I Am a Hero Omnibus, Volume 5

I am a Hero Omnibus #5

by Kengo Hanazawa

With Japan's zombie outbreak in full swing, manga maestro Kengo Hanazawa shows readers how the monstrous ZQN creatures begin to take over Taiwan before taking us back to his main heroes. Our three key survivors must help each other heal up mentally and physically, as Hiromi's mysterious affliction continues to evolve. Hideo and Yabu grow closer as the mysterious Cult of Kurusu spreads across the country. Now a major motion picture, this hit manga series is presented in a deluxe omnibus format, collecting two of the original Japanese volumes into each Dark Horse edition--to catch you up with manga's strangest zombie apocalypse quicker! - "The greatest zombie manga ever." --Jason Thompson (Manga: The Complete Guide)
- Two volumes in one for $19.99!
- A worldwide best-selling series--finally in English!
- Winner of the esteemed Shogakukan Manga Award and now a feature film!

Genres: Manga, Horror, Comics, Graphic Novels, Zombies, Graphic Novels Comics, Japan

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2018

About the author

Kengo Hanazawa (花沢健吾 Hanazawa Kengo, born January 5, 1974) is a Japanese manga artist known for his seinen works. He won the Topic Award of the 2005 Sense of Gender Awards for Ressentiment and was nominated for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Manga Taisho for I Am a Hero.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series can be infuriatingly slow at times with multiple chapter interludes that have nothing to do with the overall story. I don't care about seeing some random people go through the same thing Hideo did but in Taiwan. I do like the story when it's about Hideo and his group. The last bit is another interlude into a group of shut-ins talking on the internet. It was almost all text and maddenly boring although it did end well once Kurusu showed up. This at least seems like it may tie in to the overall story.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series can be maddeningly slow, like the first two-thirds of this volume wherein our heroes meander around looking for medical supplies, something to eat and drink, and somewhere to pee, but somehow the art style keeps me engaged, especially when it swerves into the grotesque. The last third shifts perspectives to some shut-ins communicating via the internet who may be about to discover a new savior of sorts.

[Newly Wardell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm over it.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume jumped around a bit, deviating away from the main plot; however, I didn't mind it. It gave a broader view of the spread of the "zombies," as well as some the actions of groups not associated with Hideo.

I particularly enjoyed a segment which focuses on internet shut ins, and their mutual info sharing over a message board. The slang the poster use, and their tone rang very authentic, while highlighting the absurdity of the interactions.

We also finally get to see the mysterious Lord Kurusu, and i have to say, even though this glimpse is brief I am intrigued!

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m still enjoying this series, but I’m not as enamored of this volume as I have been the others. Part of the reason might be the narratives that bracket Hideo’s. Not that there’s anything wrong with them — the ending one introduces the Cult of Kurusu, which becomes more important in the next volume, apparently — but their inclusion was just such a pacing departure from the previous volumes. But departures can be significant, especially in a longer-running series.

[Watermelon-y]

It just gets better and better.

[Lisa Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I just finished Kengo Hanazawa's I Am a Hero Omnibus, Vol. 5 and, despite the fact that this departures slightly from the previous volumes, I still really enjoyed it.

This is the first omnibus in the series that switched to a new set of characters. It starts off with a girl who I think was our protagonist, Hideo's, girlfriend from the first omnibus. However, we have not seen her in quite a while, so I am not sure. Hideo's girlfriend turned into a zombie early on and Hideo had to... deal with her.

I'm pretty sure the intention of this opening scene was to show how she became a zombie, but I could be totally wrong. My other theory is that it was the girlfriend of the man who shows up at the end of this volume, but I'm not about to request the first couple of volumes from my library just to solve this confusion. Sorry :/

At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about the addition of the new characters, but I have to admit that I really liked the new group we transitioned to at the end. I'm very interested to see how their stories develop as the series continues.

So, what about Hideo, Hiromi, and Yuba? In the previous volume they escaped a very bad situation where Hideo finally stepped up to be the hero he always wanted to be. In this volume, Hideo and Yuba are trying to find a clinic to take Yuba to so they can remove the nail in her head. Hiromi has been infected with the zombie virus (ZQN) for a while now and I find Hideo's determination to take care of her endearing.

Events in this book return to their relatively slow pace, but I actually didn't mind it this time around. I think we were due for things to slow down after all the excitement of the previous book. Also, the scenes we did get developed the characters and their relationship, which I appreciated.

As I mentioned, Hideo has changed a lot. He is more confident and, at one point, decided to risk safety to go look for food. He overcomes his fear of the zombies that could be lurking around and says:

I'll bring us back some food because... I am a man.

The old Hideo never would have done this. And here we get this brilliant scene where Hideo goes into a small grocery store and finds the pregnant employee, now a zombie... with the baby's head sticking out of her. This scene was gruesome and something I've never seen in any type of horror. It was creepy, unsettling, and brilliant!

While I did appreciate this confidence, I have to admit that I kind of missed the crazy version of our hero. My favorite thing in this whole series was seeing Hideo struggle with his mental illness. In this volume, he seemed like a normal guy, if a bit anxious.

This omnibus was good, but I can't say it was great. I rated it 4 out of 5 stars and I do recommend this series. If you like comedic horror, zombies, Japanese culture, or survival horror, then check out Kengo Hanazawa's I Am a Hero!

[ダンカン · Rating 4 out of 5]

I Am A Hero volume 5 takes another turn of events. Although it is meticulous move as how the story progress step-by-step, we get to read two parts that doesn't focus on Hideo Suzuki, Hayakari Hiromi and Yabu Oda - a side story on two Japanese couple on an illicit affair in Taiwan that reveals not only Japan is infected by ZQNs but other parts of Asian countries and we finally get to see Kurusu, the antogonist of the story saving a helpless teenager from the ZQNs. As more reveal, it will be on the next volume itself.

I still love the progress of the story and the flow of it. Kengo Hanazawa still takes his time to reveal his plot one frame at a time and its still good. Time will tell on the next volume whether his story holds well as I have read elsewhere the turn of events of a zombie apocalypse may not be as good as it seems. Still, I did enjoy volume 5 and I am looking forward to the next volume in May.

[Mark Will Never Cry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really do not understand, how the first volume was such a bad experience to read and now it is just getting better and better. I will be honest, I enjoy Hideo, nurse and Hiromi's story more, than the whole other faction, but it is not as if I can just ignore those parts of the story. But it really is getting better and better. I think big part of it is because Hideo is no longer "haha, look how funny he is, because he is such a closed in dude" and is an actual character, even tho he is becoming kinda one-dimensional in the opposite way. We cannot be always winners.
However, the short story in the beginning was kinda interesting and felt like a breath of fresh air, while also talking more about the world.

[Kam-Hung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Divided into three different parts, this omnibus isn't as interesting as the others. The section in Taiwan basically recaps the start of the zombie outbreak while the section on the origin of the Kurusu cult spends a lot of pages showing us, this time in online chat format, the spread of the zombie outbreak. In the main section, Hideo, Yabu and Hiromi continue their escape in the countryside. There's a poignant and reflective scene where a pregnant zombie protects her unborn from Hideo and a comic gruesome image when Yabu, after carefully preparing an injured Hiromi for an operation, begins the procedure with a crowbar.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hideo and his companion search for supplies and a way to remove the nail from Hiromi's head.

The pacing of this series is very different than what it would be if written by an American, and I'm enjoying that. There's a very slow build of information and activities. The portions of this omnibus with Hideo are wonderful as he begins to think about what it means to kill ZQNs (zombies) - is he killing humans?

I didn't particularly like the last portion that introduced the cult of Kurusu (a group of shut-ins who communicate through the internet) and am not looking forward to the next omnibus which apparently is mostly about them. Give me more Hideo!

[David Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am loving this series. It has good action, suspense, and a healthy helping of humor to balance it out. One of my favorite manga series I've read so far. I hope someone makes this into a TV series. There is a movie I plan on watching once I finish but I know it can't possibly do this series justice.

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read both this volume and the next back to back, introduces a new cast of characters and parallel narrative, these two volumes are a big step up from the first four and the build up is starting to pay off. Unfortunately at the time of writing I Am A Hero has become like gold dust to find so hopefully Dark Horse will reprint so I can continue the series!

[Sebastien · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a bit of a let down for me ,there is nes characters not much happen to the main story ,it is still creepy and uncomfortable I didn't vget any satisfaction reading this on and it is making me really think about continuing this serie. We will see with volume 6 .

[Craig Schorling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was much slower than the others but it also had one of the most uncomfortably intense moments of the entire series. I amnot a big fan of the massive blog sections that seem to go on and on but they have been few and far between. I hope that the next volume picks the pace back up.

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still weird. Still harrowing. Still exciting.

[Lou Fillari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Side stories. Why did it have to be side stories?

And the main story. It's all fine.

[Anubhav · Rating 4 out of 5]

That little bit with the peeing was a bit weird.

[R C · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite volumes so far. I really enjoyed the introduction of new characters.

[Jamrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

The series just gets better and better. The way it charts the breakdown in society is just so plausible. A motley cast of anti-heroes. On to #6

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This continues to live up to it's billing as the best zombie manga ever!!

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good!!

[Grg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not being able to find a bathroom during the zombie apocalypse sounds about right.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting interlude that bulks out the world and adds some more outlandish elements that I’m not sure how I feel about

[William Hayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far so good, and the plot continues to move on, avoiding repetition or forced events.

[Shy Kuzonoha · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems that every time I get a new omnibus of I am a Hero, It feels as if I get hooked all over again in it's rich characters. I really enjoy how the writer goes out of his way to give time to even create new character in the Same situation as the main character, it's just from a different perspective. even the zombies themselves tell an interesting story, can't wait for Omnibus #6