TO BE HERO XDirector: Li HaolingProducers: Aniplex, bilibili, BeDreamStudios: Pb Animation Co. Ltd., LAN Studio, Paper Airplane Animation StudioStreamer: CrunchyrollRelease Date: April 5, 2025Rating: PG-13Genre: Motion, donghua
The primary episode of To Be Hero X, the extremely anticipated new animated sequence from Hyperlink Click on‘s Li Haoling, is sort of right here. Our writers, Adam Wescott and Hilary Leung, acquired early entry and sat all the way down to share their ideas. So what are you able to anticipate from this promising new present? Does it efficiently mix 2D and 3D animation? Who’s the mysterious X, the strongest hero of all? And why is Good ranked the Tenth hottest hero when he clearly deserves the 69th spot? Discover the solutions to those questions (aside from that final one) beneath.
We don’t embrace main story spoilers from the primary episode of To Be Hero X. Nevertheless, we do focus on the premise, characters, and some structural components that stood out to us. If that issues to you, be happy to observe the episode first and are available again after. No stress—it’s actually not an enormous deal.
However there’s…plot?!
Adam: I wasn’t anticipating the primary episode to be such a direct response to the Spider-Verse movies and Arcane. There’s way more 3DCG animation than I assumed there could be, but in addition loads of 2D in several kinds spliced in. Was that what you have been anticipating? I do know there are 3DCG donghua, however I’m not so aware of them.
Hilary: I wasn’t too shocked, however based mostly on the trailers that have been proven, I anticipated extra 2D animation. To Be Hero X‘s 3DCG animation, although, is on par with different donghua.
I wasn’t positive what to anticipate both going into the primary episode. The premise was imprecise, and the present’s first couple of trailers targeted extra on how heroes have been made. I assumed it’d be extra like a coaching arc the place the Prime 9 have been competing to turn out to be the top-ranked hero. However there’s… plot?! A thriller?!
Adam: I used to be anticipating a battle royale present going into this, positively. One thing like Destiny/Keep Evening or Re:Creators. Or Kamen Rider Ryuuki if you wish to go old style. However that is positively a sequence by a few of the people who made Hyperlink Click on. You’re a fan of that sequence, proper?
Hilary: Yep. However Hyperlink Click on began off extra slice-of-life, and it wasn’t till the latter half that every little thing got here collectively extra cohesively. Then once more, I’ve but to observe the second season…
That one-rank distinction
Adam: Hyperlink Click on seems to be extra like a typical 2D anime, so I feel it’s simpler for anime followers to latch onto. You possibly can see some similarities within the first episode of To Be Hero X with Hyperlink Click on’s construction as nicely. It’s a “case of the week” episode about Good, one of many high 10 heroes. So it’s attainable the present may proceed with every episode specializing in a selected hero till the top.
Hilary: That cliffhanger, although! Hyperlink Click on additionally had a cliffhanger on the finish of the primary episode, however they brushed it over prefer it was an unlucky accident. To your level, although, the case-of-the-week format appears seemingly contemplating how a lot time they spent introducing every of the ten heroes within the advertising. It wouldn’t make sense to introduce 10 folks and never really dive into their characters.
Adam: One in all my worries is that ten distinctive characters is a number of characters. It additionally seems to be like there shall be different heroes and villains who aren’t in that primary ten.
Hilary: Yep, like Mr. Rank 250 249. That one-rank distinction is tremendous vital! You’re high 250!
Adam: The world the place this story takes place is clearly big. Will they’ve sufficient time to cowl every little thing?
Hilary: I feel I learn someplace it has 24 episodes.
Adam: That will positively assist. So many anime today are 12 episodes that I simply assumed this one could be the identical approach.
Religion and belief
Adam: Since we haven’t mentioned a lot in regards to the plot of this present but, we should always make clear it takes place in a world the place heroes are given energy by individuals who imagine in them.
Hilary: Religion and belief are the premise of turning into a hero. And the present emphasizes early on that anybody is usually a hero. Nevertheless it additionally begs the query: do you want powers to take step one towards herodom within the first place?
Adam: When you’ve got a dead-end job and no person to root for you, good luck incomes these superpowers. The present feels very up to date in that approach—identical to Hyperlink Click on was.
Hilary: To not point out that since anybody is usually a hero, all heroes are replaceable.
Adam: It’s a world the place superheroes are omnipotent but in addition extraordinarily susceptible. Because the Tenth hottest hero, Good is using a tide to success but in addition in a tough spot. How do you maintain onto your self when all of your supporters want you to be a hero? Are you able to do justice to the folks you’re keen on who set you on that path?
Hilary: Gotta have some actual sturdy psychological fortitude—and doubtless alcohol. Joking apart, it comes all the way down to pretend it until you make it, proper?
Adam: Contemplating one of many superheroes within the sequence is a canine, I hope he doesn’t get any concepts. The place is he, anyway? He seems within the unique trailer for the present too. I anticipated extra from you To Be Hero X.
Hilary: Give us the canine! GIVE US AHU.
I belief Ahu, the speaking canine
Adam: However yeah, whether or not you reside within the US, Japan, or China, monetary insecurity is one thing that impacts us all to at least one diploma or one other. Apart from belief, concern can also be a guiding pressure within the sequence. The belief of the plenty is hard sufficient to take care of; concern complicates every little thing.
Hilary: It’s an unconventional twist to the superhero style: not good versus evil, however belief versus concern. What in case you place your entire belief within the flawed individual?! How are you aware who to essentially belief? Plus, as we noticed within the first episode, belief will be manipulated.
Adam: I belief Ahu, the speaking canine—he would by no means betray me. However yeah, even a hero like Good must determine who he trusts, or even when he trusts himself. Which is hard sufficient when everyone is watching you..
Hilary: After I noticed Good, I stored desirous about Edna saying, “NO CAPES.”
Adam: You already know who doesn’t have a cape? X, the strongest hero on this planet.
Hilary: The place is X? We don’t even know his actual title or who he’s.
Adam: He doesn’t present up as soon as on this first episode, so far as I do know, aside from the opening sequence. It’s a humorous alternative, contemplating he’s been within the present’s advertising for the reason that very first preview.
Hilary: Which can also be why we thought it’d be a battle royale present. Who’s going to be the subsequent X? If Queen (ranked quantity 2) finally ends up turning into probably the most trusted hero, does she get renamed to X? Ahu X?
The To Be Hero sequence is bizarre
Hilary: By the best way, on condition that we haven’t seen how the episode was broadcasted in China, do you assume it was edited for the worldwide broadcast?
Adam: So, this will get to one thing we have been speaking about earlier than we watched the episode. Earlier than To Be Hero X, there have been two earlier sequence: To Be Hero and To Be Heroine. I solely ever noticed the primary episode of To Be Heroine, however it had one thing to do with a woman whose clothes transforms into sizzling guys with superpowers.
Hilary: I…what?
Adam: There was additionally a child concerned. He performs Dance Dance Revolution within the ending credit sequence.
Hilary: Out of ALL of the attainable synopses you could possibly’ve given me, that wasn’t certainly one of them.
Adam: Look, the To Be Hero sequence is bizarre. The primary was even wilder and grungier; its protagonist is a rest room seat designer who transforms from a good-looking man right into a middle-aged man. To Be Heroine, by comparability, was a play for accessibility. To Be Hero X is probably the most polished by far—you possibly can inform it was constituted of the underside as much as be successful.
Hilary: Justice for the bathroom seat designers! They should have their tales instructed!
I’m watching To Be Heroine proper now, and I agree that To Be Hero X is extra polished when it comes to animation. However there’s a few years between the 2, so it is smart that X is of a better high quality.
The Nabeshin Impact
Adam: To Be Heroine was an attention-grabbing sequence production-wise in its personal proper, too. They employed younger web animators and gave them the liberty to go wild. Of us who labored on the sequence—and even started their careers there—went on to do cool stuff in later reveals. Possibly they’ll even present up in X! That’s why Studio LAN, which produced To Be Heroine, has such an important status. They’re those behind Hyperlink Click on, too.
Hilary: I hope so. I at all times see freelancers submit what they’ve labored on by way of Twitter (I’m not going to name it X), and it’s at all times attention-grabbing to see the behind-the-scenes.
Adam: Undoubtedly! I hope that different workers from the venture—not simply the administrators, composers, and producers—get the prospect to brag about their work.
To get again to the To Be Hero franchise for a second, the anime director Shinichi Watanabe performed a task in supervising its launch in Japan. Not Shinichir?, the Cowboy Bebop man, however Nabeshin of Excel Saga fame. (Extra lately, he storyboarded an episode of my beloved Practice to the Finish of the World.)
Hilary: OH. Okay, thanks for the clarification. I used to be like, THE Shinichir? Watanabe?
Adam: To Be Heroine particularly had a distinct theme track and even some totally different modifying between its Chinese language and Japanese releases. However I don’t know whether or not the Japanese and Chinese language variations of To Be Hero X shall be meaningfully totally different. Possibly we’re at a degree the place Chinese language animation can stand by itself two ft out there. Hiroyuki Sawano’s music additionally makes up an enormous a part of the manufacturing, so that they wouldn’t wish to change that, proper?
Sawano’s Rolodex
Hilary: Undoubtedly not. It’d be sacrilegious. The one attainable distinction I can consider is the potential censoring of blood and gore. In order that could be the principle distinction. Talking of music, what did you consider it?
Adam: I’ve such sophisticated emotions about Sawano. It’s like in case you requested me, “Do I like Linkin Park?” Completely. There are occasions when Linkin Park hits the spot. However would you need each second of your life to be scored to Linkin Park?
One thing Sawano is especially good at is bombastic character themes, which is an efficient match for To Be Hero X. I feel each hero within the present has their very own distinctive theme.
Hilary: They do! They put some hints of their backstory into their character intros.
Adam: Whereas it may have been neat in the event that they’d discovered distinct bands or musicians for every character, I can respect that they combed via Sawano’s rolodex to search out artists who match. What did you consider the music?
Hilary: Hmm. To be trustworthy, I didn’t pay an excessive amount of consideration to it due to what was taking place within the story. Not one of the music actually caught out to me or was notably iconic.
Adam: That’s actually attention-grabbing as a result of they clearly need these songs to be iconic. They went via the difficulty of developing with themes for every character, in any case. Then once more, I wouldn’t say To Be Hero X’s soundtrack stands out to me but both. Which may change.
Hilary: Good’s theme, “Paragon,” actually got here in on the proper second however didn’t make me say “wow.” I’m going to attend for a full model to come back out so I can obtain it.
The donghua uncanny valley?
Adam: When it comes to the animation, I’m nonetheless biding my time to see how they combine the totally different kinds into the present. Once more, this primary episode has a number of 3DCG in it, however will that stay constant? A number of the characters have very totally different designs between their 3D and 2D modes, so I hope they’re cautious to mark who’s who.
The character animation is in any other case fairly good and extra stylized in design than the uncanny valley realism you generally see in donghua. Simply giving the solid imperfections, so that they aren’t all simply interchangeably fairly folks, goes a great distance. Or no less than rendering the solid in order that they’re fairly in several methods.
Hilary: Ahu is the prettiest.
Adam: Apart from Ahu and X, are there different heroes from the trailers you’re excited to see on display?
Hilary: Daring of you to imagine I’d be excited to see X! Based mostly on what I noticed within the character trailers and design, I used to be most fascinated about Good previous to watching the episode. I used to be intrigued by his obsessiveness with issues being completed completely in addition to his flawless public persona. The ballet efficiency in his PV additionally hints at his must be in management always. So I’m not completely mad that he was the main focus of the primary episode. I’m additionally excited to see Fortunate Cyan, Ghostblade, and Queen. I’m a sucker for probably tragic backstories…
Adam: I’m interested in E-Soul’s look within the opening credit; he’s positioned subsequent to some scary imagery, so I ponder what function he would possibly play within the larger image. In fact, that could be a crimson herring. I’m additionally intrigued by Fortunate Cyan simply because it’s neat that there are heroes on this world who’re simply pop idols, relatively than superheroes who struggle crime. A bit just like the comedian sequence The Depraved + the Divine in that approach.
Greater than “good”
Hilary: Sorry, I simply realized that I by no means watched the opening. I’m the sort to skip them—and the endings too.
Adam: Oh my god. Prison….
Hilary: I’m impatient! I must get to the subsequent episode.
I’m optimistic about To Be Hero X. The primary episode was sturdy, and I assumed it was neat that they opened with the Tenth-ranked hero relatively than the first. I’m somewhat upset that they didn’t do extra with mixing 2D and 3DCG, since that was what caught folks’s consideration. However the themes—what makes a hero, what function belief performs in a society that pushes heroes into celeb standing, and the way simply that belief can crumble—will maintain viewers considering. The animation can also be nicely completed, so I feel that may enchantment to folks and perhaps even function a gateway to donghua typically.
Adam: I hope that if people like the primary episode, they could be impressed to take a look at different Chinese language animated sequence like Scissor Seven, and even movies like Legend of Hei.
This premiere satisfied me that To Be Hero X shall be very polished and doubtless win over people new to donghua. However I additionally wish to see whether or not it will probably seize the go-for-broke vitality from To Be Hero and To Be Heroine. Anime today skews extra typical than not, so the perfect factor donghua can do is be bizarre—particularly in the event that they discover cool animators and provides them the liberty to experiment, like they did with To Be Heroine.
The primary episode was already a swerve from what I used to be anticipating, so on the very least, it ought to be enjoyable to take a position each week about future developments. Or no less than depend down the episodes till Ahu’s look…
Hilary: This episode was greater than “good,” however I’m hoping for bizarre personalities from no less than one of many heroes.
Adam: I might say that the opening was a “good” shock. However time will inform if the present shall be X-cellent.
Hilary: Dang, Adam. Have a look at you go. You’ve gotten seven extra puns to attempt to incorporate.
Adam: Oh no. I don’t have what it takes to be a pun hero!
Hilary: The true unsung hero…rank 250.
To Be Hero X airs in the USA by way of Crunchyroll on Saturday, April fifth.
