Heroman

"You talkin' ta me?"

Synopsis:


Joey is your average all American kid. Having to move in with his grandmother after his parents died, Joey spends his most of his free time working and trying to save up for a technologically advances toy robot called Heybo but he knows he'll never be able to afford it with his meager wage. Luckily though Joey happens upon one of the school bullies throwing a Heybo away after it was struck by a car. Not about to let this chance pass him by, Joey takes the broken down toy robot home and repairs it naming it Heroman. The same night that Joey finally gets Heroman the robot fixed there is also a huge thunderstorm that causes a bolt of lightening to hit Joey's house, go through the roof, and strike Heroman. But instead of turning the little guy into a pile of ashes, the lightening changes Heroman into a real robot and imbues him with a multitude of superpowers that Joey now has the controller for. What Joey didn't know is that the massive storm going on was caused by aliens that are about to invade Earth. It's time for Joey and Heroman to step up and become real heros.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 26


Review:


Y'know, I was really grasping for words to try an make a synopsis a show where every episode goes a little something like this:


Heroman... ATTACK!!

FABOOM!!!

To be continued...

That's all there is to it. But, let's try take a look at the show a little more in depth. Heroman is the production of Bones animation studio and Marvel Comics' Stan Lee calling it "A new hero for the 21st century" Really? I'm not so sure that a robot that looks like the Michelin Man on steroids is the ideal icon to fit the bill, especially when he's controlled by some kid that you mistake for a girl in the first half of the season. Also, using something like a bolt of lightening to change a toy into a huge robot is far too heavily cliched and just plain cheesy. It's almost like Stan Lee was out of ideas and gave Heroman his powers by picking random options out of a hat.

Other than Heroman's brief and crappy background, the surrounding story isn't all that bad as Heroman kicks off the series with a bang. The first part of the story you get to see is Earth's invasion from hostile alien's summoned by Professor Denton's curiosity of life on other planets. Sending out radio signals into space that attracts the unwanted visitors (looks like somebody's been watching Jimmy Neutron) called the Skrugg which look like a bunch of walking cockroaches. You get to see the humans pathetic attempts to stop the invaders prove to be frivolous but Joey puts Heroman to the test and attacks with superhuman strength and otherworldly power to suppress the hostile insectoids. The thing that makes Heroman a little different is that he doesn't say anything, no lame-ass catch phrases and no holier-than-thou attitude displayed from his controller, Joey... which makes for a damn good team. And even though Joey looks like a shy little girl at first, he starts maturing... character-wise, through the actions that he chooses to have Heroman act upon. That, and the episode where him and Lina go to the beach resolves and doubt I had about Joey's gender.

Luckily, Heroman doesn't focus it's story on having Heroman and Joey destroying aliens but manages to work in other opposing forces such as mad scientists and the government. This is done through subtle plot twists that are set in motion from the very beginning of the show instead of having monster A from planet B just show up and attack in every episode. So, when you think everything has been resolved you realize that a new story is taking place which makes for well paced progression. The only main drawback is Joey's companions as they present themselves as more of a hinderance and their flat and dull screen presence leaves them unnoticable except for Lina and her school cheerleader outfit that she wears... all the time. You can't ignore legs like that!

All in all Heroman is a predictable superhero tale that even follows the usual story progression going from new hero on the block to exiled war veteran and finishing up with being everyone's savior. This is one of the few times where the story itself is on par with the main characters both good and evil and neither overshadows the other. In the end, you can't deny the fact that Heroman has it's own charm and it's still worth checking out.

Heroman (opening)

Recommendation: |Average|


From: Crunchyroll
Media type: Internet streaming
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English