I Am a Hero

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I didn't really like this. This is not a manga for people like me, who value meaning, ambition, purpose, ya get it. However, even I can recognize that this manga is amazing. It is the scariest manga that I've ever read, it beats out the "disturbing" scary of Junjo Ito, the "gory" scary of your stereotypical apocalypse survival horror manga, and the "existential crisis" scary of psychological horror, it comes close to jumpscare shock. Why?

Because everything is so goddam pointless. I believe "I Am a Hero" is actually one of the most realistic tellings of an survival horror story. The realism is precisely what gets ... to me. The freaking monotony of the dude's life before and after the event, his averageness (to be generous,) the fact that people just get super well adjusted to having crazy dead people around very quickly just freaks me out. I thought there would be more delusional people or people who just snap, but no. They even treat the zombies as people, like what the hell?

Anyways, I finished it but I'll never touch it again. It's too weird, I don't think I'll ever come to terms with it. I don't really wanna think about it either. Whoever wrote this is a madman. Insanity.

And that, folks, is how to scare someone out of a fandom.

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".

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 was avoiding this manga because the summary looked stupid and really boring but I was wrong !!

Its a great horror manga , and a great zombie manga.Some people tell me its like HOTD but its wrong the manga is kind of slow but with that its more realistic.Don t give up the manga just because the zombies ( well i think they are zombies ) aren t appearing in the first chapters.

Story 8
I give the manga a 8 for the story its slow but pretty interesting and the author first explains the life of the main character before the monsters get in.There are only ... a few chapters ( 34 now ) so i can t tell anymore without telling spoilers.

Art 7
Its a realistic manga with a realistic art its not everyone pair of shoes.Even if I m not such a great fan of realistic art i liked it.Note , don t read it late at night the monsters freaked me out they are really well made.

Character 7
The main character is kind of freaky and strange in my opinion. Personally I don t think the main character is sane , he talks to himself.There aren t any side characters that make a impression on me.

Enjoyment 8
I really enjoyed the manga and i recommend it to all horror and zombie lovers out there.

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.

I Am a Hero


The subject around "zombies/undead" has always fascinated me, no matter how simple the idea behind it is and how bad the movies became in the end. I was always enthusiastic about them.
Here I ventured to the second manga in this genre area and was impressed as well as disappointed. My expectations were ultimately exceeded, the manga has been better than I expected.

This manga not only offers a very realistic drawing style, representation but also an atmosphere like you can find in "Walking Dead".
Add to that probably the best zombie concept I have ever seen. Instead of simply putting ... a simple bio-weapon or occult phenomenon as a scapegoat, creativity was reflected here.

Of course, the manga also has its weaknesses and these were huge. The pace of the narrative was slow and hugely fluctuating. Half of the manga is based only on shock moments, sexual depiction. The author tried everything possible to make the manga seem as brutal and as dark as it could be. The tension was mostly buried. Most of the characters were completely irrational or just plain unlikable. The plot had too many gaps and unexplained factors. The ending was very weak and disappointing.

And one thing will probably continue to confuse me. The protagonist seems to be 1:1 the spitting image of the author. Does the author have various compulsions to screw a minor? At least, according to the author, the "age" was probably relatively meaningless when a 35-year-old sleeps with a schoolgirl.

And many other flaws that I will have to go into more detail about later.



[Story 4]

Even though the background around the zombie virus is a first-class and impressive change for me personally. Did the author not know what to do with it and how to conclude it. The clarification of the various behaviors of the "ZQN" and further developments of the virus have been interesting. But the way of implementation is the complete opposite.

Apart from that, the plot was massively linear. And full of earth-shattering logic flaws that made me wonder how much power Jesus the protagonist possessed to survive all this. He could absorb everyone else's plot, which resulted in him becoming the only immortal killing machine, whereas everyone dies like a fly.

It's been a progression of >prologue > beginning of apocalypse > running > camping > finding food > running > finding food > sex > running > finding food > endgame until the end. Only the fluctuation between different groups has at least to some extent a change of scenery offered.

The problem that the whole had almost no atmosphere and charm, was mainly due to the characters.


[Characters 4]

The People are divided into Black and White. Either they are vicious rapists and psychopaths or normal people who have to give in to them. There is no other option.

It felt like all the people were infected from the beginning, otherwise, you can't explain their irrational stupidity. People react completely senselessly to catastrophic events and ignore the environment around them. When someone is bitten in their presence (especially in the beginning when the virus broke out) people stand around, look at a person with their jaw ripped out and bloody eyes and ask either "Are you ok?" or "What kind of person are you?" and wonder why they die. It took at least 10 zombies waking up at the same time for people to realize they should clear the place. Apparently, in Japan, it's common for alcoholics to bite a piece of meat out of people's throats.

Many certainly wondered how the zombies always win in American movies, even though the humans outnumber them so much. Here you can see a detailed analysis that the human IQ goes into the negative range and the people have no self-preservation instinct.

The protagonist, the perfect symbol of an absolute NEET and failure. No self-esteem is not even the protagonist of his own life, horny and no control. In the course of the plot, he developed in some of the areas and even possessed eggs until the end. However, he was probably one of the most unsympathetic characters you can find and analyzed more situations with his penis than with his brain.

Since most of the characters were kept mostly realistic (aside from intelligence) there are no character backgrounds that are too relevant. Even if the situation of the protagonist was interesting at the beginning. However, the problem with the manga is that the characters have no relevance to the plot.

All the male characters are either horny or vicious, except for 3 older men (photographer, boatman, and Kurusu's partner, who were rather neutral).

And the female characters are almost all prostitutes. Their dialogues consist only of wanting to have sex, having sex, or talking about their periods and body hair.

As fascinating as it is, I was practically just waiting to see how each character died. And their deaths weren't even interesting. There wasn't a single reason to root for or mourn the characters. They were simply dull and empty. And that's exactly what's true of their conversations. Had I known how inconsequential more than half of their conversations were, I could have skipped eternal scenes. However, I didn't want to skip anything relevant. In the end, there was practically nothing.

[Drawings / Illustration 9]

Only one flaw I have here, only one! The author can't draw women's faces, let alone their smiles. Now and then, a character's (especially female) smile looks creepier than those of the undead. Oda in particular has often shocked me with how creepy she looks when she smiles.

Apart from that, the environments have been drawn immensely high quality, almost overwhelmingly well. Which had especially captured the gloomy and apocalyptic atmosphere well.

The rendering of the zombies in particular was an absolute highlight. They looked immensely creepy and menacing with their movements and the visible damage to their bodies.


Conclusion

For a fan of the zombie horror genre, this manga is recommended. You know it from the start anyway, zombie works possess a low quality anyway but make up for it with entertainment. And here it has been the same.

Of course, if you're looking for a deep, exciting, or just good manga, you won't find any of those here. Apart from an interesting zombie background, the visuals, and small development of the protagonist, there is not anything here.


[Enjoyment 5]

I've been reading manga for more than 15 years now and never write reviews, even for absolutely terrible or fantastic manga. I'm making an exception here due to how long this manga is, and how great it is throughout 90% of it, but also how the ending impacted the story and overall quality.

This is less of a review and more of a warning to any would-be reader. The ending is objectively bad--it's not bad in a 'oh it's up in the air how a person interprets it kind of bad'-- it's bad in a man who calls his wife by his ex's name ... during intercourse sort of way. It's horrendously rushed and provides no answers or resolutions to anything that happened over the course of the entire manga; essentially, it feels as if there is no ending at all and had its serialization axed or the author died prematurely. If you can deal with a good manga but an abrupt ending (just along for the ride without a destination) then I'd honestly still recommend it, as it does a lot of things better in the survival/zombie front compared to other manga.

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.

It was a really nice ride, one of those where you can't stop reading and wish it went on and on, but the ending was probably one of the worst endings I've ever read.

Great portrayal of how everyday people would react to such a disaster as a zombie outbreak took place and the realism in how it would be handled was a 10/10 for me.

Great plot points and creative thinking that had you on edge while swallowing chapters, that unfortunately, were not explained or developed further.

The characters were really nice and you grew to like them and sympathize with them.

Overall a great manga with ... strong moments and a veil of mystery engulfing it in the whole journey. The ending was what destroyed my experience for this manga making me wonder, did the author get so sick of writing this manga that wanted to butcher it a.s.a.p?

I have given up on I Am a Hero.

I have given it three tries with this latest attempt having me forced myself through 50 chapters – 10x more than I typically give to any manga. There are a number of reasons why, but it boils down to an inability to connect with the characters and an incoherent story.

In regards to characters: The MC – Suzuki Hideo – is an aspiring mangaka, but his behavior and manner of speech make him seem more like an oversized manchild. He spends his time talking to a series of hallucinations he conjures in his mind which appears whenever he ... wants a conversation (at one time being peed on by Hideo too) and, when not talking to those hallucinations, he may do anything from posing stupidly or singing such enlightening songs as ‘The Pussy Song’.

Overall, I really detest the MC. Many of the characters act like him so, so guess how I feel about them.

About an incoherent story: Many reviewers describe the story about being a zombie apocalypse/outbreak type of story. I can’t say I agree. It is about zombie-like creatures suddenly appearing everywhere, causing chaos, and eating people, but nothing makes sense.

To begin, the ‘zombies’ look horrific and are often bending their bodies in horrible ways…yet strangely, nobody seem to recognize them as being some form of monsters. Very often, they’re treated as normal people who are just acting weird. Even as they’re biting people’s limbs off, they’re treated that way.

Furthermore, despite chaos being everywhere (even happening on TV and the JDF mobilizing), the MC somehow keeps running into people who seems 100% oblivious to what’s going on. At one point, there was a whole group of people on the train who saw that a large cloud of smoke billowing out of a city and people were being chased and killed…nobody other than the MC even cared.

Something wasn’t right. It almost feels as if the manga is a massive delusion from the MC rather than something real and/or some unwieldy social commentary/symbolism from the author. If it is the case, I had found it difficult to grasp. I mean really difficult; it took until chapter 30 before I began to get an inkling of the message the author was trying to convey. By the time I gave up on this manga, I finally started grasping the message that manga has been sending. Unfortunately, by that point, I stopped caring.

To cap my review, I think I’ve given this manga far more of a chance than I give most, but I think it has too many large weaknesses to ignore.

Overall, I think its biggest weakness (aside from what I mention above) is that the plot appears to go nowhere. I’ve read 50 chapters and, insofar as I can tell, the manga seems to comprise solely of Hideo going from place to place not looking for anything in particular aside from ‘safety’. This is bad because that means the story would have to be character-driven for reader interest…and my feeling towards the characters make it clear that isn’t going to work.

I suppose I can see why some others may like this, but it’s really just not my type.

Note: I included one spoiler, because it actually relates to one of my points in the review. I gave a fair warning, so don't complain if you spoil things for yourself! You've been warned! ;)

Currently at the time of this review, I've read 34 chapters of I am a Hero (only 35 -I believe- are currently released), so this is more of a review of the first "segment", if you will, rather than the entire series.

Story - 7 (good)
In a nutshell: We have our quirky, 35-year old, perhaps mentally unstable?, main character, Hideo trying to survive a zombie outbreak. It's as simple as that! I ... don't want to get too into it, since I want to prevent spoilers of any kind. But I am going to warn you now; this manga is VERY slow. Nothing happens until probably ~15-20 chapters in, and these are fairly long chapters. There were several times I felt like dropping this manga, but I had heard lots of great things about it, many good reviews and praises, so I stuck with it. As slow as it is, give it time and wait til the outbreak occurs before you drop it, you may find it's worth your time.

Art - 7 (good)
It's either you love it, or you hate it. I enjoy realistic-anime styles occasionally, and I couldn't imagine this manga any other way. The images of monsters, hallucinations, and zombies can tend to be pretty darn graphic; They do their jobs extremely well! Let's just say, for those who are sensitive to graphic images or have weak stomachs, you might just sleep with your nightlight on again!
Needless to say, the artwork was the biggest payoff for me. It's what kept me from dropping this manga, because I always wanted to see what terrifying creature would turn up next.

Characters - 3 (poor)
Uuuuuuugggghh... Okay, I'm very bias on this and I know for a fact not everyone will agree with me here, but... I can't stand a single character in this manga. The only truly 'main character' is Hideo, and he's -okay-, but he tends to get on my nerves with just HOW awkward he is. To me, he just seems like a very unpleasant person to be around. (Warning: Spoilers up ahead!! Just skip down past the "END SPOILERS" line if you don't want, well, spoilers.)
---SPOILERS!!---
It really bothered me when, after his girlfriend had turned into a zombie and died, he hardly reacted at all. He apparently loved her so much, albeit getting into a fight with her right before she turned, but he didn't seem shocked, scared, devastated... nothing. It just seemed like a very underwhelming reaction for characters who are supposed to be portrayed as realistic. Yes, I know every human being reacts differently to trauma, stress, etc., but it really bothered me since he seemed very attached to her and in love. At least he cried for her once he was on the train, SEVERAL chapters later, but the initial reaction (or lack-there-of) very much bugged me.
---END SPOILERS!!!---
Otherwise, I never enjoyed or got attached to -any- character in the entire 34 chapters. They came off as completely bland to me. I might like the newest character to join Hideo in the latest chapters, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Enjoyment - 6 (fair/okay)
This is tough for me, because I genuinely like this manga aside from me not strongly liking a single character, lol. It trudged on forever it seemed, but once the conflict arose and the zombies appeared, it sucked me in and nothing could draw away my attention. As I said, the artwork for the zombies/monsters is captivating and disturbing; just the way I like it! Another aspect I loved what that there were genuinely times where I felt the uneasiness and suspense of the situation (taxi scene, anyone?). It's definitely a manga that holds my interest enough to keep me asking for more! I just gave it a fairly low score because of the first 10-20 chapters and lack of character interest.

Overall - 7 (good)
This manga is unique, to say the least, but not too bizarre either. I would recommend checking it out, you know, if you're into that sort of thang.

I love a good post-apocalyptic manga... I've read the 8 volumes released so far and the mangaka is doing great capitalizing on all the potential of the story. It's a thrilling read so far.

Hideo, a manga illustrator struggling with his job and maintaining a relationship with his girlfriend, finds himself trying to stay alive in world where a virus is spreading like rapidfire and people are rabid and biting each other. A lot of the scenes were actually incredibly disturbing like the scene where all the manga illustrators go crazy. Not to mention, Hideo isn't all right in the head ... and has never been.

The art is really interesting too. It's like it purposefully makes everyone look ugly, maybe to show the ugly side of human nature? ...The story takes a really fascinating look at human nature. There are people that take their defensive stance, some people who go looney tunes in their survival mode, and yet others who become actual monsters in their actions. Fascinating!

I cannot wait to read more.

I Am a Hero started of fairly strong with great artwork and yet managed to blow it all up with its terrible ending. The plot stopped making sense at some point and by the end left too many questions unanswered; as if the author simply gave up and duct-taped something on.

Main character aside there really isn't many meaningful development (as far as I can tell) with certain events turning having minimal impact, if at all, to the plot. The random side stories that crop up doesn't alleviate this either although a bit of world building wouldn't hurt I suppose.

TL;DR: Great start, terrible end.

although the pace is often criticised in I Am A Hero, especially in the first and second volume, i feel like was a valuable section to build the characters personality. the build up was very necessary. the main character is likeable yet very uncool.

The zombies i feel are the best zombies i have 'encountered'. being able to move at a range of paces and have slight personalities carried on from the moment of their death. This makes them that much scarier than ordinary zombies.

the best thing about this manga is the art style- the drawing is immense, the faces are not drawn exactly like a ... real human but this gives them extra emotion and facial expression. the double page drawings are in real detail and occur often throughout the book. sometimes there is a page donated to the animation of a single moment/movement

overall and excellent manga, if ones looking for a less shonen/weekly published manga, this is perfect. and a work of art

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, 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?

"yajima help me" -a man running from reality

this manga is good, the fact it having a rating 7 it deserve more than this. It's hard for an individual to understand each other so they either stand beside them, behind them, or the opposite of them.
Now i'm going in to some spicy matter so go look back if you haven't read it yet.


right ok
its probably the ending isn't it people expect more than this after all of that bullshit happening, just like in the manga it called out " suspension bridge effect " human expect a reward after a hardship.
THE ENDING WASN'T BAD ITS JUST DOESN'T ... MATCH YOURE EXPECTATION HUMAN. well yeah a bad ending almost always insta kill a good story but just take it for granted, serialization indeed end but the story does not end Hideo journey is yet to end theres still room for the reader to imagine.

i hate seeing the review let alone the rating, but of course not that i care of the majority choice not that it will change anything,and yet still im glad seeing theres its just several review that caught a glimpse and theres really are still way more 8+ rating from 10k people it doesnt mean much to the competition but im glad nonetheless. oh yeah after closer inspection and now i really can see why theyre mad, and this kind of review isnt one of a kind either its quite unoriginal so on the bright side doe young grandma looking hella hot

I don't really read nor watch this type of manga as zombie-based stories are outside my area of interest and it feels like every one is just similar to each other. And I bought this one on a whim.

But it's been an enjoyable experience and it was truly captivating. It starts a little bit slow as the author takes his time introducing and building the main character; the awkward, insecure, delusional, and indecisive MC.
the author repeatedly emphasize those traits of his character to a point of almost solidifying them. But towards the end it seems like he discarded all that with a sudden change with ... no preface nor explanation.
The most notable example to me was how the MC kept being reluctant to let other take his shotgun or teach them to use one and how he was indecisive when it comes to shooting zombies and how much it burdened him as he considered it a crime punishable by law. But in the last few chapters he suddenly lost all that and it was obvious the author just wanted to conclude the story.

I appreciated how he explained the motives behind these entities by showing it through side characters that had little to no contribution to the story, but even then he proceeded to stop halfway through the explanation with an ending that don't pair well with these motives.

Again it was an enjoyable read even for someone who doesn't necessarily care for such mangas. And I guess it would've been more appropriate to stop reading before the end in a similar way to how the author abandoned the story there.

This manga could easily have won a 10 from me, if it weren't for the ending.
I still give it a 9, because I rarely read a manga that interesting. If you forget about the end, it truly is a masterpiece.
Lovely characters that you get attached to, stunning art, a very interesting plot with a lot of mystery... This sure was a ride, and a good one. It was exactly what I was looking for.

In overall, this is a very solid manga. But I understand this might not be the opinion of everyone, hence the users' score.

Go read it if you haven't already and make your ... own opinion on the matter. It really is worth the time.

Story-Probably the best zombie manga I ever seen.The story started very slow,but it's a good things! Coz it is very detailed and it very claim to the climax it the middle ,and you will read & read ,can't stop read until to the end.The actual story is about "Hero"which is Hideo,and the zombies stuff is no the point,the whole manga is focus on Hideo, how he from a sidecharacter become a MC,so the ending is all about him and it is not bad.The mangaka is very kind enough to show us the other country situation and he had switched to others characters story.9/10

Art-The art ... is magnificent! It's so detailed and the mangaka using a uniq way to show us which is many pages just using his art and less diaglong.The expression of each characters is so detailed like he can draw Hideo's cringe face goodly and us readers can feel it.When reading it ,is more likely watching it,he drew the manga very slowly ,and drew every movement the characters have ,and it is like watching a epic zombie movie rather than reading a manga.The background also is very beautiful and detailed.I personally very like when he drew Hideo fired the gun,it is just so beautiful!
9/10

Characters-The characters is deginsed very good,the feelings of them is so true like the things that ppl will do when some zombie virus explosive began.Some of them are ignored it,some of it take advantages like create a new religion, some of them relieved it is a true dangerous.It is show perfectly that how can human's stupidly worse the whole situation.The anger,jealously,greedily & others ugliness emotions showed up perfectly true in the each characters.The development of the characters ,mostly is the MC Is amazing,from a properly useless person to a person that will take responsibility. And I very like how the mangaka focused on the MC ,which is the "Hero" ,a hero that nobody see,and know.9/10

Enjoyment-I very enjoy this manga,when I picked up this manga,I just addicted to it and reading it as fast as I can .I love the whole manga,I means the WHOLE,the characters, art,story,coz it is so detailed and very interesting.I knew many ppl so pissed off and don't enjoy the end of the manga coz it is like a downfall when the manga is at it climax and the mangaka don't explain many mysterious things that have been wondering at our head from the start.I also feel the ending also should not be like that,the mangaka had lefted many untold story,but again,the little is about "Hero"which is our MC ,the others things beside the MC IS NOT THE PRIORITY.How is the life of the MC after the incident?How he feel about it ?What is he doing the whole time?THAT IS THE POINT!So after thinking sometime later,I changed my mind and accepted the ending which is probably the most suitable ending for the MC and mangaka.9.5/10