Scan barcode
A review by clumsypenguin
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 1 by Hideyuki Furuhashi
2.0
Interesting more as another look into the world of MHA than as an actual book with a good story.
I didn't especially like any of the three main characters all that much. Koichi is an intriguing character conceptually (what if Izuku didn't become a hero, yet still wanted to help people), but we never see him actually come into his own in any meaningful way. He's just a really well-meaning yet misunderstood and unlucky guy, and that's about it. It doesn't feel like he's propelling himself down his own journey; throughout all the chapters in this book he just spends his time following the others around and helping them (mostly Knuckleduster) fight anyone they happen to come across. Speaking of, Knuckleduster is also like Koichi in that he's a neat concept of a character, but doesn't really become any more than that as the book goes on. His headstrong nature leads to some comedic moments, but besides that, he just lumbers between different fights the entire time. Pop Step doesn't get to do much at all in this book. She's sexually assaulted a couple of times so that the other two characters can save her, and despite having a cool quirk and joining the others on "patrol" she doesn't actually get to fight anything or use her quirk in any interesting way.
Besides them, the overall plot is interesting enough. The mystery concerning trigger is pretty compelling, and the book had its fair share of pretty funny and entertaining scenes (my personal favorite being the Wolverine and Cyclops parodies). And as I said earlier, this book offers a good look into more facets of MHA's world that we don't necessarily get to see in the main series. The art is also really great here with the action scenes being the most fun parts to read. Other than that though, I didn't find this series all that compelling, and even if the characters get better as the series goes on I don't think I'm interested enough to keep reading (and even if I do keep reading, it'll be because I solely want to see more of the world, and not because I care about the rest of the plot).
I didn't especially like any of the three main characters all that much. Koichi is an intriguing character conceptually (what if Izuku didn't become a hero, yet still wanted to help people), but we never see him actually come into his own in any meaningful way. He's just a really well-meaning yet misunderstood and unlucky guy, and that's about it. It doesn't feel like he's propelling himself down his own journey; throughout all the chapters in this book he just spends his time following the others around and helping them (mostly Knuckleduster) fight anyone they happen to come across. Speaking of, Knuckleduster is also like Koichi in that he's a neat concept of a character, but doesn't really become any more than that as the book goes on. His headstrong nature leads to some comedic moments, but besides that, he just lumbers between different fights the entire time. Pop Step doesn't get to do much at all in this book. She's sexually assaulted a couple of times so that the other two characters can save her, and despite having a cool quirk and joining the others on "patrol" she doesn't actually get to fight anything or use her quirk in any interesting way.
Besides them, the overall plot is interesting enough. The mystery concerning trigger is pretty compelling, and the book had its fair share of pretty funny and entertaining scenes (my personal favorite being the Wolverine and Cyclops parodies). And as I said earlier, this book offers a good look into more facets of MHA's world that we don't necessarily get to see in the main series. The art is also really great here with the action scenes being the most fun parts to read. Other than that though, I didn't find this series all that compelling, and even if the characters get better as the series goes on I don't think I'm interested enough to keep reading (and even if I do keep reading, it'll be because I solely want to see more of the world, and not because I care about the rest of the plot).