My Hero Academia OVA Review
The My Hero Academia season is over and we’ll be waiting for a while before we get more episodes, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get any new content. There have been two OVA episodes dropped to help tide us over until production of the new season is finished, however. Considering the delays that we’ve seen from the anime industry this year, it might be more than a year before My Hero Academia returns to our screens so this two-part episode might be all we get for a while now.
Set in the middle of the anime’s third season, after the All for One vs All Might fight but before the students undertake their provisional hero license exam, these episodes did a reasonable job of scratching the continual itch I have for more My Hero Academia content.
My Hero Academia’s Filler
OVAs are not known for being canon. In fact, their biggest appeal is that they are short stories taking place within a larger universe. This one, titled Make It! Do-or-Die Survival Training, focuses on the Class 1-A students as they undergo training to prepare for their provisional license exam. Half the class were sent into an underground mall after an earthquake to save a trapped survivor/training dummy. Of course, further collapses occur, and the real test is in how the wannabe-heroes react to changing dangers around them.
Taking place over two full-length episodes (complete with season four’s second opening and closing credits), these episodes are light on content, with a little bit of action and comedy to keep things moving. The funniest character in this OVA, as usual, is Tsu who makes a habit to pop up and correct people when they call her Asui. There is a little bit of adorable tension between Uraraka and Midoriya and a welcome return of the creepy Dark Shadow Cowl from Tokoyami, but the writers of these episodes clearly had one character in mind when they put this plot together.
The Real Hero is… Bakugo?
Gonna level with you on this one, folks. I don’t like Bakugo as a character. I think the most unrealistic part of My Hero Academia is that no one at that school has looked at Bakugo, who spends most of his time shouting about murdering villains, civilians, and his fellow students, and suggested maybe he isn’t suited to being a hero. For years, I’ve been crying out for him to get a bit of character development to bring a bit more of him out to the surface.
We got a little bit of that at the end of season three, but Bakugo took a big backseat in season four so we could give Mirio the love he deserved, so it was actually nice to see what might end up making Lord Explosion Murder a successful hero in the future. While the rest of the group focuses on escaping from the collapsing building or assumes that the training exercise is finished, Bakugo is the only one who continues to work toward saving the civilian (even if they are just a training dummy).
He restores power to the building to help his fellow students escape easier and stays behind to help Todoroki escape when the building begins filling up with water. He shows focus and determination to do the heroic thing, even if he shouts in rage every few seconds while doing it. You can see why people might believe he could be a hero if he could just dial back his rage now and then.
A lot more will need to happen for me to be a Bakugo fan, though. Beyond just a shift in personality, he’ll need to grow up enough to seek forgiveness for how he’s treated people in the past, including Deku. But this OVA did a great job of showcasing his more heroic traits as well as his flaws and giving a believable insight into his potential. Of all the characters, he was clearly the standout of these episodes.
Make It! Do-or-Die Survival Training is available subbed on Crunchyroll and Funimation. No word yet on when or if Funimation will give it the dub treatment just yet.
Join The Discussion
Rice Digital Discord
Rice Digital Twitter
Rice Digital Facebook
Or write us a letter for the Rice Digital Friday Letters Page by clicking here!
Disclosure: Some links in this article may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on them. This is at no additional cost to you and helps support Rice Digital!
- Six of the best Stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure - June 2, 2023
- 4 of the best JRock tracks from May - June 1, 2023
- Hump Day Husbandos: Guts (Berserk) - May 31, 2023
