‘My Hero Academia’ OVAs Are a Hilarious Love Letter to Artists and Folks Who Hate High School Gym Class

On August 1st, two new My Hero Academia OVAs will be streaming on Crunchyroll. The first OVA, HLB, focuses on the Hero League of Baseball and the rivalry between Gang Orca and Shishido that apparently exists. The second OVA, Laugh! As if You Are in Hell!, focuses on Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki’s time at the Endeavor Agency.

If you’re looking for major plot threads from either of these OVAs then you’ll be sorely disappointed – then again, with titles that focus on baseball and laughing too much, you probably already know that these are cute little stories meant to make you chuckle for forty minutes (each OVA is around twenty minutes). I had a good time with both of them and enjoyed seeing these characters again, especially ones we don’t get to see that often.

HLB

HLB stands for “Hero League of Baseball.” It is a baseball league founded by pro-heroes who love baseball! It’s game day! The last game of HLB championship is between Gang Orca and Shishido’s two rival agencies. They form a team (“Orcas” and “Lionels”) to compete. In the world of HLB, there is no rule – using their quirks is of course accepted. However, just when the game is about to finish, they are interrupted by a villain. Who will be the winner of HLB!?

What’s great about the HLB OVA is that it just starts. You don’t get much of a build-up for why Gang Orca and Shishido are so aggressive toward each other (my fangirl heart says lover’s quarrel) and you don’t get to see how they decided on the teams. The anime begins, we’re playing baseball, and that’s that. The humor comes from the fact that a lot of the characters aren’t as passionate about the game as these two, and I couldn’t help but laugh every time Tamaki (my sweet, shy son) was on screen because he truly did NOT want to be there. Honestly, his attitude is exactly how I approached high school gym class because… why?

Along with the general humor of trying to get out of playing the sport that adults swear you have to participate in, there are some good moments for characters to shine (Kirishima fans will be pleased). We do get some of that My Hero Academia intensity, but instead of a life or death battle, it’s trying to hit a fastball. I suppose when the one throwing the pitch can send waves of tree branches at you then it’s definitely worth some epic shonen anime music.

Laugh! As if You Are in Hell!

Deku, Bakugo, and Todoroki participate in an internship under the No.1 hero, Endeavor’s agency. One of their tasks these days is to find a villain (“Smiley”) who draws doodles in the city. However, since the urgency is so low, they let other pro-heroes solve this case. One day, Smiley draws a doodle on Endeavor’s house! Being furious, Endeavor himself and the 1-A trio go out to get the villain. However, Smiley’s quirk turns out to be something ridiculous but powerful… It is to make anyone who looks into his eyes laugh hysterically! Can the team capture the villain and stop laughing!?

The second OVA is basically an excuse to see characters who normally wouldn’t crack a smile completely lose their shit. The villain isn’t all that threatening, but he does have an extremely effective quirk. His crime isn’t nearly as severe as other series antagonists (you’re basically getting another silly bean like Gentle Criminal). In fact, Smiley is so low tier that Endeavor doesn’t even want to bother with tracking him down… until his house gets graffitied, now its personal.

From there the OVA is an ongoing chance to see the characters laugh until it hurts. That in and of itself is funny, but what really made me giggle is when Deku started to figure out the villain’s backstory and we got the classic “maybe I can save him” anime protagonist mindset. Is Smiley just a misunderstood artist? Deku’s gonna find out because, well, it’s Deku.

Both of the My Hero Academia OVAs will be available on Crunchyroll on August 1, 2022.

Update: You can watch the OVAs subbed here and dubbed here.

(Featured image: © K. Horikoshi/Shueisha, My Hero Academia Project)

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