rinse and repeat with differing scale and a different person defeating the villain each arc and congratulations you have the story so far. I can't wait for the arc where the heroes lose, everyone acts sad for a bit and then they come back and win.

Overall it's a mediocre manga with great art, terrible characters with excellent designs and a world with as much depth as that generic fantasy world that every bad Isekai is set in.

Case 1: Naruto - I'll become the strongest Ninja ever *rasengan!*
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Case 2: Bleach - I'll become the strongest Soul Reaper ever *getsuga tenshou!*
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Case 3: One Piece - I'll become the strongest Pirate ever *gomu gomu no!*
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Case 4: My Hero Academia - I'll become the strongest Hero ever *detroit smash!*

It's the same old wine, now in a fancy new shining bottle. Standard main characters. Standard side-characters. Standard villains. Standard relationships. Standard power-ups. Standard plot. To justify this critique further, I encourage you to do a little thought experiment for me. Replace the Hero world with Ninjas, substitute Midoriya, Bakugo, All-Might and Akatsuki with Naruto, Sasuke, Jiraya and Villains respectively. Ta-daa! New manga series!

This isn't to say that the mere presence of these shounen tropes makes Boku no Hero Academia so mediocre. Far from it. If that was to be the case, then we wouldn't have so many versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet. What makes this series mediocre is that the author doesn't attempt to do anything new with his characters. It sticks to the power-ups and plot developments as if it was being written by an AI machine-learning robot. There is zero sense of anything exciting or new that would make a reader sit up and say "now, that's interesting!" The only place where the author did attempt to do so is with the character of Endeavor - a flawed superhero who seeks redemption. Sadly, given that this is a shounen-manga aimed at 12-18 year old boys - Endeavor is and will remain a side character not getting as much focus as I would have liked.

I understand the popularity of this manga amongst the current young readers who haven't either read or are still exploring older shounen canon like Naruto, Bleach, Shaman King, Hunter x Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin etc. However, as an older reader who has read and watched these series - I can safely attest that (as of chapter 275), there is absolutely nothing in My Hero Academia that is uniquely original or which hasn't been already been attempted in past shounen manga. The only positive aspect of this series as compared to older series is that it is well executed, highly polished and has an excellent marketing push from the Shueisha execs who are desperately trying to recreate the next money-spinner franchise given that the Naruto, Bleach and Gintama franchises are over.

This standard manga deserves a standard rating: 5/10.

CONTAINS SPOILERS. AS PER LATEST CHAPTER. SUBJECT TO ALTERATIONS

This is an update as per the latest chapters. Is it me or is the story and art getting every bit as chaotic as tangled wires? If not for the anime I cannot make half of what is going in on the manga. I am missing the old style where things made a lot of sense. While my initial impressions of major characters remain the same, I still feel burdened with having to remember millions of minor characters and the lack of a definite plot is nagging at me. Sometimes I feel its just fine to skip a chapter or two and I am pretty sure I might’ve have not missed out on much. Characters still lack personality. There is no actual development for MC but the villain has been getting OP upgrades while a desperate attempt is made at finding new ways of competitions for deku and company to participate in. Let’s see how things pan out

PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS TILL CHAPTER 182

The best thing about boku no hero academia is in its addictive story. Amongst big names like naruto, bleach etc BNHA comes out with a fresh and modern undertone for a shounen manga. Unlike older manga, bnha has less complicated dialogues and a more fluid art style. Its arcs are relatively shorter and has a decent pace attached to it. The battle scenes are crisp there by increasing the content. On the flip side, character backstory of the MC is rampant with repetitive flashbacks.

PLOT:
There is no want of interesting plot developments as each arc has unique and linear story line. There is coherence in the narration and speech bubbles contain minimum to no nonsense in conversations. It is an entirely fun read. Waiting for a seventeen page chapter every week can be nerve breaking as the manga is really awesome.

CHARACTERS:
BNHA has a unique quality of providing many characters reasonable plot space. We get to see multiple characters developing to aid the plot. This could be annoying as it becomes cluttered with too much info to keep track of. In this manga you see lots of character types ripped off from popular manga. BSD, Naruto to name a few.

Midoriya:
Izuku Midoriya is different from the run on the mill shounen protagonists. He
appears cute and sweet but is a tactician. In a battle, he can prioritize his course of action with the help of predictions. He studies his opponents behavior and is less reckless in events of pressure. Since this deviates a lot from what a mc ought to be, the author throws in a character flaw. Midoriya is a total wet blanket. He is such a good guy who will pull out the best in his opponent even if it means he loses badly. Theoretically speaking he has makings of hero but power wise, he is yet to prove why he should be the greatest. He does gradually transforms into a self reliant person so its only a few more years of serialization before you see midoriya as the greatest hero.

Majority of shounen manga is of the view that a MC is that powerless but strong willed guy who overcomes obstacles through sheer perseverance and hard work. They tend to be close range combatants. The second hero who is definitely several levels above the MC still comes a close second. The difference in skill set is obvious and through the power of "nakama", all the true efforts of the second hero fails in the face of the apparently cheerful and not to mention reckless MC. In that sense, deku is pretty powerless and when he does get powered up, he winds up getting severely handicapped by his quirk that he cannot survive without outside help. This situation gets slightly better when he takes his quirk up by a notch or three.
The frustrating part is that the author spends too much time polishing rest of the characters and Deku is left with so little screen time when it comes to battles. He either gets the last scenes or is finished off in the beginning. His power improvement over the span of 180 or so chapters is minimal. He possesses One For All which is a physical power boost quirk and yet he loses all the time or accomplishes so little.
He gets sidelined in a flurry of emotional and assertive dialogues. He does so little in most of the battles. He keeps saying he wants to get stronger but has not gotten stronger enough to go independently against anyone, much less bakugo and sadly he lost there too. In the recent chapters he is still cushioned by some one or other while he grapples to control the power.He was made to participate in a futile battle with a minor villain even if he did win, there was some talk-no-jutsu working its course in the background. It did not seem so right for a hero's starting line match.

Shouta Todoroki:
Ice and flames make him too awesome. His personality is decent. His backstory adds more depth to his person. He has the makings of a number 1 hero. His relationship with Deku is healthy. He has half a head full of red hair. that wins in my books. He is adorable and innocent especially in the provisional training course. In terms of abilities and capabilities, he is way above Deku and many other Pro heroes.

Bakugo:
If Naruto were to switch his personality with sasuke, the result is bakugo. He is powerful with cunning techniques but irritatingly loud. While being obsessed with power and fame, he shows his wrath on deku all the time. There is nothing special to him. There is an unhealthy rivalry flowing between the two. He is as feisty as his quirk. His interactions with children is hilarious to watch. It is not just his loudness that annoys readers. Its probably how he picks fight with Deku merely to channel his explosive thoughts. Occasionally he is understanding and all other times he bounces back to his one dimensional design.

Rest of characters:
Aizawa, All might, Froppy, Uarvity, Red riot, dark shadow, lemillion and so many others do one hell of a job supporting this story. We see them fully involved in every arc. Some are lucky to get a backstory too.

Villains:
Sad to say this but the villains are pretty colorless although they pretend to have depth. Shigaraki and his bunch of merry men are nothing but a ragtag group of misfits or psychos whose personalities are not fully developed. The chisaki group was a shade better but again potential was wasted. The entire arc had so much potential but they could not keep the momentum alive for long. I guess the Shigaraki team is meant to be the last boss as the manga snuffs out any other villain as soon it fires off one.

ART
Art in action scenes need to be less chaotic. Sometimes without the help of anime, it is hard to follow the fight scenes. Swift movements need better capturing. Character art on the other hand is really nice. Justice is done on Stationary objects and Backgrounds.

Since shounen is aimed at teenage boys, its often riddled with stories reiterating the importance of morals. It is not surprising if the hero reduces the villain to a good guy. In BNHA it is not so pronounced. Authors are prone to push their ideals of right and wrong onto the readers through his MC which could come of pretty strong. BNHA also has some idealism loosely thrown around the manga but its vehemence is mild as is the temperament of Deku . BNHA is just a simple story of Heroes Vs Villains. With simple moves, the story potential and character potential is kept stagnant. The heroes are bound to win, nothing more nothing less.

The shortcomings of a shounen manga are that they fall in to following the tropes unconsciously. If you look deeper there is no definite plot. The narrative is more like a record of events that led to deku's incumbent victory in the future. Since it is an easy read, we would have just breezed past 182 chapters. Then there are the characters who are growing along with the story honing their skills. Altogether its well created. This manga deserves a rating not less than 8 for quality of art style, storyboard, characters, narration and overall speed and developments.

Story:9
What does it mean to be a hero? If you are a Dc comics fan such as me, then you are probably going to say beings who sacrifice themselves in order to do good and vanquish all evil. But it's different in BnHA, as a hero is a profession. Something people look up to the same way you would a celebrity. in a world filled with supernatural beings and people with extreme talent, its really refreshing to see our hero obtains the most basic power and uses it in creative ways.
Art:9
The art work is one of the best in shounen jump. It is fantastically detailed(obviously not as detailed as berserk). The fight scenes are this mixture of energy, dynamic movements and utilizing one's quirks to their advantage.
Overall:9
The way it's going, in the future I can easily see this as being a 10/10. if you haven't read this and you display some level of interest in battle shounen you should definitely give it a go. it may seem generic at first, but it builds arc after arc and quickly turns into one of the finest pieces of entertainment i have witnessed.

I think that Boku no Hero Academia is quite unique as an Anime. The Mc deku isn't like any other shonen mc, he is the underdog and with hard work he gets to the top. I think that this anime repeats this moral over and over again and I have to say I agree. There are a lot of character such as Bakugo who is a very good deuterantagonist as shown in the most recent arc, he helps deku. He has developed so much from someone who looks down on other people and bullies Deku to someone who has really matured and has helped the ones he has hurt. There is also a lot of character developments such as with Deku as not only is he risking to save everyone but he could be developed more as he hasn't really changed as much since the beginning of the series. Nevertheless in the most recent arc it is clear that Deku is going to mature as something really bad will affect him such as maybe losing a really close friend that will cause him to mature. Also I love the story line with All might as he used to be quirkless too but he had those qualities of a hero and when he lost his master, he truly matured. It is quite enjoyable as the fights are well drawn out and are quite long which makes it quite enjoyable such as the fight with All for one. The story line and the plot keeps moving forward and now it is at its peak as we see the heroes all of them, fighting all of the villains and it is a great new arc and the following arc might be just as good as it is going to be about breaking out the villains in tartarus(my opinion and predictions). As for the art everything is decently drawn out and looks pretty good. Overall I rate it a 9 as I truly believe it is a unique and different anime and I think that everyone gets a chance to enjoy it.

I'd recommend you to try it out first and decide for yourselves since every persons opinion on this series differs. This is solely what I think makes this series good and worth reading/watching.

STORY: 7/10
I'm sure we've all seen hero schools used in some medium or the other before. The story starts out like every shonen does, to achieve the main character's dreams and motivations and this is no different. The execution and direction, however, can make or break a series like this and I do think MHA has taken the right path.
ART: 10/10
Horikoshi as an artist has been constantly improving and despite the initial art of the manga being good, he had some issues with consistent paneling and sometimes cramped up to much dialogue, but as weekly series' standards it was good.
These issues do not persist though, his paneling becomes very creative since the Overhaul arc and dialogue writing also improves. His action scenes, especially during the Villain Arc and War arc flow very smoothly and is easy to follow now.
One of the art's main forte would be in conveying emotions excellently.

CHARACTERS: 8/10
Now there is a lot of misconceptions about characters in mha. First of all, Class 1 A is not the main cast. They are background characters so it is only understandable not much attention to be put to them. Similar to how all students in Assassination Classroom are not always having the same screen time.

Now for the mc, Deku -
He fits right into his stories themes and messages. He contributes to and is a product of the flawed society of mha. And yet he retains his own personality, goals, ideals, strengths, weakness.
He's a product of a very prevalent issue in mha i.e. Quirk discrimination. Getting bullied and tornamented because he was born inferior to others. Him Gaining OFA further shows how no one is born equal in their world.
Side characters -
The villains Shigaraki, Dabi, Toga, and twice are all brilliantly written. Stain who appeared earlier on had understandable motives highlighting the issues of the hero society again. The other villains would need some work for they are very forgettable.
Bakugou is one of the most unique rivals to come out in jump, and he has a very gradual development throughout the series. Todoroki is a result of the flaws of hero society but even he grows and matures and I must add for an edgy character like him, he adds alot to the comedy lol.
Pro heroes Endeavour, Hawks, Miriko all have a charismatic personality or in Endeavour's case, the way his growth as a human being is being handled is praise worthy.
I feel like Iida and Uraraka need more spotlight and development since they both stopped their contributions at the Joint Training Arc which is a shame because I think they have a lot of wasted potential.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10
For someone who didn't really enjoy this manga at it's initial stages, it has improved alot and I have begun to enjoy it more and more as time passes. The current arc- Paranormal Liberation War Arc is very exciting moving the story forward and it piques my interest for the future of this series.

So I am writing this review because of all the people who are giving the anime 3 or 4 ratings.

The manga and anime are definitely worth it and those people haven't even read to the latest chapters. They're criticizing the manga just because you see other people on social media platforms saying bad things about this.

Mha has some of the best character development and the story is outstanding. Also the amount of hype moments or moments where you get goosebumps are unreal!!

Deku is a typical Shonen character with an overpowered technique/power. But most people love overpowered MCs. But Deku is not just overpowered he has an overpowered quirk but cant use it fully. That's why in the anime you can see so much character development. Some people are saying its repetitive and it is for sure not. Just because there are training arcs doesn't mean its repetitive. Mha story is like this:
Mc has a rough childhood, he gets a power, he trains to master it, he fights villains, he trains harder to beat the villains. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. How else do you expect him to beat the villain; by doing nothing and just using the power of friendship like most anime.

Overall, everyone who read and watches this to the end will for sure be entertained.

Another Jump Comics star that I am reading these days, but before, I have a question for you.
What did a hero do?
Boku No Hero Academy tells the story of Midoriya Izuku, a 14 year old student who lives in the world of all people has a super power, but he does not have it and admires All Might, your favorite superhero.
One day, in the back of the school, he sees your childhood rival, Bakugou Katsuki, caught by a monster and Midoriya goes to the monster to face him, but All Might saves him.
And he granted Midoriya the power of One For All, and he learned to be the best hero of all time. (THIS IS NOT A SPOILER, IT IS THE FIRST CHAPTER AND CONTEXT)
Go to U.A (School of Heroes) to train your power and professional heroes to be your teachers, for example Eraser Head and Midnight.
All the characters are very charismatic and funny, Tokoyami and Ochaco Uraraka for example, is the manga that both the characters primos and secundarys are very important and charismatic. Your motivations do not necessarily involve big stories or tragedies, they can be simple motivations, like giving money to the poor family, or saving people to your city.
Most important for the heroes is the villain, and friend, the villain is amazing!
If you are looking for good action and fun, find an excellent alternative.
[Español]
Otra estrella de Jump Comics que estoy leyendo en estos días, pero antes, tengo una pregunta para ti.
¿Qué hizo un héroe?
Boku No Hero Academia cuenta la historia de Midoriya Izuku, un estudiante de 14 años que vive en el mundo de todas las personas tiene un súper poder, pero no lo tiene y admira a All Might, tu superhéroe favorito.
Un día, en la parte posterior de la escuela, ve a tu rival de la infancia, Bakugou Katsuki, apresado por un monstruo y Midoriya se va al monstruo para enfrentarse a él, pero All Might lo salva.
Y concedió a Midoriya el poder de One For All, y aprendió a ser el mejor héroe de todos los tiempos. (ESTE NO ES UN SPOILER, ES EL PRIMER CAPÍTULO Y CONTEXTO)
Va a U.A (Escuela de Heroes) para entrenar tu poder y héroes profesionales para ser tus profesores, por ejemplo Eraser Head y Midnight.
Todos los personajes son muy carismáticos y divertidos, Tokoyami y Ochaco Uraraka por ejemplo, es el manga que tanto los personajes primares y secundarys son muy importantes y carismáticos. Tus motivaciones, no necesariamente envuelven grandes historias o tragedias, pueden ser motivaciones simples, como dar dinero para la familia pobre, o salvar a la gente a tu ciudad.
¡Más importante para los héroes es el villano, y amigo, el villan es increíble!
Si busca una buena acción y diversión, encuentre una excelente alternativa.

My hero academia is in my opinion the greatest Shonen story of all time, it's certainly not my favourite but I believe everyone should give this Masterpiece of a manga a chance.
The art is slightly lacking but the individual characters and personalities of the class 1A make a for a very enjoyable experience. It does lots of things right, like story motivation, Deku's motivation to become a great hero is not that far out like Goku's motivation to become the strongest in the Universe. It's also very tame unlike the more violent shonen like Hunter x Hunter or Demon slayer making it suitable for a large age range. It's honestly a 10/10. It kept me on the edge all the time.

An amazing series, everything you'd hope from a super power manga but with this like cool slice of life high school/bromance kind of twist. The way they example this sort of cast based gentrification between different classes of peoples born abilities, and how that's sort of shaped peoples responsibilities. Then how they take the MC who had none of that, a completely underprivileged boy, and put him along side but soon further than those born with the abilities he always wanted, then to have those he envied be the opposite of what he imagined they'd be. omygod I could go on forever! All these elements, and this progression, always constant and stuck to several but specific themes; yeah these guys are really gifted writers.

My only kink about it is that even in the official releases (mostly read fan-lations) is that their writing and type setting is just way too suffocating. Mostly block text, lots of run ons, no emphasising, and all around just way to many words on a single panel. I know im not one to criticize here, but I'm not an arts major either.

A picture's worth a thousand words, ya know?