My Hero Academia Volume 23: “Our Brawl” (Chapters 213 through 224) Manga Review
Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.
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.
On August 9, 2020, I started and finished reading My Hero Academia’s Volume 23: “Our Brawl”. This volume concluded the joint battle training between Class 1-A and Class 1-B. The results of this training session also determined whether Hitoshi Shinso would transfer over to the Hero Course or not.
While the battle training was ongoing, we also learned more about One For All and the previous users through Deku’s dreamscape encounter. Kohei Horikoshi took the Avatar Cycle approach—from Avatar The Last Airbender—on the previous users, and how Deku indirectly drew upon a spirit for unwanted guidance. The fact that Deku was the first user to speak to the previous users was incredible to read, showing that One For All was close to becoming something entirely new in Deku’s possession.
The levels of teamwork displayed throughout the “Joint Battle Training Arc” continued to amaze me. Both sides took it to a whole other level—Plus Ultra—making the whole experience quite a thrill to read.
The ending scene with them all hanging out talking about what they learned and having fun also showed the reader that healthy competition does exist. Some animes and manga—shows and books in general—tend to display toxic competition, but seeing young children competing with each other and getting along afterwards was a refreshing change of pace.
In the volume’s second half, the series introduced the new villain group known as the Meta Liberation Army. What’s different about this group is that they’re not outright villains, but their methods—like torturing someone for information—are definitely on par with villains. Another major difference is that the Meta Liberation Army isn’t going after the heroes—at least not right away—but instead they aim to eliminate the League of Villains first, refocusing Tomura Shigaraki and his group as the protagonists.
Kohei Horikoshi also gave them a “heroic goal” when Twice insisted on going after the Meta Liberation Army to save one of their own—the one being tortured. This portion of the story also expanded on All For One’s backup plans for Tomura, and his ominous connection to what might be going on with One For All since he’s the creator of that Quirk.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this volume for the unexpected direction in the story. The League of Villains are acting like the protagonists—a beautiful My Hero Academia trope—and I’m rooting for them to beat the Meta Liberation Army! Plus Ultra!