Hero Mask

ariesclark★ 6

I tried watching this show, I honestly did, the story was alright, I couldn't get invested no matter how much I wanted to, I wanted to give the show a chance, but it failed, it couldn't keep me entertained and it was a flop, the plot has an alright premise but the execution is utter garbage. The art style is typical for an anime airing this season, nothing special, nothing horrible. The sound was alright, didn't focus much on it, but it was good, at least. Netflix needs to step up their game if they want to actually create decent anime.

donhumberto★ 9

So, after reading a lot of blatant lies about this magnificent series, I’ve felt compelled to write a review to balance things up. Two things have become clear to me after reading a lot of over the top negative comments about Hero Mask: a) A big (and very vocal) part of the anime fandom don’t like their anime to be “tainted” by any kind of Western influence and b) A lot of anime fans dislike big changes and series that try to break out of the norm. Enter Hero Mask, a Netflix original series that, despite being made by studio Pierrot and a(relatively unkown) japanese staff, looks and feels Western as fuck. It also is radically different to anything we have come to expect from anime, both aestethically and plot-wise. So yeah, for a big part of the anime fans at least, half the battle was lost even before it started. Which is a pity, really, as Hero Mask is a truly great series that combines noir-esque crime thriller elements with a touch of sci-fi. It is not that different to Psycho Pass or Monster (the 2 closest examples I can think of, anime-wise) although it probably would be more accurate to compare it to Western live action shows like True Detective and Black Mirror (with a healthy dose of James Bond-esque action scenes). It is by no means perfect, though, and it does get a bit slow half-way through and the finale could have been handled in a better, less confusing way (although I want to believe that there’s a second cour on the way: it certainly would help to clarify a ton of things that are left unanswered by the end of it). However, if you are looking for a serious, mature and gripping thriller with a touch of sci-fi and a wonderful, unique aestethic (and also an outstanding soundtrack that kept reminding me of Monster all the time) and some of the best 2D action scenes I’ve seen this decade (that car chase at the end of Ep 3, Good Lord..) look no further, this is your series. Just (don’t) believe the (negative) hype.