My Hero Academia: Vigilantes – Smashing Expectations

By: Mickail Thomas

A personal review over My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, a side story of the well received manga, My Hero Academia. Vigilantes is a well-written piece that fans of My Hero Academia should check out.

My Hero Academia (MHA) is a popular Shonen manga led by the manga artist — also known as a mangaka, Kohei Horikoshi. As the sixth season of MHA’s anime started a few weeks ago, I wanted to review some MHA content. It didn’t take me long to start reading My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.

Vigilantes was written by a different writer, Hideyushi Furuhashi, who works with Betten Court for the art. It was personally overlooked by Horikoshi, allowing for a different take on the world while keeping it in line with the original’s story.

Speaking of, Vigilantes takes place several years before MHA, meaning many beloved characters don’t make appearances.

However, don’t let that scare you off from reading this manga. The cast is full of colorful characters that fill the world with extra depth and flavor.

The main character is Koichi Haimawari, a young man who wasn’t able to become a proper Pro-Hero due to missing the entrance exams. This, however, does not stop his heroic deeds from changing the lives of others.

The first of two major supporting characters is a bubbly freelance idol who goes by Pop☆Step. She uses her Quirk and natural talent to create fun, amusing shows for anyone to watch at their leisure, as long as the police don’t catch her.

The second major supporting character is an intimidating and powerful man who goes by Knuckleduster. He’s got a strong sense of justice and his fists have more than enough power to let him fight off thugs, the weak and the strong included. And he’s got a bit of a habit of striking before talking.

The characters have a fun dynamic that may even rival its source material. And with the story following Vigilantes, who are automatically on the wrong side of the law, fun and intriguing antics ensue.

I recommend giving the side story a try; it smashed my expectations and may smash yours too.