To Be Hero X

Episode 18

In the most general sense, about half of this episode of To Be Hero X is just getting the pieces into place for the major conflict teased two full arcs ago. The problem is, we've already done that. Queen's arc set up her and Cyan heading to the UFO for “vacation,” while Loli's and Ghostblade's did the same for them and The Johnnies. With this episode, we just see Ghostblade's second episode from the perspective of Little Johnny—and gain little to no insight from it.

Little Johnny is, for the most part, a character who wears his heart on his sleeve. He's not trying to deceive or trick anyone. That's why he's able to get past the emotional barriers of someone like Queen (though having the world's cutest fluffy partner also helps). Hearing his thoughts as he interacts with Ghostblade simply turns what was obvious subtext into actual text—and comes off feeling like time wasted that could have been spent fleshing out more of Little Johnny's past.

In this episode, we are also hit hard with a time skip. We go from Little Johnny saying he'll see Vortex in the tournament to learning that Vortex died before The Johnnies were able to climb into the top 10. More than that, Vortex died in the plane crash that created Cyan, which adds more questions to the situation.

The worst thing about this timeskip is that the Johnny we see here is far different from the one we've seen in Queen's episodes. There, he's supportive and happy—the one who keeps their friend group together. A few months before the whole UFO adventure, he's with Cyan, waiting for Queen to return from deployment and chill out with them. He then visits Queen in the hospital along with Cyan after Queen's battle with Bowa. There is no sign of the despondent Little Johnny, locked in his room and playing video games by himself—and it's hard to believe that Cyan and Queen would let him get to that state when he was there for them in their darkest hours.

To put it another way, it would have been nice to see what changed during the few months of Queen's rehabilitation that affected Little Johnny so massively. It's not like his situation changed in any major way we know of—Vortex died over a decade before. Why would it be hitting Johnny so hard this much later? Is it just general fatigue, and if so, why were there never any signs previously? It feels like we're missing something vital—even if we aren't.

However, on the positives for this episode, we get to see a bit more about what makes Big Johnny a threat that requires so many of the top (and soon-to-be top) heroes in one place. In his battle with Vortex, Big Johnny seems to nullify Vortex's Trust-based powers after a time, implying he, as an alien, shares that attribute with the alien metal. This would mean that our assembling heroes would only be able to use powers that affect their own bodies—not powers that would normally affect an opponent. Thus, they are all handicapped—except for one. Loli alone is just as strong as she would normally be, as her powers don't come from Trust but rather from technology. I bet that this is foreshadowing as to how she goes from a literal nobody to the sixth-ranked hero in around a year.

We also get to see how the head of DOS is playing puppet master with this whole situation to weaken Mighty Glory and FOMO as part of his plan to eventually replace Trust with Fear (as he sees it as a more stable source of superpowers). Of course, how exactly the impending UFO SNAFU will do this (especially when his two highest-ranked heroes are involved) is anyone's guess. We'll just have to see when our first big superhero team-up hits its climax next week.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• This episode is confusing because it directly contradicts the promotional material for the series (which wouldn't be so much of an issue if not for the fact that many backstories are only told in these materials and not the series proper). Basically, the official website states that Little Johnny works for DOS—which is reflected in Queen's episodes. I mean, he's literally in the DOS HQ when he meets both Queen and Cyan for the first time. However, this episode states he works for FOMO, not DOS. I can't see the director of DOS allowing two of his top heroes to be besties with a rival company's hero. I wonder if there were different writers/directors for the arcs, and some wires got crossed during production.

• Shand using Fear to create supervillains in the warehouse where his son was murdered is more than a bit disturbing. But when you remember that his company has been literally making fake villains for its heroes to fight (which is how we got the whole situation with Nice and Wrek), it's not exactly out of character.

• I'm assuming that one of the Fear-based villains Shand is making is using the corpse of Vortex (because that's what's needed for Little Johnny's arc to wrap up properly).

• I'd be down to play a former Xs fighting game.

To Be Hero X is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.