Volume: 4 (of 9+)
Creator: Kohei Horikoshi
Format: Unflipped
Original Publisher: SHUEISHA
US Publisher: VIZ
Release Date: 5/3/16
Pages: 192
ISBN: 1421585111
MSRP: $9.99
Genre: Shonen Jump
Rated: T (For Teen)
Description: What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?
The U.A. High sports festival is a chance for the budding heroes to show their stuff and find a superhero mentor. The students have already struggled through a grueling preliminary round, but now they have to team up to prove they’re capable of moving on to the next stage. The whole country is watching, and so are the shadowy forces that attacked the academy…
Contains Numbers 27-35:
- No. 27: Earth-Shatteringly Fateful Negotiations
- No. 28: Strats, Strats, Strats
- No. 29: Unaware
- No. 30: Cavalry-Match Finale
- No. 31: The Boy Born with Everything
- No. 32: Smile, Prince of Nonsense Land
- No. 33: Shinso's Situation
- No. 34: Victory or Defeat
- No. 35: Battle On, Challengers!
Review:
Cover: This cover features a red background with a good deal amount of characters featured in this volume. Not going to list them all this time, seeing there is about 10 of them present. The series title is across the top in blue lettering. The Volume number is on the upper left corner, with it making an appearance as if it was the issue number of an American comic. Uraraka is the character featured with the volume number this time.
The spine from top-to-bottom contains the Shonen Jump brand logo, the series title, the volume number, the mangaka, the image of Uraraka taken from the volume number on the front cover, and the VIZ company logo.
The back cover continues the same trends as the previous volumes. Using Speech bubbles and comic panels with different colored overlays to portray the imaging. The volume summary is on the top left half of the cover. An image of Midoriya, taken from the front cover follows. On the right side we have an add for the hero Mic for his radio show. The background is very 70s disco stylized.
As a whole the front cover was still amazingly well put together. I still however have a problem with the back cover. Using so many colors and them all being clashing colors, really kills it for me. I love the fake advertisement, just the colors are seriously mind boggling and really should have been more thought out before they were added.
Artwork: Moving past the dramatic scenes that took place over the first three volumes, as we established characters and dealt with the aftermath of certain events, this volume dives right back into the beefy heart of the shonen genre. There are tons of action sequences rampant throughout the entire volume, and not a single panel falls short where it comes to the events of the rest of the School Festival Tournament. There are some comedic moments, but the art style stays consistent and true the entire focus of this volume.
Translation: Characters, cultural references, attacks, locations, are left intact. The usual sound effects changed for the American Readers have been changed though.
Extras: Usual, tons of Character Profiles. And we got another Assistance Introduction page. I think all of these are great. I love hearing about characters and where they originated from and wish more mangakas did this with their series.
Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): With the first round over of the School Festival, we move right into the next, a Free-For-All Cavalry match putting teams of four up against each other to see who can steal the most points back from each other. The winning teams with the most points gets to advance to the next round. Everyone of course sets their sites on Midoriya, who gained a massive 10,000,000 points from winning the first round, especially Todoroki and Bakugo. In the end however, all three teams with Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo do advance to the next round.
The Third round takes place over the course of the remainder of the volume. This deals with one-on-one fights where someone needs to either be knocked out of the arena, knocked unconscious, or gives up. A few of the fighters give up right away, letting other heroes next in line to fight instead.
First round is Midoriya vs. Shinso. Shinso is a fairly new character who's power is that when someone speaks, he can instantly brainwash them into doing anything he wants. Midoriya is hit with the attack and as he is about to walk out of the arena by being controlled, Midoriya manages to break free by using his own power by pushing it through a single finger and knocking him free of the spell. Midoriya ends up winning the match.
Next up is Todoroki vs. Sero, another fast round with Todoroki pretty much winning within a few short panels.
This basically brings us to a montage of several fights as Uraraka leaves to go meditate before her match with Bakugo. Midoriya and Ida check on her. Midoriya offers advice on Bakugo to help her win the match, but she chooses to do it alone and not rely on others. She wants to become just as strong as everyone else. The volume ends with Bakugo and Uraraka stepping into the arena, the last fight of the first round.
This was a pretty entertaining read, my only problem was the fact that when we got to the third round we were rushed through almost every single fight. Most shonen series drag out these tournaments, and although its nice for a change to skip ahead (I honestly don't care for the whole tournament concept in most Shonen series), I actually really wanted to see some of these fights play out. It really was a bummer to be honest with the pacing; there could have been so much more here and to be honest its the first time this series actually let me down a bit.
The Third round takes place over the course of the remainder of the volume. This deals with one-on-one fights where someone needs to either be knocked out of the arena, knocked unconscious, or gives up. A few of the fighters give up right away, letting other heroes next in line to fight instead.
First round is Midoriya vs. Shinso. Shinso is a fairly new character who's power is that when someone speaks, he can instantly brainwash them into doing anything he wants. Midoriya is hit with the attack and as he is about to walk out of the arena by being controlled, Midoriya manages to break free by using his own power by pushing it through a single finger and knocking him free of the spell. Midoriya ends up winning the match.
Next up is Todoroki vs. Sero, another fast round with Todoroki pretty much winning within a few short panels.
This basically brings us to a montage of several fights as Uraraka leaves to go meditate before her match with Bakugo. Midoriya and Ida check on her. Midoriya offers advice on Bakugo to help her win the match, but she chooses to do it alone and not rely on others. She wants to become just as strong as everyone else. The volume ends with Bakugo and Uraraka stepping into the arena, the last fight of the first round.
This was a pretty entertaining read, my only problem was the fact that when we got to the third round we were rushed through almost every single fight. Most shonen series drag out these tournaments, and although its nice for a change to skip ahead (I honestly don't care for the whole tournament concept in most Shonen series), I actually really wanted to see some of these fights play out. It really was a bummer to be honest with the pacing; there could have been so much more here and to be honest its the first time this series actually let me down a bit.
- Language: No
- Violence: Yes
- Nudity: No
- Sexual Situations: No
Score:
- Cover: 6/10
- Artwork: 8/10
- Translation: 7/10
- Extras: 8/10
- Story: 6/10
Overall Rating: 7/10
Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles
Original Review Date: 8/2/16
Where Purchased: Barnes and Nobles
Original Review Date: 8/2/16
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