My Hero Academia, Vol. 19

僕のヒーローアカデミア [Boku no Hero Academia] #19

by Kohei Horikoshi

学校っぽいと言えば文化祭!! 最近、敵事件が続いてたからさ、ウチらの出し物で盛り上げてこうよ！ 正直、ウチが役に立てるか不安だけど、ロックにキメてくよ！ “Plus Ultra”!!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Comics, Superheroes, Shonen

192 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2018

About the author

HORIKOSHI Kouhei
Name (in native language): 堀越耕平
Associated Names:
Kouhei Horikoshi

Born 1986 in the prefecture Aichi, Horikoshi first attracted attention in the second half of 2006 when he entered Shueisha's 72th Tezuka Award for Newcomers with his one shot "Nukegara" and made it to the final six, where he gained himself an "Honorable Mention".
Various short stories in Shueisha's Akamaru JUMP followed over the years until he published his one shot "Oumagadoki Doubutsuen" in issue #2/2010 of Weekly Shounen JUMP.

Kouhei Horikoshi is a graduate of Nagoya University of Arts. He was previously an assistant to TANAKA Yasuki.

Zodiac: Scorpio

Pixiv: 堀越

Reviews

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bakugo on drums? HELLOOOO

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Después de lo absurdamente bueno (y corto) que fue el arco de Overhaul (todavía no supero la cruel venganza de Shigaraki)... lo que venía no iba a estar a la altura pero igual se disfruta.

[Alexis U · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to assume this volume covers the school festival + Gentle's arc. I have a few things to say about Gentle and La Brava and the nature of their relationship so I'm going to insert it here under a spoiler tag just in case I'm a little off on where the chapters line up.

So I am always very anxious about seeing an older man and a seemingly tiny girl together. Yes, I know La Brava is technically 20 years old or so. No, this doesn't matter because she's literally depicted as a small child-- you can't even tell the difference between her in middle school and her in current day, aside from the change in hairstyle. La Brava has a clearly romantic interest in Gentle that is more akin to obsession-- she sees him on the internet and "hacks" his address, turning up on his front door to profess her love. Now, this could have been very very bad, but as their relationship went on, I was surprised and impressed. Gentle, true to his name, shows La Brava nothing but respect and kindness. He takes her in as his new accomplice and praises her technological skill (which actually has nothing to do with her quirk), but is fiercely protective of her and does not allow her to get involved (to any meaningful, traceable extent) in his "crimes." He honors her feelings for him as valid and important, but does not reciprocate in a way that could be perceived as inappropriate. He clearly loves her, but in more of a parental or mentor/mentee way, akin to how All Might loves Deku. Her love for him inspires and empowers him (literally) to be better than he is. I thought it was adorable when Gentle lined his eyes to match La Brava's natural dark circles to make them look more like a team. I was extremely wary during this arc because it could have gone so very wrong. The narrative could have excused a lot of behavior because "she's really 20 years old." Instead, it stayed respectful and appropriate, and in doing so it also created a more interesting pairing than I've seen in a while. I hope we see more of Gentle and La Brava.

[Victoria ✮⋆˙ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Binge read today so idk where volumes start and end but I love this series a lot! It never fails to impress me

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zero upvotes?! You'd think this kind of a entertaining pseudo-vigilante guy would have some more viewers, and a few actual fans. At least enough for a positive comment or two. We humans could never so unanimously agree on anything.

This is still my least favourite arc so far. At least it's mercifully short. And still contains a few good character moments.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, I'm not a fan of the Gentle and La Brava arc. I liked the Overhaul arc better. I felt like the characters were deeper. It's still good though

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story arc was a lot cuter than the action-packed and emotional adventures that came right before. Kohei Horikoshi clearly wanted to bring back the academic setting by introducing a new event that would dive deeper in some secondary character's personalities while working on all of their usual banter as a group.

The fun bits are especially present around Midoriya as he further develops his skills with some solo training à la Naruto Uzumaki. I do love seeing the kid grow.

There's also some new villains who are introduced into the game that remind me a lot of Jessie and James from Pokémon. The chemistry between the two characters here can be controversial to some extent but the approach is excellent and allows these villains to be intriguing for who they are.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's what in the story: UA is going to have a School Festival, students of Class-A gathered to decide what they would perform for the Festival to entertain fellow students and visitors, but meanwhile, a villain and his one-woman filming crew are going to play a prank on said Festival in order to get their point across...

After a huge battle, the students are looking after their schoolwork and activities, and a new villain is gunning for the School Festival, for his own reasons, it's an okayish volume, nothing great but it's still entertaining~

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️
Theoretically I would have liked a school festival arc a lot more, but this wasn’t as entertaining as I hoped it would be.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This arc is more a cute team-building exercise based on having fun in a festival event than anything else, but between making a promise to Eri, who has so far had a really tough life and who could really benefit from good people having a good time, and a B-rate villain stirring up some trouble, it’s easy to see the emotional appeal.

Low key, character building, but solid for all that.

[chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

the cover, the CUTEST. i also loved the class’ performance prep

[Sarah Ryder · Rating 4 out of 5]

These dorks are so fun and following them as they prepare for the school festival was a wacky delight! I’m growing so fond of all of these guys and gals (except Mineta, lol) and having a mild spotlight on Jiro was great. Not to mention seeing more of Aoyama and the, er, workings of his sparkly mind definitely added more depth to his so far “just there” character. He does need to learn what stalking is though and refrain from creeping poor Deku and me out so much…

Gentle’s an interesting villain and I’m stoked to see how his and Deku’s fight is going to end! Another great volume!


‼️Content‼️

Language: what the; what the heck; frickin’; sucks; crap; hell; sucks

Violence: injuries and blood (PG-PG-13); fighting with weapons, superpowers, and hand to hand (PG-PG-13)

Sexual: a teen guy is a pervert; a girl’s shirt opens in the front all the way down to her stomach

Other: superheroes/supervillains/superpowers; a guy stares through the window at another sleeping

[Elinor · Rating 5 out of 5]

everyone and their grand-mother : Overhaul arc = best arc, festival stuff is boring
me : yeah Overhaul arc was so good but i also love this school festival stuff so much like look at my precious children being precious and working together in a more relaxed seating than battle but still working together towards the common goal of helping other kids i just love them so much and also Eri-chan must protect

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

EN RESUMEN
Comienza el Festival Cultural.

ASPECTOS POSITIVOS
- Ese giro/sorpresa con Aoyama fue muy adorable y me hizo apreciar su personaje mucho más de lo que ya lo hacía. Aoyama es raro y excéntrico, pero le da a la trama un momento de humor y suspiro luego de todo lo que Overhaul nos dejó. En sí me encantó que este arco les diera una oportunidad a toda la clase de brillar en su propia forma. Todo este volumen confirmo mi amor por todos estos chicos y sus sueños de héroes. Todos tuvieron momentos que me hicieron sonreír como una tonta: Desde Jiro con su pasión por la música, pasando por Bakugo y su manera tan Bakugo de apoyar a los demás, para terminar en Deku y Mirio paseando por la UA con Eri. TODO ADORABLE Y PERFECTO.
- Gentle y La Brava. Con tantos villanos super potentes y serios, MHA andaba necesitando de unos más al estilo Team Rocket. Me encantan sus personalidades y su relación Y SUS DISEÑOS?? ICONIC. Además, por el final del volumen, su pelea con Deku promete mucho más que lo que me imaginaba.
- Seguimos explorando el One For All. El mundo de MHA no tiene un sistema de magia muy específico, pero me gusta como Horikoshi se las ingenia para no hacer de Deku un protagonista muy OP desde el principio. Su cuerpo siempre fue su mayor limitación y de a poco vamos escalando y progresando. Incluso observaciones obvias como la de "usa las piernas y no los brazos" o la de "no uses tu 100% todo el tiempo", están bien presentadas y sirven para hacer crecer más al protagonista.
- La obra de la Clase B se llama "Romeo y Julieta y el prisionero de Azkaban -El regreso del rey-". Nada, eso. Amo que con cada tomo Horikoshi me pruebe que es igual de fanboy que Deku (no me olvido del Phantom Menace de Mirio)

ASPECTOS NEGATIVOS
- FUCK MINETA.
- Es un tomo transitorio. Sirve para plantear relaciones interesantes y alguno que otro forshadowing de cosas por venir y que pueden ser tocadas más adelante, pero no me entregó nada más.

CONCLUSIÓN
El volumen 19 de My Hero Academia introduce de lleno el arco del Festival Cultural, y aunque te da momentos entrañables y le da protagonismo a otros del curso A, falla en entregar algo más relevante. Entretenido, pero se queda un poco corto.

2da lectura: subo el rating de 3.5 a 4. Aprecié este arco del Festival Cultural muchísimo más en esta segunda lectura. Los pequeños detalles que pasé por alto y el tema principal, tan importante, que no tomé en cuenta. El desarrollo de Jiro, el crecimiento de Bakugo (me encanta su escena en la que finalmente decide unirse a la banda), Gentle y La Brava, los paralelismos entre los héroes y los villanos. Este arco es una continúacion temática del arco de Overhaul: no sólo es importante salvar a alguien físicamente, sino que también hay que salvarlo mental y espiritualmente. Es un arco con mucho corazón.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Hero Academia, Vol. 19 continues where the previous tankobon left off and contains the next ten chapters (168–177) of the on-going manga series.

The tankobon a new story arc with the internships end, Class 1-A turn their attention to the next big school event – the U.A. Cultural Festival. As Class-1A decides which to put on a dance presentation, Izuku Midoriya continues his training under Toshinori Yagi.

Meanwhile there is a crime spree happening with Danjuro Tobita as Gentle Criminal, who is a villain with little interest in money or objects of value, instead chasing fame and notoriety through his crimes, which is achieved via video recordings of his criminal acts. Manami Aiba as La Brava is a loyal fan and admirer and records Gentle Criminal’s crimes and posts them online.

Coincidentally, Izuku Midoriya meets them and recognizes them and pleads with them not to interfere with the Cultural Festival, because Eri, the girl they rescued, wanted to go to the festival and because of her upbringing, she has never been or even smile. So, to preserve the Cultural Festival, Midoriya is willing to fight Gentle Criminal to prevent that from happening.

Kohei Horikoshi has written and illustrated this tankobon. Narrative wise, this seems like a rather boring and simplistic plot. However, after the heavy hitting and emotionally draining storyline with Kai Chisaki and his Eight Precepts of Death, this light and quaint storyline is a breath of fresh air, before the next major story arc. Danjuro Tobita as the Gentle Criminal seemed rather lackluster and hopefully the storyline ends in the next tankobon.

All in all, My Hero Academia, Vol. 19 is a good continuation of the series that seems really intriguing and I can't wait to read what happens next.

[Victor The Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Class 1-A students get a chance to have fun as they prepare to perform at their school’s festival, as our latest villain, who is a well dressed internet star with his loli accomplice by his side, plan to intrude on the festivities until Midoriya catches them right beforehand. Our heroes do deserve a chance to relax from classes and facing off villains. A (100%/Outstanding)

[Blake the Book Eater · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really love the low stakes vibe of the School Festival arc and seeing the characters just exist as students and bonding. Easily my favorite part of the series!

[Shadyside Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun book! I love the music theme of the school festival as well as all the twists and turns!

[Megan ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for drummer bakugo

[Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been binge-reading this series and I don't regret it.

[inouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

OVERALL RATING : 5/5
PLOT : 5/5
CHARACTER : 5/5
WRITING : 5/5
WORLD : 5/5

DATE : 6/02/22

MY REVIEW:

“The scars a person has shows just how much they've been through.”
― Kohei Horikoshi, My Hero Academia Series

TRIGGER WARNING: assault, violence/b>

🇬🇧. / 🇺🇸 (& MORE) VERSION :
I love them all so much

[Petros · Rating 1 out of 5]

The vast majority of manga readers don’t read fighting shonen for school festivals. They read them for the fighting. When there is no fighting, or when there is no tension in the fighting, they look for something else. And that something else was Jujutsu Kaisen which began being published around this point. The only thing MHA had to show in terms of action was a minor villain named Gentle trying to ruin some school concert. Despite being a sympathetic antihero with a sad past, he was simply not part of an interesting event. He just wanted to film himself being a party pooper. Big deal. Why would anyone read this instead of Gojo doing epic shit in Jujutsu Kaisen? Oh, and needless to say, Deku bumped onto him, as he does with any other important character in the series, and it’s why nobody else is ever important to the plot.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gentle is a refreshing villain for he is not trying to kill anyone and he is not trying to take over the world and his Quirk reminds me a lot of one piece meaning that is something you would think would be useless but no Gentle proves that his quick is actually pretty useful and can give anyone some trouble especially how smart Gentle is proving to be. Also I love that this arc so far is trying to be more relaxed as so far it is not that heavy in terms of emotion but still nice villain and I can't wait to see what happens next.

[Adri · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 Stars

This volume was so much fun! Definitely a much needed break after the last super intense arc. It was nice to see these familiar characters in a different, more everyday context and to see how they lend their quirks to the success of the school festival! At the same time, you still see Deku trying to develop his quirk and we also have a high-octane cliffhanger ending as more villains pose to strike. So even though it's a nice diversion, this volume still manages to advance the series.

[Etienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cover had me worried a lot, but overall it was good. A more fun/light/school based volume but entertaining anyway. I would have like the arc to be completely done into one volume, it seem it will stretch into the next one... I just hope it won't go for too long, because even if I like it, I much prefer the more «dark/serious/more adult/less young», but it was good to see the cast more relax and just enjoy being teenagers. Good, but definitely not one of my favorite!

[Meghan P · Rating 3 out of 5]

tbh Gentle Criminal and Love Lover are really, really lame villains compared to literally any other villain. And this guy gets his own arc? Lame. Also, a school festival is so cliche I just instantly became bored with the idea. I hope this doesn't mean BNHA will start to decline, it's one of my favorite series right now!

[Illy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume was super fun! We haven’t seen everyone like this in a long time. Also that little cliffhanger/plot twist with Aoyama was really cute. That and I like the new villains we see - never seen anything like that before.

Also I just live the pink color of the volume, random but I do.

Plus, Bakugo as a drummer? I am quivering. 😍

[ν1ятυα · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the lack of action, it was a nice change of pace from the high speed action that I've grown used to seeing in the series. It felt good to see thing slow down and to see everyone having a good time after all they've been through.

[Claudia ✨ (_Skyream) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this volume a lot. I can not wait to have this volume physically.

[Mavis Ros · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favourite. So far.