Raw Hero vol. 1

After 14 (really 28) volumes of “Prison School,” it’s safe to say that mangaka Akira Hiramoto has a pretty well-defined style.  It involves utterly ridiculous situations played completely straight, and served up with a near-constant stream of fanservice.  That’s not all he’s capable of (and one day it’ll be time to talk about “Me and the Devil Blues,” but not now), except it is what he’s clearly interested in and what his fans want to see as well.  How else to explain the existence of “Raw Hero,” then?  It may present itself as a new manga title revolving around superheroes, but it’s really just a chance for Hiramoto to do his thing with a new cast and setting.

Said cast is led by Chiaki, the eldest of three brothers living alone after the death of their father.  He’s out of school and is determined to be the breadwinner for the family.  All he has to do is make it to the second interview at the company where the CEO has taken a liking to him.  The problem is that while he’s on the train there, he spots a man clearly molesting a girl in front of everyone.  Even though it might mean that he’s late to his interview, Chiaki intervenes…

…Only to find out that it was consensual role-play between the two of them.  Fortunately, the man was so impressed by Chiaki’s keen skills of observation (regarding something our protagonist points out was clearly obvious to ANYONE who was looking), he offers the young man a job.  This man Chiaki thought was a molester turns out to be Hyouichirou Tadano, an investigator with the police’s Justice Management Team.  Their job:  Utilizing the skills of superpowered individuals against those who would threaten justice.

If you think that this setup sounds like Chiaki will wind up with superpowers by the end of the volume, I’m sure he’d have preferred that to what actually happens to him.  His first job with the JMT is to infiltrate an evil organization.  That may sound tough, but all he has to do is go pick up a suitcase from a locker, put on what’s inside, and follow the instructions Hyoichirou has left for him.

As for what’s in the suitcase… just remember you’re reading a manga from the creator of “Prison School.”  So it’s equal parts dumb and ridiculous.  You could accuse Chiaki of lacking self-awareness here, but his determination to see things through and make the best of this situation is actually impressive.  Even if his luck stat tops out at “abysmal,” the young man is more resourceful than he first appears to be.  Which means that even if this series is going to be about him suffering untold indignities, it’s not going to be a downer to read about.

It also helps that the humor more or less works for this first volume.  Of course, it comes with an obvious caveat:  If you didn’t like the humor in “Prison School” then you’re definitely not going to like it here.  Hiramoto has an unparalleled skill for being able to play the most ridiculous setup with a level of seriousness that it does not deserve.  It’s not quite on the level of his previous series, but I got enough chuckles out of this volume to be happy with it..

The main problem with this volume is that the whole setup feels like an excuse for Hiramoto to indulge in his established schtick than a setup for a proper story.  Though “Raw Hero” may be set in a world with superheroes, there’s no real detail to it.  All we’re told is that they exist, some of them work with the police, and others are just supervillains.  There’s nothing here to make this world feel like more than what we see on the page.  It’s like Hiramoto went, “Well superheroes are big right now, and everyone likes ‘My Hero Academia,’ so why not do a series like that for my next one?”  Maybe this will grow into a world that feels believable, though this first volume just leaves me feeling that it exists for its creator to run rampant in.

If that sounds like your idea of a good time, then by all means check out “Raw Hero.”  At this point I feel like it’s only going to appeal to fans of his work on “Prison School.”  Depending on your standards, you’ll either find this to be a worthy successor or something that tries really hard to recapture its demented spark.  If I find myself falling into that latter category, it’s because Hiramoto taught me with his previous series to expect better things from whatever fanservice-driven series I read.