I Am a Hero

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Japanese: アイアムアヒーロー

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 22

Chapters: 264

Status: Finished

Published: Apr 20, 2009 to Feb 27, 2017

Genres: Award Winning, Drama, Horror

Themes: Gore, Psychological

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Spirits

Authors: Hanazawa, Kengo (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.66¹ (scored by 32,277 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1915²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #133

Members: 105,889

Favorites: 2,455

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7.66

Ranked #1915Popularity #133Members 105,889

MangaBig Comic SpiritsHanazawa, Kengo (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /22

Chapters: /264

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Synopsis

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 is not 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 was published in English by Dark Horse as 2-in-1 omnibus volumes from April 26, 2016 to October 23, 2019; 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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Characters

Suzuki, Hideo

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Oda, Tsugumi

Supporting

Kurusu

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Nakata, Korori

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Barcelona Zombie

Supporting

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Ezaki, Takashi

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Auntie

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The Naked Emperor

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Reviews

Jul 11, 2024

yeast00

Recommended

I am a hero is an amazing manga. It follows thirty-five year Hideo Suzuki who constantly feels as if he is being sidelined within his own life, and all he craves is to be the main character, a hero, of just himself.

The story is extremely character driven and personally I think a slow-burn. It doesn't have awesome fights with interesting tactics, it's just a guy who was lucky enough to carry a gun the day the world ended and him figuring out what to do from there. The art isn't sub-par but it certainly isn't amazing either. It never takes away from the story, moreover ... the panelling is one of the best experiences I had while reading and elevates the way you read and take in the world so much. Plot developments are interesting and keep you on your toes throughout the whole read and are paced relatively well barely feeling boring or like you've been stuck dragging on the same story beats over and over. (beside what some people may say about the beginning, that I personally disagree with.)

The characters feel real, human and like they actually exist. I mean the main character is just some loser, it can't get any more real than that. It can switch to other characters views with relative ease and show what's happening within the world and how it's changed the daily life for the remaining survivors. Though sometimes these change of perspectives can be meaningless, they are still very interesting. The horror is also done very well and simply. The horror is basically just the fact you're in a zombie apocalypse and everything is going to shit, thus it feels real. The actual horror elements are there, especially with the typical seinen overuse of weird and bizarre gore but overall it's practically just the realness of it all.

The manga is not without it's faults obviously. I've heard people say things about not liking the art style, though I think that doesn't matter too much, especially when the panelling is so great. I feel like there are many missed opportunities within plot points however. For example Hideo has some form of schizophrenia and it vastly improves the horror aspect in the beginning but it disappears soon after for a large quantity of the manga and I feel as if it could've added some type of physiological horror aspect and given a different interesting, atmosphere. Hideo effectively becomes a kingdom with an entire army by being one of the very few with a gun within this apocalypse, but him going from what he considers a 'side character' to a 'main character' are rarely explored despite him saying so much about what he wishes in the beginning. He could've been someone who goes from a loser to stuck up, entitled but ultimately realizing that's not going to help him survive, or maybe he'd never realize. Nonetheless, I just wish more was done with those plot points a bit.

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Dec 14, 2021

Limitlesshex

Mixed Feelings

Informative

I've been reading manga for more than 15 years now and never write reviews, even for absolutely terrible or fantastic manga. I'm making an exception here due to how long this manga is, and how great it is throughout 90% of it, but also how the ending impacted the story and overall quality.

This is less of a review and more of a warning to any would-be reader. The ending is objectively bad--it's not bad in a 'oh it's up in the air how a person interprets it kind of bad'-- it's bad in a man who calls his wife by his ex's name ...

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May 11, 2024

Stadtfeldi

Not Recommended

This was one of the most exhausting and unrewarding reads I have ever sat through. I really can't recommend I Am a Hero to anybody, even those who are okay with nothing but running from and killing zombies. With all due respect to the author, he had a really strong concept to start with and most of the characters were actually interesting, but really unfortunate pacing issues and out-of-touch artistic philosophy really hinders the series. Not to mention the plot that gets major traction only to land absolutely nowhere. You can only look at a double-spreader of a city landscape with zombies roaming around so ... many times before getting absolutely sick of it.

The only saving grace of this series, to me, is the art at least being consistently good... until the last volumes. Quite a few of the pages were clearly rushed and borderline unfinished or straight up anatomically incorrect near the end, but with how sour the ending already is for every other reason imaginable, I didn't even find myself caring. If you want a straightforward gory survival story with frequent cool, creepy, and/or pretty illustrations, then I guess I Am a Hero is an *okay* choice. But only okay. The pacing still makes even that aspect diminish substantially by the halfway point.

Many of the supporting characters were potent, yes, but way too many of them were completely dropped out of nowhere. Because Suzuki himself takes a backseat in the latter third of the plot, this feels reeeeally terrible sometimes. On top of the story about the zombies itself just... literally not being resolved at all, I cannot name a series I've read that's left me with larger dissatisfaction. It's almost as if the author imploded everything on purpose because he grew to hate what he made for some reason.

There is almost nothing to take away when finishing the read. I've read a few series that are loose-ended and/or aren't obvious with what exactly they stand for at the end (Blame! is the most obvious one that comes to mind), but I Am a Hero is anything but either of those things. The author somehow wrapped up everything with a clear ending while also not delivering on any of the previous setups at all. I do not feel there was anything to be gleamed from here at all. The series ends up not respecting itself, and at the end it doesn't bother to give the reader what they might've been hoping to stumble upon.

If you love this manga yourself, all the more power to you. I don't think it takes away from you as an enjoyer or critic of the medium. I simply cannot, in good will, give this the thumbs up to any prospecting people at all, and I am kind of appalled that something like this is even remotely close to an 8 in public score.

Edit: I'm re-uploading my review after reading some positive ones from across the web. I am even more appalled. This series was not scary at all. The scariest part was when Suzuki was having schizophrenic delusions in the first chapter, which almost never pop up in the story ever again afterwards. I would never call this a horror manga because of it. Also, "realism" is not a good basis for how well-written a series is. I thought we got over this as a collective people a few years ago. If anything, attempting realism almost always comes across as a superficial attempt to buff up how "mature" the series feels, but this manga is not even remotely realistic even outside of the zombie stuff, with the exception of a very small handful of characters. I cannot believe what I have read.

0/10 for a thoughtful read. 4/10 for a casual read if you just want to kill a lot of time with zombies.

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Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 264 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) hellogarry - Feb 27, 2017	126 replies	by Ackackack »» May 2, 1:29 AM
Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 228 Discussion AcceleratorAngel - Jun 23, 2016	10 replies	by Ricardoricki »» Mar 17, 8:44 AM
Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 210 Discussion Stark700 - May 13, 2016	8 replies	by Ricardoricki »» Mar 17, 7:51 AM
Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 207 Discussion Stark700 - May 10, 2016	12 replies	by Ricardoricki »» Mar 17, 7:44 AM
Poll: I Am a Hero Chapter 1 Discussion Lamii - Oct 27, 2011	17 replies	by Ani_sama423 »» Mar 16, 10:24 AM

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