My Hero Academia Volume 6: “Struggling” (Chapters 45 through 53) Manga Review
Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.
On July 25, 2020, I started and finished reading My Hero Academia’s Volume 6.
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 6: “Struggling” kicked off the student internships. Many students like Uraraka, Todoroki, and Midoriya seek out internships to learn something they were lacking as shown during the “U.A. Sports Festival Arc”. Uraraka went to intern with Pro Hero Gunhead to study hand-to-hand combat, Todoroki interned for his father Endeavor to learn why he was the number two hero, and Midoriya interned under Gran Torino, the former teacher of All Might, in order to master One for All.
Tenya Iida, the serious and responsible student, went to intern for Pro Hero Manual to seek vengeance against Hero Killer: Stain for permanently hurting his older brother. Putting Tenya Iida on this dark path was unsettling, as this character was always the too serious character who valued heroism and doing the right thing above all else.
Introducing Tenya Iida’s want for revenge against Hero Killer: Stain also brought up the hero versus vigilante issue, which is the focal point of the spin-off series My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. If you’re into this type of superhero story and the themes that are associated with it, y’all should check that manga out too. Anyway, back to the manga review and Kohei Horikoshi’s outstanding artwork.
I’ve said this in every manga review thus far, but the writing, character development, artwork, and action sequences are truly fantastic. The designs behind Hero Killer: Stain and Tomura Shigaraki are incredibly dark and aesthetic looking that it really does bring out the horror aspect of the scenes they’re presented in. I also loved how Gran Torino was designed, and Deku’s One for All: Full Cowling was awe-striking.
Overall, I loved Volume 6 and the thought-provoking questions it brings up about what it means to be a hero from a villain’s perspective. This volume’s publication—November 1, 2016—was also when Kohei Horikoshi discovered My Hero Academia was getting an anime adaptation, so reading that in the afterwords tugged at my heartstrings. Thanks for reading this manga review, everyone! Let’s keep it reading—say it with me—PLUS ULTRA!