Baka & Test - Summon the Beasts OVA
バカとテストと召喚獣 ～祭～ (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: Matsuri)
- Comedy
- School
- Super Power
- Episodes
- 2
- Duration
- 29 min per ep
- Aired
- Feb 23, 2011 to Mar 30, 2011
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
*Baka & Test - Summon the Beasts OVA* is a standalone OVA entry in the *Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu* franchise, produced and announced for release ahead of the second season.
Set within the same school-comedy framework and supernatural “summon” concept the title is known for, it serves as an additional installment bridging the gap before the next televised run.
Otaku Consensus
Matsuri is received as the franchise’s strongest kind of extra: Shin Oonuma and SILVER LINK. compress Baka & Test’s gag timing, chibi eruptions, and class-battle tactics into a two-part school-festival mini-arc that fans often describe as closer to a short movie than throwaway bonus content. Critics who bounce off it cite the same ceiling as the TV series: hit-or-miss idiocy, familiar fan-service gags, and little that changes the broader formula, but the consensus is that its pacing and ensemble chemistry make it one of the easier franchise side entries to recommend.
Why You Should Watch
Watch Matsuri if you want a compact dose of classroom chaos without committing to another full cour. The OVA works best for viewers who like School Rumble-style romantic humiliation, Kaguya-sama-style scheming, and absurd battle rules used for punchlines rather than power scaling. Its two-episode format trims the franchise down to what fans quote most: Akihisa-adjacent stupidity, Yuuji’s tactical bullying energy, Hideyoshi’s gender-bending running gags, and Class F weaponizing desperation into comedy. It is also a good test case for whether Baka & Test is your kind of nonsense; reviews repeatedly frame the series as hilarious when its idiot logic clicks and merely average when it does not. If you want loud, fast school comedy with a gamified twist and minimal melodrama, this OVA is the cleanest sampler.
Key Characters
- MMizuki Himeji(VA: Hitomi Harada)
Mizuki gives the OVA its soft emotional pressure point, turning Class F’s clownish money-making panic into something slightly more sincere than a normal gag episode.
- HHideyoshi Kinoshita(VA: Emiri Katou)
Hideyoshi remains one of the franchise’s signature fan-favorite joke engines, with the OVA leaning into the crossdressing and femboy humor that AniList tags associate strongly with this entry.
- YYuuji Sakamoto(VA: Tatsuhisa Suzuki)
Yuuji is the strategic counterweight to the cast’s stupidity, and his appeal comes from treating ridiculous school-festival problems like a battle plan.
- MMinami Shimada(VA: Kaori Mizuhashi)
Minami carries the tsundere edge of the ensemble, giving the OVA its sharpest bursts of romantic frustration and slapstick escalation.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
The OVA was released in two parts from February 23 to March 30, 2011, positioned as a bridge before the franchise’s second TV season rather than as an after-the-fact DVD extra.
- 2
Director Shin Oonuma and studio SILVER LINK. keep the franchise’s visual language built around abrupt reaction cuts, simplified chibi bodies, and exaggerated punishment comedy, an approach that suits a short festival arc better than a lore-heavy continuation.
- 3
Miwa Ooshima serves as both character designer and chief animation director, helping keep the cast immediately readable during rapid-fire gag sequences and super-deformed transitions.
- 4
The music is credited to Akito Matsuda under the name Nijine, while the theme-song side features Natsuko Asou and milktub, tying the OVA’s audio identity to recognizable anisong performers rather than treating it as a minor release.
- 5
Reviewers repeatedly single out the class-battle mechanics as the franchise’s most distinctive hook, with the tactics described as funny and intriguing even by critics who rate the overall show as average.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- AniList’s tag profile for Matsuri is unusually revealing for a comedy OVA: School sits at 100%, while Tsundere, Crossdressing, Love Triangle, Femboy, Twins, Parody, Kuudere, and Chibi all appear as notable identifiers.
- Fun fact 2
- Kenji Inoue is credited as the original creator, while Shin Oonuma directs the anime version, placing the OVA in the same creator-to-studio pipeline as the broader Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu franchise.
- Fun fact 3
- Toshiki Kameyama is credited as sound director, a key production role for a series whose comedy depends heavily on timing, screaming reactions, and sudden tonal pivots.
- Fun fact 4
- Gen Fukunaga is listed as executive producer for the English side, reflecting the franchise’s overseas release infrastructure rather than a Japan-only OVA footprint.
- Fun fact 5
- AniList records a 72/100 score and 169 favourites for this OVA, while MyAnimeList’s 7.55 average from more than 75,000 votes places it in the territory of a well-liked side entry rather than a forgotten bonus episode.
Studios
- SILVER LINK.
