The Japanese in general, and manga in particular, did not wait My Hero Academia to stage superheroes. They even have their own superheroes with the super feltthese television series popularized in France by Bioman. Moreover, one of the first of its kind, Battle Fever J, in 1979, was born from the collaboration between the production company Toei and the house of ideas Marvel. But recently, the manga has mainly reappropriated American superheroes, Superman and Batman, with One-Punch Man and his super strong but charismatic anti-hero, or, so, My Hero Academia.
The phenomenon MHA is such that, if the first two films Two Heroes and Heroes Rising had the right to event screenings at the cinema, the third, World Heroes’ Mission, benefited from a real national release on Wednesday by CGR Events and Crunchyroll, on a circuit of 250 copies. With the hope of success Demon Slayer ?
The best-selling manga in France (after “One Piece”)
Created by Kôhei Horikoshi in 2014, the manga My Hero Academia is published in the Weekly Shōnen Jumpthe magazine of dragonball, One Piece and naruto. The author of the latter, Masashi Kishimoto, even saw him as his successor. Note that volume 1 of naruto is still the best-selling manga in France, with 275,000 copies sold in 2021, and that Kana is preparing a new edition for
March 2022. Published for five years by Ki-oon in France, My Hero Academia quickly established itself as a market leader, second only to the behemoth One Piecewith 2.7 million sales last year alone, and 6 million in all, for the 30 volumes already released.
My Hero Academia of course responds to the codes of shônen manga, and more precisely to the famous
“nekketsu”, with the young Izuku who is an absolute fan of superheroes and who is ready to do anything to join the Hero Academia and thus follow in the footsteps of his idol, All Might. Problem: he has no power. Indeed, in the world of MHA, 80% of the population has a superpower, also called “Alter”, but not the rest. A small X-Men side and more broadly comics that we find even in powers, costumes, etc. It is enough to see All Might, homage to Superman as can be The Protector in The Boys.
On the power of great stories
From this promise, the mangaka Kôhei Horikoshi deploys a long-term story, worthy of the greatest comic book and manga series, with unforgettable super-villains, increasingly daunting fights, but also always humor and humanity. As the co-founder of Ki-oon editions, Ahmed Agne, remarked at the manga’s launch: ” naruto dreamed of becoming the greatest of ninjas, Harry Potter a great magician, Luke Skywalker a powerful Jedi… anything but simple. As in any initiatory story, it is the journey to reach the initial objective and the relationships between the different characters that make the salt of the narration. »
After the Paranormal Liberation War, one of the great pieces of the manga, My Hero Academia has just entered its final act and the final fight against One For All. The animated series, produced by the BONES studio (Fullmetal Alchemist) and very faithful to the paper work, is not there yet, and we will have to wait for season 6 or 7. The film World Heroes’ Mission can be taken apart by fans, even if it fits into the arc of the Endeavor agency, around volume 25 of the manga and season 5 of the anime. The others may be lost, even if the pitch remains classic and accessible: Izuku and his friends must face the organization Humarise and its leader Flect Turn who want to eradicate the Quirks. On screen, the result is as much about the X-Men as it is about Dragon Ball Z.