My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Review — The Street-Level Hero Story the Main Series Couldn't Tell

Koichi Haimawari is a college student with a Quirk that lets him slide frictionlessly across flat surfaces. It is not impressive. He did not get into UA. He is not a hero. When he starts helping people in a neighborhood that licensed heroes don't cover, he is technically breaking the law.

I'm Yu. Vigilantes is the My Hero Academia story that happens at street level, where the stakes are different and the characters have more room.

Quick Take

• Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's My Hero Academia: Vigilantes (ヴィジランテ -僕のヒーローアカデミア ILLEGALS-) ran in Shōnen Jump+ — collected in 15 volumes, complete.
• VIZ Media published the complete 15-volume English edition.
• Rated T (Teen) — action violence; dark themes; significant character deaths that carry real emotional cost.

Story Overview

Koichi Haimawari spends his days doing small unofficial good deeds: picking up litter, giving directions, helping elderly people with bags. He gets involved with Knuckleduster — a foul-mouthed, relentlessly intense vigilante who operates outside the law — and Kazuho Haneyama, a pop idol who uses her wings as cover for vigilante work.

Together they operate in the parts of the city that licensed heroes don't reach. The main series asks: what does it take to become the greatest hero? Vigilantes asks: what if greatness isn't the point?

Over 15 volumes, what begins as neighborhood-scale activism escalates into confrontations that test what Koichi is actually capable of and what he is willing to become. The series also depicts younger versions of pro heroes who will be familiar from the main series — including Eraserhead in his vigilante days.

Characters

Koichi Haimawari / The Crawler — His character arc is the series' main achievement. He starts genuinely ordinary — not particularly brave, motivated by a vague sense that he should be useful. By the end, he is something extraordinary. The transformation feels completely earned. He never stops being Koichi. He just becomes more of himself.

Knuckleduster — Difficult to summarize without major spoilers. He appears as a comedy character and becomes something much more significant. His backstory, revealed gradually, recontextualizes everything about how he's been acting.

Kazuho Haneyama / Pop Step — Her arc is one of the more emotionally complex in the series. Her relationship with Koichi is central to the story's emotional core, and what happens to her carries the most weight.

What I Love About It

I almost did not read this. I was a little tired of MHA and not sure I wanted more of the same world. It is not the same.

What I love is Koichi's specific ordinariness. He has the minor Quirk. He did not get into the hero program. He helps anyway — picking up litter, giving directions, doing small things that nobody thanks him for and that the system doesn't recognize.

The series argues that this is also heroism. That the shape of heroism isn't determined by what kind of Quirk you have or what institution validates you, but by the repeated choice to help when you could ignore the situation.

That hit me harder than most things in the main series.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

In the final arc, Koichi ends up in a situation where no one is watching — no audience, no hero license, no recognition possible — and he still does the hero thing. The moment where he realizes this is simply who he is now, not because of any dream or reward, is handled with extraordinary quietness. Furuhashi and Court do not hammer the point. They trust the reader to feel it.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Street-level scale makes the victories and losses hit differently than the main series.
• Koichi's growth arc is among the most satisfying in the MHA franchise.
• Character deaths carry real weight — the series is willing to cost the characters something.
• Complete at 15 volumes with full resolution.

Cons:

• Requires sufficient main series familiarity to fully appreciate the context.
• The connections to main MHA contain significant spoilers for certain character histories.
• Some early volumes are lighter before the series commits to its darker direction.

Is My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Worth Reading?

Yes — for MHA fans who want more of the world at a different scale. The case that Vigilantes is a better story than the main series for certain readers is not difficult to make. The 15-volume commitment is worth it.

Who Is This Manga For?

• MHA readers who want the franchise's street-level story.
• Anyone who prefers smaller-scale superhero narratives over tournament arcs.
• Fans of the main series who want to see certain characters in their earlier history.
• Readers who want a completed superhero spinoff with genuine emotional stakes.

Official English Translation Status

VIZ Media published all 15 English volumes. Complete and available in print and digital.

Where to Buy

VIZ Media's complete 15-volume English edition.

Browse My Hero Academia: Vigilantes on Amazon →

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