My Hero Academia

This manga is a journey not only in following the students in their quest to become heroes, but also in the highs and lows of story telling. BnHA starts out strong. The characters are likeable and engaging. The story has a lot to say and invests as much time in its villains as its heroes, creating a complex world with complex problems. The first about half of the story is the best part of the story. It has decent pacing, engaging content, and a need to know more. The second half is unfortunately not like that. The pacing is a little wonky in places, thoughit's better as a binge read than a weekly read. There are some really great moments but there is some clutter and speed runs in-between. Yet, the themes presented in the first half persist and so there's still a drive to know more about the characters and story. This kept me reading even during the wonky portions but the payout just evaporated when the time came for it. One of the more interesting things about Horikoshi's writing is he likes to subvert expectations, but this is also one of his weaknesses. The ending really let me down to the point I'm not going to finish the anime because I have no interest in watching the final arc after reading it. The epilogue was nice but because of the disappointment in the climax of the story, I have trouble enjoying it. When I first started reading this title, I rated it an 8. When the second half got wonky, I rated it a 7. Now I'm giving it a 6. It's a decent story and the characters are characters that I'll carry with me for years to come, but the ending was just not my bag, but it wasn't technically a "bad ending," just extremely disappointing given what seemed to be the themes of the story. However, some subversions in the epilogue were good and I'm glad for those choices. It's really a mixed bag of an ending to a manga that started out pretty strong and engaging. If you like standard Jump stories and enjoy epics reads, then I would really recommend checking this title out. Even though I didn't really like the ending, it might work for other people. If anything, this manga is worth it to get to know the cast and think about how things could have turned out instead.

“This is the story of how I became the greatest hero.” And so it comes to an end one of the greatest shounen ever. At least that's what I would like to say, but now, after it ended, I'm not so sure. It certainly was one of the most popular, to the point it became a cultural phenomenon that transcended manga and anime, like Dragon Ball and Naruto before it. But how good was it after all? Horikoshi's work is the manga version of a western comic book. And yet it was unrestricted by canon, by the weight of a hundred years of previous stories and expectations:it was free to be whatever it wanted to be, to kill any character the story needed to die, to end whenever the author wanted. These are the shackles of mainstream comics: to be eternal and unchanging, to sell the same story over and over. And these shackles are absent here, giving this story potential. That is, if Horikoshi actually committed to his ideas. From the get-go, the concept of the story changed from “Deku will become a hero despite being quirkless through his own efforts” to “Deku is given a handout by the greatest hero and inherits the most powerful quirk in the world, because there can't be quirkless heroes”. The story then proceeds to contradict itself at this point many times — quirkless heroes pop into the story in crucial moments, proving it *is* actually something possible. And Deku has no agency in his own story; his power-ups are not earned, but given. Horikoshi then promoted popularity polls for his characters, and (in my opinion) he changed the very core of the story to accommodate these results. The most beloved characters were moved to the center of the plot, while the unpopular characters were sidelined. This is not how one is supposed to write a story. There is a quote by George R.R. Martin that is very fitting here: “Art is not a democracy. People don’t get to vote on how it ends.” And it's basically what happened here. Another instance where the author doesn't commit is killing his characters. Numerous times, when some character is on the verge of death, Horikoshi regrets it and brings the character back for no reason, in detriment of the story, and in some cases to never be used again anyway. Refusing to kill your characters lowers the stakes considerably. The potential to be free of this classic comic book flaw is wasted if you refuse to kill them anyway. At the end of the story, it is obvious to the reader that Horikoshi is burned out. His chapters become shorter and shorter, and it's clear he is beelining to the end. It is understandable, given it's his first long-running manga, and it's also a weekly one at that. But the ending is mild at best, and that's just unfortunate. Some other observations and opinions: • The story could've greatly benefited from a time skip. • The author has a strange obsession with drawing fingers that creeps its way into the story and becomes more and more prevalent. This manga could just be called Fingers. • None of the villains motivations really make any sense, except Dabi and Stain. • Despite being a shounen with a ton of teenage characters, Horikoshi can explore the world and themes much more with the pro heroes and villains than he can with the students. • Mineta must be one of the worst characters ever in shounen. He is a pervert, but that in itself is not a problem; the problem is being a pervert is his entire character. There is nothing more to him. And it doesn't stop there, he doesn't simply have a bad (or absent) personality, every single aspect of this character is lame: his power, design, costume, everything. • All Might is the heart of this story and is present in almost all of its best moments. His absence is sorely missed. Curiously, All Might's design is one of the few instances where Horikoshi actually drew a line in the sand and refused to alter it, and look how that turned out. Imagine if he did that more. • The art, like in most manga, improves over time, and becomes much more detailed. • The character design ranges from great (All Might, Uraraka, Jiro) to very bad (Mineta, those meme anthropomorphic characters). The female characters usually have very good design, which is a shame because they are all wasted at the end of the day. They never really get a chance to shine, their characters are sidelined by the author and never get closure. Uraraka's arc and her relationship with Deku are abandoned and forgotten. • Deku really gets the short end of the stick in the end. Even his quote about becoming the greatest hero ends up being misleading. So, after this rant, you can only expect me to conclude “Yeah, it's terrible” at this point. But no, this is not a bad manga overall. It's a solid shounen, with classic tropes that work well. And, like a good comic book, it has good action, memorable heroic moments, and great one-liners. It's very popular for a reason. I only listed the reasons that, in my opinion, sadly kept it from being great. I rate it disappointing out of 10.

I would like to express my gratitude to Horikoshi for the 10 years of serialization of one of the most successful manga of all time. Despite some negative nicknames like "Mid Hero Academia," the series has redefined what it means to be a hero and has inspired many people to pursue their dreams. As a fan of the series, I'm overall satisfied with how it ended, but I do have some issues with the ending. Despite the ups and downs and controversies during its serialization, I appreciate how Horikoshi stayed true to the essence of the title. I think the ending could have been better,which has been an issue with the series from the start. However, I still respect Horikoshi's dedication to the series. Ultimately, the series leaves behind a legacy that is irreplaceable, much like the hero All Might. Overall rating: 8.5/10