Review By: Nice's #1 Fan
5/5 Stars
To Be Hero X is an innovative take on the ‘what if everyone’s thoughts came true’ sort of story, a sort of story that has yet to fail me in regards to presenting a thought-provoking narrative. Set in a world where a person’s trust value (what others believe about them) determines who they are, and where they will go in life, it’s not so far-fetched that the people’s trust might go so far to grant others powers. These superpowered people are dubbed “heroes,” and are immediately shoved into the limelight whether they want to be, or not.
While To Be Hero X has some of the most attention-grabbing action scenes that a piece of media has ever blessed me with, that is not quite the essence of the show. Predominantly, To Be Hero X focuses on those shoved into publicity, how it can affect them, what the consequences of publicity can be, and how those people are going to differ from the public’s thoughts on them. This is the dream of anybody who wants a decent show with commentary on idol culture (without incest!). Every theme handled by To Be Hero X in this regard has been carefully and expertly executed, with much respect to those who might have similar feelings or experiences to the characters they portray.
Of course, the people behind To Be Hero X didn’t just make a compelling narrative that inspires no small amount of empathy, they went above and beyond to creatively showcase such a narrative. The most apparent example of this is through the many art styles the show cycles through. I will be using the character Nice as an example for this, because that mf is greedy to be portrayed in as many art styles as he can be, and as such has been drawn in every single one of the show’s art styles.
The employment of different art styles usually sets the emotional tone, and gives more context to the situations the characters are in (plus, there’s actual in-universe reasons for the switching art styles! Listen closely each time the art style changes, and you will hear a snap! There’s a reason that snap is there!!). Plus, the art style a character is drawn in can often tell you a lot about them!
Along with the stunning attention to detail, To Be Hero X shows no small amount of love to their characters. Each character has their own distinctive personality, and, if that wasn’t enough, they have songs made specifically for them! Not only that, but they all have character concept videos separate from the show that essentially introduce the audience to their concept, while not giving away each character’s story! They all even have their own official wiki page (where the concept videos are housed), where, sometimes, there are facts you would never have learned in the show. Although, I wouldn’t really recommend even looking at the wiki unless you’re fine with a bit of spoilers. I will say, spoilers do kind of ruin the flow of the show though.
Thank you for reading. Also, please go watch To Be Hero X, it’s so good. Please.
If this doesn’t convince you this show is amazing, I don’t know what will.