A review by leah3088
My Hero Academia: Smash!!, Vol. 5 by Kōhei Horikoshi, Hirofumi Neda

4.0

(I received an arc copy of this manga in exchange for an honest review)

I'm a fan of the main series, and anime, but I have to admit I'm quite behind and haven't read the previous volumes of Smash!!, but I am involved in the online fandom enough to have seen quite a lot of previous chapters online and in fan theories.

I really enjoyed the villain chapters because I'm a big villain fan, but it's not often we actually get to see them having fun. It was cool to see the class 1-A kids having lessons and training that we don't really see in the main series that's actually quite important to become a great hero.

It was nice to read the same characters but in funny situations with less stress and real-world consequences of being heroes/villains. I especially enjoyed the League of Villains bonding chapters because we don't see that in the main series since it's focused on the hero class, but it adds a little more to the relationships between them.
I found it interesting to see what the characters would be like in another dimension, and it was funny too. A nice little side story to the main series, even if it's not technically canon, it still had some 'character development'.

I like how the author, Hirofumi Neda included a little story about himself in the back, explaining that he injured his hand and why the quality of some volumes is a little different. It is sad to hear that it won't be continued, but it might come back for an anniversary thing so that could be good.

I will definitely have to check out the first four manga volumes of Smash!! now, and since I don't know anyone in person who reads manga, i would recommend to all fans of the main series, especially the anime fans who enjoy the fun, goofy episodes where nothing plot-heavy really happens.