My Hero Academia OVA “Make It! Do-or-Die Survival Training” Two-Parter Review
Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.
Synopsis: My Hero Academia follows Izuku Midoriya—nicknamed Deku—and his dream to become a hero someday. In a world where 80% of the superhuman society had powers—dubbed Quirks in this series—the dream to become a superhero became way more common. Sadly enough, Deku fell into the 20% category, effectively making him average—or Quirkless. After a fateful encounter with the number one hero All Might though, Deku’s fate changes forever.
On August 16, 2020, the latest OVA episodes for My Hero Academia dropped on Hulu and Crunchyroll. Having recently finished reading all the latest My Hero Academia volume books (1 through 24) on August 9, 2020—a week prior—this couldn’t have come at a better time.
Even if the two-parter OVA wasn’t essential viewing for the upcoming fifth season, being able to watch my favorite characters undergo this training exercise was needed to cleanse my soul. I think it cleansed so many fans’ souls who’ve been feeling hopeless.
The OVA two-parter episodes took place between the “Hideout Raid Arc” and the “Provisional Hero License Exam Arc” during the third season. In preparation for their upcoming Provisional Hero License Exam, Aizawa Sensei assigned Class 1-A a training exercise on disaster rescue, splitting the class into two teams.
Instead of focusing on both teams though, the OVA dedicated its two-parter only to Team A: Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, Tenya Iida, Ochaco Uraraka, Tsuyu Asui, Denki Kaminari, Ejiro Kirishima, Tokoyami Fumikage, and Momo Yaoyorozu. The episode didn’t have any villains crashing the training exercise nor did it have any unexpected accidents, but the stakes were indeed high when the exercise went in an unexpected direction.
The character moments were the episodes’ highlights. The cute Deku-Uraraka romance moment, Iida saving Yaoyorozu and proving himself a true hero, Bakugo pretending he didn’t care about his teammates but his actions saying otherwise, and then the quiet Todoroki-Tokoyami moments were all amazing to watch.
Again, I’m actually really glad I finished the volume books a week prior to watching these episodes. The emotional moments were hitting Plus Ultra for me. The characters were feeling Plus Ultra too in order to pass the training exercise.
Overall, I had a fun time watching the OVA episodes. My Hero Academia fans will likely feel the same despite the two-parter not adding anything significant to the plot. OVAs don’t usually add to the plot anyway, but they do remind us on why we watch an anime to begin with: for the awesome characters and their high-spirited enthusiasm—at least, the main protagonist’s—for achieving their goals / dreams. Thanks everyone for reading this episode review. I really appreciate it. I’ll see you all when season 5 comes out!