TO BE HERO X – Episode 1

Content Warning: Suicide

What’s it about? Lin Ling is an average guy who believes anyone can become a hero, but his ideas are constantly shut down by his boss until he’s ultimately fired.  He makes the grim decision to commit suicide, but is surprised to see Nice, a famous superhero, kill himself instead.  Since Lin Ling looks similar to Nice, his PR team forces him into the role, and he slowly realizes the life of a superhero is darker than it seems.

It’s nice to finally talk about the slow rise of Chinese animation and how that’ll change the landscape moving forward.  I’m very aware of the popularity of Link Click, and perhaps if To Be Hero X is a success we’ll continue to see more Chinese and Japanese animation companies collaborate on more projects.  So what’s the verdict of this premiere? I’ll admit To be Hero X has a lot of style and confidence in its visuals.  The mix of 2D and 3D animation together with a fast paced story is a lot on the eyes, but I appreciate that it gets to the point of the story rather quickly.  What sets this apart from My Hero Academia is that the series leans into exploring the commodification of heroes as a product rather than examining the deep implications of what it means to be a “hero.”  

It’s clear that Lin Ling has an optimistic view about heroes, but he’s also weighed down by his corporate job that continuously puts down his creativity.  Corporate jobs can really kill the morale of any employee, and it’s sad that for a brief moment Lin Ling thought his own death would bring him some peace.  Before he could finish any of his contemplation, the famous superhero Nice commits suicide, and from there Lin Ling is forced into the entertainment industry that cared about the image of Nice than the person.  It’s incredibly eerie how replaceable Nice proves to be, to the point that Lin Ling almost disappears into his performance.  Since a majority of the episode is so loud, it’s the quieter moments that stand out to me, especially when Lin Ling finally begins to question why Nice killed himself. It’s disturbing how indifferent the PR team was to “Nice’s” death and I’ll admit, I’m interested in learning more about the darker aspects of the show.  

Having said all that, I didn’t like how casually Nice’s girlfriend, Moon, was killed by the end of the episode.  I understand wanting to shock the audience, but it sucks that it had to be at the expense of a woman we hardly knew.  Moon was primarily viewed through an idol lens by Lin Ling and we aren’t given any indication about who she was nor her true personality.  She’s mostly treated as a damsel in distress and not as a hero in her own right.  Hell, a majority of the premiere focused on Nice and Moon’s romantic relationship and what Moon meant to Lin Ling rather than what Moon truly thought about her relationship with Nice.  

Despite that ending, I am intrigued about where the series is going and if it’ll be able to find a balance between being energetic and serious about the darker side of hero society.  There’s a real chance here that To Be Hero X will become something interesting; OR maybe I’m just delusional and desperately want a better story than My Hero Academia.  Definitely, deserves the three episode rule just to see where it goes.