Earlier this year, we shouted out two Crunchyroll dark fantasy anime that both hewed to the premise of raising a child in the heat of battle. Of them, Sentenced to Be a Hero is, without a doubt, the show that cranks things up to 11 both in its narrative and, especially, in the sakuga department. Those are a lot of words to sum up everyone who’s seen the show calling it peak, and we don’t begrudge them that sentiment. Sentenced to Be a Hero‘s action hits so hard, Crunchyroll put up its entire premiere on YouTube for free so everyone can bask in its glory. The show proper follows a mercenary named Xylo who’s been sentenced to be a hero. That’s not a good thing. It’s a punishment dealt out to criminals, forcing Xylo and his fellow RPG heroes with colorful backstories to reincarnate as subhuman weapons for kingdoms to send to the front lines to battle demons and other insurmountable threats. With each death, they lose more of their sanity until they go berserk. Xylo’s crime was the grave offense of killing a goddess.
There’s more to that story than he lets on, and Xylo ultimately comes into contact with a new all-powerful goddess named Teoritta, who stubbornly makes him her chosen noble knight. Together, they embark on a journey as a kind of found family battling all kinds of demons, uncovering deep-seated conspiracy theories, and dishing out life-affirming head pats along the way.
