I Am a Hero

Insecure 35-year-old Hideo Suzuki is forced to work as a mangaka's assistant when his own series fails due to low sales. As he struggles through a mundane life plagued by hallucinations, he comes to realize that his relationship with his girlfriend isn't that great, suspecting that she may be cheating on him with her ex-boyfriend. After confronting her about the possible affair, however, Hideo feels bad about his inquisition and decides to visit her house to apologize.

But the world as he knows is about to be overturned. At first, not much seems to have changed, but he soon realizes that society has become a living nightmare, as the horrifying reality of what is taking place around him finally begins to sink in.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

I Am a Hero was nominated for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Manga Taisho Award (2010, 2011, and 2012) and is the winner of the 58th Shogakukan Manga Award (2013) in the general manga category. As of November 30, 2015, the series has sold 4 million copies.

The series has been published in English by Dark Horse in omnibus format since April 26, 2016; in Spanish by Norma Editorial since May 24, 2013; and will be published in Argentina by Editorial IVREA in the second semester of 2016. It has also been published in Italy, France, Mexico, Germany, and Indonesia by different companies.

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Spin-off:	I Am a Hero in Osaka, I Am a Hero in Ibaraki, I Am a Hero in Nagasaki
Other:	I Am a Hero Koushiki Comic Anthology: 8 Tales of the ZQN

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Characters

Suzuki, Hideo

Main

Hayakari, Hiromi

Main

Oda, Tsugumi

Supporting

Kurusu

Supporting

Nakata, Korori

Supporting

Barcelona Zombie

Supporting

Ezaki, Takashi

Supporting

Yajima

Supporting

The Naked Emperor

Supporting

Asada

Supporting

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May 7, 2017

VAPOR_KNIGHTS_

Not Recommended

Spoiler

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***

When I started reading this manga, I had fairly high expectations going off what I'd heard from people and the other reviews here. Little did I know, the other reviews were written before the manga was completed. I didn't even realize that the manga was completed myself until I got to the end. if that last chapter hadn't been uploaded and I was under the impression that the manga still had many more chapters to go, I would have easily given this a 9, or maybe even a 10. I loved this manga.

Unfortunately, it was just too good to be true.

This manga ... was exactly what I was looking for. It had very real characters who you could empathize with, a compelling story that always had you wondering what was around the corner, and the author even took a very interesting turn regarding the origin and motive of the zombie virus that I was eager to learn more about. I couldn't stop reading, and before I knew it, I had reached the 'end'. If you can even call that an 'ending'.

I'm just going to say first off that I don't know the circumstances behind this ending, whether the publisher decided to axe the manga, or they forced the writer to reach an ending as quickly as possible at the expense of a real conclusion. Perhaps the author decided that he did not care about his work anymore, and tried his hardest to sabotage all that he had built. Disregarding the reasoning, the truth is in the paper: THIS ENDING ANSWERS NOTHING, GOES NOWHERE, AND SATISFIES NO ONE.

Right after the final climax (i had no idea that it was the final climax, mind you), suddenly the threat is completely gone JUST BECAUSE, the hero decides "oh well!" and just goes off. All of the questions that you had, all of the big mysteries that were just starting to reach clarity, all the amazing events and concepts that the author was building up to reach some spectacular culmination... gets completely tossed out the window as if it never mattered in the first place. The ending reads like a slap in the face, as if the author is laughing at the foolish reader who wasted their time reading all 264 chapters just to get trolled.

You become attached to these characters and intrigued by the plot, all for nothing.

One of the most ironic parts of this manga is found in one character's lines. One of the characters introduced towards the end of the story is a fan of the MC's manga (the MC is an author of an obscure, unpopular manga before the zombie apocalypse). In reference to the MC, the aforementioned character comments on how "it's so sad for an author to be forced to end his manga in a way that he wouldn't have wanted".

Are you serious? it's almost as if the author knew that his manga was going to have a garbage ending. I CANNOT possibly believe that this author thought this was a good or even satisfactory ending.

To conclude, I want to remind you that this really was a great story before the sudden end. While I won't tell you not to read it, Just remember this warning and expect to have almost no questions answered.

Thanks for reading!

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Mar 17, 2018

cerwisc

Recommended

I didn't really like this. This is not a manga for people like me, who value meaning, ambition, purpose, ya get it. However, even I can recognize that this manga is amazing. It is the scariest manga that I've ever read, it beats out the "disturbing" scary of Junjo Ito, the "gory" scary of your stereotypical apocalypse survival horror manga, and the "existential crisis" scary of psychological horror, it comes close to jumpscare shock. Why?

Because everything is so goddam pointless. I believe "I Am a Hero" is actually one of the most realistic tellings of an survival horror story. The realism is precisely what gets ...

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May 27, 2017

Coppy

Recommended

I'm gonna let this would-be masterpiece pop my first review cherry.

TL;DR: Imagine yourself chewing a fresh piece of gum. First couple of chews were all hard and boring. But as its flavour starts to release, it motivates you to want more. This continues to build up and up. Until when you've finally chewed and moisturised it enough to have that pleasant squishy feel with its flavour at its prime. Absolute Bliss. But wait. Right now, you are getting told to stop and spit it out. A mix of disappointment, dissatisfaction and perhaps anger, right? That's my experience with I Am a Hero. Dissatisfaction and disappointment ...

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Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 112 Discussion Zhou - May 20, 2013	4 replies	by Phaetons_Folly »» Feb 19, 3:19 PM
Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 264 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) hellogarry - Feb 27, 2017	118 replies	by brigcam »» Jan 8, 1:16 PM
I Am a Hero Chapter 265 / Epilogue Discussion Thread TheMangaManiac - Dec 12, 2021	13 replies	by TheMangaManiac »» Dec 31, 2022 3:37 PM
Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 143 Discussion Zhou - Aug 31, 2013	30 replies	by SensualconMenta »» Dec 7, 2022 11:40 AM
Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 182 Discussion Stark700 - Jul 24, 2015	19 replies	by Kenji_3 »» Sep 1, 2022 5:38 AM

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