New York Comic Con 2023

My Hero Academia UA Heroes Battle OVA is a Well-Animated Trading Card Game Commercial

ANN's coverage of New York Comic Con 2023 sponsored by Ize Press!

At New York Comic Con 2023, Crunchyroll premiered the latest My Hero Academia OAV, "My Hero Academia UA Heroes Battle." Convention attendees were the first in the world to lay eyes on the OVA. Shown dubbed in English, the story revolves around an exclusive My Hero Academia card game, and if I had to sum up the OVA in a single statement, it would be something along the lines of “Wow, that was a really long and well-animated commercial.”

I don't mean this negatively. I love and still play the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, but that's a succinct description. The setup was pretty standard, even though the story's chronological placement is confusing. Previous My Hero Academia OVA episodes came out around the time they would've canonically happened alongside the anime, but there's no way this episode could've taken place during season six, given the heavy subject matter that is being tackled right now. Instead, the OVA takes place during season five.

The general gist is that class 1A feels listless during the winter season because they're stuck in their dorms. Unable to go out, visit family, or engage in any fun activities due to the League of Villains targeting them, good boy Mirio, in his classic over-the-top fashion, introduces a new card game being developed by his underclassmen. They decide to play and test out the game in order to pass the time.

As an audience member, it isn't clear how the game works. It feels like watching the early seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh!, where there weren't really any rules, and events just happened. There's a digital interface where the characters can put down cards that are based on each other and other well-known heroes. Putting down a card will end up generating a holographic avatar that does combat with your opponent's cards. It's both incredibly straightforward and vaguely complicated at the same time because the OVA doesn't really make a clear if the digital avatars are fighting by command or if there's an AI controlling the avatars based on the characters' known fighting styles. I would've liked it if they actually explained how the real-world card game works, but at the very least, it is simple fun that I think most My Hero fans should be able to enjoy.

The avatars got some laughs out of me, thanks to its art style. The avatars look almost exactly like their real-world counterparts except for the eyes, which are drawn in this large, exaggerated way. This feels right at home for some of the more cutesy characters, but when you put those eyes on characters like Bakugo or Todoroki, it's a riot.

The simple card game premise gets dialed up all the way to absurd levels when Bakugo comes in with his overly competitive nature. His rivalry with Deku still stands, and he's not about to lose to him playing cards. There's some sentimentality towards the end, like how neither Deku nor Bakugo feel that the AI is really capturing who they are or what they would do, but then this gets undercut by the ending. It's as explosively over the top as expected when Bakugo has to face defeat. The audience seemed to enjoy the spectacle, with plenty of audible laughs and anticipated reactions.

The depicted card game is based on Crunchyroll's collaboration with UVS Games, My Hero Academia: Jet Burn, featuring exclusive artwork from fan-favorite My Hero Academia characters. Players could pick up cards at their booth on the show floor; however, the booth was sold out at the time of the episode screening. UVS Games will release Jet Burn on November 17.

There were other collaborations that were brought up during the panel, including one with Hyperfly apparel and the NBA for exclusive basketball jerseys for teams like the Chicago Bulls and the Lakers splashed with My Hero Academia styles. Finally, My Hero Academia will also collaborate with Squishmallows for exclusive plushies that look downright adorable. The early release will include plushes of Deku, Bakugo, Uraraka, and Todoroki. They seem like must-haves for plushies and My Hero Academia fans alike. I just pray for all of our wallets.