(Warning, this review includes some mild spoilers if you haven't seen the episode)
What makes someone a superhero?
In To Be Hero X, the answer is to be trusted by the fans. Their trust can turn any hero into a superhero. But if the superhero loses the public's trust, they also loses his or her superpowers.
Lin Ling wants to be a superhero. Honestly, he'd settle for just being heroic. Instead, he's a mid-level advertising guy who makes a living creating promos for Nice, the current #10 superhero.
But after Lin is fired by his tyrannical boss when he pitches a campaign that didn't highlight Nice, he finds himself on the roof of his office building, contemplating his future.
As it turns out, his future includes watching Nice stroll past him on the roof and then fall to his death.
That event opens up a crazy series of consequences, including Lin replacing Nice, battling his old boss during a live production of the reality romance series "True Love Romance," and struggling to outwit Eye of Truth Enlightener, the show's substitute host and #249-ranked superhero.
When it's all over, the episode ends with a genuine shocking cliffhanger, which seems poised to send the show spiraling into an entirely new direction in the coming weeks.
There is a lot to love about To Be Hero X. The animation is top-rate, with a surprising mix of 2D and 3D and fight scenes that absolutely sing. And the opening sequence - which features a song by the legendary Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack On Titan and Blue Exorcist) - is spectacular.
The premise of the show, which ties a superhero's success to being trusted, opens up the possibility for a lot of unexpected twists in the traditional anime superhero genre. It means that in theory, just about anyone can become a superhero if they can build enough public trust. But it also means that if you lose the public's trust for any reason, you can lose everything. It also opens up the cynical world of the superhero handlers, who exist to boost their client's public trust in the most cynical ways possible.
There are apparently a couple of previous shows that took place in this universe: To Be Hero (2016) and To Be Heroine (2018). I haven't seen either series, but watching just the first episode of To Be Hero X makes me want to check them out.
As much as I love the premiere episode of To Be Hero X, I am left with so many questions. Who is Hero X? Is the show going to continue to focus on Nice or will this become a "Hero Of The Week" exploration? What led to that cliffhanger? And what's up with the mysterious terrorist organization?
The first episode also doesn't do a great job of explaining the underlying rules of the world to newbies. As it turns out, the world's top heroes come together to compete in a tournament that can drastically change the order of the heroes and perhaps lead to a new hero being crowned "Hero X."
And that might be my lone criticism of what I've seen of the show so far. It moves fast, almost frantic at times. And while that makes it really fun to watch, you might also find yourself at the end of the episode thinking "I really enjoyed that, but what just happened?"
Still, To Be Hero X is a blast to watch and I can't wait to see the next episode.
To Be Hero X premieres in the U.S. Saturday, April 5th @ 5:30 PM PT on Crunchyroll.