#ah johnny

[caydeus]

I’m really thankful for those of you who stuck with me through this art journey since April 🙏 It was a long but fun art session pushing myself out of my own comfort zone. I also really enjoyed the series a lot! It was always fun to read everyone’s theories, see their fanart, and even revel in our shared excitement for upcoming episodes!

[favficbirthdays]

Happy Birthday

Little Johnny (8th August)

To Be Hero X

[mustsheep]

" 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙑𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙭 𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙙, 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩? 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚. "

[readingtoinfinity]

To Be Hero X (season 1)

In a world... where Trust makes super heroes stronger, we are introduced to a number of characters and how they interact with the system of trust, and the reverse system of Fear. Gradually, we begin to develop an understanding of what this system is actually like, and the question: who or what is X?

The series is an anthology, divided up into a few story arcs over several episode, which can vary in length but generally focus two episodes per hero in the top 10 rankings. I'm going to focus on each one, but first I want to give my thoughts on the overall series.

I don't think I get it, fully. There's a lot of great animation, for sure, and some really stellar fight scenes with creative uses of their powers built up to by some barely-competent character work. And I do really enjoy most of the plots that happened here, but I don't think the ending was particularly good, nor did it wrap up the plot threads that were introduced in the previous episodes. It made the entire season feel like setup, and I don't know if or how they could drag it out after another 24 episodes. But the series does intrigue me; it's a pretty unique superhero setting from my experience, and it managed to intrigue me to keep watching week-to-week. So yeah, I suppose I'll tune in for season 2. I really hope it doesn't waste my time, because there's a lot of plates being juggled right now, and it could all come crashing down so spectacularly. If you're going to watch it, listen carefully to the dialogue. All the pieces for this puzzle are handed to you on a platter of other things, and twists are delivered with subtlety and no fanfare. It's a show that expects its audience to be smart and paying attention, and unfortunately I cannot help but feel very stupid.

And now, the arcs! FULL SPOILERS AHEAD.

"Nice" ("Nice", "Moon", "The Ever-Standing Hero", "The Commoner")

Lin Ling is not having a good day. He lost a job he wanted to work on, he got fired for presenting a bad ad, and then he watched the hero Nice jump off a building and kill himself. Worse, from having an identical face to Nice, he's been drafted by Miss J to become Nice. Because if enough people believe it's true, it will be.

This arc introduces both the threats heroes have to face and also the skeevy underbelly of the industry. I think it's cool to create a setting with genuine threats that have to be repelled that is also prone to corruption, like if Vaught actually had to send the Seven to fight supervillains. And Lin Ling makes for a straightforward, sympathetic protagonist that you really want to root for, to become the new Nice that's better in every way. He even helps the hero Firm-Man (don't laugh) to give up his powers to live the life he earnestly wants, away from the association, and he learns that, while the association isn't perfect, it can be useful.

The ending is quite shocking and brutal, especially because we had a fake-out to Moon's death in episode 3. We feel like Ling has earned his place into the association, and may even start a relationship with Moon, but to have her killed instantly places us into the darker world this show sets up. I hope the reason for this is given later; it's not explained by the first season, a reason maybe being that they can't have loose ends. It just stinks of fridging.

"E-Soul" ("One Actor", "Two E-Souls", "Three Seats")

Yang Cheng is an orphan boy who puts on shows as E-Soul: electrical hero extraordinaire! He feels a great deal of fondness for the hero for saving him as a child, but he also wants to step up, get the girl, become a hero in his own right. He will get more than he bargained for.

I would argue this arc is genius, taking the same setup as "Nice" and then doing something completely different with it. Subversion is the name of the game for this arc: Enlighter is brought back after being an antagonist in the previous story, and he proves to be a temporary but important ally; we are presented with two guys and a girl in what we assume will be a love triangle, but actually turns into something more tragic for Cheng, not at all what I expected; and while E-Soul is not quite what he appears, the mastermind behind this whole tragedy is actually Cheng's tough-but-fair boss, Rock, who was looking to replace E-Soul with Cheng for reasons his own, which are not adequately explained but feel important.

Qing needed more personality, but ultimately she played an important part in this arc, representing everything Cheng had that he lost in pursuit of what he thought he wanted. It feels like the complete opposite of "Nice", and I think that's important to set the tone for the rest of the show.

"Lucky Cyan" ("The Cyan Girl", "Loss and Gain", "The Truth behind Luck")

This arc switches things up. Instead of men, it's a girl, a young orphan girl with cyan hair. Instead of wanting to become heroes, she wants to become an idol. And instead of having to prove herself, she has to walk away from the fame everyone's forcing on her. And at the heart of who this girl is, a grand conspiracy begins to unveil.

I dismissed Lucky Cyan when I saw her in the background, just thinking she was a Hatsune Miku pastiche, but she actually turns out be a fine character in her own right. I say fine, because most of her traits are liking listening to and performing music, making people happy, and wanting to make friends, which does make this arc sympathetic, but causes her to fall by the wayside once other arcs pick up.

And that's about it; "fine" is how I'd put this one. It's a perfectly competent exploration of the mentality that exploits child stars, and while that makes for easy sympathies I don't think much is done with it. I think the reason for Cyan's existence is very touching, and I'm glad she made up with her childhood friend, but the events surrounding her existence are more important than she herself is, and that's disappointing. Although this is where the show passes the Bechdal Test.

"Queen" ("Road to the Crown", "Fall of the Star")

Liu Yuwei is a young woman who aims to become a hero (and I thought she mentioned tearing it down??? I might be insane and have imagined that), rising through the ranks on the strength of her prodigious skills. But the kind of women who succeed in a boys' club are not the kind of people to share the spotlight, and a lower-ranked female hero, Bowa, seeks to dethrone the Queen.

Yuwei is a great protagonist. Ambitious, serious, seeking to understand but also overreaching, to the point that a great failure causes her to spiral. The story itself I find merely passing; most of it sets up who Queen is, her fight against Bowa and then moving on to the next arc. It's not something that ties into the larger mystery beyond being the first time we encounter X outside of the credits, and we learn just how staggeringly-powerful he is.

While I like the message about working hard even when you fail, I do feel like the show kinda dropped the fact on Bowa's being frustrated that Queen had connections that got her into the heroes' association, which isn't something that's really addressed. I understand that Queen works hard and Bowa was just looking for an excuse to take her down a peg, but the fact Queen is still a nepo baby is just kinda brushed under the rug.

Queen does become more important in other people's arcs (starting before with Lucky Cyan before this) which is why she's introduced there first before getting a full arc here, but I think it could have been a stronger introduction.

"Loli" ("Tough Girl", "Impromptu Counterattack")

The girl with the (unfortunate in English!) title, Loli! Luo Li was inspired by Queen to become a hero as a child, and she built machines to help her become a little menace of a toddler. But as an adult, she seeks to be both cute and tough, and unfortunately people want to see one or the other, and she can't get stronger. So she returns to her roots and makes a suit.

I loved Luo Li. She's such a fun, dynamic, determined character, and her frustration with people not believing in her despite putting in the work and showing up all the time feels true to life. Her relationship with her lab partner Wang Nuonuo is such a wonderful girls-supporting-girls dynamic, and even Li's father Luo Tong proves to be a more reasonable if stern authority, and while he doesn't like what his daughter is doing, he's willing to see it through.

If these episodes were the only episodes with this character I would say she was my favorite part. Unfortunately, we have to get into "Ruins Incident", which will turn into my least favorite arc in the show.

"Ghostblade" ("Affective Disorder", "The Cure")

Wang Yi doesn't like people. He grew up in a large family full of noise, and his only solace was working in silence at the family's butchers' shop and he wasn't required to weigh in on anything besides meat. But people are interested in the silent, handsome man, and soon he gains a reputation as a strong, silent assassin. Much to his annoyance.

I hate Ghostblade. More than the arc, the character. I saw some things that viewed him as autistic, and as someone autistic I think that's inaccurate. He feels like a psychopath or a sociopath, in the most clinical version of that diagnosis. I was sympathetic to him at first, for sure, and I was glad he found love with someone as quiet and reclusive as himself. But every choice he made afterwards (both professionally, being used as a knife by his corporation, and personally, stalking his daughter) causes me to like him less and less.

The stalking thing is passed off as him just wanting to be part of her life without being able to say so, but I still think it's just creepy. Not to mention it undercuts everything Luo Li and Wang Nuonuo were doing with girl power in the first part, because "Aw, her stalker was just her dad!" seemed to be the theme the show wanted me to take.

I think this was a supremely bad decision in the writers' room, or wherever this story was first thought up. Pretty much all of my problems with this arc stem from Ghostblade, who I could not grow to like even a little. But despite his awfulness, I found myself more annoyed by our next POV characters.

"The Johnnies" ("Whisper Flower", "Died-Out Flame", "Breaking the Balance")

Little Johnny is the son of an astronaut who adopts some kind of alien as a pet. He names the pet "Big Johnny" and lives out a happy, quiet and remote existence with his father, an ex-hero, before tragedy strikes.

This arc is where we really start getting into the politics of Trust and Fear, since the space ship the characters are investigating repel both materials. We begin to understand the vile nature of the CEOs, and what they'll do to cover leaks and flubs of the highest caliber. There is also some subtlety to the reveal of who is behind the Spotlight Organization, Liu Zheng, that I missed the first time around and had to go back to check. It re-frames everything! It makes why he revealed Fear to the public change from seeking the truth to profiting from power. It's such an astounding thing to drop and I'm so mad I didn't notice! All of this is fine, good, intriguing even! One problem.

Fucking. Little. Johnny.

He's such an annoying character. Look, I understand his dad was fucking unalived or whatever and he's stuck in the childhood he never had, but he's very annoying (I had a whole rant about it before I realized it was unproductive) and I never enjoyed when he was on-screen. He propels Ghostblade into twice-uncomfortable territory by trying to get him together with Nuonuo (fucking yikes) and while he's not aware of it he's a busybody and I don't like him.

The fact he's more annoying than a murderous stalker (two traits unrelated) should tell you how much I wanted to be done at this point. Were it not for the breadcrumbs that became the final episode, I may have stopped watching.

"The Ruins Incident"

Nice appears to kill everyone at the ruins. E-Soul is not far behind. The battle that follows is brutal and dragged out by everyone's desperation to survive.

See what I meant about building up to things? This episode builds on everything laid out before and makes for a brilliant finale, the consequences from this event spreading out to affect everything we've seen before and after. It's also just a good fight in general, and almost worth the work it took to get here.

"Dragon Boy" ("Nurturing God", "The Last Smile")

Dragon Boy is a kid with a chip on his shoulder. He enters the heroes' association at the behest of Rock, CEO of Mighty Glory, to become a god, like Zero before him.

Dragon Boy is... interesting. He's not actually the protagonist of this arc, but the antagonist; the one who changes is Nice who, through the death of his mentor, Smile, begins to truly realize how awful he is. It connects the shady, murderous, beware-the-Superman Nice to what he does to himself in episode 1, and reminds us of the depravity of these corporations once again, their plans forming together in the background. It also shows us X in his civilian garb for the first time, but it's not dramatic; he's eating skewers and drinking beers with a friend, and if you're not very observant (like yours truly!) it'll go over your head. It also reminds us that, for all these characters are pawns of darker powers, they're still (mostly) heroes trying to do the right thing.

"Ahu" ("Lie")

Ahu is a circus dog and he hates kids. So it's a real bother when he's adopted by one. What is a trained dog to do?

This one's just fun. Ahu speaks with the voice of a noir detective and the annoyance of a sleepy dad on a Saturday. We also get a street-level view of what living in the Trust system is like when you're just a person without access to the marketing of a corporation. We're reminded of the banal evil of corporations along the way, and Ahu turns genuinely heroic for the sake of someone who loves him. Also this is the episode where Nice's arc closes and we receive full context for his suicide.

It's fun, but I wasn't sure why it was the second-to-last episode shown. Until...

"X"

The night before the Heroes Tournament, agents are sent to kill X. Ahu goes to confront him, but bites off more than he can chew when X proves to very much be as powerful as they've heard.

This is the first time we see X use his powers extensively, and I'm not completely certain how they work. It has something to do with changing mediums and leaning on the fourth wall, but it's abstract, left more to the visuals than straightforward explanations.

This episode is just buildup. I was watching it build and build and build and thought "Wow I wonder what's going to happen!" and the end result was... nothing. We arrive at the tournament and X enters in his civilian identity, telling the entire world who he truly is. And then it ends. Will Rock create another Zero? Will Spotlight be exposed? Why is Nice there?

I also think the use of X's powers undercuts the changing animation medium in previous episodes. I felt they represented something, like true heroism vs corporate-sponsored heroics, but to learn they're just at his whim turns what could be a thematically-rich component into just another set piece. It's very cool, don't get me wrong, but it feels less impactful than it could have.

I finished watching this episode and was disappointed. I was really hoping for some neat bow to tie on everything that happened before, only to learn there's more to come. I still hope it sticks the landing, but I think I need to think a lot more about this show before I come to any conclusions on its story or quality. At the very least it's quite entertaining if you're just watching it with your brain off, like I was, so feel free to jump in, but don't be surprised if you reach for a pad and pencil.

[caydeus]

Hero Reflections

Rough drafted this on a 12hr flight but now that I'm back, I was able to use my tablet to properly finalize this ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

[caydeus]

Still making my way down the top 10 as their episodes end ✍️ Here’s Little Johnny's! I like the build up of his backstory and am looking forward to his confrontation with Ghostblade in the near future--

[mustsheep]

" Happy Birthday, Little Johnny! May your life only become happier and there will be more fans. "