My Hero Academia



My Hero Academia (Boku no Hero Academia in Japanese) is a manga (with an anime adaptation and a video game) about a high-school for superheroes.

In a World where 80% of people have some kind of superpower (or "Quirk" as they call it in-universe), Izuku Midoriya is one of the 20% who does not. Even so, he dreams of being a hero, idolizing the mighty All Might and planning to apply to the prestigious U.A. High School, where all the best heroes went to school (although being "Quirkless" will put him at a disadvantage). One day, he encounters All Might, and impresses him with his strength of character -- and while All Might admits that being a hero without a Quirk is basically impossible, he might be able to fix that...

To his own, and many others', surprise, Midoriya gets enrolled in U.A. High School and gets to pursue his dream of becoming a Hero. However, from both the lessons and the accidents happening outside school, it's a lot harder than it seems. Can Midoriya fulfill his destiny?

Written and illustrated by Kouhei Horikoshi. Published on Shueisha's ''Weekly Shounen Jump".

"Tsuyu: ... [Katsuki] Bakugo's always angry, so he'll never be that popular. Katsuki: WHAT DID YOU SAY?! I'LL KICK YOUR ASS! Tsuyu: See?"
 * Academy of Adventure: Pretty much the whole setting. U.A is sort of the Ivy League of superhero schools.
 * AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: The anime's English dub is guilty of this in several instances. Notably, Izuku Midoriya's name is pronounced I-ZU-ku Mi-DO-riya instead of the Japanese I-zuku MI-do-RI-ya.
 * All of the Other Reindeer: Izuku got looked down on by his classmates for being Quirkless. Even his mother reacted to the "diagnosis" with pity, rather than supporting his dream of becoming a hero anyway.
 * Ambiguously Human: Several characters have rather animal-like appearances, which begs the question of whether or not they're 100% human.
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: Izuku is utterly obsessed with heroes, filling notebook after notebook with what he's learned about them. Even without tapping his power, he's a strong strategist.
 * Bad Powers, Bad People: There are several major villains whose Quirks lend themselves incredibly well to their villainy. The main recurring villain, Tomura Shigaraki, has what's essentially a Touch of Death, the infamous Hero-Killer Stain paralyzes people by ingesting their blood, and.
 * Badass Teacher: According to Midoriya, all of the teachers at U.A. are professional Heroes, which is no job for the faint-hearted.
 * Be Yourself: A common and recurring plot point is how Izuku Midoriya's relationship with All Might can get in the way of his learning how to be a hero. Initially, he tries way too hard to emulate him, from his moveset down to even his costume. When doing so causes him some permanent arm injuries, he's forced to find his own way of using his Quirk and working on being Deku, rather than an All Might knockoff.
 * Break the Cutie: Several characters who are now U.A. students suffered badly from this:
 * Midoriya himself was told at around four years old that he was Quirkless from birth. The boy, who was a cheerful and avid admirer of All Might and wanted to become a Hero like him was sent into what can best be described as a breakdown. His mother Inko couldn't properly support him during these tough times, so she didn't encourage him. Finding out that he was Quirkless led to him being bullied relentlessly by his former friend Bakugo, who now saw him as inferior and pathetic, and it continued all the way into junior high school, leaving Midoriya a timid, reserved young man with no hope of coming through... until he met All Might.
 * Shoto Todoroki was also put through the wringer. First off, he was treated rather neglectfully by his father, Enji Todoroki (the pro Hero Endeavor), who wanted to groom and train him to become the ultimate Hero and surpass even All Might. Secondly, Endeavor also abused Shoto's mother, Eri, to the point of losing her mind and hurling boiling water onto her son's left eye, in pure contempt of her abusive husband's fire Quirk. It's also implied that the marriage was arranged simply so Endeavor could have an heir that could combine two strong Quirks. This left a formerly cheerful and friendly Shoto into a cold, aloof and stubborn teenager.
 * Career-Ending Injury: Sometimes Stain deliberately spares the life of his victims. On such occasions he sees to it that they can't be a pro-hero any more.
 * Card Carrying Villain: Bad guys actually belong to a group called the "League of Villains".
 * Cerebus Rollercoaster: The plotline of the story interchangeably shifts between lighthearted, school-oriented arcs and dark ones with major and very dangerous villains, where many characters' abilities are put to a test. The former always starts with a Breather Episode.
 * Coming of Age Story: This is the story about how Midoriya became a serious, brave and reliable Superhero.
 * Crime of Self Defense: After, the students involved are told that they broke the law. The cop telling them however, says that he is perfectly willing to keep how what really happened a secret and let someone else allowed to take credit to take the credit.
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: The series has no shortage of hero characters with odd or unusual physical appearances, but most are of the Little Bit Beastly or Cute Monster Girl (or boy) categories. Villains, however, are almost universally unpleasant to look at. Some are simply ugly or have twisted expressions, some are deformed, and many are outright monstrous.
 * Eagleland: All Might, Type 1. The man is heroic to a fault, boisterous and friendly to all he aids, and calls his attacks names from American geography.  "TEXAS SMASH!"
 * First-Name Basis: Tsuyu is somewhat vocal about who she wants to call her by her given name. Izuku often fails to oblige her, which she often responds to with a request to recalled "Tsuyu-chan". This is typically translated as her requesting to be called Tsu. When Himiko Toga calls Tsuyu "Tsuyu-chan" without permission (or Tsu in the translations), Tsuyu requests Himiko to not do that, as she only wants her friends to call her that. In the cavalry battle, Tsuyu requested to be called "Tsuyu-chan" immediately before trying to take Izuku's headband.
 * Hidden Purpose Test: The entrance exam to U.A. Initially, it seems as though the only scoring criteria for the exam are "villain points" that are practically earned by destroying robot dummies (other than the enormous zero-point robot). When Midoriya's only score was taking down the zero-point robot, he's understandably let down. Eventually, it's revealed that the exam also grades entrants based on "rescue points" - how much they paid attention to their fellow man. Midoriya, having saved a girl's life from said zero point villain, earns the most rescue points and passes his exam with flying colors.
 * Hour of Power: Well, three hours (per day) and falling, but 's powers are on a timer since sustaining an injury some time ago. Using them any longer risks injuring or killing him.
 * I Resemble That Remark: When Tsu comments that Katsuki is always angry, Katsuki...gets really angry.


 * Lemony Narrator: Any time a character has an important role in the plot for the first time, Present Mic breaks in to give a brief (five seconds or so) description of the character's Quirk.
 * Male Gaze: Midnight get a lot of focus in her erogenous zones in chapter 45.
 * Most Common Superpower: Lampshaded and Discussed in one episode where a talk show host asks his guests - Midnight and Mt. Lady, two heroines who clearly have this "power" - whether it's truly necessary for heroines to have it. The segment ended with both heroines shouting at each other and each calling the other an Attention Whore; which both of them obviously are.
 * Organic Technology: Sort of. Some Quirks seem to alter the users' bodies in ways that resemble machinery. For example, Tenya's Quirk gives him Super Speed due to what looks like jet engines in his calves, while Hanta seemingly has tape dispensers in his elbows.
 * Police Are Useless: Downplayed. All-Might does say police are a respectable - if overlooked - profession, and a few - like Chief Kenji - stand out, but they're only rarely part of the plot.
 * Power Crutch: Some costumes are made to allow characters to use their quirks in ways they are unable to without them. For example, Jirio can use a ranged sound attack by plugging her ears into her boots.
 * Power Incontinence: Until he learns control, Izuku's super-strength destroys whatever part of his body he empowers.
 * Pretentious Latin Motto: U.A.'s motto is "Plus Ultra", or "Go Beyond".
 * Riddle for the Ages: Exactly how humans started to develop quirks is an unanswered (and mostly unexplored) mystery).
 * Ship Tease: Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka are heavily implied to have a crush on one another, often finding themselves in awkward, yet endearing situations when they're together.
 * Stepford Smiler: All Might is known for smiling broadly, under all circumstances, but his smile (and his heroic demeanor in general) is in part driven by the world's need for a symbol of peace.
 * Stripperiffic: While most female members of the cast actually Avert this sort of costume, Midnight notoriously once had a costume that was so risque that it led to government regulations limiting how much skin a pro-heroine's costume could show.
 * Super-Hero School: U.A. is one of the most prestigious, although given that 80% of people in the world have Quirks, most schools devote at least some time to handling and training Quirks.
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: During the Final Exams arc, Midoriya is forced to form a very uneasy alliance with Bakugō, going against All Might. While they encounter several major hiccups, they manage to pass.
 * To Be a Master: While Izuku usually states his dream is to simply be a hero, on at least one occasion he states he wants to be the best hero. Katsuki also wants to be the best hero... and is utterly consumed by the thought that some of his classmates might be better.
 * Training from Hell: All Might developed a ten-month training regimen and diet to prepare Izuku's body to receive All Might's power. It was grueling enough on its own, consisting of clearing garbage (like tires, refrigerators, and other heavy detritus) from a beach with alternating muscle groups, but then Izuku added his own studying on top of it, and nearly destroyed himself.  (Fortunately, All Might caught on in time and reined him in.)
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future: Zigzagged. The story takes place decades, probably even over a century in the future from now. But technology is largely the same because in the very near future Quirks emerged, and then most of the time between now and then spending its efforts to adjust to the emergence of quirks. And that was not an environment optimal for technological innovations. Things didn't really calm down until All Might became the "symbol of peace". One person said that if it wasn't for quirks humans would have been on the planet Mars by now.
 * World of Ham: Comes of being a world with heavy influence from superhero comics. All Might and Present Mic stand out, but on the student side, Tenya and Katsuki give them a run for their money when the adrenaline starts running.