“It really made me feel better to know there were adults like you”
Creative Staff
Story & Art: Kengo Hanazawa
Translation: Kumar Sivasubramanian
Adaptor: Philip R. Simon
What They Say
Opening this volume with a surprise visit to Belgium, manga maestro Kengo Hanazawa continues to give fans glimpses at how the zombie apocalypse is affecting the rest of the world. Hideo and the other human survivors find camaraderie and even moments of romance as they slowly make their way back to Tokyo. New horrors are encountered and new weapons are found, as old fears continue to haunt expressive, traumatized Hideo. Collecting two of the original Japanese volumes into each value-priced Dark Horse edition, this excursion into horror has a disturbing cliffhanger ending that will have readers clamoring for more!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’m gonna say this at the start of the review so we’re all on the same page: I Am A Hero is a good, quirky manga that’s able to live on its quirkiness alone for me to make exceptions to all the faults it has. Its pacing is sluggish, paneling is basic at best, and its art is so heavily doused in screentones to the point that it’s distracting. And yet I still enjoy this series.
Now a full seven omnibuses in, though, certain aspects of the series are just coming off as tiring at this point. Specifically, Hanezawa’s running gag of the adult characters being overly courteous in the face of a world-ending catastrophe. It’s clear that Hanezawa is poking fun at Japanese society’s insistence on putting politeness before common sense, but he’s yet to bring this snarky observation anywhere interesting outside of just a snarky observation. Back in the series’ earlier chapters, we’d be treated to Hideo’s ongoing rants on the state of manga in Japan and how its workers go through hell for the sake of the mere possibility of fame. It was an enjoyably long rant that gave us an “in” to Hideo’s mind—he clearly overthinks his position in the world and it’s that overthinking that leads to his hesitation to strive for anything more than a side-character status. If Hanezawa were able to apply a similar principle to Hideo and Oda going out of their way to write things like apology letters for houses they’ve broken into to seek refuge, then maybe I’d be more forgiving of this running gag. But at this point, it’s just become a running gag that never goes anywhere outside of the confines of its running gag status.
Besides this, the rest of the omnibus seems almost like a reboot to the series—a new starting point for random fans to jump to if that’s their thing. We’re re-introduced to Hideo and Oda who are now at casual sex levels in their relationship, and Hiromi who’s now overcome her ZQN status and is back to being a regular old human. Of course, what our core cast knows of ZQN survivors’ abilities, and what we know as the readers are two very different things. And that would have been an interesting direction to begin taking the characters in. Instead, we’re treated to the core trio living a quiet life in a house they’ve broken into. Conversations between the three of them are these oddly long back-and-forths that are occasionally quirky, but never go anywhere and feel like something more at-home for a novel than a manga, yet here we are. It’s all very odd in that while each character is clearly in a different headspace than they were when they were first introduced, Hanezawa just isn’t willing to dig as deep into his cast as I’d like to, leading to some shallow moments where nothing really happens.
Even in the case when the cast eventually drives off in search of ammunition, progression just feels sluggish—reluctant to go far from its comfort zone, which reflects the series’ current plot oddly well. But trust me: no way was that done on purpose.
In Summary:
I Am A Hero omnibus 7 feels like a soft-reboot for the series. While our main cast hasn’t exactly changed much since we last saw them, their interactions, abilities, and relations with each other definitely have. It’s strange… to see characters we’ve known for so long feel familiar yet distant. And this is only further underlined by author Hanezawa’s insistence on relying on the running gag of his overly courteous Japanese cast getting so caught up in their own politeness to acknowledge that the zombie apocalypse has led to exceptions to the law. Yes, the series begins to deviate from this gag by the volume’s end, but at 7 omnibuses in at this point, it’s definitely something that’s overstayed its welcome.
Content Grade: C-
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Manga
Release Date: August 14th, 2018
MSRP: $19.99
