45 years in the future, human beings who possessed superpowers called, NEXT became superheroes and now sponsored by some corporation. After many years of waiting a hero show that tackles this concept, finally, this show appeared and it seems that one hero is still sticking with old ideologies of justice!
If there is one thing I can highly praise about the pilot episode is that they established two things: superheroes exist in this story and save lives and second, they are sponsored by some major company while their exploits are being taped in a TV show called, Hero TV (my mind will explode if some local anime cable channel will pick it up that also has that name) and they earn points on every endeavor they did in which at the end of one season, it will be tabulated and the one who accumulated the most points will be declared as "The King of Heroes."
The concept was ingenious and at the same time, shows the possibility of commercialism with superheroes which I saw back in one episode of an old Justice League cartoon episode that features the Flash.
The first episode was action-packed. They introduced all the heroes living in Sterbild City who are participating in Hero TV. From the fabulous Fire Emblem, to the questionably strong Rock Bison, the idol Blue Rose and to our protagonist, Wild Tiger aka Kotetsu T. Kaburagi. First impression on Wild Tiger, he is the old-school superhero who tires to blend in with the corporate aspect side of being a superhero and his complete opposite is the newbie, Barnaby Brooks Jr. who reveals his secret identity in the first episode!
Now back with the action scenes in the first episode, it was really good. Even if there is too much CGI in this title, they made it jive well with the traditional art in this series, giving the series a realistic superhero feel which reminded me of those old colorful Western superheroes I grew up watching.
The pilot also talks about Kotetsu's "mid-life" crisis as a superhero whose popularity dropped over the years and was just referred to as "the veteran" and kids prefers to idolize Sky High, the current king of heroes or just drool over Blue Rose's features while she is drinking the latest incarnation of Pepsi. What's more is that he was fired by his old employer and ends up working in a new company donning a new battle suit!
Overall, it was a great start. They went straight with the action, introduce the necessary plot and focus on one aging superhero in a world filled with younger heroes who keeps on saving the world without destroying a lot of public property (especially Origami Cyclone, repeat, especially Origami Cyclone). The superheroes are colorful which reminded me of the good ol' days were superhero shows are not that dark but campy and light-hearted which gives me an impression that Sunrise has just strucked anime gold once again.
If there is one thing I can highly praise about the pilot episode is that they established two things: superheroes exist in this story and save lives and second, they are sponsored by some major company while their exploits are being taped in a TV show called, Hero TV (my mind will explode if some local anime cable channel will pick it up that also has that name) and they earn points on every endeavor they did in which at the end of one season, it will be tabulated and the one who accumulated the most points will be declared as "The King of Heroes."
The concept was ingenious and at the same time, shows the possibility of commercialism with superheroes which I saw back in one episode of an old Justice League cartoon episode that features the Flash.
The first episode was action-packed. They introduced all the heroes living in Sterbild City who are participating in Hero TV. From the fabulous Fire Emblem, to the questionably strong Rock Bison, the idol Blue Rose and to our protagonist, Wild Tiger aka Kotetsu T. Kaburagi. First impression on Wild Tiger, he is the old-school superhero who tires to blend in with the corporate aspect side of being a superhero and his complete opposite is the newbie, Barnaby Brooks Jr. who reveals his secret identity in the first episode!
Now back with the action scenes in the first episode, it was really good. Even if there is too much CGI in this title, they made it jive well with the traditional art in this series, giving the series a realistic superhero feel which reminded me of those old colorful Western superheroes I grew up watching.
The pilot also talks about Kotetsu's "mid-life" crisis as a superhero whose popularity dropped over the years and was just referred to as "the veteran" and kids prefers to idolize Sky High, the current king of heroes or just drool over Blue Rose's features while she is drinking the latest incarnation of Pepsi. What's more is that he was fired by his old employer and ends up working in a new company donning a new battle suit!
Overall, it was a great start. They went straight with the action, introduce the necessary plot and focus on one aging superhero in a world filled with younger heroes who keeps on saving the world without destroying a lot of public property (especially Origami Cyclone, repeat, especially Origami Cyclone). The superheroes are colorful which reminded me of the good ol' days were superhero shows are not that dark but campy and light-hearted which gives me an impression that Sunrise has just strucked anime gold once again.