My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is a Japanese manga series written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and illustrated by Betten Court. It is both a spin-off and a prequel to Kōhei Horikoshi's manga series My Hero Academia. It was serialized in Shueisha's Jump Giga in August 2016, but was transferred to Shueisha's online magazine, Shōnen Jump+, in October of the same year, with its chapters additionally collected in 15 tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation produced by Bones Film aired from April to June 2025. A second season aired from January to March 2026.
Contents
Plot
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes takes place five years before the events of the main series. The story follows Koichi Haimawari, a young man who uses his Quirk to help others despite not being a licensed Hero. After he and the street performer Kazuho Haneyama are attacked by a group of thugs, they are saved by the strong vigilante Knuckleduster, who recruits Koichi and Kazuho to become vigilantes themselves.
Media
Manga
Written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and illustrated by Betten Court, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes started in Shueisha's Jump Giga magazine on August 20, 2016, and was transferred to Shōnen Jump+ in October of that year. The series ended on May 28, 2022. Shueisha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on April 4, 2017, and the 15th and final volume was released on July 4, 2022. A "special arc" one-shot manga was published in Shonen Jump+ on April 15, 2025. The series is licensed for the English-language release in North America by Viz Media.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced at the Jump Festa '25 event on December 22, 2024. It is produced by Bones Film and directed by Kenichi Suzuki, with Yōsuke Kuroda writing the scripts, Takahiko Yoshida designing the characters, and Yuki Hayashi, Shogo Yamashiro, and Yuki Furuhashi composing the music. The series aired from April 7 to June 30, 2025, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The opening theme song is "Kekka Orai" (けっかおーらい; All's Well in the End), performed by Kocchi no Kento, while the ending theme song is "Speed" (スピード), performed by yutori. Crunchyroll is streaming the series. Medialink licensed the series in South, Southeast Asia and Oceania (except Australia and New Zealand) for streaming on Ani-One Asia's YouTube channel.
Following the first season's final episode, a second season was announced and aired January 5 to March 30, 2026. The opening theme song is "Catch", performed by Surii, while the ending theme song is "Miss You", performed by shytaupe. Crunchyroll is streaming the second season.
Reception
The first volume of the manga sold 18,909 copies on the weekly Oricon's manga chart; volume 2 sold 21,123 copies in September 2017; volume 3 sold 11,468 copies in February 2018; volume 4 sold 15,725 copies in April; volume 5 sold 16,251 copies in September; and volume 6 sold 16,118 copies in February 2019. In North America, the volumes of the manga were ranked on NPD BookScan's monthly top 20 adult graphic novels list since July 2018, while it was among the top 20 manga graphic novels list in September and October 2018.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes was chosen as one of the "Best Manga" in 2018, while it was listed in the "Underrated but Awesome Manga" category in 2019 at the San Diego Comic-Con Best and Worst Manga panel. Barnes & Noble named the series on their list of "Our Favorite Manga of 2018", stating that it may be more entertaining than the original. The website also wrote: "While some of the characters of the original series drop in from time to time, Vigilantes is really a whole new story set in the world of the original, exploiting a different set of possibilities, and completely enjoyable on its own."
