My Hero Academia

My Hero Academia
Cover of the first volume of My Hero Academia, featuring Izuku Midoriya and All Might
僕のヒーローアカデミア (Boku no Hīrō Academia)
Genre	Action, Science fantasy, Comedy, Superhero
Manga
Written by	Kōhei Horikoshi
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	NA Viz Media
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Jump[1]
English magazine	NA Weekly Shonen Jump
Original run	July 7, 2014 – Ongoing
Volumes	3

My Hero Academia (僕のヒーローアカデミア, Boku no Hīrō Academia) is an ongoing Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 2014,^[2] and 3 volumes have been collected in tankōbon format. The series has been licensed for English language release by Viz Media, and began serialization in their weekly digital manga anthology Weekly Shonen Jump on February 9, 2015.^[3] The story follows Izuku Midoriya, a boy born without superpowers in a world where they are the norm, but still dreams of becoming a superhero himself.

Plot

Izuku Midoriya was just a regular middle school student in a world where people with superpowers known as "Quirks" (個性, Kosei) are the norm. However, he dreams of one day becoming a Hero (ヒーロー, Hīrō), despite being bullied by his classmates for not having a Quirk. After being the only one to try and save his childhood friend, Katsuki, from a Villain (敵（ヴィラン）, Viran), All Might, the world's greatest Hero, bestows upon him his own quirk, "One For All". The story follows Izuku's entrance into Yūei High School (雄英高校, Yūei Kōkō), a school that cultivates the next generation of Heroes.

Characters

Main characters

Izuku Midoriya (緑谷 出久, Midoriya Izuku)

Voiced by: Daiki Yamashita (VOMIC)

Nicknamed Deku (デク), he is a boy who is extremely knowledgeable about Heroes and dreams to be one himself, despite lacking a Quirk due to the trait being too dilluted to be passed on in his family. However, when he steps up to save his childhood acquaintance from an evil Villain, All Might bestows upon him his Quirk One For All (ワン・フォー・オール, Wan Fō Ōru), a Quirk that becomes more powerful the more people it is given to, and results in the user being able to call upon a great physical strength. Izuku is the first Quirkless (無個性, Mukosei) Hero, and joins other students in Yūei High School's Class 1-A. He initially dislikes his nickname, but starts to like it once Ochako comments that his nickname gives him a vibe of never giving up.

Katsuki Bakugō (爆豪 勝己, Bakugō Katsuki)

Voiced by: Yūichiro Umehara (VOMIC)

Katsuki is one of Izuku's childhood acquaintances and classmates in class 1-A, and Izuku calls him Katchan (かっちゃん). He possesses the Quirk Explosion (爆破, Bakuha) which allows his palm sweat to become nitroglycerin and explode. He has made fun of Izuku for lacking a Quirk since childhood, and also the one who gave him his nickname as an insult. Growing up being praised by people around him for his Quirk and achievements in comparison to Izuku, Katsuki became arrogant and thinks others, particularly Izuku, are below him. In the beginning of the series, he is a bully who often mocks those that he considers weak as he thinks that he is the strongest. He stops picking on Izuku after the latter's attempt to save him from a villain, though he truly starts reflecting on himself only after Izuku defeated him in their battle training and seeing that there many students possess greater and better quirk than him.

Ochako Uraraka (麗日 お茶子, Uraraka Ochako)

Ochako is a classmate of Izuku and Katsuki's at Yūei High School. Her Quirk is Zero Gravity (無重力（ゼログラビティ）, Zero Gurabiti), which allows her to make people she touches float, but she will become nauseous if she uses the ability too much. Aside from Katsuki, she also refers Izuku as "Deku" but unlike the former, she calls him with his nickname out of affection, commenting that "Deku" gives the vibe of never giving up, and eventually switches to Deku-kun (デクくん). She comes from a family of construction workers, and because there is not much of a market for them, they are poor. Due to this, Ochako aspires to become a hero for money so she can give her parents an easy life.

Tenya Iida (飯田 天哉, Iida Ten'ya)

The president of class 1-A, a very studious boy who seems serious and scary to Izuku at first, though he is just being honest and strict regarding qualifications to become a hero. He then becomes one of Izuku's first close friends. Tenya's Quirk is Engine (エンジン, Enjin), which gives him super speed. He comes from a well-known hero family for generations, his father and older brother in particular. His older brother is a pro-hero, Turbo Hero Ingenium who has 65 sidekicks, who inspired him to become a hero that will make both his father and brother proud.

Shōto Todoroki (轟 焦凍, Todoroki Shōto)

A student in class 1-A. His Quirk is Fire and Ice (半冷半燃, Hanrei Hannen) which makes one side of his body control ice (the side with white hair) and the other side fire (the side with red hair). He is considered as the strongest student in the class. He is the son of Endeavor, who was said to be the second top hero after All Might. However, he loathes his father for marrying his mother just because of her Quirk, thus leading her to lead an unhappy life with him. This caused her to become afraid that Shoto would become like his father, leading to her burning his not yet active fire side with scalding water and she was sent to a mental hospital afterwards. Because of that, Shōto intends to become a top hero using only his mother's Quirk instead of his father's as his way to disavow the latter. During his fight with Izuku, Shoto finally overcame his inner doubt and uses his fire power not to defy against his father, but accepting his Fire Quirk as his own.

All Might (オールマイト, Ōru Maito)

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (VOMIC)

The world's greatest Hero, All Might's real Quirk is unknown to the public and most people concludes that his Quirk is some sort of strength-enhancing Quirk. He passes his quirk on to Izuku after seeing the boy's bravery. He is a teacher at Yūei High School, doing his best to allow Izuku follow in his foot steps. His One For All Quirk enables him to pass on his powers to another, which he plans on doing as five years prior a fight with a Villain left All Might terribly injured to where he can only use his Quirk for three hours a day. This time limit later decreased to fifty minutes a day. The nature of his Quirk is only known by Izuku, the school principal, and Recovery Girl and must not be revealed at any cost in order not to destroy people's symbol of peace. He is drawn in the style of American comic book superheroes rather than in the Japanese manga style of other characters, though the style changes to a more traditional manga form when he returns to his "true form".

Yūei High School students

Yūga Aoyama (青山 優雅, Aoyama Yūga)

Yūga is another boy in class 1-A. He is always seen smiling and has his own way of doing things. His Quirk is Navel Laser (ネビルレーザー, Nebiru Rēzā), which allows him to fire a laser blast from his belly button.

Tsuyu Asui (蛙吹 梅雨, Asui Tsuyu)

A girl in class 1-A. Her Quirk Frog (蛙, Kaeru) gives her a frog-like appearance and gives her several abilities such as superior swimming, stretching out her tongue 20 meters, sticking to and climbing vertical walls, leaping high, secrete numbing venom, and anything else "froggy". She seems to have a gloomy personality, but she is insightful, intelligent, and ready to protect the innocent. She is also sharp, being the first one in the class to notice the similarity between Izuku and All Might's Quirk, which briefly panicked Izuku.

Momo Yaoyorozu (八百万 百, Yaoyorozu Momo)

The vice-chairwoman of class 1-A. Her Quirk is Creation (創造, Sōzō), possessing the ability to create any substance so long as she knows the molecular structure. She is one of the top students in the class and is considered the "queen bee".

Mezō Shōji (障子 目蔵, Shōji Mezō)

A student in class 1-A whose Quirk Arm Replication (複製腕, Fukusei Ude) allows him to grow multiple arms from his body.

Eijiro Kirishima (切島 鋭児郎, Kirishima Eijirō)

A student in class 1-A whose Quirk Hardening (硬化, Kōka) allows him to increase the hardness of his arms, and possibly his whole body.

Mina Ashido (芦戸 三奈, Ashido Mina)

A student in class 1-A with pink hair and lilac skin. Her Quirk is not known, but her cape seems to be melted from acid, suggesting acidic powers.

Tōru Hagakure (葉隠 透, Hagakure Tōru)

A student in class 1-A with an unnamed Quirk that makes her invisible. She walks around nude to fully utilize her Quirk, but keeps on a pair of gloves and a pair of boots so people can know she is there.

Kyōka Jirō (耳郎 響香, Jirō Kyōka)

A girl in class 1-A who has extremely long earlobes due to her Quirk Headphone Jack (イヤホンジャック, Iyahon Jakku), which allows her to plug her earlobes into headphone jacks to listen to or transmit sound that she controls.

Minoru Mineta (峰田実, Mineta Minoru)

A student in class 1-A who has a costume that looks like a bunch of grapes to make his Quirk of removing sticky spheres from his head easier. He is the smallest student in the class, comparable to that of a young boy. He is also perverted, using any chance he has to grope on his female classmates' breasts and even wanted to become class president just so he can make a rule for girls to expose 30 cm of their thighs. He is a typical rookie, being cowardly when he faces against real villains and needs to be encouraged by Izuku and Tsuyu to fight back.

Denki Kaminari (上鳴 電気, Kaminari Denki)

A student in class 1-A whose Quirk Charge (帯電, Taiden) allows him to absorb and emit electricity. His quirk is one of the strongest in class 1-A however, overuse of his quirk causes short-circuiting in his brain and temporarily reduces his intelligence.

Yūei High School teachers

Shōta Aizawa (相澤 消太, Aizawa Shōta)

The homeroom teacher for class 1-A. He always looks extremely tired but hates to waste time. He is a Hero formerly known as Eraser Head (イレイザー・ヘッド, Ireizā Heddo) whose Quirk Erasure (抹消, Masshō) is to nullify others' Quirks so long as they remain in his eyesight. If he blinks, his Quirk deactivates, so he often wears goggles to ensure that he need not blink. Continued use of his Quirk gives him dry eye, which makes him unable to use it for some time after.

Present Mic (プレゼント・マイク, Purezento Maiku)

The school's English teacher who has a Quirk related to his voice. He appears at the entrance ceremony to introduce the new students to the school.

Recovery Girl (リカバリーガール, Rikabarī Gāru)

The school's nurse and nursing teacher who is now a petite old woman. She gives students candy to get better. Her Quirk is a Healing Factor (治癒力の超活性化, Chiyuryoku no Chōkasseika), allowing her to heal others' injuries. However, if she becomes too exhausted, it overrides her ability to prevent her own death.

Lunch Rush (ランチラッシュ, Ranchi Rasshu)

A cook hero who works in the school cafeteria. He is able to produce first class meals for a very low price, and is always seen giving the thumbs up.

Heroes

Shinrinkamui (シンリンカムイ)

A Hero who appears in the first chapter who possesses the ability to control tree limbs and is partnered with Mt. Lady. He is rising in popularity in the world, and even has his own Pez dispenser.

Mt. Lady (Mt.レディ, Maunto Redi)

A Heroine whose Quirk Giantism (巨大化, Kyodaika) allows her to grow from her height of 162 centimeters (5 ft 4 in) to 2,062 centimeters (67 ft 8 in), but her fights with Villains often cause a lot of collateral damage.

Mt. Lady was originally conceived by Kōhei Horikoshi to be the female lead.

Endeavor (エンデヴァー, Endevā)

A Hero with immense flame powers who is a legend at Yūei High School. His crime stopping record has never been surpassed, but despite that, he is considered only the second among all heroes, the first being All Might. He raised his son, Shōto Todoroki with the sole purpose of making of him a hero to surpass all others, to the point of choosing to marry Shōto's mother only because of her Quirk, in order to have his child inherit her powers as well. He constantly pushed his son to train to become stronger ever since he was 5 years old and even sent his own wife to a mental hospital after she injured Shoto out of fear of Endeavor's influence, leading Shoto to hate him.

Others

Izuku's mother

Izuku's mother is proud and somewhat overprotective of her son, despite lacking a Quirk growing up. When he began attending Yūei High School and had seemed to develop a Quirk all his own, she was ecstatic and gave him a Hero's jumpsuit based on All Might's as a gift. Her "Quirk" is the abiltity to attract small objects.

Izuku's father

Not much is known about him, but it is known that he has the quirk Fire Breather (火休み, Hi Yasumi), which allows the user to blow fire out of their mouth.

Chapter list

No.	Title	Release date	ISBN
1	Izuku Midoriya: Origin Midoriya Izuku: Orijin (緑谷出久：オリジン)	November 4, 2014[4] ISBN 978-4-08-880264-0	August 4, 2015[5] ISBN 978-1421582696
"Izuku Midoriya: Origin" (緑谷出久：オリジン, Midoriya Izuku: Orijin) "Roaring Muscles" (うなれ筋肉, Unare Kinniku) "Entrance Exam" (入試, Nyūshi) "The Starting Line" (スタート ライン, Sutāto Rain) "Break Open, Academia" (はりさけろ入学, Harisakero Nyūgaku) "What I Can Do For Now" (今 僕に出来ることを, Ima, Boku ni Dekiru Koto o) "Shall We Wear These?" (服着よう？, Fuku Kiyō?)
2	Ferocity of a Damn Nerd Takere Kusonādo (猛れクソナード)	January 5, 2015[6] ISBN 978-4-08-880297-8	November 3, 2015[7] ISBN 978-1421582702
"Ferocity of a Damn Nerd" (猛れクソナード, Takere Kusonādo) "Deku vs. Kacchan" (デクvsかっちゃん) "Bakugō Snaps" (折れろ爆豪, Orero Bakugō) "Bakugō's Starting Line." (スタートライン、爆豪の。, Sutāto Rain, Bakugō no.) "All Right, Do Your Best, Iida!" (いいぞガンバレ飯田くん！, Ii zo Ganbare Iida-kun!) "Trial of Rescu--" (救助訓れ, Kyūjo Kunre) "Face-Off Against the Unknown" (未知との遭遇, Michi to no Sōgū) "Versus" (ＶＳ, Fi Esu) "Know Your Enemies" (思い知れ敵, Omoishire Teki) "Game Over" (ゲームオーバー, Gēmu Ōbā)

Chapters not yet in tankōbon format

These chapters have yet to be published in a tankōbon volume. They were originally serialized in Japanese in issues of Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Reception

It is nominated for the 8th Manga Taishō.^[8]

Volume 1 reached the 7th place on the weekly Oricon manga chart with 71,575 copies sold.^[9] It sold out almost immediately on its first printing.^[10] Volume 2 reached the 6th place, with 167,531 copies^[11] and, by January 18, 2015, had sold 205,179 copies.^[12]

The story has been noted to take inspiration from elements in American superhero comics, such as the asthetics of the characters on it.^[13]

References

External links

• Official page at Weekly Shōnen Jump (Japanese)

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