Sentenced to Be a Hero

Episode 9

Episode 9 of Sentenced to Be a Hero is a big event in every regard: big battles, big explosions, and big reveals.

This is the week where Sentenced to Be a Hero finally played its hand. Several long-simmering plot points and character relationships come to a head in this week's episode. This little “side story” of sorts in the town has quickly escalated into a key turning point for the entire series. Sure, a ton of important things have happened in the lead-up to this, but this is where things have well and truly begun.

One of the clearest signs of this is the lack of a character flashback this week. For quite some time now, we've gotten a new flashback each week, serving sometimes as a B-plot but just as often as an interstitial or C-plot aside to build up the cast. This week, we get none of that, and the episode runs through the credits to the very last possible second. The creative team is telling us that everything in this episode is important and that not a moment can be wasted elsewhere.

That's not to say that there's no fun to be had this week. In fact, I'd say that the majority of this week's fight is mostly a fluff encounter. Yes, the heroes are in danger, and the local adventurers/thugs have brought a significant amount to bear on our leads. Some of it is just fireworks, but there's also heavy artillery and a faerie troll unleashed on the team. Despite these efforts, the heroes basically just clown on the goofballs throughout the entire fight. This is a “balanced” encounter in most D&D campaigns, which is another way of saying it's a stand-up fight where the players get to pull out all the stops and embarrass any hapless sods who get in their way. The most dire threat in the entire episode ends up being that Xylo is causing a bit too much destruction in the process of winning!

Whale does show up and start fighting heavy blasts near the end, but that's almost a footnote or a preview for next week. The real drama is that the Coexisters faction is making its play. The rot of corruption runs deep, humanity's dire situation leaves them few options, and the rats are beginning to make deals with the rising waters since they can't seem to escape the sinking ship. This results in a rather expected bloody tragedy for Lidio, whose death is obvious the second the scene jumps to the sewers. I was a bit shocked at the violence shown to the younger siblings, assuming they would only hint at this obliquely, but it's clear that things are bad, and the team wants us to know they are only going to get worse.

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Sentenced to Be a Hero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.