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
This was initially posted on Okay-Comics Beat.
Now that the Queen arc has wrapped and To Be Hero X has reached its midway level, Adam and Hilary return to unpack the newest twists on this unusual superhero world. Did Queen slay this week? Can a collection that began by fridging its feminine lead truly pivot into feminism? Plus, we meet Massive Johnny—and Ahu may need some actual competitors.
The next write-up comprises spoilers for the eleventh and twelfth episodes of To Be Hero X.
Bow to the Queen
Adam: Final week, Liu Yuwei—higher referred to as Queen—made her first look throughout Fortunate Cyan’s arc. Now, she takes middle stage in her personal. What’s your learn on her, Hilary? Do you respect the Queen?
Hilary: Sure. Sure, I do. All of us bow right down to Queen on this home.
That stated, I’m a little bit conflicted about this arc. I appreciated the place it ended up, however I believe the present sidelined Queen’s story to highlight different characters just like the Johnnies, Bowa, and X. Additionally, Ahu’s throne in my coronary heart? It’s wanting shaky now, due to Massive Johnny.
I appreciated watching Queen’s partitions slowly come down. She pushed herself to the highest on her personal phrases, however we lastly noticed her susceptible aspect—first when X delivered her first loss within the rating competitors, and once more by means of her friendship with the Johnnies and Cyan. What about you, Adam?
Glass ceiling
Adam: I need to take a second to unpack a few of what I believe is occurring in these episodes. Queen’s arc introduces one of many collection’ most loaded concepts up to now: that “belief values” are skewed by institutional sexism. We already noticed a model of this with Moon, whose teleportation powers received tied up in her relationship with Good. Now, we’re seeing it on a bigger scale. On this world, the glass ceiling ladies battle to interrupt is literal—not simply metaphorical.
Queen is wise, hard-working, and very fortunate—as a result of that’s what it takes to reach a world actually rigged towards you. She desires to alter the established order (and who wouldn’t, when it’s so deeply unfair?), however she believes she has to chop away components of herself to do it. Liking cute animals or having fun with Fortunate Cyan’s music doesn’t match the picture of an omnipotent girl who shapes actuality.
I’m unsure whether or not To Be Hero X falls into its personal entice by saying, “Aha! The actual Queen is only a huge softie!” However Fortunate Cyan’s presence helps stability that rigidity for me. Giving us two ladies—three, if we depend Bowa—with totally different views and backstories provides much-needed depth to a world that’s been fairly guy-heavy up up to now.
Theme versus character
Hilary: These are all nice factors. I simply assume it’s unlucky that Queen’s arc finally ends up extra concerning the themes than about her as a personality. The sooner arcs struck a greater stability between who the character is and what their story is attempting to say. These two episodes targeted much less on Queen herself and extra on the failings of the hero trade. I don’t essentially thoughts—Queen was the proper character to spotlight that—however I nonetheless felt like we solely skimmed the floor of who she is.
Adam: There’s positively one thing humorous about the truth that Queen, the quantity two hero and probably the most {powerful} individuals within the To Be Hero X world, solely will get a measly two episodes to make her case to the viewers. The glass ceiling in motion!
Let’s have a look at the earlier arcs. Lin Ling’s story requested whether or not you possibly can keep true to your self and nonetheless succeed. Yang Cheng’s was a tragedy about sacrificing what you need for what you assume you want. Fortunate Cyan’s was a rags-to-riches story centered on a youngster deciding who they are surely whereas the world tries to mildew them into one thing else. Queen’s story, I believe, is about studying to let go—that her life has worth whether or not or not she turns into the primary hero. That’s why her friendship with Fortunate Cyan issues a lot. And it’s additionally why Queen is such an amazing ally to Cyan: she by no means asks her to be anybody however herself.
If there’s one character I don’t really feel I totally perceive, it’s truly Bora. She’s framed as a rival in Queen’s arc, however I had a tougher time determining her position in comparison with the others. What do you assume, Hilary?
Shedding to a no person
Hilary: I may see the place Bowa was coming from, and it ties into what you simply stated about Queen’s story. Bowa doesn’t have a lot self-worth. She’s offended and resentful when Micky says Queen paved the way in which for the feminine hero increase with that speech she gave again in college. It makes Bowa really feel like she solely turned the primary hero due to Queen—not by means of her personal efforts.
Shedding to a no person like X crushed Bowa’s confidence simply because it did Queen’s. Each of them fell right into a pit of despair. However whereas Queen managed to climb out due to her friendships with the Johnnies and Fortunate Cyan, Bowa wasn’t so fortunate. I believe beating X would’ve given her the validation she wanted. As an alternative, gossip boards planted the concept Queen had manipulated the competitors and climbed the rankings by means of nepotism. That added gas to Bowa’s concern that she’s a no person too.
The hero rating competitors isn’t actually about who’s probably the most {powerful} or who has the best Belief Worth. For these characters, it’s about who feels probably the most worthy. However I believe we’ll see extra of what Queen meant when she stated X represents “limitless prospects” because the story continues.
Worry and jealousy
Adam: It’s stunning when X reveals up and flattens Queen as simply as blinking—particularly contemplating Queen’s powers aren’t so totally different from his. If her capability is to find out the legal guidelines that govern actuality, does X merely rewrite actuality itself? That’s a terrifying thought.
Bowa’s concern and jealousy make sense to me, too. Combating so arduous to be taken severely, solely to lose every little thing instantly, is a brutal expertise. Possibly energy amplified her insecurities. However such as you stated, a Bowa who believed in herself would possibly’ve used that energy to do good.
What I used to be actually hoping for within the confrontation between Queen and Bowa was extra give and take. Bowa has turned Queen into the face of her Worry—a dynamic that mirrors actual life, the place individuals generally lash out at friends as an alternative of the system that harmed them. However that’s all we get. Bowa by no means realizes throughout their struggle that Queen is simply one other individual. Queen by no means comes to grasp why Bowa is in a lot ache. They beat one another up for eight minutes, after which Bowa is taken into custody.
Queen will get closure by means of her second with Cyan. However Bowa’s story simply stops. Possibly we’ll see her once more—there’s nonetheless half the collection left. However I might’ve appreciated a glimpse of what got here subsequent for her. Did she develop? Did she break? Or is the tragedy that she is perhaps caught like this perpetually?
Get up, sister
Hilary: I used to be positively lacking some dialogue in that struggle—or at the least some inner ideas from the characters. The one line we received was Queen saying, “Get up, sister. You’re not even ranked within the prime 10!” After which it simply ended. The minimize to Queen within the hospital felt so abrupt.
Adam: Yeah, I agree. That ending was jarringly chilly. Queen telling Bowa she’s “delusional” lands particularly harsh when you think about that each of them have been blindsided by the identical mysterious man and his reality-breaking finger snap.
Although the present focuses on small, private arcs, I believe To Be Hero X’s out-of-order storytelling is definitely extra confidently written than its characters. Each hero we’ve met up to now is an archetype—bizarre man, unhappy boy, idol woman, ice queen. The puzzle of the plot—when sure occasions happen, the way it all leads as much as Moon’s demise within the “current,” or what this mysterious date they’re all counting towards means—is the place many of the intrigue lies for me.
The simplicity of the characters is a power in some methods; it offers the viewer a transparent learn on who they’re watching and what they’re imagined to root for. However I completely agree—the present is at its greatest when it provides layers of uncertainty. Like: is Wreck actually Good’s archnemesis, or simply taking part in the half on TV? Are Bowa’s insecurities a private failing, or a response to a world that refuses to acknowledge her price? Which characters get that additional depth—and which don’t? These are the questions I’ll be watching carefully as we head into the second half.
Hilary: I actually need to search out time to sit down down and map out the timeline. I believe I’ve a tough thought of which occasions got here first, however with it being a weekly collection, I hold shedding observe of the place we’re within the story.
A change in artwork type
Hilary: To do a slight pivot—we noticed a shift in artwork type throughout Bowa’s story. What did you make of that?
Adam: There have been positively scenes in these episodes that jogged my memory of the Moon flashback from episode two. I’m unsure if it was the identical animator, however I used to be glad to see these stylistic prospers once more. The To Be Hero collection has at all times performed round with totally different artwork types, and I believe that’s a part of its allure.
General, I appreciated how these two episodes appeared greater than Fortunate Cyan’s. However yeah, the whole disappearance of CG was unusual. Even when it’s a price range challenge, it seems like an odd inconsistency—I’m hoping it seems to be intentional or at the least will get acknowledged in some way.
Additionally, I’ll admit one thing that may sound a bit blasphemous: I didn’t love the struggle between Queen and Bowa. I respect that it received a full eight minutes, and I appreciated touches just like the yutapon cubes. However for a struggle that lengthy, I needed extra variation—extra back-and-forth, extra emotional stakes, or such as you talked about earlier, some sort of inner monologue. With out that, it felt flat to me, which is a disgrace as a result of I’m positive the workers needed that second to actually land. What do you assume? Am I completely off-base?
Hilary: what? I’m in the identical boat. The animation itself was nice, however a few of the cuts have been awkward sufficient to drag me out of the scene. And actually? Some components have been… a little bit boring. Which is such a letdown, particularly since this is perhaps the one time in the entire collection we get to see a feminine hero go up towards one other feminine hero.
Collateral harm
Hilary: Such as you stated, I believe it’s the dearth of selection, the dearth of dialogue (inner or in any other case), and the dearth of emotional weight we’ve come to anticipate from Fortunate Cyan and Yang Cheng’s tales. The struggle felt prefer it was simply checking a field labeled “huge superhero showdown.” I additionally anticipated extra from Queen’s telekinesis—you are able to do a lot with that energy! However all she actually does is throw up a protect and freeze Bowa in place. The remainder is simply clashing staves and crashing into delivery containers. Possibly I might’ve felt in a different way if Queen and Bowa had had extra possibilities to truly work together.
Additionally… the place are these guys Queen apprehended? Did they only regain consciousness and sneak out whereas Queen and Bowa leveled the place?
Adam: I used to be questioning concerning the collateral harm, too. It’s one factor when Spider-Man is buying and selling blows with the Inexperienced Goblin or Kamen Rider’s dropkicking monsters in an alley. However Queen and Bowa flattening a complete part of town in eight minutes? That’s received to wreak havoc on native actual property values…
Hilary: As for the CG—I don’t miss it, precisely, however the shift from CG-heavy episodes to completely 2D is certainly jarring. And it raises much more questions on X’s powers. These PVs launched earlier than the present aired made it seem to be his finger snap may shift the world between 2D and 3D. That will’ve been such a cool, uncommon energy. But when the CG’s actually gone for good, then I assume we’re again to sq. one on determining what X’s deal is.
You dropped this, Queen
Adam: What are your hopes for the second half of the collection? I’m simply glad that—even when the To Be Hero X devils are solely giving us one episode about Ahu—we’re at the least getting three episodes about Little Johnny and his fluffy pal Massive Johnny. They’ll’t take that away from us.
Hilary: Feels like Queen didn’t fairly take the crown for both of us, so I’m hoping we’ll get to be taught extra about her within the coming episodes. The following arc’s about Loli, a bright-eyed child impressed by Queen’s instance—which is a candy approach to tie their tales collectively. But when that finally ends up being the final we see of Queen? Come on. That is all we get for the quantity two hero? Our Queen deserves higher.
Adam: I believe I appreciated Queen’s story a bit greater than you probably did. One factor I’ve actually come to understand about this collection is how each arc can stay in a very totally different register. Queen’s arc will get to be this stoic, epic story a few lonely powerhouse studying the way to join. Fortunate Cyan’s is a zombie-idol comedy. And but the present lets each of these tales stay aspect by aspect—as seen in that nice scene the place Cyan and Queen are cruising collectively in that cool automotive. To Be Hero X is huge and bizarre, however it holds itself collectively surprisingly nicely.
So perhaps I’d say, “You dropped this, Queen.” However I believe she’s nonetheless received time to select it up once more. Then once more, there’s just one king in my coronary heart—and that’s Ahu.
Hilary: I’m a cat individual, so I had the identical response as Queen after I noticed Massive Johnny. However I’m holding robust for you, Ahu!
To Be Hero X airs in america through Crunchyroll.
