My Hero Academia: School Briefs Volume 2 Review

In the first volume of My Hero Academia: School Briefs we found out what a Parents’ Day at U.A. High School is like. Now with the arrival of Volume 2, we’re given the opportunity to find out what happens when the students are taken on their summer training camp (as seen in Season 3 of the anime/Volumes 8-10 of the manga) and are not training for their licenses. Does the light novel series continue to deliver laid-back, enjoyable stories? Let’s find out!

Although most of this volume of short stories takes place during the training camp, before we get there, our heroes must first overcome final exams! For those who are struggling, Yaoyorozu decides to hold a study session at her house. Upon reaching Yaoyorozu’s home, our cast are stunned to find that she lives in a mansion, complete with maids and butlers! Yaoyorozu wants to impress her friends and does her best to be a good host, hoping to form firm bonds with her classmates.

After this short story, we jump straight into the bus trip to the training camp. This story comes complete with the cast playing word games (which annoy Bakugo to no end!) and generally enjoying themselves before being thrown into their training. Once settled at the camp, Class A and B strike up a friendly rivalry over curry, which leads to a quirk-powered pillow fight! It’s the normal mix of mayhem and tomfoolery you’d expect from high-school students, which is refreshing for a series as serious as My Hero Academia. 

The best thing about My Hero Academia: School Briefs is the moments of ordinary it gives us for a series which doesn’t usually have time for it. Stories like the one about Yaoyorozu also give us a great deal of character development and I enjoy seeing the wide variety of characters we spend time with story to story. This is especially true of the pillow fight between Classes A and B, where we’re not quite as familiar with their characters. 

I find it impressive how well author Anri Yoshi is slotting these stories into mangaka Kohei Horikoshi’s world so easily. Yoshi manages to pinpoint the perfect time to place these everyday tales, connecting them up to the main plot expertly. Anyone who has read or watched the arc during which this volume takes place will know how packed it is, but everything that happens here feels natural. It definitely feels like content you could have seen in the anime.

Having said that, if you weren’t a fan of the first volume of My Hero Academia: School Briefs then this one is unlikely to change your mind. Unless you have a particular attachment to the cast of My Hero Academia, this series is perhaps too mundane compared to the action-packed manga/anime you know and love. However, if you’re someone who wants to follow everything to do with a franchise, then this is well worth your time.

This volume of My Hero Academia: School Briefs once again comes to the West thanks to VIZ  Media. The series continues to be translated by Caleb Cook and the translation reads well. This release includes a fold-out colour page, which depicts a class photo taken during the training camp.

Overall My Hero Academia: School Briefs Volume 2 does a great job of covering the training camp in its own way. With a variety of stories that offer something for everyone, this is a must-have for those looking to spend more time with their favourite heroes.