To Be Hero X Ep 1 Review: You Can Be A Hero!
We got a lot of X this season! To Be Hero X is a collaboration project between China and Japan – which means its a hybrid between Dong Hua and anime, but more Dong Hua since the animation seems to be largely done in China. The series tell the tales of heroes – but not the thankless and selfless kind, but more like The Boys meet Tiger & Bunny. Let’s see what we have here!
One thing I noticed with China Dong Hua is they pace things really fast, but still coherent. To Be Hero X start off blazing fast with our character Lin Ling – an ordinary guy who idolizes the popular hero Nice and the celebrity Yueqing – who worked as a marketing planner for the two. His idealistic vision are deep-rooted in the truest sense of heroism and sincerity. However, the executive don’t like that. His boss shot down his idea that “everyone can be a hero”, and wanted to focus on raising fame and profit instead (kinda sounds like *some* executives right now). In the end, Lin Ling was fired on the spot…and in a moment of depression, he went to the roof and stood on the ledge… And he shouted out all of the frustration in his heart about the hero he admired – Nice. He basically spew his jealousy out. But just then, something unthinkable happened.
A flock of pure-white birds flew pass him, revealing a white silhouette – his heroic idol, Nice. Nice glanced at Lin Ling, pull out his signature finger-gun pose with a perfect smile, before…jumping off the ledge to his death. It was very surprising that Nice actually died from it, because he is framed as basically the Superman/Homelander of the series (well up until that point) so I thought he’d have some sort of superhuman durability. But nope, dude just jumped about 20-story high and died right on the spot, in front of Lin Ling’s horrified face. And this…is where our story begins.
A flock of pure-white birds flew pass him, revealing a white silhouette – his heroic idol, Nice. Nice glanced at Lin Ling, pull out his signature finger-gun pose with a perfect smile, before…jumping off the ledge to his death. It was very surprising that Nice actually died from it, because he is framed as basically the Superman/Homelander of the series (well up until that point) so I thought he’d have some sort of superhuman durability. But nope, dude just jumped about 20-story high and died right on the spot, in front of Lin Ling’s horrified face. And this…is where our story begins.
After that bombastic start, we get to see our protagonist again – Nice, the hero. Yes, Nice is still alive, but only in name. Lin Ling was forced to become Nice. He has to study how he talks, how he acts, and how he fights in order to show that Nice is still fine and good to the public. Lin Ling – conflicted between his own ideal and society’s double standards, was reserved at first when he doesn’t believe that he can become a hero, much less someone as prominent as Nice. but over time, his ideals of “Everyone can be a hero” seems to take over, and he became Nice – in every sense of the word. In this world, a hero’s mantle isn’t just his name, but also his “value”. The trust of the public gives them power. The more people who trust in Nice, the stronger the hero “Nice” becomes. This is a pretty insane society compared to Tiger & Bunny’s one where fame and stuff is all about money and politics, not actual superpowers. This is basically a radical version of “The Boys” where the public’s sentiment is translated into physical and supernatural power, and not just “confidence” of the heroes themselves. We can also see that over time, Lin Ling’s appearance came to mimic that of the “old” Nice. His hair, his face, his body, gradually changed to reflect his once-admired hero – Nice.
However, playing Nice is not the same as becoming “him”. Lin Ling’s first challenge is a live gameshow with Nice’s “girlfriend”, who also happens to be his idol, Yueqing. Even though everything concerning his outward appearance is identical to Nice, his inner self isn’t. But still, he was able to initially fool Yueqing and made her think that he is indeed Nice. During the gameshow, his knowledge about Yueqing as a massive fan as well as her promoter helped him to fool everyone on tv, further increasing people’s trust in him. But what is a show without some “festivities” right? That’s when we get our first fight of the series.
However, playing Nice is not the same as becoming “him”. Lin Ling’s first challenge is a live gameshow with Nice’s “girlfriend”, who also happens to be his idol, Yueqing. Even though everything concerning his outward appearance is identical to Nice, his inner self isn’t. But still, he was able to initially fool Yueqing and made her think that he is indeed Nice. During the gameshow, his knowledge about Yueqing as a massive fan as well as her promoter helped him to fool everyone on tv, further increasing people’s trust in him. But what is a show without some “festivities” right? That’s when we get our first fight of the series.
Bursting through the studio’s wall is Lin Ling’s old boss – the executive at the media company. It seems that if trust in this world give you power, negative emotions can too! Fear, hatred and all those dark emotion can grant you power and basically made you go mad. Lin Ling – as Nice – went up against his “old” boss with all his might. And this is where the series really shine. The entire series is mostly made in 3D, there are some sequence that looks quite 2D but the majority is CG model. And China’s killing it with their CG animation. The fight scene was smooth as hell, and the camera work is awesome, with really high detail effects. Nice’s fighting style resembles that of a ballet dancer, and his elegant “dance” really is nice to look at (pun intended lol). It’s also nice to see that the bad guy is crude and slow where Lin Ling/Nice is the opposite. The gentle and elegance won against the mighty crude force – which is very common in China’s wuxia fights. What isn’t common is an insane Hiroyuki Sawano beatdrop. Yes you heard it right! Sawano once again proved his unloseable formula with another hype-as-heck OST for the series, absolutely pushing the excitement to the max. I recommend checking out his songs for this series.
In the end, Lin Ling managed to win – with a very cool internal monologue as well. This is also another strong point of the series. The characters are very relatable, despite being very tropey. If we see this in one of those Isekai or Shounen animes, we’d be like “Oh shit, here we go again!”. But in this series, it actually kinda makes sense in universe. In the end, all is well that ends well. Or is it..?
Lin Ling headed to the Hero Tower – the home of heroes – where top-rated heroes live. Now that he has effectively become Nice and can handle his character, his manager decided to bring him back. And Lin Ling did asked “Why did Nice jump?” and the answer he received is no less ominous “Because he couldn’t be Nice anymore.” So basically being a perfect image of yourself in the public carries a dark side to it as well. Lin Ling definitely doesn’t get it yet, but he will soon when he reaches his floor and found his “girlfriend” – Yuequing – lying on his bed. He hasn’t even contained his excitement when he noticed that she is, to his horror, lying in a pool of blood. What an ending to the very first episode! This must be watched to experience. Definitely looking forward to more!
=Aaron=
In the end, Lin Ling managed to win – with a very cool internal monologue as well. This is also another strong point of the series. The characters are very relatable, despite being very tropey. If we see this in one of those Isekai or Shounen animes, we’d be like “Oh shit, here we go again!”. But in this series, it actually kinda makes sense in universe. In the end, all is well that ends well. Or is it..?
Lin Ling headed to the Hero Tower – the home of heroes – where top-rated heroes live. Now that he has effectively become Nice and can handle his character, his manager decided to bring him back. And Lin Ling did asked “Why did Nice jump?” and the answer he received is no less ominous “Because he couldn’t be Nice anymore.” So basically being a perfect image of yourself in the public carries a dark side to it as well. Lin Ling definitely doesn’t get it yet, but he will soon when he reaches his floor and found his “girlfriend” – Yuequing – lying on his bed. He hasn’t even contained his excitement when he noticed that she is, to his horror, lying in a pool of blood. What an ending to the very first episode! This must be watched to experience. Definitely looking forward to more!
=Aaron=
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