Heroman – First Episode Review

Episode Summary: Joey Jones, a young orphan living on the West coast of the United States, lives with his grandmother and helps to support her by holding down a part time job at a diner.  He also goes to school, and though he has the eye of Lina, a popular cheerleader, on him, her older brother has some objections to them spending time together.  Joey also wishes that he could buy one of the new hot toys, a fully-functional robot called Heybo, but most of his meager salary goes to helping out his family so he can't afford one.

One day he notices the group of school bullies playing with a Heybo, which is accidentally driven out into the street and hit by a car.  Joey rescues it from the garbage and repairs it, naming it Heroman.  One rainy night, Joey accidentally leaves his window open and Heroman gets wet.  A freak lightning bolt hits the toy, and before his eyes it's transformed into a larger-than-life sized robot companion, its controls fused to Joey's arm.  It's just in the nick of time, too, since Lina and her father end up in a car accident, and Joey and Heroman are the only ones able to reach the scene and save them. In the meantime, a small-time scientist sends a message of greeting out into space, but the aliens who pick up the frequency are anything but benevolent, and begin to make their way to Earth to harvest its resources.

Thoughts: Heroman opens with a simple, if unlikely, premise, and stars a simple, if unlikely, protagonist.  I would love to be able to say that it belies these humble beginnings by using them as a springboard towards something greater, or parodies them in some way, or uses them to play on some sort of nostalgia, but I can't.  This show doesn't just recall classic Saturday morning cartoons, it clearly is meant to be one; it doesn't aim for sophistication or complication, it's just very digestible entertainment for the younger set.

Of course, that makes it extremely difficult for me to say anything about it. I would hate to say that I'm a bit disappointed in the final product, but unfortunately that's the best way I can define how I feel about it.  Watching the trailer a while back I was very excited to see that Studio BONES was putting their A-game into an idea with the impressive pedigree of having been coined by the venerable Stan Lee.  I think in my mind I had this hopeful ideal of East and West coming together in this harmonious joining of minds to create some epic masterpiece.  Unfortunately, and I'm ashamed to admit this because I get a bit irritated when other people do this, I let those expectations get in the way of trying to appreciate what the episode was actually trying to establish, so of course I ended up feeling a little underwhelmed by the simplicity of the final product.

I might risk going off onto a tangent here, but bear with me.  If I had to define the reason why this episode didn't live up to my expectations, I would say that the root cause probably has to do with the fact that we as anime fans often like to justify our devotion to the fandom by explaining that anime feels more "grown-up" than American animation.  Characters smoke, drink, swear, have sex and beat the living daylights out of each-other. Even series meant for kids are often more violent that what would be acceptable on TV in the States. This series, however, feels as though it was made to American standards, meaning that there isn't any overt violence (even Joey's encounter with the school bully is brief and composed many of threatening posturing rather than fisticuffs) and the conflicts are, thus far, defined by very thick lines of good and evil, rather than painted with moral ambiguity that so often characterizes anime series.  I'm not going to claim that this is entirely a bad thing; there are many great anime out there that deal in bloodless violence or no violence at all and that are still fun to watch, but in this case, everything feels too cut-and-dry.  In fact, there's a lot of content that I feel panders not so much to American youngsters, but to American broadcasters.  It has none of the cultural markers that might scare a broadcaster thinking that the show is too "Japanese" because it takes place in America.  The kids all have common American or at least Western-sounding names.  There is American symbolism all over the place (Heroman's design includes a red white and blue motif with stars and everything, and there's a very prominent American flag in the opening credits). It could very easily be dubbed into English and most young people (and parents) would be none-the-wiser.

Why this bothers me so much I can't quite say, because logically I should be cheering for what this show represents. What American anime fandom really needs right now is growth, and aiming for the demographic that will soon grow up to have purchasing power is a smart move.  But in a way, presenting anime in this sort of package feels almost like subterfuge to me.  It tries to keep some of the appeal of anime, like the brisk action, flashy superpowers and serialized story, while whitewashing it of its parent culture.  I can't speak for the majority of the fandom, but part of the appeal of anime for me is that it can offer, in many cases, points of view that are outside my own culture; I like Japan and I enjoy learning more about it from its media, and Heroman doesn't really offer that.

Before I paint myself as an irredeemable weeaboo (which I'm not! I like America too), let me note that the production values on this episode are insane.  Studio BONES really demonstrates what they can do and why they're so highly-regarded; the scene in which Heroman transforms into his large form and Joey gains use of the arm controller is animated incredibly smoothly, and even scenes where there isn't much action look great (during the montage of Joey repairing the Heybo robot there are some great animations of him turning screwdrivers and working on little pieces of the toy that are just a joy to watch).  The character designs are a bit of a mixed bag but they're at least distinctive and fit the mood of the series.  Joey's friend Simon has some epic Spike Spiegel hair.  Joey's character design has been seen as too feminine by other reviewers but I would disagree; through his actions he's portrayed as a sweet, dutiful kid and his young-looking character design really reflects that well.  Some of the other character designs are a bit exaggerated in my opinion, especially the bully, Will, who is larger than life with a goofy hairstyle.

I think that, approached with the correct mindset, this could be an enjoyable, albeit simple series to sit and enjoy.  I had the disadvantage of expecting something a bit more in line with something like Soul Eater, also a shounen series (and also, coincidentally set in a fantasy version of the United States) but with a heavier dose of visual style and a darker attitude. However,I think that, for those with a deeper nostalgia for (and, perhaps, tolerance for) old-school Saturday morning American cartoons, this show could be a lot of fun and it might hopefully serve to bring in a few younger fans.  Its broadcast on American television seems almost inevitable.

Pros:

• The animation is top-notch and clearly has some money behind it.
• The character designs are very distinctive.

Cons:

• The story and its execution seem almost painfully simplistic at times.
• The show feels culturally whitewashed to me, and while I understand the reasoning, it feels as though it's missing something because of it.

Recommended? No.  While I could see myself checking out a couple more episodes just for the animation, unless the story got much more interesting very quickly, I don't think I could hang on until the end.  Younger viewers or those who prefer their anime more Americanized may find more enjoyment, however.