MANGA TITLE: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes vol. 1
RELEASE DATE: July 2018
Story by Hideyuki Furuhashi
Art by Betten Court
Based on the Original Concept by Kohei Horikoshi
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: Shueisha
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: Viz Media
RATED: 14+
Back in 2014, Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of manga series such as “Omagadoki Dobutsuen” and “Barrage”, would create his manga series “My Hero Academia” (Boku no Hero Academia).
The story revolves around Quirks (people who begin to manifest special abilities) and all of a sudden people in the world began to have many people who became superpowered individuals. Some who use their powers for good, some who use their powers for evil intentions.
Because the government is not equipped to deal with these superpowered thugs, a special group of heroic superpowered individuals came together to protect the people and keep the peace.
The series revolves around a boy named Izuku Midoriya, a boy born Quirkless and looked up to the world’s top hero, All Might.
One day, All Might received a near-fatal wound and now, he is losing his powers. But somehow Izuku began to inherit All Might’s Quirk.
The series became a mega-hit in Japan and now a new manga series titled “My Hero Academia: Vigiliantes written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and artwork by Betten Court.
Set during the time of hero regulations and heroes carry out orders through an organization, there are heroes who don’t pay attention to the law and are considered as vigilantes.
“My Hero Academia: Vigilantes” is a story about how college student, Koichi Haimawari (going by the name of “Nice Guy) uses his quirk, a sliding and gliding technique to help people in need.
One day, he sees an idol (with a quirk to leap very high) known as Pop*Step being accosted by some punks. While Koichi tries to save her, despite his quirk, he’s not very tough but out of nowhere, they get some assistance by a quirkless vigilante named Knuckleduster who has amazing fighting ability and is quite strong, despite his skills not having a quirk.
Since teaming up that day, Knuckleduster wants to join forces with both Koichi (who has since renamed himself “The Crawler”) and Pop*Step.
And while they want to take on the evil villains, Knuckleduster has no compassion for villains and will beat them to a pulp, thus in the eyes of the public, making the three out to be as vigilantes.
Meanwhile, a mysterious individual is turning regular people into supervillains.
But how will these team of vigilantes do against these new supervillains that are causing problems in the city? Including police and heroes who don’t like their tactics?
If your an avid reader (or viewer) of the “My Hero Academia” series, “Vigilantes” has turned out to be a delightful, entertaining manga series.
The concept is not new, as we have seen vigilantes on the pages of Marvel and DC Comics, and even for major superhero titles such as “The Avengers” or “The X-Men”, a lot of popular heroes in those comic titles were vigilantes at first. In fact, characters like Batman and Spider-Man have been considered vigilantes.
So, I actually like the ideas of vigilantes being introduced in the “My Hero Academia” world, considering the currently storyline in MHA have heroes that seem they can turn to the darkside and there is a need for more heroes as more powerful villains begin to emerge.
What makes the story so interesting are its characters, Koichi Haimawari is an awkward college student who wants to do good, have a social life and use his quirk for good. But because of his lack of social skills, he comes off creepy.
Kazuho Haneyama is also much different than her “Pop*Step” form. She is a shy girl, fuzzy hair and wears glasses and quite nerdy, but when she transforms to Pop*Step, the guys find her sexy and somewhat of an exhibitionist as she wears a super miniskirt (and possibly a thong).
On the otherhand, Mr. Oguro (Knuckleduster) is as abrasive in real life as his persona. Always drinking beer and often showing up to Koichi’s place unannounced.
There are also a few other extra characters (or more like Pop*Step fans) who also assist the group, but mainly it’s a story of three different people coming together and taking on supervillains and trying to find those who have been injected with a drug that gives them special powers and become villains.
The stories are well-written and Betten Court’s artwork is also well-done.
So, overall, “My Hero Academia: Vigilantes” combines humor and action and manages to be a wonderful spin-off of “My Hero Academia” so far. I look forward to reading more and finding out if they will grow as a team and add more members!
Recommended!