I Am a Hero

a história no início é bem fundamentada, depois começaram a ficar bem mal explicadas, além de cenas nojentas como a hiromi ter se apaixonado por ele e ele retribuir fazendo sexo, a diferença de idade é absurda. Pior ainda foi no final a ex dele pedir p irmão salvar o hideo e ele cobrar sexo como pagamento.



A DIFERENÇA É GIGANTE VAI SE FUDER, os traços são tão lindos, fazem vc se apegar aos personagens p dps eles virarem oq viraram (hiromi e hideo) pelo menos a aoda salva, cara péssimo. Algumas partes ficaram meio?? na minha cabeça, mas isso foi absurdamente estranho.


SPOILER O CARALHO CLARO QUE EU VOU DAR SPOILER NESSA MERDA EU ME OBRIGUEI A LER O RESTO P VER O FINAL, E ACABA SENDO SIMPLESMENTE O HIDEO ENDOIDANDO E OS ZUMBIS TODOS VIRARAM UMA BOLA CARALHO VAI TOMAR NO CU TAMBEM. ALÉM DA MINHA PERSONAGEM FAVORITA TER FEITO SEXO COM UM MAIOR DE IDADE, ODIAR A MINHA OUTRA FAV QUE MORREU E ELA MANDAR NUM FUCKIG ZUMBI GIGANTE QUE ANDA CARALHO

This is a great manga and it shows a lot of... How should I say .. Spunk!
Usually in other story's the lead character is automatically a natural born
Leader are a skilled fight ect ect, but the hideo is non of those shock makes
Him more interesting. He can be weird sim thumbs but that make it better and funnier
and hell he's no whimp when he has that beretta 687 in his hands. This is more
Of a reality manga not something that would have a kid turning flips with a katana in his/her hands
I think they should turn this into an anime or movie

I am a hero is, at first glance, pretty mediocre. In the first few chapters, we get to know mediocre characters, who lead mediocre lives, have mediocre problems. Our "hero" is an (almost) average guy with some mental problems, and anyone can easily see that he is not a hero. He isn't even supposed to be a main character. Main characters are dependable, good-willed and most of all, they have determination. This may not be the case for every genre, but in the end, we all want our main characters to be role models, right?

Back to our hero. After he and his mediocre girlfriend get into a fight, he decides to make it up to her. She doesn't answer his calls, so he decides to stop by, and finds her lying on her bed.


You are now entering the world of awkward survival horror.

The true power of this manga lies in its ability to put a mediocre character in a crapsack world, and instead of the regular 'rise to greatness', the world remains a shithole, and our hero remains unlikeable. Well, not entirely, but there are better people to end up with in an apocalypse. Up until now, he has made me cringe more often than Bleach characters get their powers back, although in current chapters he becomes quite a bit more reliable. Remaining silent about the apocalypse because you are afraid to speak up in public isn't exactly the heroic thing to do. Neither is ducking so the girl behind you becomes the victim (while yelling/thinking "I am a hero" at that). Still, these moments are what make the manga and the main character so thoroughly interesting.

Precisely for this reason, the story and our hero's personality are allowed to progress or regress as much as the author wants. Since the hero does not 'need' moments of glory, there really is no need to give him any, and this manga remains strangely realistic (although I don't think anyone would recite the laws concerning weapon possession in these situations). That really is a good thing. Many aspects of it have already been covered in other similar stories: People are used, deceived, thrown aside, as would probably be the case if this were to happen in real life. If you're a woman in a group of male survivors, how far should you go to survive? What if you have superior firepower but are on your own? Would you be willing to kill? To sacrifice yourself? These and similar questions arise quickly, as humanity's downfall will invite many to take justice into own hands. The author provides us with quite realistic answers.

The art is at first (you guessed it) quite mediocre. This may have even been done purposefully. However, if you're willing to sit out a few chapters of average character design, the body horror will make up for it. The author really went all out with this, with surrealism rivaling that of Uzumaki.

All in all, if you're up for some awkward moments with an surrealism on the side, portrayed by a realistic yet delusional hero, I can really recommend this manga. After all, the true heroes are the ones that can survive, aren't they?

I'm not zombie/horror connoisseur by any means nowadays because it tends to be all the same, where there is a break out of a virus and every one fights to survival. But I Am a Hero is different. It takes a 180 approach to the zombie genre and turns in up on it's head. Not to be specific, when the outbreak begins, the reaction of from Japan is much more realistic, not your atypical Marshall law panic as seen in many movies, but a more subtle and unusual response to the sudden pandemic.

The main character stars, Hideo suzuki, a socially awkward and average unfulfilled mangaka until the outbreak. He is turned into the most powerful person in his periphery due to his possession of hunting shotgun (guns are rare in Japan) and the lack involvement of the government and the Japanese SDF. The plot mainly follows suzuki's escape into the less populated prefectures of tokyo while having people to join up on his journey. Though Suzuki is the main character, the plot later on branches out into other side characters and subplots later on.

This manga is quite the thriller. I can't stress enough how deep it delves into the sense of ambivalent paranoia that you the reader feels and the characters are subdued to. The key of survival and the interaction between survivors is a major plot driving point. Not to mention the manga is quite scary moments at times, where I was personally freaked the shit out of my seat. The psychological impact that this zombie plague has on the cast of characters is very underlying, in other words, the psychological impact deconstructs the meaning of human society as they try fight off the infected. There are a whole lot of themes in I am a Hero such as morality, fear of death, and facing reality, which leaves a lot for the reader to explore and interpret.

The art is drawn in pretty meticulous detail and at times the panels feels "episodic", only showing certain framed shots. What strikes me most about the art is it's feeling of motion, or rather lack of it. I mean this by the panels seeming to be very static, like stills of real life (This could probably be explained by how his art resembles photographs, very still snapshots but realistically captured). This boils over to how it affects action panels in the series. The action feels more like a photographer taking pictures of the scene rather a fluid continuity of motion as one may have seen in other manga's presentation of action sequences, for example shounen manga.

The affect of this becomes a contradiction to the eyes. The first contradiction being that the action appears to be lacking a sense of motion and that movement is static. One would typically expect, or subliminally expect, visual artistic cues like motion blur to guide the viewer's eyes and to indicate the direction of motion and the immensity of the associated kinetics. But functional drawing techniques such as motion blur or "speed lines" is entirely absent in the action sequences, leading to more probable confusion and ambiguity from the reader as to direction the motion, where it starts and stops, and it's rate of change. Therefore, much of action panels being played out in its own reality, which when observed, must necessarily represent great acceleration and momentum, in order to fit logically the frames of reference. A nod to this hypothesis could be if this series ever gets an animation or live action, I think it would be very interesting how it would turn out.

Though story pacing at the beginning might be not engaging, it really picks up in later volumes. I really recommend this if you like a different sort of riveting zombie horror manga.

2016 Update not really spoilerish but anyways
I bumped the score up to a 9 from an 8 which I believe to be the rating of the series from when I wrote the write and the point in the manga there. But currently, the this manga deserves a resounding 9, as it blew expectations in terms of where the plot is climaxing, unsuspecting turns, and overall newly found grandiose scope, which makes the manga go far beyond my initial impressions.

2018 Update regarding the ending, I think some people reviewing must really reflect on their interpretation of the ending with the whole manga in mind. As in my opinion, the ending, was very befitting so what series had built up and expressed thematically, to a tee.

Despite its relatively common premise for a zombie story, Kengo Hanazawa's horror manga stands out when we get to know its characters better - both the living and the dead.

I Am a Hero uses his time well to present each person and situation of its story. As we started the manga, we spent a good deal of time getting to know Hideo's routine and mind. We understand, in the details, all the characteristics of the protagonist and also his problems: the lack of professional success; The few close friends and acquaintances in his life; his relationship with his (also tormented) girlfriend, who despises him and only accepts him to satisfy her needs; The way his fears, almost infantile, materialize as visions every night, causing Hideo to avoid sleeping while it is dark, and to "protect himself" by holding his loaded shotgun ... Elements are not lacking in order to understand who he is and how he thinks.

If in a conventional zombies story the personality of any infected person disapears the moment that character becomes a monster, in I Am a Hero the transformation only makes that personality to stand out, making each undead a -- de facto -- single character.

The author accomplishes this through a very interesting twist in the basic formula of the genre: instead of causing them to be brainless creatures in search of brains (no pun intended) and other human parts, the ZQNs (as the infected are called in history), those monsters not only seek to kill and consume other humans: they also reenact some thought or action of their final moments as living beings.

In the end, it is as if each confrontation against these creatures is a struggle against our mundane routines, and also against the characteristics that make us belong to the modern society.

This quality of I Am a Hero only strengthens itself with the work of art of Hanazawa, that manages to value every moment of the story. His realistic trait, the way he portrays the macabre positions and movements of creatures, and especially the scenes I call "horror frames" -- when the author seems to pause the time to focus on really disturbing things --, help to make each zombie an unique character.

In the end, unlike most stories in that genre, I Am a Hero does not try to put all the human characters on a common ground, resisting against a group of zombies that acts as a destructive force of nature. He makes each of his characters special and meaningful to the story, turning the fight against every undead into a struggle against what makes us human.

You can check my full review here (in brazilian portuguese):
http://bit.ly/I-am-a-Hero

I'm gonna let this would-be masterpiece pop my first review cherry.

TL;DR: Imagine yourself chewing a fresh piece of gum. First couple of chews were all hard and boring. But as its flavour starts to release, it motivates you to want more. This continues to build up and up. Until when you've finally chewed and moisturised it enough to have that pleasant squishy feel with its flavour at its prime. Absolute Bliss. But wait. Right now, you are getting told to stop and spit it out. A mix of disappointment, dissatisfaction and perhaps anger, right? That's my experience with I Am a Hero. Dissatisfaction and disappointment with a dash of anger. End TL;DR.


Alright, I'm going to assume that I can let loose from here. I'll sync my thoughts as I type and try to keep this short.


After finishing a romance zombie manga, my interest with zombie manga rose a little. So, I ended up reading I Am a Hero's summary through recommendations. A little bit of blah blah here, I dislike reading or watching multiple stories at once because my memory will get mixed up and the feelings will jumble up annoyingly. I had already started reading another romance manga at this point but decided to start reading I Am a Hero anyway, especially since that shotgun on the cover picture probably means some good ol' F U zombie actions.



Art - 10/10:
I'm not a picker. The faces were drawn very differently comparing to the other manga/anime I've read/watched. I had a hard time getting used to it but the attention to the details of the many sceneries in this series more than make up for it. Plus, since we're getting a lot of gore here, it helps a lot for me to separate I Am a Hero from my other Happy, Feel Gooo..Great manga/anime. Actually, I'm just going to say it bluntly, the faces were drawn ugly but they are also very unique. Anyhow, it's not like everyone in real life are beautiful or handsome anyway. Take my 10 with no shame.


Character - 10/10:
Not a picker. I don't really pay attention as to whether the stories behind the characters contradict or make sense at all. They were all believable and it was interesting how their relationships progressed. No complaints, so no penalty from my default 10/10 score.


Story - 8/10:
Honestly, I think I could give this a 0 because I absolutely hate bad endings. Bad as in incomplete or illogical endings. As you may understand from my TL;DR, I Am a Hero felt incomplete to me. There were quite a few cues throughout the story that MAY have indicated that the author needed to cut this story short or worse. I'm going to be naive and believe that there is a FULL version of I Am a Hero and by judging the series' direction while mixing a bit of estima... imagination, I'm giving this an 8/10 for its high potential for a masterpiece ending. What's a masterpiece ending? It's any ending that leaves a gapping hole in my heart with a pint of satisfaction for finishing the series.


Enjoyment - 8/10:
Reading it was a bliss. Finishing it was a nut job. I'm going to imagine that I Am a Hero does not end where it ended.


Overall - 8/10:
Should be 9, right? No. I'm still salty from that sorry excuse of an ending. Actually, I should rate this at below 5/10. I seriously dislike it when a story terminates abruptly, especially when I'm so engaged to it. It's like a school excursion getting cancelled just as every arrived at the destination. "We're finally here. But we are leaving now."


Ol' me can't take this unbelievable turn of event. I'm going to believe I Am a Hero has not end. The next chapter will see the return of our gal, a more in-depth explanation of the final climax and a mention of one of our last heroes in the series - the quiet heroine.



PS. Sorry for screwing up the overall score that represents I Am a Hero. It doesn't really deserve an 8 and I truly am bad at rating. I still have hope for this and I gave my overall score based on what I hope. Sorry for that.
I hope we can find a manga/anime that can top this, and still have a befitting ending.

PS2. Sorry, I'm really out of time now. Please endure my grammar mistakes if applies.

I started I am a Hero not knowing much about it, except that it has excellent art and it's a zombie apocalypse story. And that is pretty much what this manga is. Overall, the story is solid, however it is deeply corrupted by a dissatisfying ending that resolves almost none of mysteries that the reader might want solved. Despite this, strong characters and amazing art make it worth a read.

Story: 3/10
As someone who loves fulfilling and resolved conclusions, this manga was quite disappointing to me. There is a subplot with one or two chapters about the zombie invasion in Spain that was very interesting, but is then later never elaborated on. So, don't expect the story or mystery to fulfill itself, because it won't. There are a few good chapters here and there showing theories and possible explanations (alien invasion? who knows!), but for the most part there are many, many unanswered questions in this manga. I'll be honest right now and say that there will be no explanation for why the zombie outbreak is happening, or how it started. It just happens one day, and people sort of deal with it.

But as an ending, I do think that it isn't as bad as most people tend to say. It is true that nothing in the grand scheme of things is resolved, but at the end of the day the story is about Suzuki, the main character, and how he maneuvers his life around this sudden outbreak. As so, the ending as closure to specifically Suzuki's story does make sense, but I'm still disappointed by all the unsolved mysteries.

Another small nitpick have is that towards the beginning of the manga, a lot of characters seem to underreact when faced with the zombie apocalypse. Near the beginning, a zombie comes in on a train and bites off half of a man's face and no one in the train seems to really care too much. For me, this felt pretty unnatural and it threw me a bit off, however it's not a big issue.

*Spoilers*
I was not a huge fan of the sex in the series. Suzuki eventually does it with the other two main girls, with one of them being 15 while he himself is 35. The manga does touch up on the regret and shame that he feels afterwards, but I wasn't exactly happy with that particular plot point (especially with the timing of the act, too).


Art: 10/10
The art is phenomenal. It is honestly probably some of the best art I've ever seen, period. Every drawing is filled to the brim with detail, and some of the panels are worth stopping and zooming in just to see all the details, especially if they are in color. The art quality also never drops throughout the entire series, which I find very, very impressive. I'd say that this is worth reading, just for the art.


Characters: 8/10
I loved nearly all the characters in the manga. Everyone isn't a perfectly good person in a realistic way, but at the same time, everything every character does feels natural. The author doesn't delve into most character's backstories, but all of the main characters has a strong sense of identity and personality within the story. However, some of the side characters can feel forgettable, especially those from factions that aren't part of the main story.

Enjoyment: 7/10
The most enjoyment I got out of this manga was probably just from looking at all the details in the art itself. However, the manga also has solid characters, and despite the lackluster ending, the story is solid. If you go in without high expectations, and are just expecting a solid zombie story with amazing art, then you should have a good time with this manga.

Overall: 7/10

There's a reason why the summary is so vague. And how it explicitly does not state it's a manga about zombies; what makes this manga exceptionally creepy is how it portrays a zombie outbreak. There's no big TV announcement that goes "MAN-EATING ZOMBIES ON THE LOOSE STAY HOME AND LOCK ALL YOUR DOORS" by some frantic news reporter. There are just little hints here and there, and in the beginning it wouldn't even cross your mind this is gonna be a manga about zombies. The true horror starts when this realisation suddenly hits you.

But oh well, since everybody is just dropping the zombie bomb in their reviews.. HELL YEAH IT'S A MOTHERF***ING ZOMBIE OUTBREAK MANGA.

Ok now moving on ~

Read it if you're into:

A dystopian setting in an urban era/envrironment.
Realistic and detailed art.
Zombie or horror in general.

What I find distinctive about this manga's horror style is its "silence"

Let me try explaining this. Usually in horror manga, the scary visuals make you imagine some sort of noise to accompany it. Seeing a smiling ghost can create a creepy laughter in your head, or a man walking down the alleyway and being followed can create the sound of footsteps and heavy breathing.

In I Am A Hero, there's no sound to the visuals. (especially so in the beginning chapters) This is partly because of its abruptness of the scary scenes, there's usually no build-up to the creepiness, and that makes it even scarier.

Some of these drawings are serious nightmare material. I kid you not, do not even think of showing this to children or your 5 year old brother because this shit will ruin his childhood. And the fact that the plot is made even more believable because of its realism just creeps into your brain and makes you very uncomfortable: it COULD happen to you.

The title couldn't be more perfect as well. On the surface it is a zombie manga, but perhaps the title signifies it's truly Hideo Suzuki's (main character) story. The story of an ordinary guy suddenly pushed into a nightmare and forced to be a hero. Even amidst the incomprehensible terror, the helplessness, and the feeling of loneliness in a very scary world, you can still find the willpower and the bravery to say,

"I am a hero".

This review will be based upon the the first 191 chapters and might change according to how the story turns out.

Story: The story is the typical zombie apocalypse story but compared to other manga or movies it starts some days before the apocalypse. It follows the life of a mangaka during his daily routine. Its a boring normal life but seeing it through the eyes of Suzuki Hideo will make it interesting and fun. It will keep you focused even if its not what you started the manga for. After some chapters the apocalypse breaks out and you follow this character to his journey for survival. I will also say that its really similar to Apocalypse no Toride's story but its completly different to the other parts(art,chars). So if you liked that manga you will like this one too.

Art: The art is incredibly! Its detailed clean and realistic. The faces are full of details and expressions. Honestly i havent seen better drwaings for faces than this. I have seen a lot of opinions about the faces, other say that its ugly but realistic at the same time. I believe its a hit or miss, i really like it but a lot of people hate it.

Character: The characters are really interesting and the develop and change during the journey. He does a really good job to show a lot of different kind of people and how they react to the apocalypse. I would focus tho on the main character, he is pure gold. He is a normal guy that gets to be in extreme situations. His reactions and character is hilarious and will make you laugh all the time. But he will get serious when the situation is dangerous.

Enjoyment: I really enjoyed reading this, it has the right amount of comedy,action and dialog. It wont tire you with extremly long dialogs or non-stop action sequences.

Overall: I believe this is a great manga for people that like the zombie genre but even for all those that want an apocalypse manga or a manga that focuses in the connections between people in extreme situations. I suggest to everyone to read this manga and i am sure that when you finish it you gonna be a fan of Hanazawa Kengo

I Am a Hero is not your average zombie manga - it's best compared to other horror zombie books/movies that have become so popular recently.
I am a Hero focuses on your everyday character, no one special, as is common with most zombie stories. A zombie outbreak occurs in Japan, and he tries his best to survive.
What sets this apart from regular zombie manga is that:
1. This manga manages to terrify you even though it's still (it scared me more than some zombie movies) and
2. The emotions that the artist conveys are great.
The artist draws the zombies in a very gory fashion - if you don't like that, then this is not for you. However, if you do like gore, it's everywhere in this. The zombie deaths are great, and while some may say that the story moves too slowly, (it isn't overly action-packed) every chapter is needed, either in developing the characters or developing the knowledge of the outbreak.
In summary, this is a great manga if you want to scare yourself and gain a full understanding of the outbreak. If you want more action/fan service, go read Highschool of the Dead.