This will be an extremely semantic critique – especially considering there are much more glaring issues with MHA – but I recently had a thought and I wanted to write it down.
I was recently rereading parts of MHA and Vigilantes, and it struck me how much better Vigilantes writes and illustrates characters. You can especially tell with characters that appear in both mangas, anyone ranging from bit characters to heavily featured protagonists. Characters that were vapid or one dimensional are completely different. Here’s a few examples:
Eraser Head
This one’s pretty obvious. In MHA, Aizawa only really exists at class 1A’s teacher. Everything he says or does is related to the class or to the school. Even after they move up a grade he still remains their teacher, because that’s all he ever is. Vigilantes Aizawa does stuff outside of his job. We see him eat, we see him interact with his colleagues, we see him formulate plans, and we see him make new associates. I also want to illustrate (pun intended) how Vigilantes really does exceed MHA visually character wise. Here’s two panels with Aizawa doing the same pose.
In the MHA version, Aizawa is following his schtick of being flat and stilted. He’s drawn so stiff he almost looks lifeless. In Vigilantes, he’s maintaining the same casual pose but he’s drawn much softer. His eyes are also wandering as if he’s thinking or just trying to look for something to occupy himself with. It really makes a difference!
Midnight
Midnight’s an actual character in Vigilantes. In MHA she shows up a few times, does her gimmick and then dies. Most insultingly you are expected to care about her death. Other characters who barely interacted with her, it at all, bawl their eyes out. Midnight in Vigilantes actually intereacts with other characters. She even tells Endeavor off at some point which was interesting to see. She’s actually an active participant in the plot!
Detective Tsukaiuchi
In MHA Tsukaiuchi is just nice detective man who is All Mights inside man. Riveting. Vigilantes Tsukaiuchi is a just individual but his definition of justice leads to him clashing with the main character, as well as with his sister, who he regardless cares for deeply whether or not they always agree. His firendship with All Might is also more believable as we see the two interact and have tea together in cafes. In MHA Tsukaiuchi shows so little emotion he might as well have been a robot. He really could have been replaced with any other character really.
Rappa and Mirko
I’m putting these two characters together because in MHA they’re really similar. Both really just fight good and that’s the sum of their characters. I guess you could add that Mirko is also the author’s personal waifu? Then again she does get maimed a concerning amount…
Vigilantes takes two characters that should by all means overlap and does something fun with them. They’re two punch drunk retards stuck with one of the smartest characters in the series as their baby stitter. They quiblle over nonsense but at the same time both know that they need to get the job done and by the end of the arc become friends. Mirko’s smarter then she lets on, and actually knows how to be a pro-hero outside of “hit thing hard”. Rappa wants a good fight, and possibly as a good way to die. He also funnily enough has an idealistic view of what a hero should be.
If it’s not obvious, I liked the Underground Masquerade arc
OFA
In Vigilantes he actually behaves like an intelligent antagonist. He plans things out (not pulling twists out of nowhere mind you), he tries to avoid costly battles, he lets others do the dirty work, and he gets what he wants. What’s not to love?
Honorable Mentions
All Might, Endeavor’s sidekicks, Fat Gum and the other heroes have much more character to them. Never thought I’d think Fat Gum is a good character but here we are.
