My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 6

ヴィジランテ ―僕のヒーローアカデミアILLEGALS― [Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals] #6

by Kohei Horikoshi, Betten Court (Illustrations), Kohei Horikoshi (Idea)

Not everyone needs a license to fight for justice!

In a superpowered society, there is nothing ordinary about evil anymore. Heroes, trained and licensed to protect and defend the public against supervillains, stand above all the rest. Not everyone can be a hero, however, and there are those who would use their powers to serve the people without legal sanction. But do they fight for justice in the shadows, or for reasons known only to themselves? Whatever they fight for, they are called…vigilantes.

After returning from an eventful trip to Osaka, Koichi starts experimenting more with his Quirk—does he have more potential than he first thought? Detective Tsukauchi continues to investigate the instant villain incidents, quietly enlisting the help of Eraser and even consulting All Might. And now, with Hachisuka out of the picture, the shadowy figure behind the Trigger drug has enlisted a new and even more dangerous agent…

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

200 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2019

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

[kel · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love aizawa so much it's unreal

[rfantasyreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still enjoying this series, mainly for getting so much of Eraser in this volume, as it’s great seeing what he was like as a working pro hero. Although the story at times can feel very erratic, and the story can jump between Kiochi and Popsteps story line without any forewarning, and left me confused often when trying to guess which storyline I was reading. Hopefully in the next volume we get to see more of the other Pro hero’s, as this has been my favourite element of the series so far, and it’s also great seeing Kiochi train and improve his quirk slide and glide.

[♡ Alisa Doe ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's all be honest Aizawa carried this book. Gotta love Aizawa.

[Litwithlove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compared to all of the others that I have read so far, this one was pretty slow and kind of sloppy feeling. But I have endless love for this series, so on to volume 7!

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 6 continues where the previous tankōbon left off and contains the next nine chapters (36–44) of the on-going manga series.

Koichi Haimawari as The Crawler discovers a new ability of his quirk. If he concentrates he can shoot projectiles, like a projection force, from his hand. While excited about an offensive power, he promised Kazuho Haneyama not to use it ever, because he is a vigilante – an illegal, and if caught he could get in serious trouble.

Unfortunately, he was forced to use the power to save Shōta Aizawa as Eraser Head from an octopus/squid hybrid villain. Along with some other minor heroes they managed to subdue the villain. Fortunately for Haimawari, Eraser Head was willing to look away and keep an eye out for Haimawari.

Meanwhile, Nemuri Kayama as 18+ Only Hero: Midnight is helping the police trying to find the source of the new Trigger drug, which is less volatile than the original, but it is ingested orally and make people's quirk run amok. Koichi Haimawari was the intended victim as he was at a mixer at the time and someone spiked his drink with it, because he was catching the eye of a girl that one of the other girls loved. However, it was accidently drunk by others and Haimawari was none the wiser that it could have been him.

The police are also looking into a speed villain that has some resemblance of a retired hero – High-Speed Hero: O'Clock – the police believes that it might be a disciple or relative of him as the villain seems too young to be Speed Hero: O'Clock himself. Unknown to the police, he is known as Hyper Quadfist in China and that he lost his quirk somehow and it is revealed that the speedster goes currently by Knuckleduster.

Hideyuki Furuhashi has written this tankōbon. It is centered mainly on Koichi Haimawari as he found a new extension of his powers – an offensive one. It is an interesting evolution or extension of his powers and he seemed so happy to have an offensive aspect to what he considered a dull and pointless quirk. The reveal of Knuckleduster as the former speedster who lost his quirk is rather interesting as more secrets of his past are revealed. Betten Court illustrated this tankobon and it was rather well done and similar to those of Kohei Horikoshi – the inspiration of the series.

All in all, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 6 is a wonderful continuation to a series that seems intriguing and I cannot wait to read more.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really loving this other side of Aizawa with the whole investigator/pro-hero/not yet a teacher thing. I just also know that it's about to give an in-depth of his backstory and I'm not ready for it....

[Yaiza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se pone interesante!!!!

[Merel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Blake the Book Eater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun adventure! I really love these characters and their place in the world more than the main MHA cast honestly.

[Olivier Pols]

Blij dat midnight in deze serie tijd heeft om te shinen

[Gigi ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

tsukauchi siblings <3

[ChelseaFace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying it a lot more now since we are well into the series. I love our characters progression and growth. I will definitely continue reading. It's a decent story. That vomit scene was chainsaw man level of bad tho..holy moly.

[Gabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

TOMAZO LPM.

Estaría bueno que quien se encargue de hacer la ficha al menos ponga los datos correctos y la portada correcta. Lleva un tiempo en la página de Ivrea.

[Lexine Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Wow. Just as I was beginning to think things had slowed down now that Knuckleduster seems to be out of the picture after his epic story climax at the end of volume 4, leaving Koichi to try and find his own way in volume 5, this volume ramped up the story from 0-100.

The plot thickens yet again. The villains are much more powerful than before, now being bioengineered and making them very dangerous for pro-heroes and vigilantes alike to take on. We slowly learn more about Trigger and how it's not just being injected into people now. It's being distributed in other ways to the general public, and that's where pro-heroes Midnight and Eraser Head come in.

More Aizawa is always a plus. If you know me at all, or have read any of my previous reviews, you'll know that Aizawa (Eraser Head) is one of my favourite characters in the My Hero Academia universe, so to see more of him was amazing. There are two sides of hero work shown in this novel: battles with villains and undercover work. Aizawa takes the forefront with fighting villains, and Koichi - despite his best efforts to avoid the pro-hero as a vigilante - ends up being enlisted by him to help fight a rampaging instant villain.

Koichi's powers have expanded with each novel, and in this one he discovers even more about himself, even if, like usual, it was done by accident. He develops a cool offence move which opens up so much possibility. Although he's expanding the use of his Quirk more and more, and you could definitely see that it's hero-material, he's still an oblivious, naive goof who's adorable to watch stumble about cluelessly.

The other side of the hero work shown is the undercover work, where we see more of the pro-hero Midnight. I never thought much of her when watching the main series' anime because she's not really involved too much besides being one of the teachers at U.A., but she's actually a really cool character when you get to know her. She's genuine and warm, and you can see how her attitude towards people would make her a great teacher. She's also great at undercover work. Her bubbly and lovable personality that comes off as motherly/sisterly at times helps her get into places easily and befriend people. She recruits Pop Step to help her with an undercover mission to find out how Trigger is being distributed, since it's no longer being injected, and we also learn that the brother-sister dynamic between Koichi and Pop Step is not quite as mutual as previously believed.

There are so many relationships highlighted in this volume. We get to see more of All Might and his developing friendship with Tsukauchi. It sheds new light on him, seeing All Might as friend rather than a fatherly figure like we do in the main series is really sweet. In the main series, rarely get to see All Might as anything other than Deku's role model and mentor. Here, we see another side to him, one he keeps hidden from the public in his 'weak' form and only really shows to Tsukauchi. He's clearly lonely, having to be the Number One Hero who cannot reveal anything about his private life. Tsukauchi becomes more than just a helping hand with paperwork. All Might is genuinely excited to have a friend who he can be himself with.

Speaking of Tsukauchi, his relationship with his sister is hilarious. Like typical siblings. I'm beginning to like Makoto more and more. At first, in previous volumes, she just seemed like a nosy busy body who wants to know everyone's business, but she's actually a really smart woman who's very loyal to her friends. She won't even betray the vigilantes to her own brother when he asks for more info on Pop Step specifically, after the events of the department store ruckus.

This volume has a whole cast of new and colourful characters that are really fun to read about. Victims of Trigger alterations that aren't as scary as they look, a couple of no-good doers who are morally grey and befriend Aizawa - albeit grudgingly, new villains, and old faces making a come back. There was a huge plot twist involving a returning character that had my jaw on the floor.

Overall, yet another great volume of the series. I'm desperate to get my hands on volume 7 after the cliffhanger ending of this one.

My Blog

[Sunread26 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chronique complète :
https://sunread26.wordpress.com/2025/...

Extrait :
Comme l’anime de la série a commencé, je me relance un peu dans ma lecture du manga que j’ai laissé en pause… depuis 5 ans (d’après Livraddict). Rien d’étonnant à ce que je ne me souvienne plus de tous les détails (du coup, j’ai aussi relu le tome 5 avant). Cela reste un plaisir de retrouver les personnages, surtout qu’ils continuent d’évoluer et de chercher l’origine de la fameuse drogue.

Celle-ci fait un peu penser aux Brainless, même si c’est totalement différent, les deux transformant leurs victimes en monstre. Dans un sens, je trouve ça un peu dommage que cela soit assez similaire, mais Vigilante arrive tout de même à bien s’en détacher. La drogue ne fusionne pas différent alter, elle amplifie celui-ci, si bien que l’apparence de la victime change drastiquement. Elle continue également d’évoluer, supprimant quelques effets secondaires, notamment la perte de contrôle. Devenue plus facile à rependre, elle est également plus présente, sans pour autant que les forces de l’ordre arrive à cerner le dealer. Une belle manière de relier l’intrigue à la réalité, où il est également compliqué de cerner les dealers (tout simplement, parce qu’on cherche toujours la tête, donc pendant ce temps, les autres continuent leurs business). Dans la série, les dealers semblent être très bien organisés et l’origine de la drogue est découverte. Knuckle Duster est visiblement parti pour le pays d’origine de la drogue, pays où il ne semble pas être un inconnu, mais cela, on le verra dans le prochain tome. Koichi et Pop quant à eux, continuent de préparer la fête, Koichi continuant également son activité de héros de l’ombre. Il continue également de découvrir différentes manières d’utiliser son alter. Rien qui ne lui permet de devenir encore plus puissant, mais cela augmente tout de même ses possibilités, toujours en tant que soutient. Ça serait bien qu’il puisse réellement devenir un héros officiel, en passant une sorte de formation rapide. Même s’il n’arrête pas vraiment les méchants, c’est le cas aussi pour d’autres héros qui utilisent leur alter pour être utiles.

Malgré sa gentillesse, il reste quelqu’un qui four son nez un peu partout, c’est d’ailleurs pour ça qu’il se prend des râclées assez régulièrement. Tout comme Izuku de la série principale, il réagit à l’instinct lorsque quelqu’un est en danger, même s’il s’agit d’un héros professionnel qui pourrait le dénoncer. Aizawa est très présent dans ce tome, il ne paraît pas vraiment plus jeune que dans l’autre série mais bon. La série le met bien en avant et j’apprécie beaucoup cela, elle montre qu’il a vraiment bon fond, même s’il a une tête d’enterrement. Son rôle dans la série est presque dans la comédie, contrairement à la série principale, ça donne donc vraiment une autre facette de sa personnalité. Il en est de même pour les autres héros présents, sauf peut-être All Might qui est juste fidèle à lui-même. En vrai, s’il avait rencontré Koichi, il aurait pu hésiter à lui passer son alter (mais comme Koichi n’aime pas vraiment se battre, c’est là qu’il y aurait eu problème). Par contre, il va falloir m’expliquer pourquoi il a des lunettes de soleil si c’est pour ne jamais les mettre… Pop ne semble pas combattre pour l’instant, il faut dire que c’est encore moins son truc que Koichi. Elle prépare son concert avec beaucoup d’attention. Ses sentiments envers Koichi semblent également assez évidents, mais ça fait un petit moment déjà que c’est le cas. C’est bien d’avoir ses pensées, car elle ne dit pas toujours ce qu’elle pense justement. Son style est vraiment différent quand elle est pop, j’imagine que c’est une manière de se démarquer, mais aussi pour leurrer ceux qui pourraient la chercher. Même si le nombre de personnes qui connaissent leur vraie identité semble aller en grandissant.

[...]

[Lyly ꩜ .ᐟ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Koichi empieza a pulir sus habilidades para dar paso a un quirk potente que ahora no solo sirve para transporte y huida, sino también para la ofensa. Se nota que mientras más indague y pula sus capacidades llegará a ser un héroe bastante poderoso en batalla.

También me gusta los grises existentes en la sociedad a través del personaje de “Kamayan”, ese hombre que terminó adquiriendo un cuerpo que jamás esperó tener, y cómo la sociedad le falla en solucionar las barreras que ahora eso le presenta. Que si bien Tsukauchi le menciona que el Estado puede respaldarlo con un nuevo hogar adaptado, esta solución se queda corta para todo lo que está viviendo. Me hace pensar básicamente en lo que viven las personas con discapacidad en la sociedad de la vida real —especialmente las personas con discapacidad adquirida que tienen que aprender a vivir con un “cuerpo nuevo”— en donde los gobiernos proponen soluciones ambiguas pero que realmente no subsanan las barreras que estas personas atraviesan. Una vez más el gobierno y la sociedad fallándole a las personas, y es cool cómo este manga presenta esas situaciones de manera tan natural y fluida.

Ni hablar ya del discurso políticamente correcto de que los vigilantes inmediatamente deben ser reprendidos por la sociedad, pero se juega con un doble discurso cuando al final del día los héroes terminan recurriendo a estos para pelear sus batallas (como pasó con Aizawa vs el Pulpo-calamar). Al final, aunque lo dicte la ley, los héroes y los villanos saben que la vida no es tan a rajatabla y que la existencia de estas personas tiene sus grises.

Y por último, ¡¿ese plot twist al final?! ¿Es Knukleduster el viejo O'Clock? ¿“Quirk robado”? Quéeeeeee.

[CJ Redding · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been enjoying Koichi's progression with his quirk, but it feels like the story is lacking in character progression for me. Everyone else seems to have a solid character arc but him, which is a shame since he's sort of the main character. He just feels kinda dopey, which would be fine, if we had a deeper understanding of who he was, but I feel very distant from him as a reader.

I'm also disappointed in the exploration of the bioengineered insta villains. One thing that always impressed me about the main series is it's dedication to it's themes about heroism, but in this spin off which has the freedom to explore other factions of the worldbuilding, it's really skimming the potential of the darker aspects of Trigger and how it affects people and their society. I mean, you have these victims who've been kidnapped, experimented on, had their bodies transformed against their will to be more susceptible to this drug, turned rabid upon an unsuspecting public and . . . they're just released back into society like nothing happened? They act like they're barely affected too, which feels cheap to me. I know these people live in a world of quirks, but I don't think that's something you just get over or adapt to very quickly.

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m so happy I get so much Aizawa in this since the man is my fave mha character. I love seeing him before he becomes a teacher at UA. It’s nice seeing him he the lowkey, chill hero he is who will also fuck you up. Also find it hilarious how he just uses the hopper brother’s space for whatever he wants lmaoo. Also we get a chapter with Nemuri as a supporting character! Love seeing her do hero work even if it hurts my heart just the tiniest bit.

As for our mc Koichi, he learns a new power! It’s basically like a hadoken or kamehameha, but this dumbass calls it “shoots go blam.” What a dork. He’s still not strong enough to take down heavy hitters on his own, but that’s what local heroes are for lol. Pop supports him in his endeavors, but her lil tsundere ass still can’t handle her feelings.

The biggest surprise comes at the very end when we discover O’ Clock’s true identity. It’s Knucklefist! My guy used to be a hero but apparently had his powers stolen by an obsessed fan who’s now a villain??? And he disappeared to run his own investigation on everything. I can tell shit is getting real and I can’t wait to see how this goes.

[daniella ❦ · Rating 4 out of 5]

0 i don't think anybody else is more geeked than me that aizawa is kinda becoming a main player in this manga like that is MY BABY GIRL
- koichi in his spiderman era
- more toshi and tsukauchi!!
- koichi finding a new apllication of his quirk every volume is kinda banger but this move with the repel force is actually really cool
- the whole idea that the bee user acceleration dude is the mentee of an old hero who disappeared years ago, the fact that he carved a scar into his face to match him, the implication that it is again something to do with knuckleduster???? they are cooking a scrumptious meal with these plot developments
- eraser head not the people's hero but squatting in some randoms cafe and being the reluctant hero and now buddy of koichi i love to see it
- kamayan funny af and kinda
- the whole group dating/blind date scenario with pop and midnight going in undercover is so unserious but fr when the freakazoid started sucking on the vom rag....i had to clock out for a bit ngl
- " i heard it was an off-shoot of eraser's agency" LMFAO
- things are gettin juicy juicy juicy

[Ambia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Koichi is a real trier. I like that we get to see him "rationally" develop his miniscule powers. There not as weird and useless as they first appeared. He's basically got the capability to fly, which he lost as a child and he can sort of shoot off from his hands as well as the gliding and clinging. He gets to work with Aizawa and the Police detective which was a good team up. Aizawa is a very low-key hero and seems to have no problem (as his actions, not words suggest) with citizens using their quirks in vigilante ways. And we glimpsed our hero All Might before he completely lost his power.

The ending was really cool and I'm looking forward to seeing where this story leads with the factory, drugs and acceleration guy. Im so glad Knucklebuster is back- I missed him. The team just isn't the same without him. Im also glad all that performance stuff is over. Pop is still here doing her work and being funny with Kochi the most ordinary and simple-minded hero we've seen.

[Meagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The storyline is picking back up. Midnight and Aizawa are now very involved in the drug investigation. All Might makes an appearance as his normal Toshinori self, which is always nice even though his character seemingly isn't crucial to the plot. Koichi's quirk is developing nicely. We find out even more about Knuckle Duster's backstory. (I won't spoil anything, but it's pretty darn cool.) Up until this point, I felt like I really had to push through reading the volumes; there would be a blip of interest here and there on my radar, but for the most part the characters have seemed unhinged, the plot puttering along at a snail's pace, and the villains downright weird. This volume was a game-changer for me- and consequently it won 5 stars.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't express my love for this side series enough. This volume still has a lot of the lighthearted elements in it and starts off with lighter chapters, but we start getting way more heavy plot elements and density as the volume goes on, especially concerning our mysterious new adversary with the acceleration quirk. I've seen it said that this series was heavily influenced by the graphic novels for The Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns and honestly, I think that's really starting to show in this volume. I could gush more, but I really think the series should be allowed to speak for itself. Read it, especially if you're already a fan of MHA. It's worth getting to this volume and seeing everything it has to offer, I promise.

[SB Senpai Manga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily one of the better books here. The street drug, Trigger is getting more circulation and causing more damage to the city and civilians, Koichi has developed a new quirk, and Eraser Head and my personal waifu, Midnight are doing undercover work to stop the drugs.
A step in the right direction since some characters aren’t used as often in the main series, plus showing the underbelly of the world outside of school makes everything more fleshed out. My only real complaint is that Koichi really needs to grow more as a character. It happens when you have an ensemble cast with multiple narratives, but this is minor for now.

[Estel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series continues to be enjoyable but not up to the same level as the original. It's a shame, too, because a book with Aizawa getting his arm dislocated should be right up my alley. And there are some really good parts--I actually like Midnight in this a heck of a lot better than in the main series, mainly because she actually gets to *do* things. And the main character continues to be sweet, and there are some good points about societal issues, but those points get downplayed so much I end up gritting my teeth. So a very solid three stars.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a little worried as I made my way through the first chapter of this manga, it was dumb silly with the Crawler more worried about an All Might hoody than what his friends were talking about. But that passes and we get to the real story, our heroes dealing with the the Crawler learning a new move. Dealing with bad guys and legal heroes. The action was good and I'm liking how Eraser Head is actually a serious hero caring about the hole doing good thing (He is so often just playing a fool in the main book).

Good stuff!

[CMYKari · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have emetophobia, take caution with this one! There's a rather disgusting panel during the part where they're getting drinks. It takes a bit to gross me out, and even this had me wincing. If I still had my copy, I could give a better page descriptor on when it happens.

3.5 rounded up, I do enjoy all of the scenes with Aizawa & other cameo characters, but there's something lacking. Still an enjoyable series with a fun art style! Uniquely Betten Court, but still has the BNHA "look" to it.

[Rosa Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how much Aizawa had made an appearance. Also the main villain reminds me so much of Kimbley from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Just his features and how he poses. I really liked him as a character but I’m so hyped for what his plans are.
Oh I also like how much inspiration the author has gotten from the Marvel and DC comics. Also I like how Mature pop has gotten so far, and not gonna lie I really miss Master. Like will he make an appearance once again or never again. Though I like how they look back on him and learn. It hurts me but I like that.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Koichi is further testing his abilities and adapting to further use his quirk. There is a hilariously interesting mixer which consumes the middle of this volume and there are vigilantes to vigilante things and heroes doing hero things...and of course villains doing dastardly deeds. I don't know if I would say nothing jumped out as the "moment" in this volume but it was enjoyable and flowed and progressed the story. Some awesome scenes with heroes that I appreciated. Overall an enjoyable read as usual.

[Damaris M]

First book of 2020!
I still really enjoy getting to learn more about trigger and how its being forced onto people. While also having all the different points of view from people and how the society isn't as perfect as some people make it out to be. It is still fun and lighthearted but still has that little extra dark note to it. With the whole shade of gray with what Vigilantes are doing and how people are forced to limit or just basically not use their quirk without a license.

[Ignacio Mazuecos · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to write a review of this volume right after finishing it while still being so hyped by its end!!

This is getting more and more interesting by each volume and, even though there are some parts that could be considered fillers, it all now feels like a whole story development with really, REALLY, interesting plot twists...

I was liking this volume, but I've loved the plot twists, so 5 stars for this, oh yes.