By Dustin Cabeal

Holy shit this was the volume I was waiting for! After all, this slow building that the story was going through I didn’t expect for All Might and One for All to throw down for real in this volume, but that’s exactly what happened.

That is the bulk of the story, the outcome was actually quite shocking, so I won’t spoil it, and afterward, there’s a very small conclusion that starts the next storyline. Let me be clear though, this volume doesn’t wash away my concerns about the series. Instead, it makes me more concerned that there will be even slower storytelling going forward. These damn kids haven’t even finished the year yet, and now there are new twists to their story.

The next story arc is going to follow the “mole” in the school, which will probably take forever. The twist is that the students are now living at the school, which probably will just lead to a lot of stereotypical school/camp gags that plague manga. We’ll see, but based on what they’ve shown already it’s likely. That and the fact that the story has drifted more and more towards the popular norm, almost ensures that the story is going not slow down and hit more tropes.

The writing is incredible during the battle though. It is a return to what made this series great in the beginning. Seeing All Might fight mirrored how Deku fights in a lot of ways. If the story could just get Deku to a fraction of that, it would be better than him always risking his arms and fingers. There was a great moment of character development for Deku that was past due. He’s been mostly flat with his development since getting the powers. He’s faced dangers and overcome them, but his real journey as a character has only had a few moments.

The artwork is at its best here. It takes a break at the end which was funny. It was as if Kohei Horikoshi steered the story in a way that would be easy for the art. That’s great for manga artists since their schedule is grueling. It wasn’t as obvious or bad as some other artists I’ve seen, but it still stood out. It’s fine though, their shit is grueling, and it’s amazing that he’s maintained this level of art for so long. The battle was great and very easy to follow. The twists to the battle were fantastic visually as well.

This volume is damn near perfect, but again, I don’t think this will be the norm going forward based on the last few volumes of the series. This injection of action and character development was needed, but if the story is going to be groundbreaking and long-lasting, it needs this style of volume more often.

Score: 4/5

My Hero Academia vol. 11
Kohei Horikoshi
Viz Media