My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is the under-rated and more cynical version of Kohei Horikoshi’s My Hero Academia. The spinoff series explores everything that a lighthearted Shonen like MHA could never. It dares to go into the depths of the hero society that the original series can’t.
This is why Vigilantes has a dedicated fanbase, who recognize that the manga is more realistic and enjoy its grave sense of foreboding. It does not have a perfect goody-two-shoes hero, but that is the exact charm that attracts readers.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes explores what Kohei Horikoshi’s MHA can’t
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes came into being due to the enthusiasm of Tetsuya Sato, the editor of MHA. He conceived the idea and convinced Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court to create the spinoff manga. In the Naples Comicon 2019, the trio was interviewed by MangaForever, where they revealed some details about Vigilantes.
In the interview, Hideyuki Furuhashi pointed out the different side of the spinoff series as compared to the original manga. The author pointed out that while the idea of a hero is the same in both works, it changes a bit depending on the target.
My Hero Academia is a shōnen, a genre with a well defined structure and tropes where, to take as an example, the protagonist always need to be a good guy. However, in Vigilantes, we can explore the “dark side” of the characters, we can make them do mistakes and the protagonist doesn’t need to always shine as in the traditional shōnen way and this “darkness” can make them emphasise the “light” of the former.
-Hideyuki Furuhashi
While My Hero Academia focuses on aspiring heroes who attend a reputed academy to meet their goals, Vigilantes explores those less fortunate individuals who do the same work but outside the legal system. Deku can never be the imperfect character because he is, after all, a Shonen hero, but the protagonist of Vigilantes portrays the darkness that resides inside every individual.
My Hero Academia and Vigilantes are just two sides of the same coin
In My Hero Academia, Kohei Horikoshi hinted at the dark side of the heroes. But in order to go all out against the villains, that side could never be properly explored. Focusing too much on the fallacy of the hero system would have never turned out well for a Shonen audience.
However, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is not tied down by the same rules and as such does not back down from portraying reality at its finest. MHA offers a clear distinction between the big bad villains and the supposedly just heroes. But Vigilantes dares to explore the gray areas of heroism. Characters in it are forced to make choices that are borderline illegal or straight up going behind the law.
Finally, Koichi is a more unfortunate version of Deku who has way less to work with. He did not have nearly as much luck as Deku. Fans often feel that his power-ups are more logical and do not occur mid-battle driven by adrenaline. Koichi does everything in his power to help people without sitting and waiting for a knight in shining armor.
The My Hero Academia and My Hero Academia: Vigilantes manga are available to read on Viz Media. MHA anime is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
