What is My Hero Academia: Vigilantes?

The prequel about the heroes the law never licensed.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is a prequel manga written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and drawn by Betten Court, under Horikoshi’s supervision. It is set roughly five years before the main series and follows Koichi Haimawari, a kind young man with a humble sliding Quirk who does hero work without a license as “The Crawler,” alongside the brutal veteran Knuckleduster and the street performer Pop Step, in a city district flooded with the Quirk-boosting drug Trigger.

It began in Jump GIGA in August 2016, moved to Shonen Jump+ that October, and ran to 28 May 2022: 15 volumes, published in English by Viz as they appeared in Japan. A short special arc returned to Jump+ in April 2025 to stand beside the anime. Where the main series asks what makes a hero, Vigilantes asks what makes one legal, and the main series’ own past, Aizawa’s school days among it, is woven through it.

Vigilantes, Vol. 1 (Japanese)

The first Vigilantes volume (April 2017), drawn by Betten Court from Hideyuki Furuhashi’s scripts.

THE BOOKS

15 volumes · 2016 to 2022

The credits

Story by Hideyuki Furuhashi, art by Betten Court, original concept by Kohei Horikoshi. The spin-off with the strongest separate identity of the three.

The run

Jump GIGA, August 2016; Shonen Jump+ from October 2016 to May 2022. Volume 1: 4 April 2017. Volume 15: 4 July 2022, closing the story completely.

In English

Viz published all fifteen volumes, July 2018 to October 2023. The whole prequel is readable in English, a rarer thing than it sounds for Jump spin-offs.

WHY IT EARNS ITS SHELF

The prequel’s case

The ground level

No U.A., no rankings: neighbourhood patrols, drug dealers, and retired violence. The district-level view the main series flies over.

The canon thread

Pro heroes appear younger and rawer; the backstories of familiar teachers and the origins of the Trigger drug are told here, not there.

The anime

Bones Film adapted it in 2025, twenty-six episodes across two seasons. It is documented on its own page.

What is My Hero Academia: Vigilantes?

THE BOOKS

WHY IT EARNS ITS SHELF

THE MY HERO ACADEMIA SHELF

THE FIRST WORD