My Hero Academia: Volume 4 manga review

Manga
My Hero Academia: Volume 4 manga review
By Leroy Douresseaux
April 28, 2016 - 22:06

Viz Media
Writer(s): Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb Cook
Penciller(s): Kohei Horikoshi
Letterer(s): John Hunt
ISBN: 978-1-4215-8511-6
$9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K., 192pp B&W, paperback
Rating: T (Teen)

My Hero Academia Volume 4 cover image

Rated “T” for “Teen”

One day, 80 percent of the human population manifests superpowers called “Quirks.” If someone wants to be a superhero, he or she enrolls in the Hero Academy. What would a person do, however, if he were one of the 20 percent born Quirkless? Middle school student Izuku Midoriya has no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes. Then, Midoriya meets the greatest hero of them all, All Might, who gives him a chance to change his destiny…

As My Hero Academia, Vol. 4 (entitled The Boy Born with Everything; Chapters 27 to 35) opens, Midoriya has won the first round of the U.A. Sports Festival. The prize is 10,000 points, which makes him a target for the next round. In the second round, the competition is kind of like a horseback (or piggyback) ride.

Midoriya leads a four-man team of himself, Ochaco Uraraka, Mei Hatsume, and Fumikage Tokoyami. They manage to stay above the fray, at least for a little while, but the person most dangerous to Team Midoriya won't use half his powers... for deeply personal reasons.

THE LOWDOWN: The My Hero Academia manga is one of the best comics about youngsters dealing with superpowers. I would compare it to a pair of Marvel Comics' titles, Ms. Marvel and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. As I have written before, My Hero Academia, like Tiger & Bunny and One-Punch Man, proves that manga can do superhero comic books with the best of them.

My Hero Academia Volume 4 continues the focus on school activities, specifically the sports festival. It is a kind of free-for-all that allows creator Kohei Horikoshi to show off his many young characters' powers, as well as to introduce some new ones. I also enjoy the mystery and intrigue surrounding this series, specifically in regards to the past. Perhaps, it is the gossip monger in me. Still, I especially like My Hero Academia because it is a good superhero comic book.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE: Fans of superhero comics and shonen battle manga will want to enroll at the Shonen Jump school, My Hero Academia.

A-

Rating: A-/10