V Reviews - My Hero Academia: One hair will change your life!

Ever since Marvel started their cinematic Universe, heroes have become more popular than ever before. It's only natural then that even the manga world starts to pick up on the trend and create heroes themselves.

And there have been several attempts at hero-related manga, both in the past and today (with various degrees of success).

There have been great series like Zetman, Ratman, Tiger & Bunny and obviously One Punch Man (just to name a few). But one hero show has conquered many hearts in both the East and West. This is My Hero Academia

Ready? Let's get this show on the road.

V Reviews - My Hero Academia (Season 1)

Let's dig into some backstory first...

Kōhei Horikoshi is a mangaka from 1986 who required some time to actually get a long running series from the ground.

He started off as an assistant to Yasuki Tanaka, creator of Kagijin. Whilst doing this, he also created a few one-shots to get his own career started.

But don't worry if you have never heard the name of Yasuki Tanaka before. Kagijin was cancelled after two volumes and none of Tanakas other series stuck as well. Kagijin is literally the last recorded manga Tanaka worked on.

So without a steady mangaka to work for, Kōhei had to start creating a series that could get himself launched in the industry. In 2010 he got his first manga running, named Oumagadoki Zoo. This series sadly enough lasted only for 5 volumes before it was canned.

Not too long after that, he tried with the series named Barrage (first as a one-shot, then as a series). But that one didn't do that well either, and after TWO volumes it got canned.

After that, two years of nothing with only 1 one-shot manga that got published. But that is only looking at recorded works. Who knows how many attempts at a new series were refused by Jump's editors?

Look, even Hattori isn't impressed.

But then in 2014, Kōhei finally got a manga series started that is still running today: Boku no Hero Academia (My hero Academia). Kōhei has truly struggled hard to obtain a long-running series. So let's celebrate that he finally has a franchise that is favored well by manga readers and anime viewers alike!

And well-liked it is. The manga has already generated two spin-off manga's, a video game and now also an anime that is going into its second season this spring!

Edit: Oh, and on a side-note: You can follow Kohei on twitter @horikoshiko.

Story

The world of My Hero Academia is one where more than 80% of all people have a superpower (called kosei, or "Quirks"). Some people use them as "tools" in their daily life, while others become either villains or actual superheroes.

Our protagonist Izuku Midoriya has been dreaming his entire life to become one of these superheroes and starts to adore them. His biggest idol is the superman-like hero "All Might". But Izukus dreams are crushed when medical tests have proven he has no quirk at all.

Could YOU tell him he can't become a hero when he makes a face like this?

But even with no powers, he continues to adore Superheroes and fills notebooks with info about them, much to the annoyance of other kids with powers. These kids end up bullying him, with rival character Katsuki Bakugou at the helm of all this.

But after All Might accidentally releases a villain he just caught, said villain catches up to these bullies and catches Bakugou. The monstrous blobby villain wants to "absorb" Bakugou and use his explosive powers for his own. But since the villain leaves parts of the absorbed Bakugou on the outside (and thus make him appear as a hostage), nobody of the existing heroes is able to do something about this (out of fear of killing the hostage).

"Wait, this kid can use explosions? Coooool..."

When Midoriya enters the scene and sees this happening, his legs start moving on their own and he wants to go help his "friend" / bully. The powerless Midorya is obviously unable to do anything, but he's able to distract the monster long enough for All Might to jump in and save the day.

One PUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!

Inspired by Midoriya's actions and his backstory, All Might decides to make Midoriya the inheritor of his powers.

Why is he looking for an inheritor? Because a wound he received years ago is seriously decreasing his ability to act as a hero and it's only growing worse by the time. All Might explains that his Quirk "One for All", can copy his powers onto Midoriya... as long as he absorbs All Might's DNA somehow.

As you might guess... If this was a hentai, it would be indeed be via sperm or spit or something similarly disgusting. Since this is a shonen, it's kept to the the awkward act of... eating his hair.

You won't get no dessert 'till you clean off your plate, so EAT IT!

The rest of the story focuses on Midoriya's story into becoming an actual hero in the U.A. Academy and becoming accustomed to All Might's high power with an equally destructive side-effect.

Characters

	Izuku Midoriya: Main character. He's a hero fanboy who desires to become a hero himself. After he acquires the "One for All" power, he becomes the textbook definition of a glass cannon. His story focuses on both becoming a true hero, as well as accepting this overwhelming power that disables him just as much. Fun note: Midori(ya) = green, which is present in his color scheme.
	Katsuki Bakugou: Starts out as the bully of Midoriya, but ends up becoming the rival character. He looks like Bleach's Ichigo with a superiority complex and a very short fuse. The name "Bakugou" also literally means detonation (which says enough about his character).
	All Might: This universe's incarnation of the Superman archetype. But he quickly reveals that he's just a human too, since he's carrying a "war wound" from a battle of several years ago that is limiting and decreasing his time as a hero.
	Tenya Iida: The typical super-straight guy who wants to do everything by the book and becomes the class president. He's one o the first U.A. students that befriends Midoriya. His power is becoming super-fast due to jet engines in his feet.
	Ochako Uraraka: The "love interest" character for Midoriya. Wants to become a hero for money reasons (to help her poor family) and has the ability to make things and people "float" (including herself). Though this comes at the cost of becoming nauseous if used for too long. She befriends Midoriya rather quick and is the one who gives his nickname "Deku a positive spin (form "useless" to "never giving up").
	Shouta Aizawa: Eraserhead. He's the homeroom teacher of Midoriya's class and has the ability to cancel or "erase" other hero's quircks for a short time (though it gives him dry eye if used for too long).

And since this is a "high school" manga, there are tons of supporting characters in form of Midoriya's classmates. Too much to name them all, though. In this first season, most of the classmates remain as minor supporting characters. But some more time is given to Asui Tsuyu (the frog girl) and Minoru Mineta (the sticky balls guy) than others in this first story arc.

Animation & Sound

I can be very short when it comes to the animation. My Hero Academia is animated by Studio Bones. Bones = Consistent Quality animation. End of story.

When it comes to the sound, however, I'm in awe. The score is done by Yuuki Hayashi, and he did a phenomenal job. THIS is the kind of music I want in my Superhero movies or series.

While having good movies, I think it's an understatement that the music of both Marvel and DC's Cinematic Universe (and TV series) are lackluster, with only a handful of DC character themes actually being memorable (e.g. the Wonder Woman theme). Both DC and Marvel should stop playing it safe and take a few lessons from this soundtrack!

So give this OST a listen, if you can (search it on Youtube, or buy the CD). It's one of the best OSTs I've heard from 2016!

Any negatives?

My Hero Academia a typical Shonen action anime. This means that this anime is filled with lots of anime tropes and is lacking in complex storytelling or characters. So if you're looking for the "critical darling" of 2016, you're at the wrong address here.

But on the other end... This IS a hero anime with a positive vibe. If you wanted a critical breakdown of the hero genre, go read Zetman instead (but don't bother watching that anime adaptation.)!

Personal opinion and Conclusion!

In my honest opinion, My Hero Academia is a perfect gateway anime, especially for people in the west who love their TV-series colored "hero"!

With that I mean that it's perfect to suggest to your friends if they want to experience what a typical anime is about, without going to "deep" or "weird" in storytelling. It's something that anyone of any age can enjoy.

This is also a perfect replacement for people who felt sad that Naruto and Bleach have ended and want something else that is equally digestible.

Personally, I certainly can enjoy a well-crafted Shonen action series like this. I enjoyed the first season and am definitely looking forward for the second season!

I'm giving this a solid 8.5/10.

Until next time, V out.

Massive Yugioh updates - Masked HERO Structure Deck, Baby Monarchs, new D.D. monsters and more

It's been one of those days where you wake up and spread your eyes wide open because of all the news updates. I'll try to recap whatever I found/noticed this morning.

The HERO structure deck supports masked HEROs

Considering all the variants in HERO cards, it wasn't quite clear what kind of Structure deck we could expect. But I guess most people kind of guessed what effect monster would be in here, right?

The first revelead 2 cards are the long-awaited Elemental HERO Shadow Mist and a new quick-play spell card named Form Change.

• Shadow Mist: has two effects. The first one is "If this card is Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Change" Quick-Play Spell Card from your Deck to your hand (Mask Change or Form Change obviously)". The other is: "If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can add 1 "HERO" monster from your Deck to your hand, except for "Elemental HERO Shadow Mist". You can only use 1 of these effects once per turn (to prevent abuse, since it's a good effect).
• Form Change on the other end is similar to Mask Change, but while Mask Change required you to keep the current attribute, Form Change requires you to keep the same level instead; AND it sends the targeted fusion monster back to the extra deck instead of to the grave (interesting twist).
• Chaos HERO Chaos and Masked HERO Kouga are also revealed to be new fusion cards in this structure deck, but without effect as of yet (more on that next month around this period).

Other revealed cards are Card Trooper, Honest, E-HERO Woodsman, Bubbleman and Gaia, Masked HERO Acid and Miracle Fusion.

It's not hard to predict, but people are quite excited about Shadow Mist... her second effect obviously. She doesn't miss timing and when sent to the grave by ANY means. And when sent, she searches any HERO (Tele-DAD abuse?). And believe me, with an attack of 1000, reviving her and sending her back to the grave is just as easy as constantly spamming Stratos. Thank god there's a once-per-turn clause, or otherwise this card would become limited/forbidden sooner than you think.

Stratos is gone for good (in TCG). Does this serve as a replacement?

Baby Monarchs, what the...?

Another big uproar is the announcement of baby Monarchs. Well, truth be told, they're not named monarchs (nor princes), but the effect and art of the first revealed card make it clear that they're related to the monarchs.

The first card to be revealed is named Essha, the Forst Vassal. The effect is: "If your opponent controls 2 or more cards in their Spell and Trap Card Zones, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand)."

The art is similar to Mobius and seems (in terms of effect) like the perfect setup to summon Mobius. This card will appear in the OCG Jump Victory Carnival 2014. no idea if more of the "baby monarchs" will follow, but they probably will (considering Konami's pushing the Monarchs lately).

"Perfect spam card?
I don't know what you're talking about?"

New V-Jump Card has new D.D. Monsters

A New V-Jump pack will appear in the OCG, with cards like Entermate Heitiger (Warrior Tiger), Entermate Jinrhino (Thunderhino), DDD Caesar the Conqueror, DD Proud Ogre and DD Proud Chevalier.

No effects as of yet, since they still have to appear in the anime. But more on that next month I guess?

Duelist Advent fully spoiled

The Duelist Advent (the next set after Primal Origins) is being released today in the OCG, so yesterday and last night all cards were slowly revealed. I won't go into detail at this moment, but I'll give you the usual "cards to look forward to" post next week's Monday or so.

OCG's Number Guide 3 promo card revealed

The promo card will be Number 99: Hope Dragun. And it gives people another reason to play a Utopia monster (any Utopia monster)

Because while you can use 3 Lv 10 monsters as Xyz Material, you can also discard any Rank-up Magic spell card to overlay a Utopia monster you control with this boss monster. Its two effects are:

① Once per turn: You can target 1 “Number” monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in face-up Defense Position. Its effects are negated. ② When a monster effect targets this card: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; negate that activation, and if you do destroy it.

Don't expect this one soon in the TCG, the first Numbers Guide card became a Jump Promo and the second one is only being released this month in Dragons of Legend.

More cards (or card effects) revealed in Dragons of Legend

You know that series of cards in my post about Dragons of Legend that didn't have a card effect announced yet? Well, they all got their effect revealed... together with some new revealed cards!

• Instant Fusion (anime card) became Flash Fusion (because of the obvious naming issues). It's a quick-play spell card that lets you fuse instantly, with the cost that the fusion monster is destroyed during the end phase (unless used as Xyz Material or for Masked HERO transformations.).
• Shooting Star got its effect as predicted: while you control a stardust dragon: target 1 card, destroy the target.
• Rising Sun Slash: Utopia can not be destroyed by effects (including its own, lol); each time a monster is attacked, it gains 500 attack (lol, whut), and you can detach it as an Xyz material (why would you do that, for crying out loud?). Good support card!
• Blackwing – Steam the Cloaked is an "interesting" Blackwing tuner that creates a lv 1 token when sent to the graveyard and which can special summon itself by tributing a monster you control. Though the downside is that both effects can only be used once per duel.
• Number C73: Abyss Supra requires 3 LV 6 monsters and does attack manipulation, similar to Abyss Splash. It does become interesting if Abyss Splash is an Xyz Material, since then it cannot be destroyed by card effects (wich makes it a menacing card). But that's not very likely to happen, right?
• Final Fusion: If two fusion monsters battle it out, both monsters are destroyed and both players take the total attack as effect damage. Massive effect damage, but only usable in limited decks.
• Wiretap: Now THIS is an interesting counter trap: When a Trap Card is activated: Negate that activation, and if you do, return that card to the owner’s Deck. No more allowing your opponent to draw a card (Dark Bribe) or paying 1000 lifepoints (7 Tools). You just send it back to the deck (LOL).
• Mound of the Bound Creator: This is an interesting support card for God Card decks. It protects Lv. 10 and higher monsters from card effects (*cough*REDMD*cough*), causes extra effect damage if a Lv. 10 or higher monster destroys a monster (*cough*star*eater*cough*quasar*cough*) and when this card is destroyed by effect (not game mechanic, you sly weasels), you can add a Divine Beast from your deck to the hand. Amazing for God cards, but I have no idea what other monsters to use it for (*cough*bullshit*cough*).
• Guardian Dreadscythe: You can only special summon it when Guardian Eatos is destroyed (like in the anime) or by its own effect. When summoned, you can instantly equip the Reaper Scythe from your deck to this card (lol, wut?). And if it's send from the field to the grave, you can send 1 card from your hand to the grave to special summon it once more. Downside: no further summons except this card (to prevent abuse with its special summon condition). But whether or not it will be used, will probably depend on the effect of the Reaper's Scythe.

And the newly revealed cards are:

• Amulet Dragon: The Fusion between Dark Magician and the Eye of Timaeus. When summoned, you can banish any number of spell cards in either player's grave (*hint*prophecy*hint) to gain extra attack. And when it's destroyed, you can special summon any spellcaster from your grave. Very interesting card.
• Rank-Up-Magic Admire Death Thousand: Hey, look. Vector's RUM card. And it's a funny card (though very situational). When both players have an Xyz with the same rank in their grave, you can special summon a Number C monster whose rank is 1 higher than the 2 Xyz in the graves. Special summon the Number C card and attach the two Xyz from the grave as Xyz Material. While similar to another nerfed Rank-up Card (you can't special summon other monsters), the fact that you can create a chaos monster out of thin air makes it a little better. If you use it (unlikely), the best bet to use this card is a Rank 5 C card (Utopia Ray V and Heraldry Crest of Horror), because it has the highest chance of success.
• Shadow Impulse: Not from Jump, but from an article on the Konami blog last evening (you'd almost forget it with all the other reveals). When a Synchro you control is destroyed by any means and sent to the grave, you can special summon another synchro from your extra deck of the same Type (e.g. Dragons) and level, but with a different name. It is an easy way to sacrifice decent cards (like Scrap Dragon) to achieve harder-to-get but hella annoying synchro's (like Beelze, Dark End Dragon, Void Ogre Dragon or Infernity Doom Dragon) . Interesting trap card, I have to say.
• Reaper's Scythe - Dreadscythe is announced in the card effect of Guardian Dreadscythe, but no effect as of yet.
• And a certain poster announced that Express Train Trolley Olley will be in this set as well. No effects either, but the anime effect isn't great so... should we care?

"BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER!"

Afterword

Wow, that was a lot to cover. Hope I got it all. Anyways, that's it for now, V out.

How the new Forbidden & Limited list will affect us

Chaos Dragons: close to being extinct

As a Chaos Dragon player, I realize we’ve been hurt. Future Fusion: forbidden (we saw that one coming miles away), REDMD: Limited (hurts a lot), Chaos Sorcerer limited (WHY?), Tour Guide became semi-limited (awh), Brionac Forbidden (although the last 2 are key cards in many decks anyways).

I’m currently testing out new deckbuilds of Chaos Dragons, but more on that later.

Inzektors: Got their wings ripped out

We expected Inzektors to get hit, but they got butchered instead. With two of the 3 key cards becoming limited, the deck got hurt a lot. They can’t run to Tour Guide (as an alternative) either, because she got hit as well.

I warned you to sell your inzektor stuff while it was still worth something.

Wind-up: Sunk your battleship

Konami was smart in this case. They hit Wind-ups where it hurt the most… the mass spamming has ceased. Zenmaighty to 1 will make Hunter much less of a threat. Honestly, I wished Konami would do this, but I never expected they would.

Rabbit decks: An arrow to the knee

This one is the top deck that got hurt the least. The tins may have given it away already. Konami wouldn’t promote their tins with 2 of the boss XYZ, if the bunny would’ve been served for lunch. Rabbit became semi-limited. With Tour Guide to 2, this top tier deck has the highest chance of survival in the new format.

HERO: it’s just a braze

Konami recognized that HERO’s have become stronger, so they semi-limited A Hero Lives (one of the problem cards in my eyes) and E-Emergency Call. In return they gave us the long-desired third Destiny Draw.

Hieratic mash-ups (specific: Gishki Hieratic): Let’s take one foot, your spine and your evil eye.

The Hieratic Loop got hit. REDMD to 1 and Seal of Convocation to 2 reduces the OTK-ability of this deck to 0. With Evigishki Gustkraken, they also pre-emptively hit the mash-up of Hieratics with Gishki’s. At first you might wonder: “Why Gustkraken?”. But I’ve seen the deck in action (thanks to Lithium3200’s uploads). The amount of times a hieratic player summons Gustkraken in one duel, makes Wind-up Hunter look like an amateur.

Offering Gadgets (Offerings no longer allowed)

With Ultimate Offering to 1, this deck is dead. No problem with that, Offering became a problem card ever since XYZ came out.

Stop the brain drain

This is a request from several OCG players I’ve seen. Stopping brainless decks. The argument is that Pot of Duality (and a few other cards) promote unskilled play. They got their wish somewhat, as Pot of Duality got semi-limited, together with Tour Guide. I hope this will promote skilled play & creative deck creation.

The decks that have recovered a little are:

• Plants: Spore Returns & Debris Dragon goes to 2. Hurray!
• Agents: The return of Earth gives the deck a little breather. But honestly, I’d rather have seen T.G. Striker return than this one.
• Blackwing: Kalut returns to 2, giving Blackwings that little extra boost they needed.
• Lightsworn: As predicted by many people, the Lightswornd get another card back. This time, it’s Necro Gardna. Will this boost their popularity?
• Stall/Burn: Marshmallon, Level Limit Area B, Magic Cylinder and Swords of Revealing Light are back at 3. This gives people who like stall decks an extra boost.
• Tele-DAD: Emergency Teleport is back unlimited. Same for Destiny Draw. Though the old Tele-DAD seems impossible to make, with all the new cards that came out ever since, it will be interesting to see new variants.

Decks that will flourish in the new format

Of course, it’s always hard to tell in the beginning of a new banlist (that matters). My first thought would be:

• Dino Rabbit: A little slower than before, but with 3 Leviair, 3 Laggia & 3 Dolkka, this is still a serious threat.
• HERO: With Stratos still in play and with Excalibur & Blade Armor Ninja, this remains a deck to be feared.
• Geargia: Better get used to the return of machine decks. Geargia has topped quite frequently in the OCG, so I kind of expect it to do the same here, even if the deck lacks certain cards from the OCG (like Tinplate goldfish).
• Six Samurai: Honestly, I forgot about these bastards, until I read the post of Lightgrunity. Its worst matchups are gone with this list, so it has a potential to come back with a revenge.
• Dark World: Did not get hurt by banlist. This deck might become a serious threat, but the deck is still its own worst enemy (mirror matches ftw).
• Atlantean mashups: Though this will wait until November (structure deck & Abyss Rising), you better prepare for the rise of water-attribute decks.
• Tele-DAD: Yeah, you ARE reading that correctly. With 3 Emergency Teleports and 3 Destiny Draws at their disposal and no other key card being hurt, I think Tele-DAD (and other Tele-mashups) is a serious contender for the upcoming format. So better fetch your Krebons while they’re cheap dirt, because in a month, he might be a rare find. E-Teleport already is.

September is Tele-Party time!

How to beat a field full of dragons

Consider one of the following situations:

• Your opponent has a field with 2 Gaia Dragons (overlayed from Atum), an unused Hieratic Dragon King of Atum (or some other dragon) and 2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons with 0 attack/defense.
• Your opponent has a field with 2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons and a few chaos dragons (while playing with dragons).

Seems pretty hopeless, huh? Yeah, a top decked card like Dark Hole and Black luster Soldier might get you out of this bind. But try thinking outside of the box. Try to look at cards that other players use… For example: HERO players.

Yup, the card I’m talking about is Super Polymerization.

Super Polymerization?

I hear you coming… isn't this a HERO-exclusive card? The answer is… NO. You can fuse ANY fusion monster you want, as long as the necessary fusion material monsters are on (either side of) the field and as long as you discard 1 card. 

You all know how powerful Super Poly is. It’s one of the few cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! that you can NOT counter.

How frequent could you activate it? Well, both Chaos Dragons and Hieratic Dragons have the tendency to spam the field with boss monsters, so more frequent than you think!

The best thing is, when you’re a dragon player yourself, you don’t even need to change that extra deck. The target fusion monster is already in there!

How it works – Vs. Hieratics

Hieratic dragons have the tendency to overextend to OTK you. When they do their loop (Atum - REDMD - Atum - REDMD - any dragon), they leave themselves very vulnerable to Super Poly.

Take that moment, just before your opponent overlays those two REDMD’s into Gustaph Max, to activate Super Polymerization, tribute your opponents 5 dragons and have a gigantic boss monster as a prize.

How it works – Vs. Chaos Dragons

This kind of “bullying” is harder to pull off against Chaos Dragons, but it can work wonders in Chaos Dragon mirror matches. If your opponent has 3 or more Dragons on his side of the field, you can have 1 or 2 (depending on how many your opponent has) dragons enter the field and activate this card. The plus on this is that your opponent’s Lightpulsar Dragon will miss the timing. In this case, make sure you don’t use LPD yourself (unless you’re out of options), because your LPD will miss timing as well.

So, the next time somebody tells you Konami should make Five-Headed dragon forbidden (instead of Future Fusion), tell them they shouldn't, because you can use that very fusion monster against dragon players.

Of course, this is just one possible counter against Chaos/Hieratic Dragons. But this one proves that you should not limit yourself to the generally known counters (like Electric Virus, Victoria, Soul Taker, ...). When you think outside of the box, you might just find an original answer to your problem.

Until next time

V out.