Earlier this year I began experimenting with the medium of weekly Japanese manga. Though Western comics have always seemed a bore to me, I'm a fan of both art, and novels, so why not try some Japanese graphic novels? I ended up exploring a classic of the medium (Berserk), a contemporary favorite (My Hero Academia), and a genre favorite (The Enigma of Amigara Fault by horror savant Junji Ito).One can't traverse much of the anime-watching and manga-reading corners of the internet without hearing regular mention of My Hero Academia. Aside from the given that is the omnipresent One Piece—a staple of manga for decades—Academia sits atop the throne of most universally popular new series.
I found Horikoshi's characters to be charming, and the setting, premise, and action clearly paying homage to the Western comic book series X-Men. Many of the characters' charm lies in their vulnerability and the determination and effort they exert to overcome them; indeed, the series posterboy, All-Might, would be far less interesting without the context of the ebbing of his powers contrasting with the surging of his desire to be a hero people can rely on.
I'm typically more a fan of dark, cynical, joyless forms of fiction, but I have to say I liked this quite a bit better than Berserk, one of the other long-running series of manga I experimented with this year. Though Berserk does put some care into the construction of its characters, the constant outpouring of effort it made to be edgy and violent wore me down to the point of which I was no longer enjoying myself. This didn't occur with Academia, which stays fresh despite the length the series is beginning to approach.
Charming, funny characters and great artwork make this easily recommendable to manga newbies such as me—especially in today's superhero-dominated popular culture. Though I can't say it did much to change my opinion on the medium as a whole.
⭐⭐
