My Hero Academia, Vol. 1 (1)

Great story likable characters quite fast paced. My Hero Academia is a manga serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump and written by Kōhei Horikoshi. The story is set in the modern day, except people with special powers have become commonplace throughout the world. Heroes have now filled the world to defeat villains. A boy named Izuku Midoriya has no powers, but he still dreams of becoming a hero one day.

Sure to be the next big thing in the Shonen Jump world, MHA is already gaining enough momentum to be mentioned in the same discussions as One Piece or Naruto. The story is perfect for non-Japanese audiences as well as it has created a world which is both familiar for superhero fans while offering something very new and refreshing. It engages the audience as you feel for the main character Deku as he faces many trials and tribulations with a healthy dose of triumph. The plethora of characters are rich in personality and engaging. After reading the first volume, I`m completely hooked!! I can`t wait for the next volume and more!! The translation work done by Caleb Cook is worthy of it`s own review. It`s too often times the case that the translation is poorly done and god forbid gets in the way of the story. However, Caleb Cook`s translation is written in a way that is smooth and beautifully supplements the manga. A way that is NOT obtrusive. In addition, it`s clear that Caleb Cook has extensive experience in not only the Japanese language but the culture of Japan as well. As a half-Japanese half-American, I see too many obvious cases of translations being too literal or on the flip side much is lost in translation. This is not the case at all for this series. The subtle nuances of the Japanese language as well as culture is beautifully conveyed. I look forward to Caleb Cook`s future works in this series as well as other mangas.

I bought the whole up-to-date collection. (1-25) Disappointed to learn that, unlike the online books, these are censored. I'm looking into returning the whole lot. If you're ok with Bakugo sounding more like Medoria, then you won't mind.

*My Hero Academia*, by Kohei Horikoshi, is a manga series that is in many ways a tribute to American super-hero comics. From the chapter titles having artwork that emulates the covers of American comic books, and the general style and tone being more in line with American super-hero comics than *shonen* manga, the book is one big shout-out to the American genre. The story takes place in the future where increasing numbers of the populace have developed abilities called "quirks". These abilities help the people who have them to do amazing feats, or sometimes just mundane things that aren't super-useful. They are basically like the mutants in Marvel Comics or meta-humans in DC Comics. Because of this, some people decided to use their new abilities to hurt others and enrich themselves in selfish, illegal, immoral ways. These new super-powered villains are sometimes really difficult, if not impossible, to stop. For ordinary folks or even those with less impressive quirks, at least. For those with powerful enough quirks, such villains can be fought successfully. Such powerfully-endowed folks are able to become professional heroes who are paid by governments world-wide for their services, and some can get fame and fortune by doing so. And this brings us to our story. There is a boy in Japan named Izuku Midoriya who desperately wants to become a hero. To do so, he must attend a "hero school" and he wants to go to the premiered Hero school in his country, the U.A. High School. Unfortunately, he is a quirkless - one of the few people left who has no quirk at all, not even a mundane one. Of course, between the lack of a quirk, the bullying of the only boy in their school to have a powerful quirk, and the mockery of everyone else over his dreams, Midoriya is miserable. When he is saved from attack by his personal hero - and the strongest hero on the planet - All-Might, his fortunes turn around. All-Might is so impressed with his heart that he helps Midoriya fulfill his dreams. So begins the story of this young boy's rise from the victim of bullying and useless dreams, to beginning a journey to friends and becoming the world's greatest hero. This story was really sweet and is, like *Tiger & Bunny* a really unique tale. There are some subversions of typical Japanese genres that seem to uphold American ideas of individualism over Japanese cultural community. It's not subversive, but it does hit points that aren't often hit in Japanese series. Not that the Japanese never value individuality. Japan is a varied country of different viewpoints underneath the cultural conformity. Also, some ideas are everywhere, across cultural lines, just with differing emphases and so forth. But the tone is more American melded with Japanese. It's really quite interesting. I love Japanese culture, though there is bad ju...