I am a Hero

Another random entry in the annals of “shit Morri finds weird enough to share”. It is also an entry in the growing genre of zombie manga, but I’m getting ahead of myself. I am a Hero reads pretty much like any psychological seinen horror. I started reading it thinking it would be similar to Homunculus and, for the most part, it kinda is like it.

I AM A HERO

「アイアムアヒーロー」
Hanazawa Kengo

Read Online: MangaFox

Our protagonist is Suzuki Hideo, a thirty-five year old otaku who works as an assistant for an ero-mangaka. (If you’re planning on reading this hoping to see the sort of sundry images you’d expect in a seinen manga taking place in an ero-mangaka’s studio, don’t get your hopes up. It wasn’t until the last chapter that I even realized that it was ero-manga that they were illustrating.) Hideo is a pretty pathetic individual. He’s has one manga published and is still aiming for another, even going so far as to make his next manga idea a moe-blob type story (dealing with agriculture/vegetables to subtly educate otaku on eating healthily) just because that sort of thing is popular.

Oh yeah, and the dude hallucinates. A lot. The story opens illustrating just this, as well as Hideo’s obsession with security in his apartment. He has locks upon locks at his door, a gun hidden in a safe and, if that isn’t enough, when the hallucinations start to get to be too much, Hideo makes a circle of protection using his favorite manga and some old school textbooks. Aside from all that, Hideo is pretty much an average joe. He has a loving girlfriend (except when she’s drunk, that is) who is as bland as he is. That’s another thing worth pointing out, the people that populate this manga are realistically bland. They look like the sort of people you’d expect to see on the street.

For the most part, the story reads like a seinen slice-of-life series. Hideo deals with issues with his girlfriend’s obsession with her successful mangaka ex-boyfriend, he deals with his older co-worker’s constant yammering about TV anchorwomen and he deals with his own insecurities with his own manga. And by “deals with” I mean he hallucinates about berating his girlfriend/coworkers/editor with his true thoughts on those subjects. Yeah, dude’s got some issues.

Since he hallucinates so damn much, it takes a while for the “this is a manga about the zombie apocalypse” feeling to sink in. It starts pretty low-key, with news reports of mysterious incidents of children and even adults biting people and seeing people on the streets in face masks. One night Hideo sees a taxi cab hit a woman only for her to walk away… with one leg obviously crushed and her head flipped around almost completely backwards. But Hideo hallucinates, so this doesn’t do much more than add to the generally creepy “Hideo is one fucked up dude” vibe.

The big turning point is in the last two (scanlated) chapters, ten and eleven. I won’t ruin anything for ya’ll, but I will say that I regretted reading it before bed (then again I am very impressionable). There are hints about what’s going on if you pay attention to the newscasts. Throughout the manga, the television provides a sort of background noise to the characters. None of them really pay attention to what’s being said, so it’s really the reader who benefits from these.

All in all, this is a notable entry into the zombie horror genre. What is lacks in the T&A aspect it makes up for with sheer WTF.

/ 7 Commentsleave a comment /

• Brian says:

  October 9, 2010

  Biggest question mark for me in regard to this manga is whether zombie is actually happening or is it all in his head? I mean I've read all the background info, and it suggest possible zombie outbreak, but his psychotic episode suggest otherwise.

  Reply
  • morri says:

    October 9, 2010

    I was thinking that too, but the readers do see things that he doesn't (like the girl in the bathtub), which makes me think that at least some of it takes place outside of his head. I think that's actually what makes the manga so interesting: that you can't tell if its real or just another delusion of his. (There's also the question of who Yajima is, or what he represents.)

    I have to wonder if there is some connection to the news report in the second chapter that mentions a thirty-five year old man (same age as Hideo) biting a child. This is the first zombie-related incident to be reported. Could Hideo be that man and the entire manga a delusion brought on by his zombiefied state?

    Who knows? But I'm interested in seeing where all this leads. Its far more fascinating than the usual zombie-survival stories out there.

    Reply
• kluxorious says:

  October 9, 2010

  Whoa… this looks to be really awesome. I'm gonna check it out. Thanks!

  Reply
  • morri says:

    October 9, 2010

    Its nice to know that my downright wacky taste is appreciated by someone.

    Let me know what you think of it!

    Or post about it in your blag. That's cool too.

    Reply
    • kluxorious says:

      October 21, 2010

      The third panel, where he said "I'm a hero", he looks exactly like one of my stalkers in real life. I found that creepy yet funny at the same time =

      Reply
• CP says:

  October 13, 2010

  Wow, morri. You sure pick up interesting titles to read. I'm gonna check it out since the last good psychological manga I've read was Monster xD

  Reply
  • morri says:

    October 14, 2010

    Thanks!

    I like psychological stuff and horror. My only problem is that most manga labeled "psychological" or "horror" isn't. (I often see D.Gray-Man labeled as "horror". WTF?)

    I'm going to try to post more about the unique/obscure/interesting manga I read, if I can, since the other authors here tend to cover the more mainstream stuff.

    Reply