Reviews

This manga is a journey not only in following the students in their quest to become heroes, but also in the highs and lows of story telling. BnHA starts out strong. The characters are likeable and engaging. The story has a lot to say and invests as much time in its villains as its heroes, creating a complex world with complex problems. The first about half of the story is the best part of the story. It has decent pacing, engaging content, and a need to know more. The second half is unfortunately not like that. The pacing is a little wonky in places, though it's better as a binge read than a weekly read. There are some really great moments but there is some clutter and speed runs in-between. Yet, the themes presented in the first half persist and so there's still a drive to know more about the characters and story. This kept me reading even during the wonky portions but the payout just evaporated when the time came for it.

One of the more interesting things about Horikoshi's writing is he likes to subvert expectations, but this is also one of his weaknesses. The ending really let me down to the point I'm not going to finish the anime because I have no interest in watching the final arc after reading it. The epilogue was nice but because of the disappointment in the climax of the story, I have trouble enjoying it.

When I first started reading this title, I rated it an 8. When the second half got wonky, I rated it a 7. Now I'm giving it a 6. It's a decent story and the characters are characters that I'll carry with me for years to come, but the ending was just not my bag, but it wasn't technically a "bad ending," just extremely disappointing given what seemed to be the themes of the story. However, some subversions in the epilogue were good and I'm glad for those choices. It's really a mixed bag of an ending to a manga that started out pretty strong and engaging.

If you like standard Jump stories and enjoy epics reads, then I would really recommend checking this title out. Even though I didn't really like the ending, it might work for other people. If anything, this manga is worth it to get to know the cast and think about how things could have turned out instead.