Anime Review: TO BE HERO X’s Ghostblade arc is a return to form

TO BE HERO X
Director: Li Haoling
Producers: Aniplex, bilibili, BeDream
Studios: Pb Animation Co. Ltd., LAN Studio, Paper Plane Animation Studio
Streamer: Crunchyroll
Release Date: April 5, 2025
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, donghua

Adam and Hilary haven’t been impressed with the past few arcs of To Be Hero X. Could the Ghostblade arc be the one to turn things around? The two of them get into it in this wide-ranging discussion. They also ask: What is it with the Link Click crew and stories about familial relationships? Could it be that this arc about a cold-blooded killer is in fact the funniest in the series so far? And in a world without Ahu, is Big Johnny the hero we’ve been waiting for?

The following write-up contains spoilers for Episodes 15 and 16 of To Be Hero X. 

I like my tragic characters with sad backstories

ADAM: Okay, I’ll shoot my shot: To Be Hero X’s Ghostblade arc is the best the series has been since the E-Soul arc back in May.

HILARY: I completely agree. I did not expect Ghostblade’s arc to go the way it did—who would’ve thought he was just a dad getting mistaken for a pervert stalker? But after those disappointing arcs we had, this was a breath of fresh air.

ADAM: I knew it! Of course the arc about the sad assassin dad would be the one to win you over.

HILARY: So I like my tragic characters with complicated pasts—WHO CAN BLAME ME?

ADAM: One reason this arc landed for me is because it’s familiar territory. Difficult parent-child relationships were a huge part of Link Click—same director, after all. So naturally, To Be Hero X would crush it when tackling a story about a struggling father. Ghostblade’s arc only lasts two episodes, but it feels so much more confident than Loli’s or Queen’s.

©bilibili/BeDream, Aniplex

A mysterious and dangerous individual

HILARY: The tonal shifts reminded me of Link Click too. Ghostblade starts off narrating his childhood as the son of a butcher, and the scene where he stares at a pig—with that eerie background music—nailed the unsettling vibe. His blank expression, paired with the pig’s almost human gaze and posture, made him feel like a textbook sociopath. It totally fits the image you’d expect from someone named “Ghostblade.”

But then it turns out his emotional growth was just stunted by his childhood—and by how society treats him like a stoic, brooding hero. Underneath all that, he’s just socially awkward and unsure how to interact with people. Watching him try to bond with his daughter, Nuonuo, was unexpectedly sweet. The whiplash between tones really worked here.

ADAM: I love what a loser Ghostblade is. From the moment he shows up, he’s monologuing like he’s Araragi from Monogatari, but unlike Araragi, he never says anything out loud—so everyone completely misreads him. Even Loli’s dad misjudges him!

It would’ve been easy to mess up a character like him. I mean, in real life, a parent secretly following their estranged child is just… creepy. Usually, when someone goes no contact, there’s a good reason for it.

So why does Ghostblade work for me? It’s how the show depicts his internal world. I think this arc has some of the best visuals since the start of the series. Especially in the first episode, it uses disorienting, constantly shifting animation to show how alienated he feels. That part was almost perfect.

His intense, almost grotesque way of experiencing the world hit close to home for me. But the series doesn’t treat his perspective as absolute—it shows how frustrating he can be while also acknowledging how tough it is for neurodivergent people to navigate the world. That balance really made the arc land.

©bilibili/BeDream, Aniplex

Friends at the table

HILARY: The writers handled that topic with a lot of sensitivity. I also loved the experimental animation style—it’s chaotic, messy, and overwhelming. But honestly, that’s probably exactly how Ghostblade felt when his wife asked him to drop the hero persona and focus on their family.

And that scene with the victims’ eyes? So creepy. It’s animated like a child’s drawing, but those flashes of their final moments—just their eyes—hit hard.

This episode also did a great job pulling multiple characters together. We get the Johnnies, Loli, and Cyan, but their appearances don’t feel forced. They’re actually integrated into the story instead of just showing up to remind us they exist.

ADAM: Cyan or Queen hanging out with the Johnnies makes sense. But no, it’s Ghostblade who ends up on a road trip with his estranged daughter, her hotheaded best friend, that friend’s scientist dad, and their obnoxious coworker with the weird animal. Pure comedy gold. And somehow, still emotionally resonant? After so many arcs about characters breaking under pressure, it’s refreshing to see one where everyone just… sits down and talks. Even if it all goes off the rails immediately after.

HILARY: I laughed out loud when Loli’s dad tried to wingman for Ghostblade. He really gave it his all. Poor guy.

This was easily one of the funniest arcs in the series. You’ve got a dad keeping a notebook on his daughter’s likes and dislikes so he can understand her better, a mom who’s been glued to her phone since day one—she even texted “I do” at their wedding—and Little Johnny trying to bond with Ghostblade while being the most irritating guy in the room. Comedy and emotional payoff? We’re winning.

©bilibili/BeDream, Aniplex

Little Johnny

HILARY: One of my favorite parts of the arc was the interaction between Little Johnny and Ghostblade. Little Johnny really wants to bond with his new coworker, but Ghostblade does everything in his power to shut him out. He rolls down the car window, hoping the wind will drown Little Johnny out—it only makes him talk louder. He turns up the music to drown him out, and that just gives Little Johnny a new reason to start a conversation.

Little Johnny even tries to be accommodating, saying, “Hey, I want to get to know your backstory, but since you can’t talk, I’ll just guess your trauma and you nod if I’m right.” Like it’s a multiple-choice test!

ADAM: And when he finds out Ghostblade listens to Lucky Cyan’s most popular song, he goes, “Everybody who likes this song has something buried deep!” He doesn’t know what’s going on in Ghostblade’s head, but he’s not wrong. It’s a surprisingly insightful moment from someone who’s mostly comic relief. It also tells us something about Nuonuo—if she’s listening to that song on repeat, she’s probably carrying a heavy burden, too.

HILARY: Ghostblade and Nuonuo’s estranged father-daughter relationship took center stage this arc, but it also highlighted other parent-child dynamics. We get Loli’s strained relationship with her dad, Little Johnny referring to Big Johnny as his son, and even Little Johnny dealing with the loss of his father.

This might dip into spoiler territory, but fans have pointed out that the first person we see Ghostblade kill—Sheng—is actually Little Johnny’s father and a former X.

ADAM: No way, I didn’t catch that! I had this whole theory that either Little Johnny or Big Johnny were tied to the crashed spaceship, and that aliens were secretly behind everything. But Ghostblade killing Little Johnny’s dad? That sets up so much drama for future episodes.

©bilibili/BeDream, Aniplex

Double-edged sword

ADAM: Loli plays a really useful role in this arc, too. Unlike Ghostblade, she’s never afraid to say how she feels. Without her pushing him, Ghostblade might never have reached out to Nuonuo at all. He sees her as a bad influence, but in this case, I’m glad she was there to move things forward. Did this arc change how you feel about her, Hilary?

HILARY: Sort of, haha. She mostly serves to keep things moving, but I liked how her presence brought out a more “dad-like” side of Ghostblade—always worrying about who his daughter is hanging out with. While he’s trying to shield Nuonuo from bad influences, Loli’s actually been a good one. He just doesn’t know that because he’s been so disconnected from people and has no idea how to talk to anyone.

It also ties back to her earlier arc, where she chews out her dad for being a bad parent and talks about how she can’t be her true self and a hero at the same time. Her arc still feels unfinished to me, but maybe the next one will change my mind.

This two-episode arc does a great job of reinforcing the show’s core themes while pushing the story forward. Ghostblade’s silence is a double-edged sword: it adds to his mystique and makes people trust him, but it’s also left him so out of practice that he physically can’t speak anymore. He’s stuck—trapped in his role as Ghostblade and in the trauma of his past—and he doesn’t know how to break free. Trust is complicated in this show; it can both empower and endanger a hero.

We also saw a transformed DJ Shindig this arc, which hints at the start of experimentation on heroes—and we haven’t even met the real Big Bad yet.

©bilibili/BeDream, Aniplex

Stop! Stop! He’s already dead!

ADAM: I was honestly shocked to see DJ Shindig again! I thought Loli totally wrecked him last arc, but apparently the villains aren’t done experimenting with him. Turning his power from infinite joy into sadness is just… unsettling. Still, Ghostblade absolutely demolished him. When the “JEOPARDY” theme song kicked in, I almost laughed—I wanted to yell, “Stop! Stop! He’s already dead!”

That said, I loved how the arc pivoted from a cozy, awkward group dinner to a full-on supernatural crying fest. The moment Ghostblade started looking around like, “Wait, isn’t this a little weird?” I was right there with him. That kind of subtle setup and eerie payoff is something the To Be Hero X team really nails when they’re firing on all cylinders. It reminded me a lot of Link Click, where normal scenes could spiral into something chilling without warning.

But I’m still not sure what to make of Ghostblade’s sudden disappearance. Was it something with Little Johnny? Did he leave out of shame because his daughter saw him kill someone? What do you think?

HILARY: Haha! I had the same reaction when the color palette shifted—I was like, “Wait a sec… Something’s definitely up, right?” But no one said anything, so I second-guessed myself.

I think Ghostblade left because he was trying to protect Nuonuo. When he killed Shindig, some of those Fear particles splashed onto him. We don’t know how much that affected him, but maybe he felt it was safer to leave before they took hold—and before he accidentally hurt her.

As for the Johnnies, maybe Little Johnny saw Ghostblade leaving and followed him? He still doesn’t know that Ghostblade killed his dad, but if that truth comes out soon, we could be headed for a big confrontation. And if Ghostblade realizes Sheng—the man he killed—was not only someone’s father but Little Johnny’s father, a friend of Nuonuo’s? That could hit him hard. Add in the lingering Fear particles, and that emotional shock could be what finally causes him to snap.

How’s that for a theory?

©bilibili/BeDream, Aniplex

Big Johnny

ADAM: We’ll have to find out! Just five arcs remain, and only one of them—Little Johnny’s—spans three episodes. There’s still a lot to wrap up: Why did E-Soul assassinate Moon? Will the series climax with a hero tournament, or take another path? How does X fit into all of this? And, of course, where is Ahu? That’s enough to make me wonder whether we’ll get a second season. Still, a 24-episode original series is already a big ask. I’m confident the Link Click team will find a satisfying way to tie everything together.

Has the Ghostblade arc righted the ship for you? Do you think the series knows where it’s going now—or are you still worried about what’s to come?

HILARY: If Ahu doesn’t show up soon, I’ll have no choice but to replace him in my heart with Big Johnny. Big Johnny is so gosh darn cute. I love how cuddly he is. If To Be Hero X ever releases merch, I need a giant Big Johnny plush.

Ghostblade’s arc definitely boosted my confidence in the show. But it also left me frustrated. Loli’s arc made me think two episodes weren’t enough to develop a character, but Ghostblade’s proved otherwise. So what gives, To Be Hero X? Why did Loli get the short end of the stick?

ADAM: The show’s quality did improve once the viewpoint character switched back to a guy, didn’t it? Makes you wonder…

If we can’t have Ahu, Big Johnny makes a solid substitute. I just hope the next episode doesn’t reveal he’s a man-eating alien or something. He’s clearly not a cat or a dog. Where did he even come from? And what kind of “trust value” turns an adorable pet into a kaiju-sized monster? I’m curious to see how it all unfolds.

HILARY: I’m still a bit unsure about the alien direction the story’s taking. It feels like a weird path, but I’m keeping an open mind. I’m really excited for the Johnnies’ arc—mostly because that means more Big Johnny!

ADAM: Until then, we’ve got Ghostblade. He might be a bad dad, but at least he’s better than Ghost Dad. 10 Ghostblades out of 10.

HILARY: Even if Big Johnny eats half the cast next episode, I wouldn’t mind being eaten by him.

To Be Hero X airs in the United States via Crunchyroll.