My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Volume 1: “I’m Here” (Episodes 1 through 5) Manga Review
Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.
After I finished reading Demon Slayer on July 5, 2020, I decided to read My Hero Academia: Vigilantes next. The decision to read this manga came across as a convenient opportunity when my cousin picked up volumes 2 and 3 at a random garage sale for $5 total and gave them to me. Having the physical copies forced me to buy Volume 1 on Amazon Prime. Then on July 7, 2020, I started and finished Volume 1 of Vigilantes, written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and drawn by Betten Court.
For those unaware, My Hero Academia is one of my favorite animes. I hadn’t read the manga yet for the series, but based on my experience with My Hero Academia: Vigilantes—a spin-off prequel series—I decided to add reading the manga to the list.
Vigilantes follows Koichi—a nineteen-year-old college student—with unremarkable powers. His Quirk—Slide and Glide—allows him to move across any kind of surface as long as he has three points of physical contact. Similar to Deku, Koichi is an All-Might fanboy, wishing to become a hero someday. However, Koichi’s Quirk didn’t make him qualified to become a Pro Hero, so he became a helper in an All-Might hoodie doing good deeds—like picking up trash—for the people of his city. One day, he has a run-in with a bunch of bullies that harass him and a freelance idol named Pop Step. Luckily, they are saved by the third member of their new trio, Knuckleduster.
Together as the most unlikely vigilante team, they face off against Instant Villains, individuals who take a Quirk-boosting drug known as Trigger. Unlike the main series, where the Pro Heroes and student heroes—like Deku—handle the world-ending events that threaten the superpowered society, Vigilantes tackles the smaller street-level city issues like small town criminals and drug dealers.
Being a big fanboy of the main series My Hero Academia, I enjoyed reading Vigilantes’ Volume 1. Also, it had been awhile since I read a physical manga book, so I enjoyed having it in my hands too. The artwork… How do I describe it? It’s similar to My Hero Academia but more leaning toward the American superhero—Saturday morning cartoons—vibe. There was a lot more humor packed into the action, which made reading the manga more pleasant and wholesome. Examples to explain what I mean: all the Instant Villains were naked after being defeated, checking people’s tongues for drugs, the main characters needing to run away from the cops for being unlicensed heroes, etc.
The only “real” downside was the lack of character backgrounds for Koichi, Pop Step, and Knuckleduster. The manga’s brief character pages on those three characters and two side-characters were helpful to read, but it was only a recap on what we knew so far about them. However, learning Koichi was based on Deku—obviously—and Knuckleduster was based on Batman to opposite All-Might’s Superman was insightful.
While we got glimpses of Koichi’s background given his status as a college student, where he lived, and his part-time job, Pop Step and Knuckleduster weren’t given much backstory context. However, their distinct personalities were displayed clearly and their group dynamic was good enough for the time being.
Reading this series made me wonder more about the what-ifs. What if Deku had never met All-Might? What happened to the cities that fell under the Pro Heroes’ radar? How effective are the cops in this superhuman society? All these thought-provoking questions were sort-of answered one way or another during my read-through.
The ending of Volume 1—all those cameos from Pro Heroes like All Might and Endeavor—made me want to read more of Vigilantes. I ordered the rest of the available Volumes on Amazon Prime, so expect more of these manga reviews in the near future.
I’ll keep you all updated on my reading progress, but I’m thinking for the My Hero Academia content, I’ll stick with reading physical manga books rather than online. I read manga fast online, but reading a physical manga book goes even faster. Let’s keep it reading, everyone!