A second new main key visual has been revealed for the upcoming To Be Hero X donghua animated series, which will begin broadcasting in Japan on April 6, 2025. A new character concept story video for Ahu was also released, ahead of the show’s premiere.
To Be Hero X will replace One Piece’s former broadcast slot on Fuji TV at 9:30 AM JST on Sundays, after the latter announced its move to a late-night programming block on Sundays starting April 6, 2025.
Meanwhile, the latest character story video highlights the eighth-ranked canine-like hero Ahu and his theme song “SPARX” by Kohta Yamamoto.
Li Haolin (LINK CLICK; To Be Hero; To Be Heroine) is credited with the original work and is directing the donghua, in collaboration with bilibili and Aniplex. Hiroyuki Sawano is composing the series’ main theme song “Jeopardy.” Sawano, Yamamoto, Hidefumi Kenmochi, DAIKI (AWSM.), Shuhei Mutsuki, Hideyuki Fukasawa, Misaki Umase, and Ryuichi Takada (MONACA) are all credited as music composers in the series. BeDream is in charge of the animation production for the series.
Meanwhile, the Japanese voice cast for To Be Hero X includes:
- • Mamoru Miyano as X
- • Kana Hanazawa as Queen
- • Natsuki Hanae as Nice
- • Nobunaga Shimazaki as E-Soul
- • Koichi Yamadera as Ahu
- • Inori Minase as Lucky Cyan
- • Ayane Sakura as Loli
- • Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Little Johnny
- • Yuichi Nakamura as Ghostblade
- • Koki Uchiyama as Dragon Boy
To Be Hero X serves as a follow-up to To Be Hero and To Be Heroine. The first To Be Hero series aired in Japan for 12 episodes from October to December 2016, with Studio LAN handling the animation production. Crunchyroll also streamed the series as it aired in Japan, with each episode spanning 11 minutes.
The sequel series, To Be Heroine, aired in May 2018, with Studio LAN and Haoliners Animation League in charge of the animation production. Haolin previously directed both of these series. Crunchyroll also streamed both series on its platform.
Crunchyroll will stream To Be Hero X worldwide, outside of Asia, and describes the main synopsis as:
A world where outstanding heroes are applauded. Here, “trust” creates superheroes. If people believe “he can fly,” he will gain the ability to fly. Conversely, even if a hero has special powers, if he loses trust, he will also lose his powers. Trust is collected as data, and the ranking of heroes changes depending on the value. Once every two years, the top heroes gather to compete in a hero tournament. Their performance there updates their “trust value,” and the ranking is reconstructed. The absolute hero who stands at the top of the rankings, people call him “X”…
