By Matthew Moorcroft

Strong Recommendation

All images are courtesy of Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures.

Won’t mince words here, I’ve been heavily anticipating To Be Hero X for some time, mainly thanks to it’s widely impressive trailers that have come out for over a year before it’s release. Chinese animation in general has seen a massive boost in scope and quality over the years – the recently released (and fantastic) Ne Zha 2 is basically proof of this in action – but something about To Be Hero X just felt different and fresh beyond that. And yet, the trailers keep it something of a mystery in terms of what it’s actual about beyond “there are a bunch of superheroes and they all have cool, unique abilities”.

And honestly, I’d rather keep it that way. To Be Hero X is absolutely not what you would expect, especially when compared to it’s more comedic short form counterparts from several years ago. But it’s also not what you would expect in the best way possible, constantly one upping itself with new “holy shit” moments one after another and somehow remaining fresh and unexpected 22 minutes into it’s runtime. It’s actually rather remarkable of a show in that regard, bolstered by fantastic writing and a love for superhero media that just bleeds through every pore of it’s gorgeously animated frames.

Stilted, cheap CG animation this isn’t; instead To Be Hero X feels expressive and fast paced, taking advantage of the squash and stretch that so many CG animated shows seem to forget. But it’s really the constant animation style changes – from classic 2D anime styles to high contrast pop up art to even a pencil sketch sequence, this is a smorgasbord of inventive ideas and visuals that will likely mean To Be Hero X will find a place among hardcore animation enthusiasts even if the story doesn’t connect with them.

Thankfully that really shouldn’t be an issue either. While the details of it’s story have been mostly left under wraps – and for the sake of anybody reading, will remain so even in this review – it manages to tell a pretty effective short story about a man who gets the opportunity of a lifetime who learns to love that opportunity before it immediately gets shattered. There is an effective emotional gut punch towards the end of this that wouldn’t have worked in a lesser show as it requires a ton of development for two characters in not a lot of time, but smartly the show sprinkles in a likable rapport between the two and manages to also give smart explanations to many of the more potentially outlandish scenarios here.

With it’s anti-capitalist streak as well, To Be Hero X seems to have more in common with works like The Boys or Tiger and Bunny then something like My Hero Academia or even most tokusatsu fare. It’s cynical, mind you – it’s got an optimistic vibe about how it perceives the nature of heroism and superheroes in general – but it does seem to have some level of contempt for the current state of superhero media and how it all seems to be about branding and caricatures of itself. This immediately makes me curious about future episodes, as the large cast it seems to imply means we could get a multitude of perspectives on the topic which makes me ever so intrigued.

And if intrigued is what they wanted for this, then they have succeed with flying colors as this is a wildly successful premiere on that front. While this could have so easily been gimmicky or even something of a wash, To Be Hero X is by and far away one of the most impressive shows of the year from a visual standpoint, and an immediate high point of what is shaping up to be an otherwise very solid season of anime. For those even remotely curious, it’s a must watch, and if you’ve never seen a Chinese anime before, this is now your time to jump in. Great stuff!