About
Boku no Hero Academia (translated as My Hero Academia) is a manga series created by Kōhei Horikoshi and published in the magazine Weekly Shounen Jump. The story is set on a world where people with superpowers (known as “quirks”) are commonplace; following the life of Izuku Midoriya, a boy born without a quirk who wants to become a superhero.
Premise
Boku No Hero Academia takes place in a universe where each person is born with a superhuman power, or “quirk”, following the exploits of Izuku Midoriya, who finds himself having no useful quirk, until he meets the strongest hero All Might. As Midoriya discovers the secret behind All Might’s quirk, he is determined to train into gaining All Might’s power and to enroll to Yuuei, the academy where all heroes apply to.
History
The first version of the manga series was published as a one shot manga in the magazine Jump Plus in 2008. Although it already had the concept of a superhero world and a main character who wants to became a hero, the oneshot has many differences respect the serialized manga, the main ones being the main character working for a gadget company and the heroes not having powers but using special gears.[6] Boku no Hero Academia’s serialization began in the 32nd issue of Weekly Shounen Jump on July 7th, 2014, as part of “a special project.”[1]
2016 Anime Adaptation
On October 27th, 2015, a possible anime adaptation was hinted after Kōhei Horikoshi published a screencap of a Shonen Jump’s cover announcing the green-light of an anime adaptation (shown bellow), being consequently reported on some news sites after its deletion.[16] The anime adaptation was announced on the 49th issue of Weekly Shounen Jump, setted for release on November 2nd, 2015.
Reception
The first volume was released on November 4th, 2014, selling over 71,000 copies in its first week.[4] A series of vomics (video comics) was announced, the first one being released on January 11th, 2015 and the fourth being released on January 31st,[5] adapting the first chapter of the series with voice acting.
Online Relevance
Starting from the apparition of English scanlations in November 2014, Boku no Hero Academia quickly garined a fan following in the English net. In December 2014, a dedicated subreddit was created, gaining over 4,000 subscribers in the following 10 months,[11] being also a wiki[9] and a MyAnimeList page[12] created during that time. As October 28th, 2015, searching the keyword “僕のヒーローアカデミア” on the Japanese artist community Pixiv leads to over 4,000 results,[17] while searching “boku no hero academia” on the artist community deviantART leads to over 520 results.[13] The series has also gained a significant presence on websites like Tumblr[10] and 4chan’s /a/ board.[14]
Asui Tsuyu / Frog Girl
Asui Tsuyu, also known by her fan given name Frog Girl, is a supporting character from the series whose quirk gives frog powers. Due her unique appearance and other character traits, she quickly gained a fan following on pages like 4chan’s /a/[2][3] or Tumblr.[15] Her popularity has also resulted in Asui getting a large quantity of fanart on image boards such as Pixiv[7] or Danbooru,[8] especially in comparison to the rest of the supporting cast.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Anime News Network – Shonen Jump to Launch 4 Manga Series in Next 3 Issues
[2]archive.moe – What does her voice sound like?
[3]archive.moe – I don’t know how I missed this before but, wow.
[4]MyAnimeList . Japan’s Weekly Manga & Light Novel Rankings for Nov 3 – 9
[5]Shueisha – Official Vomic page
[6]Imgur – Boku no Hero (One Shot) RAW
[7]Pixiv – Search for 蛙吹梅雨
[9]Boku no Hero Academia Wiki – Main Page
[10]Tumblr – Search for’boku no hero academia
[11]Reddit – /r/BokuNoHeroAcademia/
[12]MyAnimeList – Boku no Hero Academia
[13]DeviantArt – Search for ‘boku no hero academia’
[14]Archive.moe – Search for ‘boku no hero academia’
[15]Tumblr – Search for asui tsuyu
[16]AnimeNewsNetwork – My Hero Academia Superhero Manga’s TV Anime Briefly Listed
[17]Pixiv – Search for 僕のヒーローアカデミア