To Be Hero X Ep 18 & 19 Review: Breaking the Worldview
Well, this is more like an episode 19 review, since episode 18 was literally a bunch of nothing burgers with repeated scenes from ep 16 and 17, basically fleshing out a bit more on the Johnnies’ decision to come along on this expedition. Even if you skip ep 18, you literally didn’t miss anything important. But episode 19 however…is a whole different beast. To Be Hero X managed to re-ignite some excitement after a period of lukewarm storyline and characters. But after this episode, there is no turning back for everyone.
Not gonna lie, this episode got us in the first half. Where they repeatedly emphasis on Ghostblade being the dude who killed Ah Sheng, and that Uncle Rock sent him on this mission with a hidden agenda. And he played his part quite convincingly as well, even pretending to kill Lil Johnny while in the ship. But reconnecting with his daughter has quite literally turned him around, as evident when Nuo Nuo began to warm up to him and treat him kindly. To be fair, Nuo Nuo stole a lot of hearts in this episode, including Luo Li – when she straight up smooch our girl on the cheeks. Definitely a much better development than Suletta and Miorine lol.
Furthermore, they said this episode was supposed to be about the Johnnies – but to be honest, they didn’t get to do much in this episode either. Lil Johnny is basically just running around after Big Johnny. I don’t even know if Lil Johnny has any combat capabilities aside from setting Big Johnny berserk. Which probably explain why he gets folded quite easily this episode by none other than E-Fraud…I mean E-Soul.
Furthermore, they said this episode was supposed to be about the Johnnies – but to be honest, they didn’t get to do much in this episode either. Lil Johnny is basically just running around after Big Johnny. I don’t even know if Lil Johnny has any combat capabilities aside from setting Big Johnny berserk. Which probably explain why he gets folded quite easily this episode by none other than E-Fraud…I mean E-Soul.
Yes, Yang Cheng literally appeared in this episode…as a cold-blooded killer. He just blitz into the ship and started attacking Johnnies and Ghostblade. We get a brief flashback to when Rock assign Ghostblade his mission to kill Lil Johnny, where Rock gets into a car where Yang Cheng was waiting. And it was the new E-Soul himself that suggest Ghostblade needs to die along with the Johnnies as well. He said that will help him get higher rankings in the hero tournament and remove a formidable opponent. At this point, we can say that Yang Cheng is now fully manipulated by Rock and had zero semblance of the heroism he displayed back in episode 5.
The fight between Ghostblade and Yang Cheng was quite amazing. Despite having a really OP ability and better technology, Yang Cheng still struggles with Ghostblade, which goes to show how strong Ghostblade really is. My man literally used 2 shitty knives to fight against a Raikage clone – and held his own quite impressively. Lil Johnny also helped by throwing him an axe lol, while being absolutely bodied by Yang Cheng. I hope Ghostblade doesn’t get yeeted by Yang Cheng, even though he’s a scumbag killer, I still want to see him and Nuo Nuo tell each other the truth and reconcile. Although, considering this series, that might not be likely…
The fight between Ghostblade and Yang Cheng was quite amazing. Despite having a really OP ability and better technology, Yang Cheng still struggles with Ghostblade, which goes to show how strong Ghostblade really is. My man literally used 2 shitty knives to fight against a Raikage clone – and held his own quite impressively. Lil Johnny also helped by throwing him an axe lol, while being absolutely bodied by Yang Cheng. I hope Ghostblade doesn’t get yeeted by Yang Cheng, even though he’s a scumbag killer, I still want to see him and Nuo Nuo tell each other the truth and reconcile. Although, considering this series, that might not be likely…
But that’s not all, we get ANOTHER plot twist in this episode. And that is a pretty Nice surprise (pun intended). Yes, Nice appeared out of nowhere in front of Professor Li and Nuo Nuo, who was deep inside the spaceship. Bro was showing his signature smiling face while saying he’ll kill everyone in the expedition. This create a GIANT whiplash where he was seen as a cheerful theatre kid as well as having goals and ambitions to become a great hero with Wreck. Up until this episode, people thought Nice was just a good guy that was trying his best, but the corporate world was too much for him to bear, the spotlight, the fake smiles, the orchestrated fame was a lie he couldn’t sustain, so he took his own life. In a sense, he was “nice”. But in this episode, he just straight up talk about mass murder with a smile and show zero remorse. If it weren’t for Luo Li, Nuo Nuo and Prof. Li would have been Homelander’d. Speaking of Homelander, everyone is saying Nice is Homelander now. In which I think there’s some part true, but for the majority of it, I think Nice was also being forced to do this against his will. Hopefully, the next episode will have the answers for it.
In terms of quality, I think TBHX is reaching its limits. The series is fully 2D now and combat is quite minimal and, well, in mostly dark places. E-Soul vs Ghostblade was actually quite nice, but it was nowhere near the Queen vs Bowa’s fight. I guess they really pour a lot of budget into that one because ever since, we haven’t really gotten an impressive fight. I really want Luo Li to get a proper fight since her potential is quite high.
=Aaron=
In terms of quality, I think TBHX is reaching its limits. The series is fully 2D now and combat is quite minimal and, well, in mostly dark places. E-Soul vs Ghostblade was actually quite nice, but it was nowhere near the Queen vs Bowa’s fight. I guess they really pour a lot of budget into that one because ever since, we haven’t really gotten an impressive fight. I really want Luo Li to get a proper fight since her potential is quite high.
=Aaron=
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