(CR) Heroman (BONES)

[Saturn Beaver]

Yes! After nothing for winter 2010, finally CR allows their current anime to be available to be viewed from The Netherlands. One of the anime is Heroman, and hopefully, it'll be the first of many more.

Spoiler for Episode 01:

- Bones deliver as always, great animation and character design, except for Joey. Not that he really looks bad, it's just that he looks too much like a girl, he gives other androgynous males a run for their money. Truly, he is a worthy replacement for Hideyoshi this season.

- Aside from the obvious cameo (anyone knows who is voicing him?), it's clear that Stan Lee has a hand in this project. Were it not for him, this may be sued for being a ripoff of Spider-man. Seriously, we got:

• A poor male protagonist living alone with an older female relative, supporting their life by doing part time jobs. Weak, bullied and unpopular at school, but possessing a kind heart and great intelligence. He even got an alliterative name too!
  
• Will's design and character is really similar to Flash Thompson.
  
• Her sister Lina's background and relationship to the protagonist is also very similar to Liz Allan, and I'm not going to be surprised if her surname is something like Zall, just to fit the anagram.
  
• The evil aliens, Skrugg, is also just a few letters away from another race of invading aliens from the Marvel Universe (Skrulls).

Conclusion: It's Bones, it's legal, and although the story doesn't seem really original, the classical approach can still be good if pulled off perfectly, and Stan Lee has great experiences in this. Definitely putting this on my watchlist.

[Who]

I keep getting vibes of similarity between this and this other show that was on Cartoon Network the other day. Are they related or something? Can't remember what that show was called. :/

Edit:
Never mind. The show was called Robotboy, but the premise of a boy with a toy robot that transforms into a kickass mecha to defend the world remains the same.

[Roardel]

Not bad. SF part was cheap, but it’s animated well.
I like Joey’s character.

[fertygo]

lol watching this feel more like watching Saturday Cartoon than watching anime. but that why its so interesting

[Boduar]

Well I dont hate the main character for once in this genre of anime so I guess ill stick with it and hope for something good although I do think its going to end up becoming boring after a few episodes. Can always hope I am proved wrong and the story line and action is intriguing but I am guessing from the demographic its a bit of a stretch.

[Fawx9]

Oh Stan, you still can't come up with names that start with different letters can you

Overall it was a fun episode to set the introduction. Anyone have an idea if the robot is ever going to talk, or are we going to be using pure physical communication between the two?

[Guardian Enzo]

That made me LOL a couple times. Loved Stan Lee lazing around the coffee shop all day. They also got the fact that rain is rare in LA right, and I loved the ED too.

As for the episode itself, it was somewhat lacking in execution but interesting in concept. You had an interesting mix of pure anime tropes with classic American pulp sci-fi - which could potentially make for an interesting premise if they can pull it off. Basically this is a pure boys' adventure story, which you don't see all that often anymore as a major release aimed at more than just pre-teens (though they're certainly not excluded from the target audience). I'd like to see it succeed - Bones is one of those studios that merits a look from me on any series regardless of premise, and this is an interesting one. I wasn't enamored of the writing, and I'm not sure any of the characters are going to catch my interest. But as I said, I like the hybrid idea here, I like the notion of a mainstream boys' adventure story and of course, being Bones, it looks great. Heroman's puppy-dog eyes were the most interesting visual of the first ep for me.

[ZODDGUTS]

Thought it was a good but not great first ep. The animation was top notch but the story was too generic for my taste. One thing I really liked besides the animation and music they got the SoCal (Southern California) look right in the series. I should know since I live in SoCal. They even mention that it was rare that it was raining. Funny thing is that's what I said last night when it was drizzling a bit. :P

One area that blew my mind was founding out that Psy was a guy. I thought Psy was a girl in the manga.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

They also got the fact that rain is rare in LA right, and I loved the ED too.

Yup. Was surprise it rain a bit last night. Which made me lucky since I didn't have to wake up in the morning to water the grass.

[Johnny]

Not bad for first episode, could have been worse. Well as long as Joey doesn't get all 'Kouichi rabid mad dog nutjob hero' he should be an ok protagonist...

They must be in Little Tokyo part of L.A, because I'm not sure I've seen a high school that speaks all japanese in the U.S

[Preacher]

Joey anyone?

http://i81.servimg.com/u/f81/11/31/41/30/0111.jpg

[Nosauz]

Oh god the character stereotypes are horrendous. Of course the cheerleader wears her uniform 24/7, and the jock has enough time to hang out with his rich friends and be built like a truck. I just don't understand the reason for using the U.S. as a setting and making things so obviously "american" it just feels off from reality.

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Oh god the character stereotypes are horrendous. Of course the cheerleader wears her uniform 24/7, and the jock has enough time to hang out with his rich friends and be built like a truck. I just don't understand the reason for using the U.S. as a setting and making things so obviously "american" it just feels off from reality.

I'm pretty sure Japanese nurses aren't all big breasted hotties either. To be honest, the setting is refreshing even if it isn't "realistic". Beats yet another Japanese X-school setting. I still think Joey looks and acts like a girl though..but, I guess I can't complain too much since he's not annoying. The VA fits pretty well as far as I imagined the characters sounding.

Overall, I enjoyed it. The first episode had some nice animation, the music wasn't bad, and they thankfully ditched the out of place Samurai armor from the manga. I've read the few chapters that are out and the aliens versus Heroman fights are fun.

I don't expect this to be a work of art, but it is fun and refreshing. Can't wait to see the battles animated. ^^

[Nosauz]

Yea, I get that I'm reading way too much into how the characters are portrayed, but it just screams either tacky or lazy. I mean when your characters are defined by the clothing or accessories that they have that aren't critical to the story then it just feels very off putting. I guess trying to be American is just constantly shatters my suspension of disbelief.

[Hypernova]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Oh god the character stereotypes are horrendous. Of course the cheerleader wears her uniform 24/7, and the jock has enough time to hang out with his rich friends and be built like a truck. I just don't understand the reason for using the U.S. as a setting and making things so obviously "american" it just feels off from reality.

Hm... thinking about about those 80's american high school set films it pretty much ticks all the boxs.

And is it just me or is the constant exclamation of Heroman! really grating on the ears?

And why did it teleport onto the bridge when it demonstrated its jumping ability not 10s ago.

[AvianWing]

Better than expected first episode.

They did a good job with the American setting. The pans of the surroundings accentuates its favor. In the classroom, I can distinctly feel that it is an American classroom rather than a Japanese one.

Aside from the character design, it feels like the body language of the characters is rather Japanese-- or, anime-ish. Feels weird in contrast to the background, but mostly because it's still rather new to me.

I can't seem to stop associating Heroman with the Michelin Tire Mascot. It's probably the ribbed arms and the mostly white body, but yeah <.<

[Solace]

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Yea, I get that I'm reading way too much into how the characters are portrayed, but it just screams either tacky or lazy. I mean when your characters are defined by the clothing or accessories that they have that aren't critical to the story then it just feels very off putting. I guess trying to be American is just constantly shatters my suspension of disbelief.

Understandable, really. One of my favorite anime is Red Garden, and I can tell you firsthand that the portrayal of New York and the setting is nothing close to real life. Sure there's obviously some research done and *some* things fit, but you can easily tell the creators never actually lived there.

Despite that I found myself ignoring the setting and focusing on the characters and the story. It's not something I feel will be a strong point for Heroman personally, which is why I'm more looking forward to it being a nice hark back to the "innocent" days of anime featuring giant robots kicking monster butt. ^^

I'll be honest though, I really wish they'd make a Megas XLR anime.

[Mizuno]

lol @ the villain being an alien cockroach...

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

No.

Figured you'd say that
After watching the episode, I understand the fuss about Joey. He really is very girly, and his voice is pretty cute... in fact his voice sounds cuter than the main heroine's. Nice screams too.

Spoiler for it's starting...NSFW Joey:

I think we've definitely got the Hideyoshi of the season, unless there's a big suprise in some other show. I'm not really sure how popular Heroman is going to be in Japan.

Now about the episode itself. Animation was very nice and coloful, character design is... I'm not sure what to say about that. Some of them look really good, and others are a bit caricatural, or should I say amerikkan? It seems to be what they're going for anyway. I enjoyed the first episode so I'll stick with it for now, but the plot looks very basic, 26 episodes of this? Not sure about that...

Originally Posted by Hypernova

And why did it teleport onto the bridge when it demonstrated its jumping ability not 10s ago.

Personally, I was wondering why he didn't teleport since the very beginning instead of destroying the house
But yes, he could have easily jumped there, no reason to teleport all of a sudden.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Spoiler for it's starting...NSFW Joey:

About time it started. <333

[Mizuno]

Maybe she's a girl raised like a boy. There's hope.