Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.

On July 24, 2020, I started and finished reading My Hero Academia’s Volume 4.

Synopsis: Written and drawn by Kohei Horikoshi, the main series follows Izuku Midoriya—nicknamed Deku—and his dream to become a hero someday. In a world where 80% of the superhuman society had powers—dubbed Quirks in this series—the dream to become a superhero became way more common. Sadly enough, Deku fell into the 20% category, effectively making him average—or Quirkless. After a fateful encounter with the number one hero All Might though, Deku’s fate changes forever.

Volume 4: “The Boy With Everything” continued the “U.A. Sports Festival Arc”, kicking off the next event and later a one-on-one tournament to determine the winner of the Sports Festival. Kohei Horikoshi did an amazing job on the tournament’s structure, and showing everyone use their Quirks creatively during the Calvary Battle event.

While the stakes were still high for the students to win the Sports Festival, the lack of a life-or-death danger element allowed for “sillier” violence—particularly in Bakugo’s case—as the Calvary Battle escalated. The Calvary Battle was structured like Capture the Flag, but with superhero children playing the modified game and forming horse-like formations. The Calvary Battle action sequence is a personal favorite of mine.

The volume also fleshes out a lot of the other characters’—Denki Kaminari, Minoru Mineta, Tsuyu Asui, Eijiro Kirishima, Fumikage Tokoyami, Hanta Sero, Mezo Shoji, Mina Ashido, Mashirao Ojiro, Hitoshi Shinso, Neito Monoma, and Mei Hatsume—personalities, Quirks, and their motives for wanting to win the Calvary Battle and the one-on-one matches.

Hitoshi Shinso, Neito Monoma, and Mei Hatsume are new characters officially introduced in this volume, making trouble for certain members of Class 1-A during the U.A. Sports Festival.

Hitoshi Shinso is a U.A. student from the General Studies Course, who failed the entrance exam for the Hero Course due to his Quirk not being physically adequate for the test. His Quirk is called Brainwash; he is able to mind-control anyone who responds to a question he asks them. He saw this Quirk as a curse due to the villainous implications behind them and the fear it triggered in his classmates, making him resentful of people like Izuku Midoriya who are “born and blessed with everything”.

Neito Monomo also holds resentment toward Class 1-A, but his motive is sillier compared to Shinso’s. Neito wants to prove Class 1-B is superior to Class 1-A and clashes with Bakugo constantly throughout the Calvary Battle action sequence. Bakugo’s enraged—villainously drawn—facial expressions were delightful reactions.

Mei Hatsume—a U.A. student from the Support Course—was also an entertaining character to read with delightful expressions of her own. She ended-up joining forces with Deku, Uraraka, and Tokoyami during the Calvary Battle. Unlike the rest of Class 1-A from the Hero Course, Hatsume is training to create support items for superheroes rather than fight crime herself. She calls her items “babies” and behaves sporadically to show them off to the scouts watching the event somewhere in the stands. Ochaco Uraraka was somewhat jealous whenever Hatsume interacted with Deku.

Ochaco Uraraka had decent character development toward the end of this volume, as her match against Bakugo neared. She realized she couldn’t completely rely on Deku or her friends to become a hero—that she had to trust in her own strength as well. Tenya Iida didn’t have a huge role either—aside from his declaration of war against Deku and teaming up with Shoto Todoroki.

This volume had a heavier character focus on Shoto Todoroki, the son of the number two flame hero Endeavor. Todoroki has both ice and fire powers, inheriting two Quirks from his mother and father. Because Todoroki resents his father, he refuses to use his left side—the flame power he inherited from Endeavor. The limitation to his powers added depth to his character, and the struggles he must be going through in order to escape his father’s shadow.

Kohei Horikoshi’s artwork is consistently enjoyable, impressive, and easy to read. My favorite artwork from this volume was Tokoyami and his Quirk: Dark Shadow; they were amazingly drawn when Team Midoriya formed the horse-like formation. Watching the anime’s scenes from this arc on YouTube make the reading experience livelier too if y’all want to give that a try. Listening to My Hero Academia’s OST also works.

Overall, My Hero Academia Volume 4: “The Boy Born With Everything” had a good balance of comedy, action, and character development for the side-characters. I’m hyped to read Volume 5: “Shoto Todoroki: Origin” next! Let’s keep it reading, everyone!

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