Anime Review: Hero-Mask!

Hey there guys, Endblade here once again with another post! This time, we will be looking at the recent release by Netflix's Originals, Hero-Mask with the help of Studio Pierrot, the studio which brought you Naruto, Bleach and Tokyo Ghoul! Some heavyweights in anime series' right there produced by Pierrot, but how does the newly released Hero-Mask stack up against its' illustrious predecessors?

Poster for Hero:Mask, taken from MyAnimeList

First Impressions:

I'm a total sucker for crime/psychological/thriller anime, one of my favourites being Psycho:Pass. So when I happened to chance upon the latest anime by Studio Pierrot, Hero:Mask, my natural instinctive reaction was to immediately drop everything I was doing and watch the first episode of this new anime. And boy, was I totally hyped! Slight spoilers, but the first episode of Hero:Mask opens with a murder (like all good crime shows), and features Psycho:Pass' Kogami Shinya clone, James Blood. Except that what weirded me out was that this is apparently set in some European country, my guess would be the UK. Hearing them speak Japanese but having the setting of the anime being in what is supposed to be a predominately English-speaking country baffled me a little. But of course, this isn't the first time animes have had us suspend our disbelief, so I got used to the English signage and general background after a while, a minor gripe I might say.

But the context and setting behind Hero:Mask got me hooked, so let's see if my thoughts about this anime change after watching the series!

After watching the entire series (SPOILERS AHEAD):

Disappointing to say the least. This anime series had so much potential, from the realistic background setting and experienced animation studio, surely they could have pushed the envelope so much harder and farther than they actually did. Studio Pierrot stuck to a vanilla, sci-fi thriller which aside from some awkwardly thrown in plot twists towards the end (I'm looking at you episode 15) and some thrilling chases through the city, had none too many redeeming qualities to make this show watchable.

James Blood: ironically wearing a blood-coloured jacket

The main character James Blood didn't really have much character development, he was just portrayed as a plot-armor protected typical anime hero who happens to be the best detective in the police force and can fight like a MMA professional. I would say he seems to not have many deficiencies aside from his rash personality, which in turn doesn't really make him endearing to watchers in any way due to the lack of humanization. He seems more like a machine imbued with some altruistic sense of justice to fight crime, a one dimensional Batman would be a good analogy.

Harry Creighton: Good cop turned bad?

His good-friend-turned-enemy-turned-good-friend Harry Creighton is a confusing mess of an antagonist turned ally, his motives seem to be hinted at (his future wife Eve seems to be in critical condition hence he became Anakin Skywalker and turned to the dark side to save her), but then again it isn't explicitly confirmed. He then ditches his rich employer Steven Martland for some crazy researcher just because he said something to the effect of 'follow me'. Incredulous and appalling.

Sarah Sinclair, while sporting an interesting-sounding name, stops at just that. The show's attempts to introduce a heroine alongside James Blood falls flat as she seems to as a prosecutor, convert into a crime-fighting detective. Whatever happened to being Ace Attorney, her actual job? The attempt to link everything on a whiteboard (like all other cliche crime dramas/animes) is a little too cliche to be the lynchpin that holds the entire plot together. While her quest for vengeance for her recently deceased mentor is realistic and understandable to some extent, the levels of obsession and uncanny precision by which she puts everything together seems a little forced, like the producers had to cram the entire story into the second half of the anime because they didn't plan it out properly. What could have been a gripping heroine was left half-baked, although arguably much better than our titular MC, James Blood.

Moreover, there were quite a few unresolved plot points, it was disturbing to say the least that they left some these plot points hanging. Maybe they intend to push another season next year? Hopefully they address these points, because the world-building in Hero:Mask is unsatisfactory and skimps on many details. If it does end only on one season, then this might be one of the worst anime series' that I've watched.

A piece of origami? Or sci-fi Mask? Who can even tell?

The whole idea of the Masks didn't really do much for me, I mean they didn't explain the mechanics behind how the Masks worked, or even things like who was the Professor and what idea did he plant in his students' minds to drive such crazy and unethical research? There could have been more done to explain these concepts, and even delve into the arguments behind the ethical ramifications of scientific experimentation. These plot points are so crucial to the story, and yet they were only mentioned but not addressed, which was a pity.

The funny part was the last episode, when the plot twist happened where Steven Martland is revealed to not be Steven Martland? Then comes a serving of cold revenge in an explosion in the sky. A little abrupt, but at least that part of the anime was quite amusing to say the least. Plus the final scene in the anime seems to set up a second season, which I hope will do volumes better than this season, but I'm not expecting much.

Of course, me even watching this series to the end (I did fast-forward certain points because it was simply too boring) does speak volumes about the quality of the anime, which is decent. Not mind-blowing or intensely gripping, but I guess enough for you to want to watch the next episode. Not binge-watch worthy, but I guess a good time filler. I had high expectations of this anime going in, but in trying to be the next Psycho-Pass it got caught up in an unrealistic sci-fi scenario that it spent many episodes attempting to explain and unravel rather than being the solid crime thriller it could have been.

OVERALL

The pluses:

- Promising premise

- Realistic setting, pretty good art direction and background

- First few episodes were decent, the mystery and thriller aspects were showcased well

The minuses:

- Shallow, one-dimensional characters fulfilling certain anime tropes/stereotypes

- Plot devolved into a mess towards the second half of the anime

- Unsatisfying ending

Rating: 7.5/10

Overall ranking (out of all the anime ranked here): 66/101 (updated 2020)

Updates 2020: Do take a look at my not-so-comprehensive personal list right here!