Every year brings a new crop of anime to look forward to. Some series are returning hits, like Kaiju No. 8 or Dan Da Dan. Some aren’t what you expect; while most fans of Shinichirō Watanabe expected Lazarus to be a spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop, it’s carved out its own niche. But every so often, there’s one series that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. 2025 is no different, as more anime fans completely missed the wonder that is To Be Hero X. To Be Hero X is set in a word of superpowered heroes, which more than likely will draw comparisons to My Hero Academia or Tiger & Bunny, but it’s the approach that it’s taken to this story that makes it worth a watch — and worth the title of one of the best anime of 2025.
‘To Be Hero X’ Uniquely Tackles How Belief Is a Major Part of Superhero Stories
What got me to watch To Be Hero X is the way that it approaches the concept of superpowers. In this world, people don’t get powers from alien artifacts, radioactive spider bites, or mutations. Instead, belief is what fuels a hero’s power. If you believe that someone can fly, they’ll fly. If you believe they have laser eyes… then, they have laser eyes. It’s a concept that I always felt was rarely explored in comics, except for a few stories. Thor, being a literal god, not to mention the presence of other gods in the Marvel Universe, should have fundamentally shaken the concept of religions across the world. The same could be said for Wonder Woman, as she literally possesses the power of the Greek Gods. While superhero stories have often been referred to as “modern mythology”, To Be Hero X is the first one of these stories to really lean into that concept.
It’s not just the concept of faith giving you superpowers that makes To Be Hero X unique, but also how it’s approached in the series. The very first episode features a young man named Lin Ling witnessing the popular hero Nice commit suicide, and being forced to take his place. Due to people actually believing he’s nice because of their physical resemblance, Lin Ling actually gains powers, but he’s soon attacked by his former boss, who was transformed into a villain due to fear. Another hero, Lucky Cyan, becomes an extremely popular singer and songwriter due to her ability to manipulate luck, yet a tragedy in her past leads to her being attacked by zombie-like monsters. These moments show how people can be driven by belief to commit terrible acts.
‘To Be Hero X’ Takes a Surprising Approach to Its Story & Animation
To Be Hero X isn’t just content to break the rules of superhero stories, but storytelling itself. Each hero is given an “arc” of two to four episodes, which allows for self-contained stories, not to mention easy jumping-on points. While I love anime like One Piece and Bleach, as they progress, they tend to build on past events, meaning that newcomers will have a lot to catch up on (especially in the case of One Piece, which surpassed a thousand episodes.) There’s another element of To Be Hero X that makes it a standout: all of its arcs wind up connected, as they take place at different points in time. The episodes focusing on Lin Ling end with him discovering his “girlfriend” Moon being murdered by the electric hero E-Soul. The episode after that explores what happens when a kid named Yang Cheng gains E-Soul’s powers after dressing up as him for an event, and it’s all before the events that lead to Lin Ling’s story. Christopher Nolan would be proud.
I was also wowed by the animation approach that To Be Hero X uses. It starts out with a combination of 3D and 2D animation for its early arcs, but slowly starts shifting to a 2D style for the remainder of its run. The end result truly feels like you’re watching a comic book come to life, and feels different from the approach used for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or Arcane. A great example comes for the “character concept” and “story concept” animated shorts used for the main characters; it shows off what each hero is capable of, while also showing off the variety in the heroes and the stories they’re a part of. E-Soul feels like a traditional superhero, while the mysterious Ghostblade feels like he stepped out of a Metal Gear Solid game. With an approach like this, I’m surprised that most anime fans haven’t discovered To Be Hero X yet, as it feels like a truly fresh breath of air.
With ‘My Hero Academia’ Ending, ‘To Be Hero X’ Has the Potential To Become the Next Pop Culture Phenomenon
To Be Hero X might not be on the same level of cultural awareness as other anime, but there will be an opening for it to rise up in the ranks, much like the heroes it follows. This year marks the final season of My Hero Academia, while The Boys is currently in production on its final season. That means there’s plenty of room for another subversive superhero story to take the world by storm, and To Be Hero X would be a perfect fit to fill the void that The Boys or My Hero Academia will leave for certain fans. If you love superheroes, want to watch something different from the adventures of Marvel or DC’s heroes, or are looking for an anime that doesn’t look like anything else on the market, To Be Hero X needs to be on your watchlist.