I Am a Hero

Description

Hideo Suzuki is a thirty-five-year-old mangaka assistant struggling to be the hero in his own life by breaking back into the limelight with a new serial all the while juggling his relationship with his girlfriend and his own delusions. However, as hard as Hideo may try, the world seems to have a different set of plans for him; sinister and dark machinations that completely overturn his reality as he knows it.

Note: Was nominated for the 3rd, 4th and 5th Manga Taishō and won the 58th Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category in 2013.

Type

Manga

Related Series

I Am a Hero in Osaka (Side Story)

8 Tales of the ZQN (Side Story)

I Am a Hero in Ibaraki (Side Story)

I Am a Hero in Nagasaki (Side Story)

Associated Names

Ai emu a Hiiroo

Ben Bir Kahramanım

Я — герой

ข้าคือฮีโร่ I am a HERO

アイアムアヒーロー

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

v.22 c.265 (end) by Death Toll 3 years ago

v.22 c.264 by Todome! 8 years ago

v.22 c.263 by Todome! 8 years ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

22 Volumes (Complete)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

4 topics, 8 posts

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User Rating

Average: 7.9 / 10.0 (701 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.83 / 10.0

19%

20%

28%

17%

Last Updated

January 14th, 2025 2:46pm PST - 3 months ago

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Genre

Action Drama Horror Mature Mystery Psychological Seinen Supernatural
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Trese

I Am a Hero in Osaka

Let's Make a Harem in a Zombie World!

Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Shogakukan

Serialized In (magazine)

Big Comic Spirits (Shogakukan)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Dark Horse (11 Omnibus Volumes - Complete | Print)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #746

(-9)

Monthly Pos #1353

(-265)

3 Month Pos #2511

(-199)

6 Month Pos #3180

(-16)

Year Pos #3423

(+734)

List Stats

On 2388 reading lists

On 1523 wish lists

On 1006 completed lists

On 121 unfinished lists

On 523 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

I Am A Hero Approaches 'Climax'

9 years ago

I Am a Hero Manga Gets Osaka-Based Spinoff

10 years ago

Why!?

12 years ago

Puh! (v06)

13 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

Thought Provoking

by sculamio
11 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

As realistic as a zombie manga can be. Granted, society is presented as very ignorant, twisted, and immoral

DAT subway scene

Really makes you think about what you would do if the zombie apocalypse were to happen. Like right now. Just be sure to...turn around...very slowly.

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Too bad it went astray

by Mytskine
12 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

The first volume is highly psychological, and mostly a slice of life. It depicts the usual life of the main character. He is an odd guy, with fears so strong that, when alone, he mixes his dream world with reality. He is the "hero" of his own half-dreamy life. So, when the first hints of horror appear, they look like the outcome of his fears: is he dreaming again?
After this excellent beginning, the action and horror take a larger place in the story, but the psychological part doesn't disappear. Up to volume 4 included, the behavior, feelings and attitude of the main characters are an essential component of the series.

The turning point is volume 5. There is a major twist there, a smart and disturbing idea from the author. Unfortunately, this volume is also the beginning of a new arc: 40 pages totally disconnected from everything else, with absolutely nothing interesting. Just scenes of zombie horrors interleaved with an online chat. But, as the last chapter of v5 went back to the main characters, I thought these 40 pages were just a one-shot filler.

The volumes 6 to 8 were less original. Indeed, I felt the story was very similar to several classical survival manga like Metro Survive. Yet the art was still brilliant, and the tension was still there. While slightly disappointed, I was eager to read forward.

Then this manga seriously began to go astray. Half of volumes 9 and 10 were about the new arc, and the whole v11 went on. Why did the author build such detailed "heroes" to ditch them suddenly and focus on a gang of stereotyped characters? This new arc is plain and boring. No one has any depth. No psychology, very little action. Even Illuminati-manga wrote that "not much is actually happening" in the v11 they scanlated. I feel sad, as if the author betrayed the manga and let it die. I'll probably have a look at the next volumes, but just to flip through the pages out of curiosity. I have no hope this manga can come back from the deads.

EDIT: I've just read vol.12. Brainless action, with nothing original. The last 2 pages go back to the characters of the first arc. If it was not for that, I would have dropped this series. Now I have some little hope v13 will revive my interest on IAAH.

... Last updated 12 years ago

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I F*****G LOVE THIS MANGA!!!

by Darkrockeratreyu5580
12 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

This is one of the best mangas I've ever read, EVER! I wish I didn't know it was about zombies when I picked it up, it starts off as a somewhat boring slice of life then BAM!!! CHAOS INSUES, PEOPLE ARE EATING EACHOTHER EVERYTHING IS GOING COMPLEATLY INSANE WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO!?!? I like how it starts off so realistic, keep in mind zombies are a big problem, how are they going to show you what the character is like outside of all this madness if you don't see it for yourself? you would probably end up thinking he's traumatized from the zombies instead of just plain crazy if they jumped in too quickly thus compleatly destroying the psychological elements which is one of the biggest things that sets this manga apart from every other zombie manga writen thus far. This manga is the most realistic zombie manga I've read, if that's what your looking for this is for you if you just want zombie killing action go read highschool of the dead, which imo is also a great zombie manga.

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awesome

by karoom911
12 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Sorry for my bad english but i just have to say this, i've read many mangas of many geners but so far this was....sorry is by far the best horror manga i have read, and here is what i see is best about it:
1ST the art : its so awesome and realistic, and never get confused by the charcters.
2ND the story : the slow advance of it is what makes the horrer of the story the best.

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I WANT to like it

by Prot
12 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

A good zombie story isn't about the action, it's about the people. Unfortunately, the people in this manga suck. It appears that the mangaka is trying to make social commentary about the state of Japan, but it's at a big hit to story development and believability. The premise here is that the concept of zombies does not exist, but the time it takes for the characters to believe it is painstakingly slow, outright stupid in most cases.

I've tried reading it three times so far, got up to volume 4 on my latest attempt. Even up to this point, reading it is just a screaming match in my head. "You've been running around with a gun for the past 20 chapters! You're seeing so much fucked up shit right now, what the fuck are you thinking about the past for?!"

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Cool

by Thangpro23
13 years ago

Rating: 8.5 / 10.0

A very good zombie apocalypse manga . It does get my attention at first because i am a fan of psychological . I thought at first it a manga about a insane man turn out it about zombies , as for a zombies manga it progressing verrrrrrrrrry slow until vol 2 i getting to see some zombies action .The character are very confusing me , ok not all the character are confusing but the main character ( Hideo) i keep wardering that he is insane or not .The Realistic Art are cool thought very suit the story and make the zombies extra creepy .Althought the story is slow at first but it very intruding later which make me wanna read it non stop . A very cool zombies manga but need patience reader .

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something good

by herrdachs
13 years ago

Rating: 9.3 / 10.0

to me, this is one of those mangas i cant stop reading after the first few chapters and keep reading a few days later. like dorohedoro, it can perhaps be difficult to get into reading only the first few chapters. however if you keep going you will be rewarded with a great story, and not just jump straight into the action, with that sloppy slapped on background for the prot you tend to see in so many other mangas. i honestly enjoyed it already in the beggining(hell, i didnt even know it was a zombie manga when i started so imagine how friggin joyously surprised i was when i found out!), and it has only become better with every volume in my opinion. now the art is something that i really, really like. not one character looks the same, the one thing that seriously puts me off from reading any more im dal-young, is that every darn character has the exact same face and you cant tell which is which. the gore is fantastic, ive always enjoyed a bit of blood in my manga.

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So much to take in.

by foobar
13 years ago

Rating: N/A

I guess everyone knows that it is a Zombie story, and zombies are current. However, the protagonist is truly insane. I don't remember ever having read anything this bat-guano insane. Shaun of the Dead? Its Shaun of the dead and, I don't know, Welcome to NHK or something. I keep finding it impossible to take, but every few months I seem to return to read a volume and just feel depressed.

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Great manga

by bull3thole
13 years ago

Rating: 8.5 / 10.0

Anything with zombies is a big plus for me. So the first chapter were boring to me. I thought it was a poor choice of the author to start the first chapter with nothing happening with the plot and it was boring. The whole psychological thing that was happening to the main character was so confusing and a turn off for me. Thinking about it, I get why the author did that because he wanted to build up the story. Like what auriga below me said the story gets crazy all of a sudden after the first volume.

To the people reading this manga and are saying it is boring, read the first 12 chapters and things WILL start to pick up so fast that your mind would boggle. The main character is a wimp and coward but i really hope he gets some balls later because I dislike the main character already.

I give this a 8.5 for now because i hope the main character gets some balls.

... Last updated 13 years ago

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Awesome psychological manga

by auriga
14 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

It starts off as a slow slice-of-life... then BAM, the end of volume 1 happens. It just goes uphill from there; I really like how it shows the development of chaos and how it deals with Hideo's mental health. Very realistic and very disturbing.

Perhaps my only beef with it is its slow plot development. However, that is easily offset by the awesome character development. Definitely can't wait for more.

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