My Hero Academia Dominates April Book Sales

The story of Midoriya and All Might continues to make the rounds across the world with My Hero Academia. While the anime series itself is currently on hiatus until its return in the fall for season four, the manga continues being released on a regular schedule. 23 volumes containing 224 chapters can be read now and with its popularity ever skyrocketing, its no wonder that MHA would dominate the charts for April's book sales.

While My Hero Academia didn't make the number one spot for the month of April, it was still the clear winner of the day with just how many volumes made the top 20. Of these twenty spots, half were held by various volumes of MHA with fans wanting to catch up to what's been happening in the manga past the anime, or simply trying to learn more about the series in general. The number one spot for that month was Umbrella Academy Volume One: Apocalypse Suite, still coasting on the recent Netflix series it was adapted from.

It's amazing to see how the series populated with would-be super heroes continues to gain steam. Originally a Shonen Jump entry, My Hero Academia is able to turn the preconceptions of "battle manga" on its head by offering new concepts and characters that play on the American stereotype of the "superhero". MHA acts as something of a combination of the East and the West, telling a story that merges attributes from each into one cohesive narrative.

(Photo: Shonen Jump)

For those not familiar with the NPD, here is a description outlining where they get their data:

"NPD BookScan collects weekly point-of-sale data on print books from over 16,000 locations including e-tailers, chains, mass merchandisers, independent bookstores, and more. NPD BookScan covers approximately 85% of the U.S. trade print book market. The ranks on this chart are based on piece sales. Some publishers classify titles that are primarily text, or art books, as graphic novels; we've removed those titles from the ranking above."

My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi and has been running in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump since July 2014. The story follows Izuku Midoriya, who lives in a world where everyone has powers, even though he was born without them. Dreaming to become a superhero anyway, he's eventually scouted by the world's best hero All Might and enrolls in a school for professional heroes. The series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English language release since 2015.