Sentenced to Be a Hero

Episode 5

Episode 5 of Sentenced to Be a Hero is the first time the series has stumbled for me, even if I still enjoyed it overall.

The formula remains pretty much unchanged. Xylo, Kivia, and the rest of the crew are called upon to defend a fortress. The oncoming attack is large and will be upon them within a day, so they prepare the defenses and get ready to face overwhelming odds. Nothing too adventurous in terms of novel ideas, and the character beats are much the same. The return of the miners, more goddess headpat jokes, a sentencing flashback for hero newcomer (or at least new to the audience) Tsav, it's all par for the course at this point.

This week, it just doesn't hit quite the same as it has previously.

Sure, all the fundamentals are there, but they aren't used in a terribly effective or creative manner. The most obvious failure, in my opinion, is Tsav, a character who comes off as obnoxious and painfully unlikable. I know the whole point of this dirty-dozen-esque disposable hero setup is that the characters are meant to be at least somewhat, ah, undesirable to society writ large. Even with all of the issues that come with that, there is an enduring quality to them despite their flaws. Norgalle may be off-kilter and not see the world for what it is, but in his delusions, he does care for his subjects. Tatsuya is unhinged and overwhelmingly violent, but he's also fearless and unstoppable in the face of great peril. On and on it goes.

Tsav is just… a sociopath. He murders people for fun and won't stop trying to murder or maim every chance he gets. There's not even a hint of irony or tragedy in his situation; he's a bad guy and should be kept on a short leash, but they let him run around with weapons trying to stab people between scenes. I dunno, smacks of the far-too-real stereotype of the chaotic neutral rogue in the party trying to ruin everyone else's fun all session.

Similarly, the stakes are a little off. The defensive works all seem predicated on fighting roughly understandable opposition: ditches, earthworks, explosive barrels, and such. That's all well and good for an approaching army of warped frogs and spiked horses or what have you, but that giant kaiju-slug approaching at the rear seems like something else entirely. In fact, the very first episode showed us just how deadly they are, which makes all the tension around the siege a bit hollow when we all know the important thing is deploying Teoritta to cast Mega-Flare. And to pile onto this, they just bring the miners back, so there are common folk in danger that they don't have to bother building up in any way for us to care about. That's fine and all, but I think it's a bit too soon for this to have much impact.

All of those things sound like I hated the episode - I didn't! The animation is still terrific, the voice casts in English and Japanese are both delivering big time, and the action has the expected excellence. I think we're rolling out a greatest hits album a bit too early in the band's career, if that makes sense.

Rating:

Sentenced to Be a Hero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.