Boku no Hero Academia: Ikinokore! Kesshi no Survival Kunren

The first thing I want to iterate is that I do fully understand how popular My Hero Academia is to young anime fans and my first exposure to this series is not starting from episode one of the mainline series but to start with a side story that offers a great introduction to the world and characters of my hero acamedia without giving you a feeling of being lost with regards to how big and massive the series is. This story is a special two-part episode and 4th OVA for the My Hero Academia series. The plot of the episode is that it takes place before the provisional hero license exam and it looks at the the team being put through survival training in order to perfect their abilities as hero's. Their survival training focuses on rescuing a practice dummy that was left in the remains of the 6 floor shopping center that was evacuated due to a fire. Don't expect anything too detailed in this review because it is a two episode OVA, but one thing I do appreciate about this OVA is that it covers enough information to get you interested in the world of my hero academia. The start of this two part OVA gives me a great introduction into the world of my hero academia and the main character Izuku. I feel with this OVA we get to see enough of the characters personality and each character has an opportunity to showcase their power/ability. Even in this two episode OVA, it gave me enough information to know who which characters I liked and which characters I disliked. There really aren't any villains in this episode since it is a practice rescue mission. However, the danger is incredibly real because due to the fire in the shopping mall the building is on the verge of collapsing and to make matters worse the bottom levels of the shopping mall start to flood as several areas of the shopping mall to collapse which adds a continued level of danger to this survival training. During this survival training exercise, the heroes need to learn to operate as a team even though many of them split up in order to cover more ground with regards to finding the training dummy. Unfortunately there is one stubborn character that feels like he doesn't need the rest of the team in order to complete the task. However, the more times the characters use their powers it actually contributes to the buildings continued deterioration. It also doesn't help the fact that many of the characters can't use their powers because it puts them in a more precarious position. During the time we get to see the characters use their powers. It is animated quite beautifully. I don't have tany issues with the animation quality and the soundtrack throughout this 2 part ova. There is not much in the realm of humor and some of the personalities for some of the characters can be a little irritating. Since it's only a two episode OVA it's not really that much of a detriment. There are definitely far more positive/uplifting characters then annoying characters and tt actually gets me excited to start watching the full series when I find the free time to start it. By the end of the 2 part OVA, the team managed to succeed with their survival training but not without a few injuries and a few bruised ego's. It's still a nice little appetizer regardless if it's your first adventure in the world of my hero academia or you want a nice little break from the main series. I certainly got my enjoyment out of it. 7/10

I actually enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected. The main reason is simple, there is action! 😂 I didnt feel like I was just waiting around for something interesting to happen. From the start, it had that MHA energy that I was looking for. I really liked seeing the students getting thrown into dangerous situations and having to actually use their Quirks properly. Some of the fights were pretty damn fun, especially when everyone started working together and things got more chaotic. Those moments where they were struggling but still pushing forward were probably my favorite part. It also felt more engaging because the pacing was quick. No unnecessary dragging, just straight into the survival training and the action. Thats exactly what I wanted from the previous movie but didnt really get 😂

(from watching all the specials, alternatives, movies, etc. I haven't watched) So, I have to admit that this OVA was very similar to the one in season 2, only longer. I think it turned out better in the end, but it's very similar in theme, there were some new characters there who never added anything in OVA from season 2, and nothing like that happens here (for the better, imo). I won't deny that I will definitely remember that Asui is tsu like EVER FOREVER, heheh. Moving on to a more serious aspects, honestly, they were a very mixed bag those two episodes didn't bring anything new. Sometimes they were funny when Bakugo's group showed up, but honestly, nothing else really sparked anything for me. Despite everything, I have to admit that I did see signs of deeper, more complex thinking in Bakugo, and you could even say that he finally accepted that he could use some help (of course, all in his style), which is rare (especially at this moment in story). Which is also nice to me. Also, "Dark Shadow 2 side" made me laugh. It's interesting to watch. But other than that, that's where the more interesting and distinctive elements end. Besides that, I won't deny that at the beginning, I expected to see one group in episode 1 and second group in episode 2. But they put all the "most important" characters in one team, so they wouldn't have to mention the other, even though they suggested there were two groups at the beginning. The struggles of such a "weaker" group would also have been interesting to watch, but they did it the way they did, which is why it's so depressing in my opinion. I also noticed a very recurring pattern with the OVAs in BNHA, which I don't really like. It's always a slight prequel or sequel to something they didn't show, and it always shows some kind of training. In my opinion, because the main series doesn't show much of their more private lives and situations, it would have been a much better idea. And it's nothing more specific or very special, so I'm honestly unsure if it's worth watching. I mean, it's good, but is it worth it? Not really. Ultimately, if you like something lightweighted, and just a regular episode. Sure, you can watch it. It's not bad, so you won't lost much. But if you don't watch it, you won't miss anything either, and you might even skip something that might not really interest you.