Heroes

"Heroes" is Inio Asano's most bizarre and most personal manga. The content is quickly outlined: A group of strange heroes sets out to defeat the darkness, banish chaos and bring back peace. So far, this sounds like a typical manga fantasy epic, but after the first chapter, "Heroes" takes an unexpected turn: instead of pushing forward, the plot goes around in circles, events repeat themselves in each chapter, heroes die, new heroines join the small troupe. Asano cleverly plays with set pieces from manga, fantasy and games, but brings them together in a surprising and witty way. Ultimately, "Heroes" is about the power of darkness, dealing with depression, questions of good and evil, trust and disappointment, openness and hypocrisy, failure and success. In this short story, Asano achieves this in a bitterly funny way. The contrast between the gloomy plot and the pretty and sweet drawings adds to the fun.