Whether you’re creating an original concept or working with an adaptation, first episodes are hard. You have to establish enough details about the world to give viewers a stable footing, all while ensuring that the episode moves breezily enough so that your audience doesn’t get bored and scroll TikTok instead. Meanwhile, you have to set up the stakes that lend narrative and emotional weight, but you can’t play your whole hand, lest the next few episodes merely feel like you’re spinning your wheels. In short, it’s a balancing act. And because of its balance, Sentenced to Be a Hero is one of the best first episodes of an anime that I’ve seen in a while. RELATED: Sentenced to Be a Hero: Where to Watch, Trailers, Voice Cast, Characters & More Sentenced to Be A Hero is all about movement, or at least the feeling of movement. When Xylo, a former knight with a dark past, speaks to partner and fellow hero, Dotta, what could very well be an exposition-filled scene about the “rules” of life and death in this universe seethes with anger and unease. When Venetim later calls Xylo to inform him of an upcoming assault by an army of the Demon Blight, there is a similar acrimonious feeling. Character relationships are established, not through belabored explanation, but through feeling. We understand the interpersonal dynamics, while also getting teases of the backstory. The plot and the viewer are pushed forward, rather than the former stalling out so the latter can catch up. Of course, a similar thing occurs during the action scenes. Thanks to Studio KaI’s top notch production work and some stellar direction, combat is equal parts violent and vibrant. The flickers of horror, from the Demon Blight mutations to the gore-strewn battlefields, enable us to learn on the fly what the Demon Blight is capable of and how it impacts the world around it. What could be a tedious monologue is a nightmare montage, and the way characters like Xylo and Dotta adapt to it show off their characters in a way that would be impossible otherwise. The actions taken in desperate times and performed under pressure highlight who they are at their best and their most misguided. That the episode is double-length, giving it the chance to breathe, is also beneficial. Because while Sentenced to Be a Hero ’s first installment isn’t an overload of mythology, it’s constantly dropping hints in the heat of conversations as to the order of the wider world. The extended run-time alleviates the feeling of it being lore-by-way-of-bullet-points (something many first episodes succumb to as they try to cram in too much at once), and instead offers something more casual and lived-in. Tie that back to the fact that most of the dialogue is between folks who already feel strongly about the topic and/or the other person (Xylo and Kivia’s argument before the climax is a great example of keeping the heart pumping even when it’s necessary to dispense some information), and you realize that Sentenced to Be a Hero has swept you into its story without you even realizing it. By the end, the tale hasn’t just begun. Like a soldier holding off the grisly toad-like faeries, you’re amidst it. And like the act of being a hero, there’s no escape. But unlike the doom faced by those forced to be resurrected again and again for the purposes of saving humanity, it’s a pleasure to be attached to Sentenced to Be a Hero this early. There are so many anime to watch, both new releases and classic catalog favorites. It’s hard to choose how to spend your time. Thankfully, Sentenced to Be a Hero doesn’t give you any other choice.
