[Note: I watched To Be Hero X in Japanese with English subtitles. Any appraisal of vocal performances is made with this frame of reference in mind. However, from what I’ve heard of the English dub, it’s really well done, so if you prefer dubs, you’re in for a treat.]

In a landscape so saturated with superhero media, what does it mean to be truly original? Is it the ideas? The spectacle? Themes? Style? Sure, these can help new projects to stand out in a cluttered marketplace of origin stories and disparate continuities, but amid the genre’s worst lulls, finding originality can feel like a moot point. And frankly, is looking for “true originality” even productive? The foundations of these stories and their messages are timeless for a reason. It’s not about originality so much as nuance, and To Be Hero X might be the best superhero story in years.

And, you know, at the start of 2025, that might have felt like a low bar, especially after such a spineless shitshow like Captain America: Brave New World. Even with Thunderbolts*, Jake Schreier and his team’s commendable commitment to practical stuntwork, strong theming, and heartfelt character drama felt like the exception to the rule. But then we got James Gunn’s Superman, and less than a month later, Matt Shakman’s Fantastic Four: First Steps. These two beloved films weren’t just successful, but reignited faith in superhero movies, to say nothing of hope for humanity in general (especially in the case of the former).

So it’s fair to say this has been a strong year for superhero media, which makes my aforementioned take a lot more contentious. However, while I don’t want to undermine the merits of Schreier, Gunn, or Shakman, I genuinely think To Be Hero X clears all of them by *that* much. But what exactly is To Be Hero X? And why does it deserve to be recognized among the genre’s best and brightest?

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