It’s a brutal, dark fantasy anime rendition of a familiar Suicide Squad-like premise of a wrongly-convicted former captain, introducing shady political intrigue in the background as the plot proceeds. This notion hasn’t escaped Sentenced to Be a Hero’s stars, either, with Teoritta voice actor Emi Lo commenting in an interview with Screen Rant about the anime’s popularity and fantasy series parallels.
Sentenced to Be a Hero’s Teoritta Actor Confirms the Anime’s Unique Strengths
Beyond a splendid hour-long premiere showcasing Sentenced to Be a Hero’s visual strengths, Emi Lo, who voices the plucky, childlike Teoritta, has plenty to say about what actually retains its viewers. The series understands the importance of laying the groundwork of an intriguing mystery early on, including layers of deception by a mysterious ruling class bearing shades of certain iconic fantasy hits.
“What I love is that, past all the fanfare, action, and flashy stuff, it has so much intrigue and political drama. There’s so much mystery that you’re trying to figure out.”
-Emi Lo, English Dub Voice of Teoritta
Lo is certainly correct in this assessment. While anime thrive on splashy premieres that leave a visual impression, due largely to being a predominantly visual medium, what keeps viewers drawn in is what its other elements do to set itself apart. Xylo’s sentence is unjust, and was carefully orchestrated by a twisted faction seeking to kill Senerva, his previous goddess.
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This sort of subterfuge has shown in various fantasy programming, but none quite so famously as in Game of Thrones. It too featured morally gray characters at its core, including a plot full of political schemers, albeit in a world with significantly less magic than seen in Sentenced to Be a Hero, which balances spectacle with suspense.
Sentenced to Be a Hero Feels Like Anime Game of Thrones in Its Prime
While Sentenced to Be a Hero is not even a full season in, it’s moved to some exciting places quickly, setting up not only the intrigue around Xylo, but gradually escalating the mysteries of his fellow penal heroes. They’ve now had multiple high-stakes clashes with the Demon Blight threat, all while tensions with the mysterious “coexisters” begin to mount.
“There are so many tense moments like between like the judges and the heroes as they’re being sentenced, and also each of the characters are just so interesting and they all have their place in the story.”
Each of the heroes have similar stories to that of Xylo: brought into court before a Lord Confessor who puzzlingly presents a knowingly altered version of the defendants’ actions. Some aimed to help royals like a prince in peril, only to have that story suppressed. Others ran shady tabloids which, while printing outrageous lies, unwittingly broadcast a heinous conspiracy.
Threats of both demon and human origin continue lurking behind Xylo as he tries to avenge Senerva and the Holy Knights under his command lost on that fateful day. The political machinations in play not only resemble Game of Thrones for general fantasy TV fans, but the emerging conspiracies and twisted factions even resemble Attack on Titan.
It presents itself as a combination of water cooler-worthy discussion for anime-onlys wishing to experience an intriguing story, as well as breathtaking action for the adrenaline junkies, and a satisfying adaptation for the light novel fans. But it also has an opportunity, unlike Game of Thrones, to pace itself long enough for the creator, Rocket Shoukai, to finish the series.
Sidestepping Game of Thrones’ mistakes means not losing sight of key character development, and avoiding the temptation to prioritize spectacle over substance. This indicates Sentenced to Be a Hero will need to release at a less brisk pace, unless it aims to outpace the source material, release a wonky final product, or proceed with misguided spinoffs from there.