After seeing so many raving opinions on this show I was very curious and had to take a look at it myself. To Be Hero X is an interesting show that stars several people striving to be the top hero or X. We get a look at the origins of the heroes who make up the current top ten heroes who get to compete for the title as their powers are based on the trust the people have for them. So the more popular they are the more powerful they become.

As a story this is a fascinating show. We effectively get nine different origin stories and each one features a character with a detailed and well told background. I will say the show doesn’t give you a heads up that it is formatted in a way that changes the main character when it pivots to another story. It also doesn’t tell the stories in chronological order so it took a bit of time to adjust when it transitioned from the first main character to the second, but it’s a fun method of telling the story. One of the reasons it can’t be in chronological order is how the stories of many of these characters intertwine. So you’ll see the story of one character as another appears but then see the very same scene from another character’s perspective.

The world building is also done really well. It establishes agencies behind many of these heroes, how the world is built on the trust system that gives these heroes their power and how the world influences the characters themselves. It even explains how the people’s trust motivates their powers. This serves as a catalyst for all of the character development we get to see and the characters are a strong part of the show. We also get a lot of information about what led to the world functioning the way that it does. It is an extremely detail heavy show with lots to see.

As trust is the key to a hero’s power we see how much weight the trust has on each individual. Sure it grants them near god like abilities, but sometimes that responsibility weighs heavily on them. For one character, the people knew him as one who stood tall in the face of danger. That vision of him made it to where he couldn’t sit down as long as the people saw him as someone like that. In this world heroes are found to the perception the people have in them. It’s a fun concept that shows how the characters grow as they adjust to the new powers and new burdens as their story continues.

As the characters grow we get parts of their story before moving to the next one but we get to see them all converge in the end. It’s fun to see how intertwined their tales are and how the stories of some characters are used to unravel cliff hangers or mysteries we see in others. This makes it a hard show to explain. As early as episode one we get a mystery that the story doesn’t even begin to explain till near the end of the season. Then you have other mysteries where the story of the very next character provides some much needed content.

The fight scenes are also really good as each hero has a fun unique power and the animations really show them off well. Yes I did say animations plural as we get a lot of unaddressed mysteries with one character X. His origins and his powers are unknown but somehow change the literal animation of the show with each use. It makes for a visual marvel and a fun mystery that I seriously want to learn more about.

To Be Hero X has a rather complicated method of storytelling that gives us the stories of nine main characters while keeping a tenth one a near complete mystery. It keeps me on the edge of my seat with great combat, compelling characters, a world that demands character development and full of lore to back it up. This is a show that has taken every element you see in anime, characters, story, and more and gave us a master performance in each one. I’m overwhelmingly excited to see what we’ll find out in season two.