How my appreciation of My Hero Academia has grown

This month, Kohei Horikoshi will be finishing My Hero Academia. Ten years worth of weekly chapters and I think it will end up being 42 volumes. 

While there are works like One Piece that are over a hundred volumes, that’s still ten years and a lot of pages. And it’s clear that My Hero Academia is telling a single complete story.

I’ve read thirty-five of the volumes and only stopped because that’s how much the library had lol And my enjoyment and appreciation of My Hero Academia has only grown as it has gone on.

And, as I keep reading it, I kept adjusting my expectations and impressions of the series.

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I had initially described My Hero Academia as school for superheroes. I ultimately feel that I was wrong. It is an inter-generational saga where some of the action takes at a school. I’d actually say it’s less about good versus evil and more people who want to help versus people who want to hurt.

And the concept of Superhero is central to the work. Not just the concept of super powers but the idea of using them to help people. At first, in a world where 80% has super powers, the government is actively involved in licensing heroes and super heroics is big business, it felt like Horikoshi was deconstructing Superheroes. However, after the setting was established, he began reconstructing the concept.

 

And the centerpiece to that reconstruction is Midoriya, the protagonist but still part of a sprawling ensemble. Basically, personality-wise, he is Superman. The Superman of My Adventures with Superman, not Zack Snyder’s Superman. (Although, to be honest, given the timeline, I wouldn’t be surprised if My Hero Academia influenced My Adventures with Superman) Midoriya is empathic and caring, even when in life and death battles.

In fact, the two students who get the second most focus, Bukago and Shoto, are different flavors of anti-hero. Mind you, they are both shown to be able to grow and be good people (Bukago hides his better side very well) But it is

Midoriya’s compassion that is a key component to his ability to make a difference. That and incredible powers.

And this is what ultimately sold me and got me hooked. Midoriya may have a silver age outlook but he isn’t in a silver age world. The villains are absolute nightmares whose actions have serious body counts and cause societal collapse. There are serious stakes in My Hero Academia.

I feel the Dark Hero arc has been the most striking for me so far. Midoriya has left the academy because he is so dangerous to be around. And, at his lowest point, when he is neglecting basic hygiene and nutrition, Midoriya is relentlessly trying to help people, fighting violent criminals and rescuing people. Even at his lowest, Midoroya still needs to save everyone but he needs his friends to remind him that he also needs save himself.

I don’t know My Hero Academia will end. (I’m mean, I’m pretty sure it will be a happy ending) Considering it’s become a multi-media franchise with spin-offs, this month isn’t the end of the setting. But I hope Horikoshi will end the central story well.