My Hero Academia Volume 19: “School Festival” (Chapters 168 through 177) 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 6, 2020, I started reading My Hero Academia’s Volume 19 and finished the volume on August 7, 2020. Based on the cover page of My Hero Academia’s Volume 19, it was clear that the next arc was aiming for a light-hearted tone. After the darkness that shrouded the “Overhaul Arc” and the huge fallout that befell all the characters involved, the bright and fun “School Festival Arc” was much-needed.
Although this volume picked up where the previous volume left off with Yuga Aoyama stalking Midoriya outside his window, the beginning chapters quickly dissolved the creepiness by revealing this was Aoyama’s heartfelt way of bonding with Midoriya. Aoyama felt they had something in common: their bodies weren’t equipped to handle their Quirks. I found this an effective way to give Aoyama the spotlight for a change.
In addition, the other side-characters from Class 1-A were given chances to shine throughout this arc, as they had useful hobbies and skills—like Ashido’s dance moves, Bakugo’s unexpected skill on the drums, and Tokoyami’s natural ability to play the guitar—that helped with their band / dance squad concert for the School Festival.
The most prominent character featured in this arc is Kyoka Jiro, where her love for music is challenged and explored. Jiro believes her love for music isn’t really practical when it comes to being a hero, but most of her classmates—Kaminari specifically—point out being able to make someone smile with her music is indeed a heroic act. For you musicians out there reading this, you are all heroes in your own way!
The concept of being a hero who makes people smile is emphasized further when Eri returns, revealing she doesn’t know how to smile due to the mental and physical abuse Overhaul inflicted on her. How devastating! Once Togata and Midoriya learn about this tragedy, the stakes of the School Festival are risen higher. They believe Eri needs to smile for her to be truly saved, and having her attend this school event is the best opportunity for them to do so.
OH MY HERO!
As the risen stakes are established, a new villain named Gentle Criminal appears on the scene. He is a low-level criminal who records his villainous acts alongside his sidekick La Brava in the hopes of obtaining fame and fortune. As a result of this short-sighted goal and his videos not getting viral hits, Gentle has decided to infiltrate U.A. High for his next video. Everything starts falling into place—for the students and Gentle Criminal—as the chapters draw closer to the School Festival.
Eri’s visit to U.A. High School was also a nice break from the School Festival preparation, giving her—and us readers—the chance to meet up with other fan-favorite characters from the previous arcs, who are also preparing for the grand school event. In the story, Eri visited with Mirio Togata to ease her into the School Festival. It’s always a pleasure to hang out with Mei Hatsume—the obsessive support item girl from the Support Course.
Mei Hatsume returns to provide Midoriya with new air force gauntlets that will help him perform long-range attacks, something he wasn’t able to do—but needed to—against Overhaul in the previous volume. Throughout this volume and in-between dance practices, Midoriya was also training with All Might to perfect his new long-range attack.
While most of Volume 19: “School Festival” lacked action, the volume’s ending provided explosive action when Deku and Gentle Criminal faced off against each other. I found how Horikoshi structured the build-up to this tense confrontation incredibly fascinating, as he had both Deku and Gentle Criminal slowly come to the realize that they are obstacles in their path. I will always appreciate Kohei Horikoshi’s artwork and his commitment to making this series a success for himself and his readers.
Gentle Criminal and La Brava aren’t the evilest or strongest villains introduced so far—in fact, I would argue they are the most sympathetic ones yet—but they represent what’s truly at stake if they succeed in shutting down the School Festival, putting them at immediate odds with Deku. The cat-and-mouse sequence was interesting and intense with Deku’s new long-range attack and Gentle’s Elasticity Quirk, effectively making the beginning of their battle quite entertaining.
Overall, the pacing did slow down in this volume compared to the previous ones, but the slowdown was needed to provide fun character interactions and a break from the dark tone everyone experienced in the “Overhaul Arc”. The cliffhanger hinted that the battle between Gentle Criminal and Deku was only getting started when La Brava revealed she needed to use her unknown Quirk to change the tides. I’m looking forward to reading Volume 20: “School Festival Start!” and seeing what happens beyond the anime after that. Let’s keep it reading, everyone! Plus Ultra!