My Hero Academia Volume 18: “Bright Future” (Chapters 158 through 167) 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 5, 2020, I started and finished reading My Hero Academia’s Volume 18. Volume 18: “Bright Future” started with the epic conclusion to the “Overhaul Arc” and followed with its emotional aftermath. Deku and Overhaul battled it out for Eri, giving us a beautiful action sequence and Overhaul’s backstory on why he wanted to create this quirk-less society.
Several chapters are dedicated to the emotional aftermath of the raid rescue mission, where numerous characters like Deku, Red Riot, Lemillion, Sunmaker, Sir Nighteye, Eri, and even the main antagonist Overhaul are severely affected by the events of this arc. This was the first official hero mission Deku was a part of, so exploring the incredible toll it takes on the student heroes and Pro Heroes alike was much-needed.
The second half of the volume was also a much-needed reprieve, giving us screen time with the other students from U.A. like Todoroki and Bakugo. Those two in particular have been studying and working hard for the past few months, getting themselves ready for the remedial lessons they need to take for their Hero Provisional Licenses. This was an entertaining arc, which allowed the volume book to end on a high note.
Overall, I would highly recommend picking up the volume books for those interested in owning the manga and reading the commentary behind character designs in addition to the author’s own thoughts about his own series.
The next two volume books—19 and 20—will cover the rest of the anime’s fourth season, so I’m looking forward to hitting the volume books that the anime hadn’t gotten around to yet. Thanks for reading my manga reviews, everyone! Let’s keep it reading!