To Be Heroine

Geez, I didn’t expect To Be Hero to have another sequel. At least not after how sh*tty the ending was despite the overall series was hilarious and fun to watch. But more accurately, To Be Heroine is more of a sequel spinoff. Although it focuses on a new bunch of characters, the old characters from its previous season do make their cameo appearances. I guess when you have a cute female lead for this season, you can kiss goodbye to all the disgusting dad jokes and fart jokes for those who have seen the first season.

Episode 1
Man, I thought I was watching the wrong series as a good part of it is in Mandarin! Futaba Hanaya narrates how she often wanted to grow up fast and be an adult. But now in high school, she realizes that everything has only one choice and no freedom to choose as she thought. One wrong choice and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. She ponders about the other choice of going to another world. And then poof! Here she is in another world! And apparently this world speaks Japanese too. She is confronted by this little baby in a golden underwear, Hikaru-kun that she is a hero. The best hero. How does he know? He flips up her skirt to see high quality pantsu! Baby or not, she beats him up. So young so pervy. He warns that he is being targeted by assassins. Oh, here comes one, Touichi Touin. Both get into childish arguments before Touichi summons his SpiCloth, Hanzou Hattori. Hikaru-kun tells Futaba to have confidence in herself and do the same. She remembers her friend, Hikaru Isago telling her about focusing her chakra if she ever goes to another world. She does so. Nothing happens. Remembering a more practical advice from another friend, Tooru Utsubari, she makes a run for it before Hanzou could cut her. Under the bridge, Hikaru-kun explains that she has that hero power. Just take off her clothes! Pervy baby! Hear him out. He claims in this world that every piece of clothing has a spirit (hence SpiCloth = Spirit Cloth). Thus the more clothes you have, the more weapons. Hence underwear is like their life. You lose it, you die. Seriously. That’s why he is wearing this 23 gold karat underwear. It’s his family treasure.

Futaba still refuses to believe when Touichi and Hanzou has discover them. Futaba acts so because of her fear of making a mistake if she chose. She leaves Hikaru-kun to die by Hanzou’s blade when a hot Chinese guy, Fubuki Saimon stops the blade. It seems he is Futaba’s SpiCloth and part of her boots (when she kicked Hikaru-kun away, a boots fell off). If this is true, she realizes she has been stepping on him all this time! Apparently Hanzou has this chivalry of not fighting someone without a weapon. Well, wasn’t he trying to kill an unarmed baby just now? Fubuki seeks a weapon from Futaba. So taking off her other boots gives him a sword. Now they fight in super fast and epic fashion. It destroys their surroundings but Hanzou sacrifices himself to protect Touichi. When a SpiCloth disappears, the clothing becomes torn. Touichi will not let his sacrifice go in vain and will also join him soon. He takes off his own underwear and uses it as a signal to contact HQ. When he disappears, Futaba starts to believe Hikaru-kun’s words. You really die without your underwear. Hikaru-kun is amazed she defeated Touichi of the Four Leaders in her first time as a hero. As Futaba is still unsure if she could protect this world, Hikaru-kun further explains how the baddies discovered the power of SpiCloth and used it to cover the sky with darkness. People lived in darkness for so long that they have forgotten what it’s like to wear clothes. Terrified with them for having SpiCloth, the people then fell under their control. As for why they are trying to kill Hikaru-kun, Chou Oji explains it is because he is the light. Yup, true to his name, he literally lights up. He is the only source of light that can shine on its own in this world. It seems the brightness and its duration have a direct correlation to the strength of the stimulation, hence he is their last hope to light up the world.

Episode 2
Futaba already has the other Four Leaders on her tail. After Touichi, Juuichi Saijou was next but his twin SpiCloth scarves turned into some hot BL gay make-out. Next is Bouichi Minamidori but his pants are so tight and he fainted before he could use his SpiCloth. Now they are being chased by Chuuichi Hokkaru and his bug giant SpiCloth slug. Chou Ouji explains that a way to tell humans and SpiCloth is to see if they wear underwear. Because SpiCloth are from clothes, they don’t wear underwear. Only humans do. That’s why Hikaru-kin was just checking her pantsu. Feels like a lame excuse… Now that Chuuichi’s slug evolves into a dragon, Futaba throws her jacket to summon her SpiCloth. A magical toy wand? Nothing happens. She uses her bag but another toy wand. Too bad Chuuichi, you won’t get to see her in a mini skirt transformation. Flashback shows young Futaba with Hikaru and Tooru wanted to get some toy late at night. When it’s closed? However the mean old man spotted them and doesn’t like it. The rest follow Hikaru’s cue to sing a happy birthday song. Uhm, their mini fireworks enough for the protest parade on the other side of town to see? Old man wasn’t impressed and tries to get them. They run but as Futaba is going to get caught, Hikaru saves her and is dragged into the store instead. This leaves Futaba very traumatic. As she cries, suddenly Hikaru comes out with the toy.

On their way home he explains that the old man gave it to him. Seeing them reminded him of his grandchild. He used to give him toys in exchange if he could sing for him. As he ages, his hearing worsened but if he kept singing, he felt he could hear. So he only sounds mean and loud because he couldn’t hear well. Hikaru and Tooru made a promise to protect each other but Futaba felt unsure as she was not as brave or cool as them. Now you might think Futaba’s wand powers up from this flashback (and also learning the babies’ name are the same as her friends’) and strikes away the dragon’s fireball. However it is Chou Ouji’s SpiCloth, his glasses becoming a strong barrier to protect them. Futaba remembers her friends presented her that toy wand she lost many years ago as her birthday. Futaba realizes the power of this SpiCloth and starts singing happy birthday. However she is a horrible singer! Hearing this is worse than death! Even Chuuichi would rather die than run away! Because of that, his dragon goes berserk (SpiCloth will turn crazy if their master die). The wand manages to power up but she accidentally hit Chou Ouji’s barrier and shatters it. Oops. What now? Hikaru-kun starts singing happy birthday and the rest join him. Now this sounds much better. They safely destroy the dragon. More flashback, after the trio return, the adults also return from their protest. It seems something happened to Hikaru’s parents and Futaba could only remember his tiny shaking back as the police informs him the dreaded news.

Episode 3
Hikaru-kun takes Futaba back to their secret base to meet another of their member. Who the f*ck is this tanned beardy baby, Min-chan?! Flashback shows Futaba was being gang bullied. Hikaru and Tooru showed up to save her but got beaten up. Min who happened to pass by was the real heroine as she beats them all up. That was the first time they met and they became friends since. Chou Ouji relays his plan to stop a factory emitting dangerous smoke so that Hikaru-kun can release his light and awaken the people. Min-chan shows off her twin SpiCloth, Oo and Paipai from her bra. Both argue that they are ‘bigger’ than the other until Fubuki shows up. Twins now root for handsome guy as their potential husband. Futaba has more flashbacks. She was worried about Hikaru since his parents went missing after the protest. When Hikaru’s pranks results in Tooru’s losing his diary, Futaba suggests doing a time capsule, putting things they like in it in this secret base and then opening it a few years later. Thus she is stumped this secret base is the same but it feels so different. To get ready for tomorrow’s infiltration, they want to see Futaba’s other SpiCloth abilities. Too bad she isn’t going to strip more than her jacket and stockings. This has Chou Ouji formulate a new plan that Futaba will take on the waves of enemies in front while the little ones sneak in from the back.

So as Futaba summons her electric beast SpiCloth to take on the hordes of darkness, more flashback. Her dad was mad at her low grades. Gee, is 94 low in Chinese standards? Hikaru was pranking around with her until the teacher, Ms Liu confiscates a book in his hand. It belongs to Futaba but she is under the wrong impression he was trying to introduce a lewd book to a girl. Liu calls Hikaru and his mom (now a nutcase – how was she even released from hospital. Oh by the way, his dad is confirmed dead) to talk. But Hikaru’s teacher, Kane stands up for him and argues with Liu about embarrassing her student this way. Not sure how Hikaru got back at Liu by swapping the pendrive during her special presentation with a footage of macho gay man slugging it out. Yeah… Hikaru called his friends to hang out. Min even brought her ‘boyfriend’, Moemoe (remember this dude?). As it is getting late, Tooru insists of wanting to go home but Hikaru insists he waits. When the argument gets heated, Min puts her foot down and tells them today is Futaba’s birthday. Tooru had forgotten. Hikaru bought a cake and wanted to wait till dark to light up the candles. Futaba has exhausted her electric beast but more evil waves. Don’t forget, she has Fubuki. But at the end he too fought till his limits. Meanwhile Hikaru-kun is hoping for Futaba to save them. Because Chou Ouji has betrayed them.

Episode 4
Futaba has a couple of SpiCloth from her stockings – a hard talking hitman named Battle AKA BL and some young police guy, 1857? She must have worn mismatched stockings for them to be this apart in personality. She summons them now to fight Chou Ouji but they cannot best his shadow monsters. Chou Ouji reveals that everyone in this world wants Hikaru-kun dead as they fear the light because you can see them naked once they’re lit up. Does she have the courage to remove all her clothes and face this world? Flashback shows Futaba tried to make Hikaru do some bucket list of hers. After constant bugging, he accepts but with a condition she grants him a wish. So as he ticks off the tasks, she learns he wants her to elope with him to escape this town. Of course she thinks he is joking and doesn’t believe him. Soon, her parents call her and lecture her about her failing grades. They blame her for fooling around with Hikaru too much. Similarly, Tooru is at the door to hand some document to her. Hikaru supposedly gave it to him to pass to her since he was in a hurry somewhere. Inside is a train ticket bearing her name. Her parents are furious about what they were planning. Futaba doesn’t heed them anymore and runs out trying to find Hikaru. Too bad the train has left. Futaba barely saves Hikaru-kun from the monsters. He could feel her warm heartbeat and once the shadows engulf them, Hikaru-kun’s heart starts to shine so bright. Man, he is like an angel floating in the sky and his light bursts to dispel all the darkness. It’s so bright now in this world!

Futaba wakes up back in her room. She calls her friends about Hikaru but they seriously have no idea what she is talking about. They don’t know anybody named Hikaru. Thinking they are pranking her, she calls Kane who also gave a similar answer. So desperate she must have called everyone on her list only to have the same answer. The definition of insanity is… But Futaba remembers the time capsule and runs down to the hideout. And there it is, Hikaru’s diary. Proof that he exists. She reads about him starting to write down things in a diary after Tooru and is slowly able to observe the world around him. Even if he is gone, this diary will tell everyone his feelings. Meanwhile Hikaru-kun sees his monk master in a bid to find Futaba, the girl he loves. The reluctant monk shows him a way but with a few conditions. This includes nobody must see him and he needs to find someone to stand in his place. A person who has experienced life and death who can only see him. Perfect timing because Hikaru-kun possesses Oyaji (Min’s dad) who is praying at the temple for his daughter (damn, this hapless guy freaked out thinking he prayed to the wrong god and got a baby!). Futaba sees Hikaru’s deranged mom and shows her his diary. She wants to know what happened to him. So is mom faking her mental instability because she ushers her in and will tell the truth.

Episode 4.5
Not your typical special episode because this is not a recap. Instead, a special behind-the-scenes production. We get a glimpse of the storyboards and visual keyframes of the animation as well as comparing the scenes in both Japanese and Chinese audio. We are also treated to lots of fan art illustrations on the series as well as from To Be Hero. They show as PV that was never shown in Japan. One whereby Futaba gets a love letter and the guy who eventually comes confessing his love to her is… Oyaji!!!! Plot twist? Too bad he got beaten up by Min. There is a live action dancer dancing to the ending theme song (its Chinese version) and both the Japanese and Chinese voice actors give their thoughts about the character they played. Finally, more fan art illustration indulgence to sign off before next week’s episode!

Episode 5
In this entirely flashback episode, we see Tenshin (Hikaru’s dad) is a mischievous guy (no wonder his son has similar traits). He sucked at every subject except chemistry. Back in college, Tenshin and Kokoro (Tooru’s dad) had a crush on Byakkyou (Hikaru’s mom) but in the end it was Tenshin who ended up marrying her. Kokoro married the daughter of the CEO of Keito Pharmaceuticals in an arranged marriage. In Keito, Tenshin created some medicine that allows you never to forget certain memories and Byakkyou tested it on Byakkyou and soon after married her. After Hikaru was born, that is when the troubles came. Tenshin saw irregularities in the ingredients of his medicine but the CEO approved Kokoro’s improved drug (based on Tenshin’s formula) and marketed in his new drink. Tenshin was against this because he didn’t want his medicine to be misused in such a way and there are side effects like getting addicted if drank too much of it. To fight against the corporation, Tenshin has the media take notice on Keito by dumping harmless white substances into the river that makes the company look like it is polluting. This leads to the locals being upset as they rise against the corporation. The CEO wanted to pay Tenshin off but he didn’t want his dirty money. But Tenshin is left shocked when the river is actually polluted. The protest turned violent and Tenshin was killed (cue that fireworks moment from Hikaru and co at that time). Byakkyou was hospitalized as Kokoro revealed his true colours. He was jealous of Tenshin being chosen by Byakkyou and got stuck in this loveless marriage. He wanted to get back at Tenshin by stealing from him. He was the one who changed the substance in the river to be polluted. Then he had his henchman kill the CEO and subsequently Tenshin during the protest’s commotion. Also, Kokoro created a new drug by modifying Tenshin’s formula that erases memories completely.

Byakkyou heard all this during her ‘coma’ and to protect Hikaru, she pretended to go insane. Many times Kokoro ransacked her home to find Tenshin’s formulas but failed. Kokoro also provided money to them over the years as support. One day a grown up Hikaru told mom he wanted to leave school because he feared people forgetting him and thus he had to change himself and the way he lives. Mom then revealed the truth and apologized for deceiving him for so long. Recently Hikaru found one of dad’s secret formulas that Kokoro would die to get his hands on. At this point, Kokoro is the CEO of Keito and the most powerful man around as he also controls to local triad, Hagyou Concern. On the day he is supposed to elope with Futaba, that is when Kokoro visited Byakkyou and knew she was faking her insanity all the time. He tells her he killed Hikaru. Because instead of running away, he went to see a reporter to try and give details. Too bad that reporter was already bribed by Kokoro. Hearing Kokoro trying to live out his father’s integrity and honesty pisses him off as he orders his henchman to strangle him. Byakkyou tries to continue pretending to be insane until Kokoro leaves. Even if he knows, he won’t kill her because it is more painful to live than die. Now, Futaba is sad hearing Hikaru is dead but Byakkyou wonders why she isn’t being affected by the drug as everyone in town drinks the juice. Sometime about her strange dream in a strange world with Hikaru-kun.

Episode 6
Oyaji (Hikaru-kun) is happy to see Min and harasses her! Of course Min beats this naked ugly piece of sh*t up. Min spots Futaba crying but before they could talk things out, Tooru is here and this sours the mood for Futaba to say anything. It’s not his fault but looking at him reminds her of a certain guy and she doesn’t want to see that person now. Futaba receives a love letter and outside school, that mad guy rushes towards her! Turns out to be Oyaji confessing his love to Futaba?! Another round of beating up by Min. Shortly, a few hooligans try to kidnap the girls. It’s just disgusting watching Oyaji stripping in his failed attempts to summon whatever powers and failed. In the end, it is Futaba’s dad who is a cop who shoos them away. He could have shot Oyaji thinking he is trying to rape his daughter or something! Worse, Oyaji says he wants to marry Futaba! Thank goodness he believes his daughter he isn’t the baddie. But Futaba’s dad confronts the real baddie who is no other than Kokoro. He warns him to stay away from his daughter and is not easily intimidated with his threats. But a cop can only do so much. Because later that night, Futaba’s mom gets a call saying her husband is arrested on corruption charges. Oh look, it’s right on the news now. Futaba skipped school for a week and every night she could hear her mom cry incessantly. She thought of telling the truth about Keito but remembers Byakkyou’s words that the public will not believe them as Kokoro is a very powerful man who gets what he wants.

Tooru ponders what he did wrong for Futaba to act like that towards him. Then he sees her being stalked by Oyaji. OMG. Oyaji has lost weight and is his handsome self?! Did exercise really did all that transformation alone? Anyway, Oyaji tries to hint that he is Hikaru-kun from the other world but it is clear that Futaba’s love is the one and only Hikaru. She regrets not telling him her feelings and wants to do so as well as for people to remember him. Oyaji is amazed with the hero inside her and promises to do all he can to support her. He claims she is not alone and conveniently pulls Min and Moemoe nearby to join in the cause. Futaba reveals the truth to them and they agree to help. But since they can’t come up with a plan, Tooru who has been eavesdropping all this time suggests getting more info. Looks like he is in. He wants a chance to redeem himself to Futaba. They head to Byakkyou’s place. She thinks they are crazy for wanting to stand up to Keito. You don’t try, you don’t know. A spy reports to Kokoro about the kids not giving up. He would have had them eliminated had he not heard Tooru is with them. He believes his son will make the right decision. The gang’s plan is to use Tenshin’s hidden formula to restore people’s memories and sneak into the factory and mix it into the drinks. Everyone except Tooru supports this idea. Tooru leaves home and is shocked when dad asks if his secret meeting with his friends to destroy him has finished. He gives him this house and puts his trust in him. Tooru tells them their next meeting place and hopes he could honestly talk to them as he believes his dad can turn over a new leaf. Kokoro would be happy to. That evil smirk…

Episode 7
Tooru told his friends that there is a factory underneath the school producing the drug. They head there to investigate and record this as evidence. However they realize that this is a setup as Kokoro’s men are here. Tooru is shocked that dad has betrayed him. Can’t blame him if he didn’t see this coming. He was really hoping for the best for his friends. Min fights off the goons as they all run to the rooftop. However she met her match with one boxer guy. OMG! He broke her arm!!! Kokoro and Tooru come in. Dad reminds his son not to be with those losers and gives him a chance to make the right decision again. Tooru summons his guts to go against his father. He will not become an evil man like him. This is when Futaba also stands up for him. They are scared but not of his threats. Futaba is scared of giving up, scared of being weak, scared of someone else protecting her again. Kokoro orders his men to erase their memories. As the subordinate tries to pour the juice down Futaba’s throat, Oyaji’s heart starts to glow. Then comes popping out is… Hikaru!!!! OMG!!! Since when is Hikaru so cool beating the sh*t out of that dude???!!!! If you’re wondering why he is standing there and not doing anything, that’s because he can’t see Hikaru! OMG! A ghost?! Only his friends can see him. The baddie pulls out his gun and shoots at Futaba but the bullet is sliced in half! Look who is here? Fubuki! Not only him but Hanzou as well as the other SpiCloth pop up to beat up those baddies’ ass! Hey wait a minute. This magical girl SpiCloth I have never seen her before. Kokoro gets his just desserts as all the SpiCloth unleash a flurry of devastating combo attacks on him! Even if those baddies take a beating, is it for real? I mean, you can’t come into physical contact with ghosts, right? Oh, f*ck it. As long as you’re bad, you can get beaten up.

Once the fight is over, Hikaru admits he is a ghost! Yup, his friends can’t touch him either. He has come back temporarily because God allowed him to say goodbye to his friends. So he has last words for all of them. Like for mom to get healthy and Tooru to protect everyone in his place. Last but not least is of course Futaba. She believes he is the one who wants to stay the most. That’s why he kept saving her from darkness. Flashback shows Futaba was crying over Hikaru’s death. Dad gave her some juice to ease her sadness. Probably it had magical properties and at the same time she wished to go to another world, that’s where she popped up in that dream world and met Hikaru-kun. She claims he is the hero who saved the world and the one who gave her courage to step forward. His warmth was always there. Finally she spews out the words of I love you. In this odd moment where they rush to kiss each other… OMG… Air kissing?! Looks weird trying to touch each other but can’t… Really weird… With that, Hikaru is gone. Futaba narrates the aftermath. It has been 3 years since that incident. The video evidence posted online was enough for the police to nab Kokoro and even shut down Hagyou Concern. Her father confessed the truth and is out on probation. Min and Moemoe went to the same school while Tooru went to study abroad. Futaba failed her university entrance exam and goes to a local college. However it seems she is going to publish a book of her own about her experiences. After she leaves the temple, she trips down the stairs but a guy that curiously looks like Hikaru catches her.

To Be Friends, To Be Remembered
It feels like a bittersweet ending and also a dilemma for me. It would have totally been a slap in the face had Hikaru really came back alive because of the power of magic (and God’s will) but considering that ghosts do exist in this world, that probability isn’t far off. So yeah, it’s sad that Futaba didn’t get to be with her love but at least she managed to convey her feelings, became stronger and moved forward. But to have her bump into a stranger that looks like Hikaru in the end? Uhm… Up to your discretion on how you want to go about it.

It feels like this season has 2 parts. The first part in the dream world where we try to figure out what the heck is going on. Then halfway point, once we get the gist of what it is, the story then moves back to the real world and that’s where most of the comedy and nonsense are swapped out for some heavy friendship drama thingy. Not that it is a bad thing but looking back from where it started and where it ended, it felt like it has gone on a totally different journey. For example, like as though the clothes power up battle thingy was just a one-off thing instead of something permanent of the series. I guess that ended the hopes of us seeing Futaba in her undies, huh? Yeah, I thought this series was crazy enough to pull off that kind of fanservice since it already has semi-naked babies running around. Damn, they really baited me into thinking that. Or maybe I’m just a pervert. Haha!

But it feels like it makes no sense having this dream world because if this was where Hikaru-kun hang out after he died, why go to all that trouble of lighting up the world and such? And what is this other world supposed to be anyway? It all seems more like a convenient dream anyway for Futaba and then a convenient plot for Hikaru-kun to somehow come to the real world. So if you think back after everything has settled, what really was the importance of that dream world anyway? You don’t hear anymore of it once it got lighted up. I guess all the babies there are doing fine and dandy. Just remember to wear your clothes.

The drama gets heavy after Futaba remembers her forgotten friend. Then it starts to become a coming of age story as well as some sort of romance drama genre as she tries to get her feelings true to the one she loves. And of course with her friends taking down the big bad boss of a big bad corporation. Yeah, huzzah for the power of love and friendship. Cliché and nothing original but at least it was interesting to watch. In fact, during the dream world, flashbacks were heavily infused so it feels like as though we have never left the real world at all. Hence Futaba being in this dream world is just one short moment while the narrative lets us know the bits and pieces that will be put together in the end.

Though it is mind boggling to think how Kokoro has manufactured a drink that everyone drinks except himself. Okay, so maybe he doesn’t drink it himself as he knows better. But still, the thought of making a drug that specifically erases a certain person from everyone’s mind? Man, you have to be that God level to do such a thing. And why in a form of a drink? I suppose you kill 2 birds with a stone because you also get to sell it to them and make money. Thanks for your money. And your memories of a certain kid. Also mind boggling is to think how easily they could manufacture the medicine based on Hikaru’s dad’s notes. If it takes a genius to come up with such great formula, don’t you think it is odd for normal people especially kids to figure it out or even produce it? Oh heck, just f*ck it. We all need to stay true to this series’ title to save the day. What was it again?

Many of the jokes still feel funny especially Hikaru and Oyaji who make up the bulk of it. Some jokes are silly enough but still funny especially when you have Hikaru who is that kind of person who is the sporting kind. In life we always have that one kid in class who is like that, right? As for Oyaji who is mainly being possessed by Hikaru-kun, they didn’t have to resort to crude dad jokes and fart jokes but rather the misconception of an old man trying to hit on a young cute lady. Double that with Min always beating up her father whenever she thinks he is getting horny. As you know, Min already has a rocky relationship with her dad last season. Things got better in the end but now with him chasing after young girls? We hear of child abuse often but not parent abuse.

The main characters are relatable and those you can throw you support behind. It sounds cliché that it teaches you never to give up but if you were in Futaba’s shoes, you’d be confused at first and afraid of taking the first step into the unknown. And it is also a cliché that as long as you do the right thing, even young kids can take down big organizations of big bad adults. Yeah… I want to believe that. Had these events never happened, most probably Futaba would have stayed the same and nothing changed. I’m glad Tooru has a conscience and did not turn out like a splitting mirror image of his father. It would have been no different. Was it because unlike the rift between Tenshin and Kokoro was due to the subtle love triangle between Byakkyou in which the latter ultimately loses out, I didn’t see any similar romance brewing between their children. Hikaru and Futaba are shown closer because the former always teases her. Tooru is mostly seen brooding in the background, unsure if he too harbour secret feelings for her. Perhaps Tooru’s worries are about living up to his father’s expectations, his side of the story we didn’t see.

One of the biggest disappointments pertaining to the characters is the SpiCloth characters. While their existence and appearance sound intriguing, ever since the dream world is freed, they have been side-lined until the final episode that somehow throws aside all the logic how they materialized. I didn’t see anybody taking off any clothes. Probably they existed in Hikaru’s world so when he came down for one last time, all those SpiCloth too. It feels like Futaba entering the dream world for the first was just for this SpiCloth gimmick. Besides, it was also disappointing that the remaining Four Leaders, Juuichi and Bouichi didn’t get their due screen time. Like as though they were just trolling us. Were they trying to surprise us and not follow the pattern of Futaba and Hikaru-kun going around to defeat them? Oh right. Plot twist in Chou Ouji betraying them that somewhat reflected what happened in reality. Maybe I’m to blame myself for expecting to see more SpiCloth characters and they didn’t get any development at all. Some I believe just a few seconds of cameo. They’re just clothes only, right? After all, thinking about it, taking and throwing off your clothes to materialize them to fight is the same as Pokemon trainers doing the same to their Pokemon in battles. On a trivial note, I thought the idea of SpiCloth was taken inspiration from the concept from Kill La Kill (clothes transforming into awesome fighting equipment or battle gear). Only, less superior… Yes, really. Uhm, maybe no overly slutty sexy looking transformed main characters, that’s why.

Noticing the odd number of episodes this series has, I later found out that the original Chinese production has inconsistent running times per episode. Some episodes run as long as 30 minutes while run only half that time. As this series originally streamed on the Chinese website, there was no time restriction but in order to fit into the Japanese airwaves, certain scenes had to be added or cut out to put in that standard 24 minutes running time. Hence some episodes in the Japanese version were actually a combination of 2 episodes of the original Chinese one. Anyhow, I feel they did a good job in the editing because at least I didn’t feel any parts that were disjointed and the flow of the story was smooth.

Well, the art and animation feels… Crappy. I know, just like in To Be Hero, the art style is similar. Because To Be Hero was more like a slapstick comedy, so the horrendous art was somewhat forgivable. I am not saying that this series art really sucks but I thought with all the drama and the pacing of this show, it feels kinda low quality. Sure, they might want to retain this series’ trademark ‘crappy’ art style but being this low quality sometimes have me think that they didn’t put enough effort. Of course you don’t want to stray too much and change the art style until it is totally unrecognizable. Not when you’re going to have the fat ugly Oyaji, right? But I must say that the action parts feel exhilarating because of all the exaggerated special effects so it is not all that bad. It’s fun to see them trade blows and swords especially the final battle with the big bad boss having an insane amount of tag team combo. I was like, “Damn! This old dude still survived this?”. Fun, actually.

To be fair, this is a Chinese production (Haoliners Animation League) so it is reasonable that some dialogues are in Mandarin. I thought it was unique when they had the real world speaking in Mandarin while the other dream world in Japanese. But once the dream world is over, the Mandarin becomes far more blatant. Not that I have anything against the language but somehow it feels like I have been trolled and baited to watch a Mandarin cartoon than Japanese anime! Heck, there was one episode where its entirety is in Mandarin! Hence if you think about it, the Japanese voice acting is far and few in between. After all, the first season was totally in Japanese so I didn’t really expect this to be predominantly Mandarin. Also as I have discovered lately that this series was only given the Japanese ‘dub’ in those scenes when shown over the Japanese airwaves. In its original Chinese format, those Japanese lines are spoken in Mandarin. So I guess I shouldn’t be complaining since there is a bit of the ‘mandatory’ Japanese to make it somewhat anime.

Curiously, Moa Tsukino who was the voice of Min in To Be Hero is now the voice of Futaba in this sequel. I want to say parallel world thingy but since Min exists here too, I guess I can’t. Hence in this season, it is Junko Minagawa (Ryouma in Prince Of Tennis) who voices Min or rather Min-chan. It feels a bit wasted that Rie Kugimiya as Juuichi and Sho Hayami as BL only make very short cameos and then are mostly forgotten. For the rest of the other Japanese casts, they are Motoko Kumai as Hikaru-chan (Ginta in MAR), Omi Minami as Chou Ouji (Hyatt in Excel Saga), Nozomu Sasaki as Fubuki (Mello in Death Note), Seira Ryuu as Touichi (Minato in Idol Memories) and Toshihiko Seki as Hanzou (Mousse in Ranma 1/2).

The Chinese casts are Mie Mie as Futaba, Ding Dang as Hikaru, Liu Mingyue as Tooru and Shan Xin as Min. The opening theme, Ray by Passcode is a hard rock but I wonder if it fits the drama theme of this series. At first it does especially for the initial episodes but with the change in pace subsequently, I’m not too sure. I prefer the ending theme, Koibana Renbu by Re-connect as it is quite a catchy piece. Even if it isn’t that techno dance and it sounds more dramatic, it still is nice to hear and dance to it. Even the ending credits animation show the characters doing their Dance Dance Revolution moves like naturals, racking up the combos and points. Neat. Yeah, those killer dance moves are going to give you a real good work out if you’re going to score perfect.

Overall, not a bad sequel and still enjoyable in its own right. It is worthy as a sequel spinoff but could have worked equally as well had they used new characters instead of those from the first season. But more fun with familiar faces of Oyaji and Min around. The story may have deviated from what I expected but the pacing and direction of the story about saving a forgotten friendship and love made it a compelling watch. It all goes to show that you don’t need superhero powers to save the day (or in this case, an ugly dad). It is the important things in your heart that matters that allows you to reach out to greater heights. Be it alien invasion or greedy corrupted corporations, no one will be able to stand in the way of the power of friendship and love!

On a trivial note, come to think of it, clothes and superheroes don’t really go well with each other so it is good that this trope isn’t used often for this season. Classic case of Superman wearing his underwear outside! And I if imagine if Oyaji manages to do the same of turning his clothes into sexy fighters. Would he be making out with them if they turn out to be super hot babes? Making love to your own clothes… Isn’t that the same as otaku losers making out to their dakimakura with a large print of their favourite waifu? Is this considered wardrobe malfunction? After watching this, now I know why guys jerk off into their socks…

To Be Hero

Superheroes come in all shapes and sizes. However most of them we see and prefer these days are all good looking and have muscles and abs. Quite the hunk, huh? So what happens if a superhero is a crappy ugly looking middle aged dad? You can never quite imagine that, can we? Thus To Be Hero pays ‘tribute’ to a hero who do not have the looks and even has an uncouth personality to boot. Okay, maybe he isn’t quite cut out to be a superhero after all. You see, our main protagonist is a handsome divorcee and isn’t a good father to his estranged daughter. All that changes when he is given heroic powers to save the world but at a price. His handsome face for an ugly dad face! Well, nobody said you had to look good to save the world. Do we?

Episode 1
This handsome guy, Oyaji is flirting a hot babe at the restaurant. He’s so hot that she immediately tells her vital statistics after he guesses correctly her hip size. She is willing to sleep with him but then Oyaji’s only daughter, Min beats him up and reveals her father works as a toilet seat salesman and that’s why he could make correct guesses. She also beats up the slut who continues to admire him. Yeah, is it no reason why mom left? Back home as he goes take a dump, he suddenly gets flushed down the toilet. He is met with this strange fat gay construction guy with falsetto voice claiming to be from the Space Peace Republic Alliance Hero Committee. He wants Oyaji to be a superhero to save the Earth from aliens but clearly he isn’t interested. Does he have a choice? Too bad Oyaji is already manifesting the superpower. When he is back in his own toilet, Oyaji realizes he looks like an ugly middle aged man! Hideous! He needs to think fast of an excuse to give Min but thankfully she is asleep. As he puts her to bed, he remembers how cute and gentle she was when young. He tries to kiss her but apparently she wakes up freaking out. Time for your beat down. Oddly, whatever Oyaji says in his mind, it is twisted into something perverted from his mouth. Like when he says she was born when he was 22, it came out as she is his favourite wank material when he was 22! No wonder Min believes he is a pervert and kicks him out of the house. He sleeps outside and the next morning, a couple of hot babes are running away from a cockroach alien. He just smacks it with his slipper. So where is his thank you kiss? Ladies ignoring him… It’s a sin to be ugly. Then this prawn alien comes to attack but is easily defeated. No happy ending for Oyaji because Min beats him up for stalking in front of her house. Meanwhile the alien prince, Moemoe is mad because he thought Earth had no superheroes. Oyaji needs to find a place to stay so he tries his weird next door neighbour, Yamada. Oh no. That perverted look… I don’t think birds of the same feather is right…

Episode 2
Yamada is dangerous… Not even the most extreme fujoshi would dream of this pairing! Yamada serves Oyaji a huge chicken egg. The chick is still alive! This freaks Oyaji out as he runs to the toilet (because his ass has a headache?!). He gets a call from Min but his happiness turns to despair because all the words he says still sound like a pervert. She hangs up thinking daddy has lost his phone to a pervert. Oyaji runs back to his home and at the same time, some pink yeti alien is at his doorstep ready to make his kill. But a little girl opens the door. Oops. He got the wrong number and gets instantly pierced in the head! Oyaji returns and luckily Min is out. He tries to return to the sewers via toilet bowl but nothing is working. So what to do but take a dump. Yeah, nothing is coming out either… Meanwhile a hooded chicken alien arrives at Yamada’s place. He is terrified to see the dead chicken. Cannibals! He runs away and perhaps a good choice because Yamada is seeing him as his ‘big cock’. Oh sh*t! What is he saying about threesome or foursome with their lover and son? Sick! Oyaji realizes he didn’t eat and that’s why he can’t sh*t. So when he sees the chicken alien, he wants to eat him! But then he sees Min talking with a hot boy her age and like all fathers would fear, you think he would allow this? He’s going to protect the hell out of her. So much so he ignores chicken alien’s shriek of death and tells him to shut up! That power of his instantly kills the fowl! I’m sure at this point the other aliens are afraid and wanting to give up on invading Earth but Moemoe knows Oyaji’s weakness…

Episode 3
Moemoe’s subordinates are explaining to him about the power of Earth’s humans. It seems men are weak but women are the powerful ones with their power grade ranging from A to Z. As proof, they watch a sexy swimsuit video and you can see the aliens getting nose bleeds and boners! Powerful indeed! Yeah, this means all the aliens are men. But they note that Min is the weakest (because she is flat?) and since she is Oyaji’s daughter, they must target her. Min is sad that Oyaji is missing and goes to the police to report. Oyaji has been tailing her and mistakes a boy following her as her lover. He sends Yamada to go flash at him. They get caught by the police. Min is happy when she thought Oyaji is waiting back at their home. However it turns out to be some smiley alien trying to flirt with her. She beats him up easily. Then a car alien joins in to help smiley alien but this time Oyaji puts a stop in its tracks. Car alien transforms but his limbs are too short. Oyaji fixes the engine thinking he heard some weird noise. Weird sexual innuendo scene here when car alien climaxes with engine oil flowing out… Min returns home, sad that dad is still not back. She starts crying and it is heart breaking to see Oyaji could only stand outside and do nothing. Stupid Yamada had to break this scene by bugging him. Next morning, Min thought dad is back in his room. Nope. But she is happy because there is a hot porridge meal on the table. Though, bread is her favourite but I guess it is better than nothing. Oyaji leaves happy but is stabbed in the heart by Moemoe! If you want something done, do it yourself.

Episode 4
While Moemoe is bragging, it seems there is no injury on Oyaji! Did he heal? The more Moemoe tries to hurt him, nothing happens. It gets freaking odd when Moemoe sounds sexually ambiguous that he thought he stuck it deep inside him! Look at all the blood! When Oyaji picks his nose and finally gets out his booger, Moemoe thinks this is his weakness because Oyaji gets disgusted when he picks it up. Guess what? Moemoe eats it thinking he could get powers! Then he gathers the entire world’s snot to make a giant booger to kill him. Oyaji has no choice but to whip out his slipper and slap him but accidentally slaps Min! Oh no. Instantly she gives the pervert a flurry of punches. This scene seems to resonate with Moemoe because that was how his mom beat him up. It was love. Yeah, this guy has fallen for Min. He wants to marry her! When he proposes, obviously she ignores him (I’m sure she doesn’t even know he exists). Of course he feels the need to offer something to steal her heart. Guess what his subordinates find out to win a woman’s heart on Earth? Give her an apartment! So they have to go through a real estate agent to get one? I guess these aliens are so poor they can’t even afford the many zeroes on any property. Yeah, their war chest can only get them a very small space. And nobody is going to offer them a 500 year loan! So how now? Moemoe sells his spaceship to a bunch of trannies! How the f*ck are they going to go home now?! But I don’t think he even made a killing with that sale and just got enough to rent the apartment for a year. Yamada treats Oyaji’s wounds. He is puzzled he cannot take damage or feel pain but when Min beats him up, it is painful and the damage is ever lasting. Oh, Moemoe is going to be living in this same apartment too.

Episode 5
Oyaji dreams he won the best toilet seat award. Then he gets busy designing new state of the art toilet seats, attend meetings and have an affair with lots of babes. Each time he ignores his wife’s call or brushes her off. Then one days he called for a divorce. Oyaji wakes up because Moemoe is trying to strangle him! Don’t count on it. He’s an immortal superhero. So while the duo argue over Min, speak about the devil, here she comes. Just clad in a towel! Yeow! What’s this super sexy fanservice in the morning?! Apparently the tap of her bath broke and she was hoping Yamada or somebody can come fix it. Of course Oyaji and Moemoe fight over this. She isn’t too thrilled about the perverts but whatever if it fixes the plumbing. So how is Moemoe going to do it? He is going to drink all the water?! Oyaji thinks this is his evil plot to turn Earth into a barren desert but looks like Moemoe almost drowned. Not a threat at all. As Oyaji fixes the tap, he remembers this has always been a problem. Mom always called him to fix it but he ignored her, telling her to just replace it. But instead one day he came back to find he was replaced (the divorce). It’s a heart breaking story and that is when Moemoe learns Min is Oyaji’s daughter. Trying to win his approval, he declares his love for Min but Oyaji beats him up. When Min returns, the tap is fixed although it is just mostly taped over. She thought it was her dad who fixed it. Meanwhile Moemoe’s dad the emperor isn’t happy his stupid son sold the spaceship to stay on Earth. Moemoe’s younger brother, Moemoemoe offers to deal with him. So when Moemoe is expecting Min at the door, but instead some death loli with a thorny tail!

Episode 6
This girl (Dataling as I should refer to her as) is actually Moemoe’s fiancée! Oyaji is mad at him for trying to hit on his daughter when he already has a fiancée but is Moemoe trying to play dumb by denying everything? When Dataling sees Min, she gets jealous and tries to attack her but Moemoe uses his body to protect her. Actually her tail didn’t even hit him because Oyaji grabbed it. It is revealed her tail is talking because the tail is the real body! Time for flashback. Many years ago, Moemoe had a sudden stomach ache and rushed into the girls’ toilet. That is where he accidentally saw Dataling taking a dump (it looked like vomiting of course). She is in distress because she ran out of toilet paper! Since he saved the day, she became his self-proclaimed fiancée although Moemoe rejects her because they are different species. But his father disallowed it because her species is the smartest and richest in the universe. In defiance, he goes on a trip to conquer planets to meet his yet-unseen wife. Wow. So this invasion has a backstory? Min doesn’t seem impressed and is disappointed to think her father was the one who fixed the tap. Suddenly Yamada comes out to give Dataling a mouth to mouth resuscitation. Yeah, he doesn’t know he is sucking her ass… Moemoe has decided to stay here to protect Min even if this means bringing more danger. But this time he won’t run away. As they both prepare to make a truce, Dataling suddenly starts leaking energy. They’re trying to plug up her holes before she explodes. That is when Moemoemoe comes in and sees this ambiguous threesome scene. He steals Dataling and runs away but she explodes in space. Everything solved by itself. Oyaji sees a shocking scene. His original self is at the door!

Episode 7
Oyaji is in a dilemma of himself. Is he the real person or not? His (painful) memories of Min are real. His photos in his handphone with her are real. So is he going to stop that imposter before Min opens the door? Too bad he decides to hide and let the imposter be with Min. What’s with the low confidence? Moemoe believes Oyaji is the real one because superheroes don’t lie. But they can determine if Oyaji is real or not via his fiancée. Isn’t she dead? The fake body was just like a handphone battery so they just need to stick the tail into a new body. Hmm… Who is it going to be? Yamada! After plugging it into his ass, Yamada revives into a refined man. Or woman! His balls becomes his boobs?! Dataling revives and says Oyaji needs to give a sample of his DNA for her to analyse. I don’t know why Oyaji is thinking of kissing Yamada (no doubt he looks smoking hot in female form) but Moemoe plucks a strand of his hair. After analysing, it seems Oyaji is not from this Earth. Listen. Not from THIS Earth. This means there is a parallel world he came from. When he got lost and sent back, instead of having 2 Oyaji with the same face, that is why he got transformed into this ugly dad. The only way to fix this is to get back to that committee via the same circumstances. But isn’t it impossible to be the only person in the world to take a dump at any single point now? It seems Oyaji has an idea as he takes Moemoe into the toilet… Meanwhile Dataling and Yamada starts a new love relationship. Elsewhere the alien emperor’s oldest and youngest sons fight over their methods to deal with Moemoe. While Moemoemoe decided to strike first (and died from that explosion), the older one, Moe decides to plan. Everything needs to be perfect. So he assimilates as Oyaji’s face. Despite Min berating him as usual, she actually loves him being back. And the imposter is playing his cards cool.

Episode 8
Moe gives Min eat some super watermelon. Now she is in dreamland fantasizing of all the good things. Everyone is a melon head! But the emperor isn’t pleased in watching this. It seems his goal is to conquer the universe and rid of all emotions in which he sees as weakness. Flashback time. When he was young, he had many pretty girls by his side. However they all died or get arrested. His parents worried about him arranged him to marry some giant fish monster. Yeah… He’s screwed. They have no children and of course they go to the doctor to find out why. Aren’t their different species incompatible? So the doctor gave them some gachapon as cure and they got 3 princes as we know them. But a few years later his wife died and left a revelation. She admitted in abusing the kids, slept with the neighbour and had a child with him, threatens him this will be leaked if he remarries and worst of all, she never loved him once. This made the emperor mad and thus casted away his feelings for his new goal. Seeing how his princes are useless, the emperor is going to settle this himself. Meanwhile Min is surprised that her dad has renovated the entire house with gold and shiny things. However she is not thrilled when she threw out her dusty personal box under the bed. When she goes out to see if it’s there, she catches those perverts peeking at it. Embarrassing albums, huh? She beats them up. The fake Oyaji suggests inviting them for dinner.

Episode 9
Oyaji remembers Min being a fussy eater who won’t eat her vegetables. He now feels awkward about it but now is even more awkward as Yamada and Min fight over meat and Moemoe trying to beg to the fake Oyaji to give his daughter her hand in marriage. Oyaji then takes Moemoe to the toilet so that he could be sent back to his world as he can’t stand watching this anymore. If he didn’t put it so ambiguously like taking off your underwear… I’m not sure about Moemoe’s ability to control sh*t but during this argument they wonder if that fake Oyaji isn’t an Earthling because if so, he will not be affected by Moemoe’s power. Min has had enough of this farce and returns to her room to look at her personal box. As she goes through it, she finds something strange in a book. Moe is commenting at the frail human emotions and plans to switch the drink with some despair spell. Unfortunately he drank it himself. I suppose the plan failed because Oyaji pooped a lot and is still here. They go back out to see fake Oyaji depressed and trying to kill himself with a fish! Subsequently all the guys drink the tainted booze and all become depressed too. Man, it’s chaotic. When Min comes out and wants an explanation of things, she sees the ugly Oyaji doing some chopstick move that only her real dad could do. It seems there is a drawing in the book that has this ugly dad as a superhero protecting the family, fighting and defeating the enemy. That is when the emperor crashes into the place. Not a good time to sh*t in your pants.

Episode 10
Min remembers crying profusely when mom left them. Dad tried to appease her by saying she went on a long journey but she knew he was lying because he heard about the divorce. She blamed him for it. Over the years, she turned into a delinquent and picked fights. Although her dad showed concern, she didn’t show the least bit to him. Now Min tries to fight the emperor but gets owned. He assures he won’t kill her so fast as she will need to watch him massacre Earth before dying a slow death. Min remembers she was sick from an allergy and dad was desperately trying to seek help. She wakes up only to find Moemoe desperately trying to revive her. When the princes realizes their dad is here, Moe tries to lap it up to dad that he is just a step away from success and just needs another chance. But when he reveals his perfect disguise that had him transform to different women and stay in dad’s bed all night (gross!), dad beats him up. Exposed! The emperor claims Moemoe as the only true heir because Moe is a useless cross-dresser and Moemoemoe is dead. He must take the throne for his sake and the universe. This prompts Min how dad always had last minute change of plans all for the company’s sake. Why is everyone so damn selfish? Moemoe stands up. The throne doesn’t interest him as he has found love and warmth in this place. The emperor is impressed and wants him to take responsibility of it for himself. This means the emperor pounds him to bits as he destroys the entire apartment! Time for the final showdown with the hero. Oyaji is mad his home is gone and his toilet is destroyed. Somebody is going to get some serious payback. The emperor is going to erase him and not leave a speck behind (because Oyaji could guess his wife f*cked another guy and had his child). Oyaji takes out his slipper to slap him. Nothing happens. He then admits up till now he doesn’t know what his superpower is.

Episode 11
The emperor gives a powerful punch that Oyaji flies away! He is going to continue beating him up but is tired of hearing Moe’s ‘sexy’ moans and kills him off despite his pleas! This is when Oyaji realizes he doesn’t have any superpowers nor was he a hero in the first place. That is, till Min tells him straight he has always been one. The emperor could have finished her had not Yamada and Dataling jump into to fight him. Wow. They have more superpowers and acting more like a hero than Oyaji! They are assisted by Moemoe who is gathering up faeces to throw at his father. Say what?! But the emperor still overwhelms them as he chokes Dataling by her neck. As he is unsure why humans continue to fight despite being defeated, Dataling narrates from Yamada’s memories. Despite the sick and perverted nature of trying to commit suicide and flashing, she still felt some sort of warmth that gives her peace (does this mean she is twisted too?). The emperor releases her from that dream by killing her! Yamada is distraught by her death as well as traumatic memories of his family leaving him. He charges straight at the emperor but gets vaporized. This only serves to make Oyaji feel guiltier as he believes he is the cause of all that has happened. So if he wants revenge, he has no qualms to be killed as long as he spares Earth. The emperor swears on that but first Oyaji must proclaim he is a loser and wants to die 3 times. As Oyaji recites that, Min disagrees and pleads that he is a hero and the only one who can save the world from this evil. But the emperor finds her annoying and zaps her. OMG! They’re killing almost everybody in this episode!!!

Episode 12
While furious Moemoe is throwing everything at the emperor, Oyaji reads the book. He remembers getting off in the middle of work to attend sick Min. Then he draws this superhero book for her in which coincidentally coincides many of the events we have seen here. After the emperor finishes off Moemoe, Oyaji says there is one puzzle he still hasn’t resolved. Oyaji bought a sports car when his wife around and this doesn’t sit well with her so Oyaji argued he deserved things like this for his hard work. This made Min continue the drawing and made Oyaji the bad guy! Therefore the emperor is him! Or at least his dark side. As both of them start a super fight, this is what reality is. That all we have seen could be just pages from the comic book! Because in actual fact Oyaji is rolled into hospital after collapsing from overworking while a very concerned Min stays by his side. Yamada reveals more truths to Min that Oyaji has been working 8 part time jobs. She thought he was the president of his own company. When Min fell sick, his colleagues were ‘kind’ enough to let him go to her. He gave his project details to them. Unfortunately they stole his idea and made him the bad guy. Oyaji has been working hard to convince others it was his idea. After his wife left, he worked even harder. Yamada talked to him and felt pity and told him to tell Min the truth. However Oyaji won’t because he doesn’t mind being criticized or hated. In Min’s heart, a superhero must never give up. Min reads this story by Oyaji’s comatose side. She is sad and wants daddy to wake up and do things together again. She wants him to stay by her side and watch her grow up so that she can be the superhero to protect him. Then one morning, Min and Oyaji get into an argument about toilet paper. The typical love-hate father-daughter relationship. But this last part is confusing. Oyaji wakes up with Moemoe trying to strangle him. Dataling is still alive telling us this is reality and not a dream or flashback. Moemoe forces Oyaji to take a dump to meet that committee guy again who tells him to go to whatever world he wants. Because there are multiple parallel worlds! Because they don’t want it all to be a dream!

To Be Father
Wow. This is really super fun. I didn’t expect to enjoy this so much and find it super funny but yeah, the jokes may be sometimes gross but as long as I was laughing, it doesn’t matter. Though, my only small complaint was the ending. The so called twist in the final episode was confusing and that took a lot of fun out of my enjoyment as I try to understand and piece together what was happening while the episode is running out of time. So you can say I am still pretty confused about everything that has happened because it’s like the producers are trolling us with all that happened. Instead of making it all some weird dream, everything happened because of this multi-verse thingy. So not too sure if Oyaji got a happy ending with Min but at least in one universe (at least that is what I am assuming), he got that dream right. Not too sure if I can call this an ending because sometimes I feel the producers ran out of idea after all that nonsense and gave us this crap to end and fool us all.

First of all, I don’t think I have laugh as hard as I did in recent years (or was it months?) for an anime series other than Gintama. Maybe it could be the toilet and crappy jokes. Ah yes. This series is filled with lots of them so if you can’t stomach the toilet jokes, fart jokes and all the other sh*tty jokes, you’ll definitely not find this anime funny at all. Offensive? Who cares about you oversensitive people?! It was really nonsensical and fast paced (but not as fast as Teekyuu) and I think that is where the effect of the slapstick humour pays off. Everything was already so nonsensical, oh heck, just go with the flow.

Of course the biggest role in making this anime funny is the characters. Despite how weird and silly they all are, if you like this anime, you’ll find it hard to loath them. But basically this entire series could also be seen as one big drama attempt of father and daughter trying to bond back together. Oyaji looked like he never cared for her till he turned into an ugly dad and Min despite trying to stay tough and chastise her dad is actually a big tsundere who loves daddy deep within. They really play and build up well the tension and drama effect up till the final episode. It was really heart wrenching to learn the truth (assuming it was) and all the more reason why you want to vouch and support for them to end up being a family again. Yeah, they really pull our heart strings there. So did being an ugly dad give Oyaji a chance to become a good father again? Only time can tell. And I’m sure Min would also realize that even if Oyaji isn’t the best father, she is still her father and the only one she will have till the end of time. Aww… I feel like wanting a big group hug! But the thing that bugged me is Oyaji’s powers because it is inconsistent and at times he could just display it without knowing and at times when call for it, he is just a normal person. It’s like the superpower is trolling him. Or could it all just be our imagination?

Yamada may pass off as the quirkiest character because of his suspicious and perverted looking picture. This guy has all the tell-tale signs that your children and daughters should keep away from! This guy is dangerous! Especially when he has delusions of doing threesomes and foursomes with his entire family, that says a lot. But I wonder if the real Yamada is this sick. Because the actual person might just be an ordinary and decent person as portrayed in the final episode. Oh hell, blame it on the multi-verse theory! Moemoe too is an idiot and I suppose everyone becomes one when he falls head over heels over a girl. Heh. A universal sign of love even if you’re an alien. Dataling’s existence feels like a running joke so she could be stuck into someone’s ass like charging a phone battery. The emperor who looks menacing and the most evil of all evils, in some ways he too is an idiot. So he turns out to be Oyaji’s dark side? Please, I don’t want to be confused anymore…

Honestly, if you look at the artwork and animation, they are pretty crappy. But because we have been told about the theme of this series and how ‘crappy’ the jokes are, we are now more inclined to forgive the crappy art style. Yeah, I guess it was this simple. Because we’ll be laughing or cringing at all the silliness that the mediocre quality artwork don’t matter anymore. Unless it was done on purpose but that’s not the point. Recently, the Shanghai based animation company, Haoliners Animation League has been making quite a splash in the anime industry for the past few seasons. They’re infusing a bit of their Chinese trademark (like names of characters) into animes as you can see from their other works like Cheating Craft, Hitori No Shita: The Outcast, Chu Feng: B.E.E. and the Reikenzan series. They’re really trying to make an impact and strike while the steel is still hot.

Voice acting is pretty okay with Kenjiro Tsuda as Oyaji and Tomokazu Sugita as Moemoe as the only recognizable ones. Moa Tsukino who voices Min, this is her first and debut role. At times she might sound a bit raw and amateurish but still she did an overall good job. The other casts are Yutaka Aoyama as Yamada (Jura in Fairy Tail), Shouzou Iizuka as the emperor (Kokujouji in K), Nozomi Nishida as Dataling (Makina Nakajima in Macross Delta), and Kazuhiko Inoue as Moe (Gildarts in Fairy Tail).

The opening theme is Ainikoiyo by Brats. Typical generic rock music to get into the comedic action of the series. But the more amusing one is the ending theme, Watashi No Papa Ga Chikyuu Wo Mamoru by Kazuyo Lin. What is interesting is that this song from what I can hear is sung in Chinese! It is quite rare to hear other languages in Japanese anime. English and sometimes instrumental are already rare but for me, hearing Chinese in an anime theme song is my first. Making it cuter is the video game-like beeping sound the singer sings. Cute. Making it funnier is the animation as we see Min in a tower defence-like game as she shoots her plungers at all the weirdoes and perverts trying to approach her apartment.

Overall, this series tells you a lot of things. Don’t judge a book by its cover because it is the inside and your actions that truly counts. It is a story that perhaps most single fathers could relate if they have a teenage daughter growing up. This is a heart-warming story of a father trying to reconnect with his daughter again and the sacrifice that they have to go through to realize what is important. You don’t need Superman, Batman or Spiderman to look up for inspiration. That superhero is just right next to you and even related. Man, this anime is so touching! So deep! Deeper than my constipation! Yeah… Therefore you can forgive the toilet and sh*t jokes that they spew at us for these very important lessons. Yeah… Next time you start thinking your father is crap, just remember that despite his bald, flabby belly and wrinkled skin, lies a true superhero father who loves you. Oh, I’m going to tear up right now. Salutes to ugly dads! Forever the real heroes in our hearts!