The Special My Hero Academia Episodes That Were Only Released in Japan

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 30, 2024 5 Views 11 Min Read
The Special My Hero Academia Episodes That Were Only Released in Japan

Summary

  • Some MHA content is only available in Japan, including 2 exclusive OVA episodes.
  • The rescue training OVA features a surprise twist and humorous elements surprising for MHA.
  • The zombie outbreak OVA introduces new characters and quirks, leading to fun hijinks.

With the 8th and final season of My Hero Academia releasing in 2025, there has been a lot of TV for fans of the series to enjoy. But on top of these nearly 159 episodes across the 7 seasons so far, there are also now 4 movies as well as OVAs focusing on extended stories in the MHA universe, including events not seen in the manga.

If you’re an avid MHA fan, odds are that you have gleefully binged all of this content at some point, but what you may not know is that some content is not available to everyone around the world. In fact, there are a few special episodes that were only released in Japan, and have yet to be translated for international audiences.

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My Hero Academia – Save! Rescue Training

This Special Episode Pits Class 1-A Against a Frightening New Villain.

If you are indeed one of those fans who have faithfully watched the entirety of My Hero Academia, then the first OVA episode you might remember is in Season 4, which covered a special rescue training mission. But interestingly, not only is that not the first OVA episode, it’s also not even the first rescue training OVA episode.

“My Hero Academia – Save! Rescue Training!” is a special episode of MHA that appeared at Jump Festa, the annual event celebrating Shōnen Jump and all of its outlets and titles. All the way back in 2016, after the airing of the first season, fans at Jump Festa were surprised with the first screening of this special episode. Here’s a very brief rundown of the episode.

  • The class returns to the USJ training area after the events of Season 1, and are told that they will be receiving further rescue training. All Might is seemingly a no-show as Deku, Ochaco and Iida are told that they will be the students in need of rescue in this exercise.
  • Meanwhile, Todoroki, Momo, Tokoyami, Bakugo, Tsuyu and more act as the rescuers in the first part of the exercise. After “rescuing” the original trio (not without a lot of resistance from Bakugo), 3 other students take their place.
  • The next part of the exam places class 1-A in the USJ’s urban disaster zone, with Deku, Ochaco, Bakugo and Mineta asking as rescuers for the other 16 students in class. While at first it seems like a normal exercise, the class comes across a powerful villain who even manages to quickly subdue Todoroki!
  • A brief but intense fight ends when Bakugo prepares to unleash a full attack on the villain, only for him to remove his mask and reveal that he’s actually All Might in disguise!

This brief summary doesn’t capture all the charm and drama of the episode, especially with its more humorous vibes after the harrowing events at the end of season 1. For example, there are even multiple 4th wall breaks (pretty unusual for MHA) with characters even exclaiming “Because we’re in a Jump Festa special!” whenever Bakugo asks why he is being forced to help Deku. The DVD can still be found on the internet, and with the popularity of MHA only increasing over time, it’s not impossible to see this OVA one day widely available on streaming services.

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My Hero Academia – Training of the Dead

A Rather Spooky Special Episode Sees the Students Face a Zombie Outbreak!

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The next special OVA episode was actually released in a special bundle with the manga in Japan. Readers who purchased a limited supply of Volume 14 of the MHA manga would receive the “Training of the Dead” OVA DVD bundled with it.

This OVA starts by adapting a very short bonus chapter that appeared alongside the main manga in Weekly Shōnen Jump. This bonus chapter focused on Tsuyu’s family and her experiences at her middle school. With her responsibilities at home and being ostracized due to her appearance and behavior, we learn that Tsuyu didn’t have many friends, but after she notices a girl following her around, they manage to become friends, before eventually parting ways to different high schools.

As for the rest of the episode, it takes place after Class 1-A returns from their hero internships. The students are surprised when they are visited by students from a different hero school, Isamu Academy High School (only mentioned in the special episode). Among them is Tsuyu’s old friend from middle school. They announce that they will be joining Class 1-A to take part in a special exercise. The students are placed in the following teams:

  • Team A: Deku, Tsuyu, Mina, Ochaco
  • Team B: Bakugo, Kirishima, Momo, Shoji
  • Team C: Todoroki, Hagakure, Ojiro, Koda
  • Team D: Iida, Tokoyami, Sero, Sato
  • Team E: Jiro, Mineta, Kaminari, Aoyama
  • Team F: The students from Isamu Academy

The rules of the exercise are very simple: teams should aim to survive as long as possible. Participants must tie up the other teams’ members with tape to ensure they are counted as eliminated. The last team that remains wins.

This simple premise is quickly disrupted by the unique powers of the Isamu Academy students’ quirks. We see a new quirk that allows the user to project a holographic map that includes data of a person they decide to track. Another student is able to launch a barrage of missiles (this student often clashes with Bakugo), but the final student’s quirk is where this episode gets its name. They release a pink gas that zombifies people it comes into contact with!

These “Zombies” can also infect other people, and this quickly spreads among the teams until only Deku’s team (excluding Tsuyu) and Todoroki’s (only including Hagakure) remain. They become cornered and, in an act of desperation, Deku declares that he will use Full Cowl in order to blast the zombies away. But, to everyone’s surprise, the zombie effect has a time limit, and right before Deku’s blast, everyone turns back, only to be blown away by Deku’s power. This enrages Bakugo, who charges Deku, and we end the special episode with Deku in the hospital again, this time, due to Bakugo’s revenge.

This episode also included some funny hijinks, much like rescue training OVA. One of the funniest parts is when All Might lands in the exercise area only to turn back into his depowered form. Deku is at first horrified to think that his secret might be revealed, only to realize that All Might’s weakened form also resembles the zombified students, so they think he is just another zombie!

After these special OVAs, MHA’s popularity continued to skyrocket, and every subsequent OVA was released internationally as well, but these special episodes are relics of a time when MHA was much younger and was only starting to reach its full potential.

MHA is now available to watch on Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix and more where available. You can also read the manga on VIZ’s Shonen Jump App, or MangaPlus.

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