I have lost track of the My Hero Academia spin-offs; there’s at least 3 that I can think of, and now here’s number four: My Hero Academia: Team-Up Missions. Basically, it’s an excuse to put random characters together and have a little fun. I liked this collection because it is more on the light side, and the main series is getting darker by the moment. Some of the scenarios and pairings are not that original like Bakugo and Deku to see if they can manage team-work; that’s been done, although not in the presence of Hawks which made things a little more interesting since Hawks has gotten a lot more page-time in the main series of late. Take the same pairing and question, and add Uraraka in the presence of Mirko (a bunny-themed hero). Take another scenario and add in a character exclusive to the second movie. You get the idea.
I think my favorite was taking Yaoyorozu and Ida in the presence of Fat Gum. Fat is one of my favorite characters so it was nice to see him here, as well as see his agency. Watching gloomy Amajiki (a senior student who studies under Fat Gum) along with his cheery mentor is usually pretty entertaining as well, although the plot of this one was kind of dumb: help a little girl find the “Prince charming” who saved her. On the other hand getting to see Fat Gum’s agency was interesting although a little cliché.
It’s too bad Asui didn’t get much to do in this one, but that just leaves something look forward to in the next volume (I hope). Froppy is probably my favorite of the US Class 1-A students, so I was hoping to see a little more of her. I am however very glad there wasn’t much of Mineta; there is no point that that character. None at all; he’s just an offensive stereotype that needs to be gotten rid of.
Even though this volume is more a series of vignettes, it still manages a few little interesting moments, like the reveal of who/what the potential troublemaker actually is in the Mirko story, or Fat Gum’s assessment of Amajiki in that one. I’m looking forward to see what else this side series comes up with.
