I Am A Hero Omnibus vol. 4

I was hoping that the security measures taken by the community that Hideo and Hiromi joined in the previous volume were just a result of them being cautious in this post-collapse world.  Unfortunately it becomes clear very early on that this community is one of those awful quasi-fascist groups run by a crazy person that are mandated to exist by zombie story law.  It’s not as bad as seeing how the Governor ran Woodbury in “The Walking Dead” comic, but the way it plays out here is very much along those same lines with its ranting leader, show trials, and thugs with weapons.  The screws only get tighter as Hideo is press-ganged along with a few other survivors to make a raid on the mall’s food court when supplies start running low.  If you think that things are going to go badly for everyone involved then I doubt you’ll be surprised by how it all turns out.

There are some bright spots early on, such as the drunken bonding that occurs between Hideo and the nurse, Yabu.  The way mangaka Kengo Hanazawa milks the actual raid for tension is very well executed.  Yet if you think that I’m setting things up to tell you that the volume utterly collapses in its second half… then you’d be very, very wrong.  Even if the first half is burdened by its embrace of familiar tropes, the second is a glorious triumph of the human will to survive.  As Yabu tries to escape to her car while carrying an injured Hiromi on her back, Hideo musters all of his skill and courage to get out of the food court alive.  While Yabu’s struggle is plenty entertaining to watch by itself, the best and most disturbing part is her showdown with one of the community’s scumbags and its unexpected ending.  As for Hideo, well, if you’ve been wondering just how good he is with that rifle he’s been carrying around since the beginning of the series then you’re going to get a pretty definitive answer here.

Essentially, the back half of this volume is all about delivering some immensely satisfying payoff for what Hanazawa has been setting up for the current stage of this story.  Everything is firing on all cylinders at this point and while I’m expecting things to slow down as the story heads off to a new place — Taiwan! — it should still wind up in a satisfying place in the end.