ヴィジランテ ―僕のヒーローアカデミアILLEGALS― 2 [Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals 2]

ヴィジランテ ―僕のヒーローアカデミアILLEGALS― [Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals] #2

by Hideyuki Furuhashi (writer), 古橋秀之, Betten Court (illustrator)

『自警団』。プロ資格を持たず、ヒーロー活動を無認可で勝手に行う俺たちのような人々のこと。そんな俺の前に「スタンダール」と名乗る謎のヒーロー（？）が現れる。彼の強い正義感には、怖いほど強力な「信念」が込められて…！？

Genres: Manga, Superheroes, Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Action

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2017

Reviews

[tamazawareads]

*GASP* STAINNNNNN

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series. I haven't actually read the original manga at all but I have seen the anime. I truly enjoy Vigilantes much more than MHA. MHA has a typical shonen, coming-of-age story going on, but Vigilantes is about a guy who is in university and has no idea what to do with his life, but knows that he wants to help people. I think that's way more relatable for someone my age who is struggling to navigate my mid twenties.

Koichi is also a great main character. I absolutely love his design.



Most importantly Koichi shows us that we can be total obsessive nerds well into adulthood.

[Kulwinder Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝'𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠."

Woah, this manga incorporated Tensei Ida and Stein from the main MHA story! Wicked!

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No mask for me... not anymore."

Okay, so, while it has been quite some time since I read the first volume, and therefore do not remember everything that happened previously, I was still quite hooked!

[Dani St-Onge · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more reviews: http://literarylion.ca/

Manga is usually exempt from the rule that sequels are never as good as the original, but I feel it pretty strongly here. Somehow only two volumes in and some of the chapters feel sort of unnecessary. With My Hero Academia it feels like Horikoshi has a direction. It seems like he knows exactly what story he wants to tell and knows every character deeply. When something is revealed you can go back and see pages and pages of brilliant foreshadowing. Vigilantes doesn't feel so clear cut.

The three main characters still feel pretty mysterious, and reveals feel like they were only recently thought of instead of planned since the beginning. That's alright, some writers are gardeners and so on but it does lack a certain charm and leaves the plot feeling messy. Ours "heroes" are meant to be working to take down whoever is making Trigger, but most of this volume is just minor villain battles and misunderstandings.

That said the back half of the volume redeemed it for me. Most readers are here for fun callbacks to characters from the main series and while seeing more of Ingenium and his agency in action was a treat the real meat of the story was near the end.

It's hard to fully explain without spoiling anything but we get more of a backstory for a villain from the main series who appeared early on. It's really fun seeing a character form into the monster the 1-A students meet in the main series and I hope there are more crossovers like this for lore. Of course nothing Vigilantes does will really affect the canon, but a backstory to a villain who's story has already ended doesn't have to in order to be thrilling.

Especially for this particular baddie it was fascinating to see how he decided to head down the path he did. I hope in the future instalments this series leans more towards giving us insight on the early lives of our My Hero Academia favourites and less on filler fights. It's not that the art isn't stunning, but it's not really what we're here for.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it has my man Stained in it, so it's already better than volume 1.

To be hones the first half isn't all that great. It's not bad but it's average. Basically Crawler learning to use his power thanks a nice Cameo from a main character from the original series. Then have a arc of these criminals stealing girl's panties...it's kind of dumb and nasty. Last but not least is the stained arc and that one is great. Basically a origin story of sorts for that character.

I really hope the next volumes give longer arcs like the Stained one since it grows multiple characters and gives them depth. Had some nice character development and cool moments. Still not great or amazing but getting there. 3.5 out of 5.

[Vail Chester · Rating 4 out of 5]

TV Tropes defines the word Expy as "short for 'exported character.' A character from one series who is unambiguously and deliberately based on a character in another, older series. A few minor traits, such as age or hair color, may change, but there's no doubt that they are almost one and the same."
Instead of reviews, I'll just keep a running tally of Expies per volume. Enjoy!

- Yoichi Hiruma from Eyeshield 21 (with a bat quirk no less!)
- Captain America (a yakuza who uses manhole covers)
- Iron Man (bro even has Hulkbuster armor!)
- Thor (construction worker with lightning sledgehammer? Obviously)
- Hulk (or would it be Red Hulk cuz he smoking cigars like Thunderbolt Ross?)
- Winter Soldier (oh come on! His arm turns to metal!)
- Hawkeye & Black Widow (just random yakuza goons under Not!Cap)

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the first volume, I liked it, but I wasn't completely sold on it. This volume really started to draw in a lot of elements we already know from the main series, and I feel like Vigilantes is starting to hit its stride. I liked a few of the revelations in this volume, and am really curious to see how the story continues from here.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might have to tap outta this one. It didn’t hold my interest like the 1st volume. And I ended up just skimming through most of the second half of the book.

Which sucks cause I wanted to like this spin-off. Maybe I should just steer clear of spin-offs altogether. I’d kill for one of those All Might hoodies though.

[Veronica Morfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stain!!!

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this volume months ago (the English version) just to have something fun to read. I enjoyed the first volume, especially Knuckleduster and how he sort of mirrors Batman.

This volume starts off with some stuff that basically turned me off pretty bad. The Crawler faces off against a trio of perverts who literally steal girls' panties off their bodies and wear them. Unsurprisingly, this is all played for laughs. To make it worse, though, the main character then tries to reason with the trio and, while not justifying their crime, states that we should respect everyone's fetishes. It just came across as though their totally disgusting crime was being downplayed. And it disgusted me.

But anyway, other parts of the story are a lot more fun. There is a pretty nice flashback establishing a deeper relationship between some of the characters than previously suspected, and a villain appears who helps give more context to the history of a baddie from the main series.

Still, this spin-off is definitely operating under a number of strictures in relation to the main series and I think those strictures sometimes weaken the story. It's still entertaining, and still has some pretty decent art, but it can be a bit shaky sometimes.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun second volume to the series. More is learned about the characters, there are new characters/dynamics introduced, and the plot thickens.

There's not as much fanservice going on, even if this starts with panty thieves. I can't recall a single panel of Pop Step's body being shown off, so that's a plus.

I love the plot twists that happen with Koichi, as it instantly makes things much more interesting, and I can't wait to see that play out later on.

Then there's Tensei. I know he's on the cover, but I did not realize how big of a role he was going to play in this volume (and I assume in the series in general), nor did I know how much I was going to enjoy his and Koichi's interactions.

The other character I wanted to touch on was Kuin. I wasn't sure of her design at first, but it works super well for her role in the story. I love what I've seen of her thus far.

Lastly, there's a spoiler I'm not really going to talk about, but I loved it. It's nice to see an earlier version of this character.

Overall, this was a great second volume. There's some growth for the characters, the plot is thickening, and the elements that stem from the source material fit naturally and quite well into this spin-off.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is so much better. Wished they don't censor when they cuss though. And then, this is more gruesome than My Hero Academia, Vol. 1, and I kind of like that they give of different vibes but still that enjoyable read. (▰˘v˘▰)

🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪
Spoilers ahead! Comments as I was reading:
🔪 the chapter where Ingenium was chasing someone and the vigilantes were the ones who were able to capture them feels likes an insult to the pro heroes

🔪Stendhal reminds me of stain from my hero academia (guess I was right then hahaha //the same quirk)

🔪Soga or Spike's character reminds me of Bakugo and Kirishima and Shinso mix together

[Jamie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

welp I’m done. Thought I would give the rest of the series a try but when this volume opens up with a group of guys stealing high school girls’ underwear right off their bodies, I nearly vomited. Why. Why. For what reason. And then the main protagonist tries to reason and understand them. I’m out.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's kind of cool how this one ties into the main series. I wasn't into the plot as much in this volume, but I did come to realize that I love Koichi and Ingenium. Also, it was interesting to kind of see Stain's backstory.

[Stevie · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first i was sad because of the lack of aizawa, but this volume actually surprised me, the connection between pop and crawler is super cute and it was cool to see the origin of a villain we see later in MHA

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this continuation, and especially liked seeing some backstories about some characters such as Ingenium and Stain. I'm definitely intrigued to find out where the story is going, but I'm also hoping the action and pace picks up soon!

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heroes and origin stories and backstory yaaaaaaaaassss

[Blake the Book Eater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved seeing some characters from the main series pop up here!!

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Vol. 2 continues where the previous tankōbon left off and contains the next six chapters (6–11) of the on-going manga series and two mid-chapters: "Appearance Matters" (7.5) and "Mask" (9.5).

The first half of the tankōbon deals with one-time stories that pertain to each of the main characters – Koichi Haimawari, Kazuho Haneyama, and Knuckleduster. Knuckleduster had realized that the bigger the villain the sweeter the victory. In another story, Koichi Haimawari was recruited by Tensei Iida to join the team, but recended the offer when he found out that Koichi Haimawari has found his own team with the vigilantes. Kazuho Haneyama discovered that Koichi Haimawari saved her from drowning when she was younger and missed his Hero Exam, because of her.

The second half of the tankōbon Koichi Haimawari meets a fellow vigilante named Stendhal – the precursor identity to Hero Killer: Stain and gives a wonderful insight to Chizome Akaguro. As a vigilante, he punished lawbreakers and villains by killing them. However, after meeting Koichi Haimawari and Knuckleduster, his mortality seemed to skew and he starts to believe that not all heroes are righteous and they too must be punished – the birth of Hero Killer: Stain.

Kuin Hachisuka is an interesting character. She is a student and part-time villain serving the Villain Factory. Her quirk is Queen Bee and allows her to call and command worker bees, which she could use to attack people or defend herself. She seems to be the mastermind behind Stendhal and one of the main people spreading Trigger – the drug.

Hideyuki Furuhashi has written this tankōbon. It started a tad slow with the first three chapters dedicated to the main protagonists, but picked up rather well in the ninth chapter when Stendhal was introduced – the seemingly main villain for the protagonists and ends with a decent cliff-hanger. 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. 2 is a wonderful beginning to a new series that seems intriguing and I cannot wait to read more.

[connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am so conflicted about this series.

On the one hand, it has some incredible characters. Having a smaller main cast means more attention can be paid to their growth and development, and I honestly really love the core trio as well as the villain who has been introduced. Koichi is genuinely so adorable, and the villain has so much potential. We've had appearances from major heroes in the first two volumes, including Ingenium in this volume- who is not only the sweetest human alive, but also helped me place the time of this series, because he makes a reference to Tenya still only being a kid. The plot is already great and I love the focus on drugs and minor villains, something you don't see in the original series.

However, an issue this volume suffered from- and something I'm starting to pick up even more in BNHA- is the treatment of women. The over sexualisation of minors isn't as prominent in this- Kazuho is 17 and, while still young, it doesn't feel like she's sexualised like, say, Momo, who is fifteen years old and has That Hero Costume. However, the bit with those fucking villains whose only purpose is to steal girls PANTIES [I'm gagging I hate it] is played off as a laugh like it isn't a form of assault and just in general disgusting? Kazuho does get angry about it, but she's pretty much brushed aside and nobody brings it up again. ADDRESS IT. I'm so TIRED. I very nearly DNF'ed this, and I only keep reading for plot and characters. This gets me fired up and I literally deducted 2 stars for like 5 pages just because it's so disgusting.

[Đức Nhật · Rating 4 out of 5]

07/10/2022: Phát hành tập 2.

Tập này hay. Bên cạnh hành trình tiếp tục của bộ ba: anh bạn Koichi "ba ngơ", ông chú sư phụ cứng đầu cứng cổ và cô bạn Pop dễ thương thì highlight của tập là sự có mặt của Ingenium - anh ruột của Tenya trong truyện gốc và nguồn gốc của nhân vật Stain - một trong những nhân vật đáng nhớ nhất của MHA.
Chương đáng nhớ nhất đối với mình chắc hẳn là chương lật lại quá khứ của Koichi và Pop. Cảm động ghê. Không ngờ người mà anh bạn Koichi cứu ngày xưa bây giờ lại là cô bạn gái kề kề bên anh mọi lúc mọi nơi, đồng sự tốt nữa chứ :>

[Ryan Conner · Rating 2 out of 5]

If it wasn’t for Ingenium and the introduction of Stain, I would’ve easily given this 1 star. These characters are quite annoying in this volume. The introduction of a group of pervy guys that literally take girls’ panties to where them is downplayed as a joke is beyond cliched and rage-inducing. I guess I’ll continue reading this series, but it’s dropped very low on my priority list.

[Amélie · Rating 2 out of 5]

As much as I love spin-offs and expansions, especially with a world as rich as BNHA's, I'm struggling to be interested here. If it weren't for other stuff I know is coming later, I'd probably have given up already. The characters are nice and I like the main concept, but the plot so far hasn't exactly been fascinating.

[Marjo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not too bad, I guess. And the Ingenium stuff was fun. But I picked up this series for extra Aizawa content, and I didn't get it this volume, so meh is the best it's gonna get.

[Rachel Consoli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oooh plot thickens and we see familiar faces!!

I’m really starting to get into this series!! First off we get this precious little story with Ida’s big bro, Tensei aka OG Ingenium! It’s a bit heart breaking knowing what happens to him in MHA, but he’s just as lovely as Ida described and is too cute to Koichi. Koichi is very easily influenced by heroes that give him the slightest attention which is kind of precious. Tensei, being a speedster just like his little bro, shows Koichi to use his speed for better mobility and even gives him hope that he could totally apply to be a sidekick at his agency which is known for specialist heroes (aka heroes whose quirks are very specific and not as broadly helpful). He says there are different ways to be heroes and not everyone is cut out to do the classic way like Deku and co in MHA, it’s so sweet. But of course he then sees Koichi and co being vigilantes and while he does take back his earlier offer, he also respects what he’s doing and doesn’t rat him out. He sees them trying to help and I think he understands the efforts and wants to encourage him to keep doing what he thinks is right, too cute, I love.

We also get more precious moments between Pop and Koichi! Apparently he collects every edition of an All Might official merch hoodie (so Deku omg they’d be best friends) n is only missing one that he gave to a kid he saved in middle school. OF COURSE that kid turns out to be Pop! I thought they were closer in age, but I guess middle school to elementary it could only be like 2-5 years different, I’m gonna choose to believe she’s at least 16 so it’s less weird cuz I ship it lol. But it’s so cute how much she adores him and really looks up to what he does. Apparently she’s been trying all this time to thank him, cuties.

We have a main(ish) villain, this queen bee chick who uses bees to do her bidding including injecting thugs with this quirk enhancer drug trigger to turn them into scary villains but now she’s also giving ppl targets to hunt down others. I don’t get her angle, but I’m sure we have time to develop her. And then we meet Stendhal, this ninja dude who we think is another vigilante but we see he’s the bad side of the coin who straight up kills these villains no questions asked. But turns out HE’S ACTUALLY HERO KILLER STAIN!!! Origin story!!!! As soon as that tongue came out I gasped!! He fascinates me as much as he terrifies me. Unsure how much he’ll come into this story but love seeing the crossover. He used to wear a mask but now the knucklebuster broke it he sees it as ‘seeing the light’ n now has been reborn as targeting ‘fake heroes’, the stain we know. Lol oh dear, not great, but gotta love him. His arc is kind of amazing even if he has such a warped sense of ideals.

Really enjoying this series!! Excited for more cross overs too!!!

[Evine Zetterström · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story started off really wrong if you ask me. This spin off does not just make small jokes here and there, but full on scenes where women gets sexually harassed and it's all just brushed off to the side. Like seriously, a gang of guys speeding by girls all over town and nicking their panties and then.. one of them puts them on, and they do it all because they're wolves..? The fact that Koichi stopped to question their motives and then didn't really stop them because he didn't want to kink shame is.. I don't know how to feel about it.

And for the love of god, can we stop normalizing women hitting guys out of the blue and getting away with it?? Because they did later on do a whole thing of Pop telling dear old Knuckles not to hit a girl as harsh as he usually hits dudes, which just feeds into this really old idea of one gender being weaker than the other, but always getting away with being violent because "men can take it." Although I must admit that it was kinda funny that the big guy continued to strangle her as a means of gently beating her up.

With that out of the way, the start wasn't that interesting and honestly I can't recall much of what happened after the underwear situation. But it's neat to see how the story ties into the main one, what with All Might befriending Tsukauchi and Aizawa being nudged on his way to become a teacher and all that. The way Tsukauchi found out about All Might though feels a bit cheap if I'm being honest, it's an old trick and we've seen it before.

That's probably what My Hero Academia Illegals: Vigilante is missing. The main MHA story isn't as predictable and doesn't follow cheap tropes in the same way as its prequel does. As an example, Knuckle duster shows up the moment there's trouble, which might just be their tactic but it doesn't come across clearly enough. In MHA however, the main cast rarely have All Might or someone else clean up ALL the work for them.

Anyway, Pop is still kinda annoying in a sense. Just when I start thinking she's alright she gets mad just because Koichi says something heroic and storms off. Sure, this time I guess she had a reason but I'm just so tired of people getting angry out of nowhere. Oh and of course she didn't get to say her thank you and sorry, just because there was company.. it's so childish.

Alright, final thoughts. Stain was pretty cool, took me a while to realize it was him. The other heros were kinda cool to see, but now I'm honestly feeling like there's a bit too much plot armor on the main gang. No one's really getting hurt to the point where they can't just walk it off, no one's reporting them for using their quirks and it's all feeling a bit cartoonish at this point.
I think I'll continue, just to get into the big Aizawa and Yamada stuff, still don't know how far I'll go though.

[Yoshiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

POPKulturowy Kociołek:
Sięgając po Vigilante: My Hero Academia Illegals tomy 1-3 zagłębiamy się w świecie, w którym 80% populacji ma unikalne zdolności, a wielu młodych ludzi marzy, aby zostać superbohaterami. Nie każdemu jest jednak pisany taki los, chociaż za wszelką cenę chcą oni pomagać innym. Do tego grona zalicza się dziewiętnastoletni Koichi, którego moc jest zbyt słaba, aby został on profesjonalnym herosem. Pozostają mu więc dobre i proste uczynki, dzięki którym jego sąsiedztwo staje się lepsze. Wiele w jego życiu zmienia się w momencie, kiedy napotyka on na swojej drodze Kazuho Haneyame (Pop Step) introwertyczną licealistkę, która działa jako zamaskowany idol oraz Knuckle Dustera, podstarzałego twardziela, który za wszelką cenę chce walczyć z przestępczością, chociaż nie jest do tego predestynowany. Tak o to trzy osoby o przeciętnych mocach zaczynają ze sobą współpracować, wzajemnie uzupełniając swoje braki. Rzucają oni wyzwanie niesprawiedliwości i pewnym panującym w ich świecie zasadom. Głównym celem grupy jest jednak odkrycie, kto stoi za narkotykiem Trigger, coraz popularniejszym środkiem odurzającym wzmacniającym naturalne moce, powodującym utratę kontroli nad swoimi zdolnościami w momencie przedawkowania, co prowadzi do wielu tragedii.

Pierwsze trzy tomy serii to przede wszystkim ciekawe wprowadzenie ukazujące czytelnikowi zarówno nowych bohaterów, jak i cały otaczający ich świat. Uniwersum, które z jednej strony powinno być dobrze znane każdemu wielkiemu fanowi MHA z drugiej odkrywające przed nim swoje nowe sekrety. Akcja mangi rozgrywa się bowiem kilka lat przed wydarzeniami z głównego cyklu. Dzięki czemu pozycja sprawdzi się w przypadku każdego odbiorcy (nawet jeśli nie czytał on oryginału), idealnie dopełniając dzieło Kohei Horikoshiego. Oba tytuły zachowują przy tym wyrazistą różnorodność, nie ma więc tu mowy o przysłowiowym odcinaniu kuponów.

Jedną z zalet tytułu jest oczywiście akcja. Na jej temat nie ma jednak większego sensu się rozpisywać, bo twórcy opierają się w tym elemencie, na sprawdzonych shonenowych schematach zapewniając czytelnikowi intensywne chwile doznań.

O wiele większą uwagę należy za to skupić na samych bohaterach. Ich mniejsza ilość pozwala na ich znaczne rozwinięcie. To z kolei powoduje, że twórcy nie boją się tu prezentować różnego oblicza bohaterstwa. Manga zagłębia się w dylematy etyczne, przed którymi stają strażnicy, którzy działają poza prawem i często uciekają się do wątpliwych metod ochrony swojego miasta. Seria stawia pytania o równowagę między porządkiem a sprawiedliwością oraz o to, czy słuszne jest łamanie zasad dla większego dobra. Nie brakuje tu również problemów emocjonalnych powiązanych z konsekwencjami niektórych działań......

https://popkulturowykociolek.pl/vigil...

[La Colección de las Letras · Rating 5 out of 5]

El tomo comienza con un encuentro entre los vigilantes y un grupo de villanos. Si bien el comienzo es cotidiano, los capítulos que le siguen avanzan con el misterioso fenómeno de la droga Trigger, presentando y entrelazando a nuevos personajes,como Ingenium y Stendhal.

Los lectores que hayan leído la trama principal o hayan visto el anime, intuirán quien es este misterioso hombre cuando lo vean por primera vez. A mi personalmente me ha pillado por sorpresa su aparición, ya que no pensaba que fuese a tener tanto peso en esta historia.

De por sí, es un tomo que viene cargado de acción, escenas cómicas y alguna que otra sorpresa por parte de los personajes. Me ha sorprendido y fascinado a partes iguales por la profundidad de los personajes, el continuo duelo moral entre ser héroe por el sentido de la justicia o por el dinero, y por el caso de la droga Trigger, que tiene a la policía y a Knucle Duster ansiosos.

A pesar de que he disfrutado por completo del tomo, el último capítulo me cautivó por completo. No voy a hacer spoilers, por lo que solo comentaré que la mezcla entre lo moralmente correcto y las propias ambiciones me dejaron tiritando.

Por último, algo que resalto en general, tanto en esta saga como en "My Hero Academia", es la creación de personajes. Disfruto mucho cuando aparecen nuevos personajes y descubro su "don". Algunos me parecen muy ingeniosos, como es el caso de Kôichi, y otros me parecen una pasada, tomando de ejemplo a Stendhal o Hachisuka. También hay el típico "don" de super fuerza, pero Kôhei Horikoshi sabe como aprovechar una habilidad que parece normal o inútil y convertirlo en algo único, bien por la personalidad del personaje o por la forma en que utiliza su "don".

En resumen, este segundo tomo me ha mantenido atrapada desde el principio por el buen desarrollo de la historia de Kôichi como vigilante, las escenas de batalla, la droga Trigger y los numerosos momentos en donde conocemos el origen de ciertos personajes. Sin duda me ha dejado con ganas de continuar la saga, ansiando encontrarme con más héroes profesionales y guiños a la trama principal.

[JamBlam · Rating 2 out of 5]

MHA: V2 was a bit of a slog to read in all honesty. It suffers from the one problem that it, itself points out on it's extra pages on the back that it is bound by the rules of MHA in that it cannot create content which may conflict with MHA at large. Thus, creating a volume which is entirely led by the sitcom way of writing, which is the "Villain of the week". Characters and storylines come and go within chapters, even resetting the plot back to how it was before the chapter started.

There is some surprises from MHA characters, but again, I imagine these are one and done cameos for Vigilantes, especially involving a character called Stendhal who was arguably the highlight of the whole volume within the final chapters. We also see some rather, Marvel-esque characters make their appearance, but herein lies the next issue is that Vigilantes is lacking originality. The Villains that come up are incredibly dry and boring, completely forgotten by the next chapter and most new additions to the roster seem to heavily borrow from a certain Marvel team from the comics.

We also have the issue that the three main cast are not evolving. Koichi is still likable but just seems to be narrow minded at this point; Knuckle Duster is written the same way in every chapter and isn't showing any signs of likability yet as he's just "muscle" and then there is Pop-Step who, unfortunately, I don't quite understand her role in the story yet. She's just there. They do try to give her some back story in this volume but it doesn't change her current situation at all with why she is with the team. The action is incredibly dull because we have a character who slides about and another who just punches really hard so as you can imagine, any action scene basically plays out the same way.

There is a constant underlying story thread, Trigger, which is trying to root all this together and we do slowly see how it inevitably becomes a problem in MHA during the Chisaki storyline which will keep me reading to see how it all ties up. I'm just not as engrossed as I am with MHA, with it's determined characters, exciting action and world development. Vigilantes just doesn't quite have that hook yet.