ARC From Netgalley.

WOW! Very nice to have a Volume dedicated to the villains. Not only do we get to see this ragtag band of what had previously amounted to some kind of a more violent Team Rocket, go PLUS ULTRA and take on the entire Meta Liberation Army... BUT...
Toga, Twice, and Shigaraki all get to evolve and develop stronger abilities!
AND we get back story on them to show really complicated backstories and great motivations for their insanities.

Overall, a great Volume and I look forward to the completion of the story in the next Volume.

When reading this I should've known based off the cover that this was going to just be the villains side of things. Wow so much that goes on in this book. Like poor everybody I wasn't expecting to feel bad for the characters in the League of Villains like I do. Like seriously all of them needs a hug.

This was an entire volume filled with villains. It was a complete villain vs villain situation, and wow, that was actually really interesting to me. If any heroes were involved it was only for a few panels, maybe a page max. Of course, Hoshikori has said that we’ll be getting back to our young heroes and such next volume, so I’m curious to see how all of the events from this situation affects them.

We actually learned quite a bit about both Tomura and Twice in this one. And honestly, my favorite kind of villain is one that has depth to them. And yes, I do like both redeemable villains as well as irredeemable ones. But when it comes to Twice, I don’t know, I think maybe he could possibly have a redemption arc. At the very least we saw him have a pretty cool breakthrough in this volume. No spoilers, but oh my goodness, was it good.

There will definitely be some consequences from some of the actions in this volume. That is absolutely for sure. I am looking forward to reading the next one.

'My Hero Academia, Vol. 24' with story and art by Kohei Horikoshi is a manga about a world where 80 percent of the population have superpowers.

This time around, the story revolves around the villains. The villains have some odd quirks. One young girl gets her power from drinking blood. One can duplicate objects. They seem to spend a lot of their time fighting each other, but there is time for childhood flashbacks as well.

I liked this take on supervillains. They have pretty varied strengths and stranger powers than I've run across before. I liked the art.

I received a review copy of this manga from Viz Media and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.

By Clifford "The Cliff" Sutton

We like heroes, yet there is something about villains that make us like them more. In the world of My Hero Academia, the League of Villains, though dangerous, have some of the most entertaining characters – from their personalities, backstories, and abilities, these criminals do their best to give us their worst. The volume focuses on The League of Villains going up against another brand of villains known as the Meta Liberation Army (MLA) in a battle of ideals and dominance. Because MHA mainly focuses on the heroes, it is nice to see our favorite group of misfits get more of the spotlight; showing us an actual villain v. villain battle to see which group is deadliest; no heroes stopping them, just carnage. In addition, the volume showcases how far the League has come; from wanting to kill each other to help each other, eventually becoming like a family. What I love about this volume stems from what I said earlier – this all about the villains. I like the heroes in the show, but villains are some of my favorite characters because I want to know what made them choose a villainous lifestyle, and that is what I got in this volume.

The first I got to see was Toga’s childhood and her struggle to be “normal”, to be a part of society on her parents’ behalf, only to fully embrace who she is even if others could not – a girl suffering to act normal for having an abnormal liking to blood. At first, I like Toga as a villain due to her craziness, now, knowing her backstory during her fight with the villain Curious, I like her even more as she embraces who she is even if it is off-putting to some.
The second was Twices’ moment and he is one of my favorites in the volume. He has a fear of being alone, so his quirk, Double, allows him to make copies of himself, thus filling that void of solitude…only for something to go wrong. His clones start to rebel thinking he treats them like slaves. Making matters worse each viewed themselves as the “real” Twice, resulting in a fight and killing each other. One remained standing now in fear thinking if he is the real one or a fake, and if he is the latter, he, too, would dissipate should something happen to him. Twice carried this fear before joining the League, only to push it aside to save Toga and Giran by summoning a plethora of clones fighting off the MLA associates. By doing this, the surviving Twice showcased he is the real Twice and how one can push through trauma if they have something worth protecting. Usually, heroes are the ones who fight their traumas to come back stronger, so to see a villain do this is not only refreshing but surprisingly and ironically heroic.

And, of course, Tomura Shigaraki’s origin story…wow. Just wow. At first, I did not think much about him at the beginning of MHA, even when he is taking charge, but after reading, I have to say, he has become a lot more interesting. In fact, he has a classic villain origin: a troubled childhood and a broken home, not to mention a traumatic experience that made things worse, losing all hope, descending further in darkness, and eventually, becoming a villain. In a sense, he reminds of Syndrome from The Incredibles – both wanting to be heroes during their youth, idolizing a certain hero, (Shigaraki’s grandmother and Mr. Incredible respectively), only to experience a heartbreaking reality that their dream is not what its cracked up to be, then individually, realize that the heroes are the true enemies – warping them into the villains we know today.

Speaking of Shigaraki, I could not help but compare him and Deku. Though both are walking different paths, they were unlucky as children from separate circumstances in their lives. Both were quirkless and liked heroes; Deku admired and wanted to be as powerful as All Might and Shigaraki found out his grandmother, Nana Shimura, was a hero, but both suffered dream shattering moments. For Deku, being labeled quirkless made him a target for bullies, mostly by Bakugo, and was considered a failure, for Shigaraki, but his father despised heroes due to abandonment issues with his mother and would punish his son for wanting to be one. The only difference is that Deku remained quirkless, while Shigaraki’s quirk, Decay, was activated by stress due to living in an abusive household and accidentally killing his family. From that, Shigaraki was founded by All for One and became his apprentice, while Deku was chosen by All Might to be the new bearer of his quirk, One for All, due to his bravery and strong spirit. In a sense, these two characters are like Batman and the Joker – both suffered separate tragedies and were molded by their grief but took it differently that shaped them the person today. It is like the classic line: “All it takes is one bad day”; Shigaraki suffered that but Deku could have too if he and All Might did not cross paths, so the possibility that one can turn into the other if they had each other’s lives is plausible. They are the Yin to each other’s Yang and they do not even know it.

Personally, I love this volume, because by giving the villains a chance to shine we can know more about their personalities, relationships, and motivations. Sometimes we see villains like the ones that need to be beaten or destroyed or both by the heroes and forget that they, too, despite how twisted they became, are people as well. I like villains and want to see some good action, detailed drawings, neat expressions, and relatable backstories, then I highly recommend this volume. Even if you are not a fan of villains, I still recommend reading it to enjoy some MHA content. Every hero needs a villain, so say hello to evil.

My Hero Academia Volume 24, which is published by VIZ Media, is from mangaka Kohei Horikoshi and lettered by John Hunt. In the previous volume, we see the conclusion of the battle training between Class A and Class B. The results will determine whether Shinshio earns a spot in the hero class. Also, Midorya enters a fugue state and meets a former user of One For All. Meanwhile, the Meta Liberation Army (MLA) starts to put their plans into motion against the League of Villains.

Volume 24 focuses more on the Meta Liberation Army as they launch their assault against the League of Villains. Led by the son of Destro, Re-Destro, the MLA is determined to crush the League of Villains once and for all. The MLA is willing to cross lines for the sake of wiping out Shigaraki and his team. However, the League of Villains won’t just sit back and accept defeat. Each member of the League of Villains puts everything on the line to gain dominance over the MLA. It’s an all-out war between two villainous forces where there must be one winner.

A major key element of My Hero Academia Volume 24 is that every member of the League of Villains gets there time to shine. Normally, it’s Shigaraki who’s at the forefront of the team, but we now see what the rest of the League can really do. Seeing more of people like Toga and Twice made me appreciate their characters so much more. Fans of these two characters will surely love how the attention they’re given in this volume. Rather than being just villainous side characters, I found myself empathizing with them. It’s been a while since a piece of literature has made me feel this way towards villains.

Since the Meta Liberation Army was introduced in the previous volume, I was excited to see how truly powerful this secret organization really was. My expectations were completely blown away. Besides All Might, many others who have gone up against the League have had their fair share of challenges. I was surprised to see that the MLA was more than a match for the League. The most surprising factor was Re-Destro, somehow who I thought would just be the typical head boss that didn’t have any powers. He quickly proved that he was much more than that, especially with how far he was willing to go to get rid of the League. His actions quickly showed that he was as much of a villain as Shigaraki, except Re-Destro thought highly of himself.

I’m once again blown away by Horikoshi’s artwork in My Hero Academia Volume 24. The multiple fights in this volume are excellently drawn. There are even close-up panels of the characters that show the raw emotion that this fight is having on both MLA and League members. The character designs of the MLA members have a more professional aesthetic, making them seem like they’ll be easy opponents. That serves to their advantage since they’re severely underestimated from the start of the fight. I’m excited to see how I’ll be surprised in volume 25, especially with how things were left off in this volume.

Overall, I enjoyed reading My Hero Academia Vol 24. The entire fight between the MLA and the League of Villains was such a pleasure to read. I’m excited to see how this is adapted into the anime series in the future. The immense character development from many of the League members is something I want to see more of down the road. I’m glad that the series is still taking time to flesh out its villains, even after so many volumes. If a battle of this magnitude is a sign of what’s to come in the series, I’ll surely continue to read the manga rather than wait for the anime adaptation.

Thanks to Viz and Netgalley for the digital ARC.

This is a fun volume of My Hero Academia picking up where we left in vol 23 with the villains under attack by a hero cult (for lack of a better phrase). The story is told entirely with the villains and is very cool, including backstories for a number of the League of Villain characters. I think I like this better than following on heroes through their training (or at least maybe it is just because this feels fresh and outside of the norm).

The fight between the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army continues in this book. My Hero Academia continues to be original, showing some new quirks (though some of those were one-off characters who were killed right away) and the possibilities of what one can do with them in the in-world society. As usual, I adored the next installment of My Hero Academia.

There was more insight in this book about the quirks-- the specifics, the draw-backs, their limitations & possibilities-- of a few of the LoV characters. Twice was a lot more fleshed out, as was Toga, who now feels more like a person than a flat character. She has motivations and issues, desires and habits.

I loved seeing more of Twice's background, and how the twisting of his mind occurred-- and how he deals with it. Horikoshi does a really good job of creating villains that readers can feel somewhat sympathetic towards. I personally hope Twice changes & gets a redemption arc. A big chunk of Shigaraki Tomura's past/backstory was revealed. Despite the family's dynamics, their reactions to what Tomura's father did sheds some light on the possibilities of why Tomura personally wants to destroy the society that's been built. I like that he and Deku are very obvious mirrors of each other, that Deku could've easily gone the same path as Tomura if they had been born into each other's families instead of their own.

It was cool to see Hawks continuing his double-agent work within the League of Villains. Now knowing how far he'll go to make it believable as possible is...very worrying. It felt a little out of place, considering it happened prior to the LoV VS MLA fight currently taking place, but it definitely raised the stakes for his undercover double-agent work.