Stan Lee is indeed a legend. His comic book characters are so intriguing they have survived for decades and are easily recognizable in households worldwide. Current American culture owes a lot to this man, however because of this we tend to forget that his characters posses the depth and personality that they have due largely to the countless of comic book writers that have passed on the baton ...
Stan Lee is indeed a legend. His comic book characters are so intriguing they have survived for decades and are easily recognizable in households worldwide. Current American culture owes a lot to this man, however because of this we tend to forget that his characters posses the depth and personality that they have due largely to the countless of comic book writers that have passed on the baton and added a new perspective and insight to the characters through every new reiteration.
Story
Heroman's story is pure Stan Lee, tried and true (often cheesy) formula that we all cant seem to get enough of; regular everyday joe, through some extraordinary series of events gets superpowers, some sort of tragic event (or their life is just depressing) forces the character to become a vigilante and the story continues "with great power comes great responsibility" lesson. Heroman is no different, in fact its like Spidermans and the Fantastic 4s causalities were recycled and fused together: Regular (meekly) kid thats often bullied at school and that for some reason holds the interest of the most popular girl in school (a cheerleader no less) gets superpowers thanx to "unexplainable alien force". This "alien thunder" plot device made me angry at the series. I mean I dont expect much logic in my anime, but this is overkill. I mean if these Cockroach aliens (yes... oversized cockroaches) go around taking over other worlds, youd think theyd be more careful and not spread electromagnetic energy that can turn even a plastic glued-together robot into a super-advanced-destructive-robot that can threaten their evil plot, or that at least that theyd have encounter it before and not act so surprised....why does this electromagnetic energy create a more advance robot that the same technology that procured it. And shouldnt it have affected other electronics at least in some way, maybe a super powered blender?.....ugh.....brain....melting....
Characters
Joey Ill be honest, at first I thought Joey was a girl, (which would have been much more interesting in my opinion). Two episodes in and he is about as memorable and interesting as a piece of toast, plain but not burnt. Although the whole being bullied thing is a cliche the writers missed a given opportunity to at least add some depth or perhaps flaws to his character.
Heroman Captain America chose to wear patriotic spandex, unfortunately Heroman didnt have a choice, alien-thunder default setting is stereotype.
Secondary characters
Cheerleader- a japanese girl in the body of an american cheerleader, submissive to her brother even though he is a total ass.
Psy- has the most potential for having depth, unfortunately Im too distracted by his giant mass of hair to notice.
Jock-hates joey because... there was a need for a cliched antagonist ?*shrugs*, might have caught the "sister complex" disease going on in Japan.
Animation
For Anime fans the body language and archetypes of the characters is nothing new , yet in this particular series they tend to stick out like a sore thumb. . . . with white puss oozing out of it. As an American none of the characters feel natural or even remotely relatable. It would have been forgivable had it not been for Stan Lee cooperating in the project. It shows how very little he must of had to do with the project itself, probably just pitched the idea tacked on his name on the series and handed over the reigns to Bones. As for the animation itself it feels below average for Bones standards. Bones animators are well known for their beautifully done over-the-top sequences. However the overdramatization specially of the sequences where Joey presses the button to command Heroman (which he apparently can just do telepathically) make me cringe a bit. Maybe Im just too old, and this show is obviously meant for kids no older than 14 so I wont hold it too much against it.
Overall
Rule of thumb is watch the series for the first three episodes before deciding if its worth following, I have watched two. Some people say that knowing Stan Lee in the end it will be worth it. I dont agree with that logic, even if that were true Stan Lees involvement in this series seems to be minimal. I can see kids watching this and enjoying the pretty explosions, I can see Stan Lee fans reminiscing...and enjoying the pretty explosions, for the rest this series is a pretty distraction at best.
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