Heroman

In California's Center City, shy but kindhearted Joseph Carter "Joey" Jones lives with his grandmother, working in a coffee shop. Though his family is financially burdened and he is bullied at school, he remains cheerful. A robotics enthusiast, he wants a top-of-the-line toy robot called a Heybo more than anything.

One day Joey and his friend Simon "Psy" Kaina come across a destroyed Heybo discarded by a group of rich kids. He takes it home and repairs it himself, excitedly naming it Heroman. However, one night Heroman is struck by lightning and comes to life, growing several times its size in the process.

That same night Center City is attacked by aliens called Skrugg whose attention was brought to Earth after Joey's acquaintance Professor Matthew Denton made attempts to contact them. Along with Joey, Heroman quickly heads to the scene of the attack, where he finds people in trouble, including his friend Lina Davis and her father. Using an arm-mounted controller, Joey is able to command Heroman to use superpowers to fight off the Skrugg and rescue civilians. As the aliens continue their invasion of Earth, the duo are the only ones separating humanity and destruction.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Jones, Joseph Carter Main

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Heroman Main

Takeuchi, Ryouta Japanese

Kaina, Simon Main

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Davis, Lina Main

Obata, Mayu Japanese

Lee, Stan Supporting

Ii, Atsushi Japanese

Collins, Vera Supporting

Shindo, Naomi Japanese

Denton, Matthew Supporting

Cho Japanese

Jones, Virginia Supporting

Sakai, Sumie Japanese

Jones, Holly Virginia Supporting

Ogasawara, Arisa Japanese

Minami, Doctor Supporting

Matsumoto, Yasunori Japanese

Yamanishi, Tahei Producer

Nanba, Hitoshi Director, Storyboard

Haraguchi, Noboru Sound Director

Tamura, Koutarou Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Dec 24, 2014

ktulu007

Recommended

Heroman is a weird one. I'm not talking about the actual content since I always write these opening paragraphs before watching the series or film. No, I'm referring to the fact that it was written by Smiling Stan Lee. Yes, the same one who was President and CEO of the United States' Marvel Comics back before they lost their damn minds and made a lot of insanely stupid decisions like Jubilee becoming a vampire, Nightcrawler becoming half demon, Polaris being retconned as Magneto's daughter, Speedball becoming Penance and if I keep listing these we'll be here for tens of thousands of words. Anyway, Stan Lee ... wrote the original manga with illustrations by Ohta Tamon. It picked up an anime adaptation not even a year after the manga started getting released from Bones. The same studio behind Soul Eater, Fullmetal Alchemist and Wolf's Rain. So, have Stan Lee's skills at writing goofy and highly entertaining silver age style stories held up and if so how well do they transition to anime format? Face front, True Believers, let's look at Heroman and find out.

Story:

Young Joseph Jones is a poor teenager living on the west coast. One day he takes a broken toy robot from the garbage and decides to fix it. But fate has its own plans for young Joey. After a lightning bolt strikes the robot it grows to a massive size, transforming into the titular titan Heroman. Joey finds that he can control the behemoth after helping avert a highway disaster. The two face their great challenge when evil aliens called the Skrugg follow a radio signal to Earth with the intent of destroying the planet. Zounds, how will our heroes handle this situation?

The story itself is kind of lacking. The skrugg are evil for the evils and don't really have even slightly developed motivations. There's also a lot about the plot that doesn't make much sense not the least of which is bolts of lightning being magic. Heroman gains new abilities as needed by the plot which can come across as overly convenient. The story is also kind of predictable since it does follow a silver age aesthetic. However, the story is fun and a lot of the goofier elements do work in the context of a silly superhero story and those elements that are pretty predictable are vague enough that you can still enjoy watching it. It just doesn't have much tension since it's less a matter of “will they get through the situation” and more a matter of “how will they do it”. Part of what makes the goofier elements work is that it doesn't take itself too seriously and it does have several very funny moments to show for it.

Characters:

The series has characters who largely follow tropes. Including the scientist who does all the scientific stuff instead of having a particular field of study. They aren't bad characters by any means and most of the main cast does get some good character moments. They just don't extend very far from their tropal traits, which kind of works for the series. Heroman himself is a really good example since he's largely defined by... well, being heroic. He can't speak, or chooses not to, and rarely does anything besides fight for justice. It works in context since Joey has to initiate his transformation from a toy to a giant and he's a robot. I also appreciate the fact that regular humans largely don't respond to Heroman with hatred and mistrust, which is a bit of a departure from most of Stan Lee's creations.

Art:

The artwork is pretty good. Not the best I've seen from Bones but still well done. It features really good action sequences, some interesting alien designs and background Stan Lee because that guy's been appearing in his own work and in things based on his work since... he and Jack Kirby showed up in Uncanny X-men 98, I think. The character designs aren't bad, although Spike Spiegel would consider Psy's hair going too far and Lina almost always wears her cheerleading uniform for no good reason. In all fairness, Psy, Joey, Holly and Professor Denton rarely change clothes either, but she's the worst offender just because her regular outfit is a uniform that's supposed to be worn for practices and actual athletic events. Not as a regular thing.

Sound:

The performances are pretty good. Particularly coming from Komatsu Mikako, Kimura Ryouhei, Obata Mayu & Yasumura Makoto. The music is also well done, overall. It goes well with the aesthetic.

Ho-yay:

There really isn't any. The ho-yay factor is a 1/10.

Final Thoughts:

Heroman is a goofy series with under-developed characters and a story that doesn't make a lot of sense in several ways. And I kind of love it. In an age where most super hero comics have gone a darker and stupider route, a series like Heroman that returns to a more fun, exciting, and light-hearted sensibility is very much a welcome change. It blends anime norms with silver age super hero norms and the result is just a very enjoyable experience. It's not deep, but it is unquestioningly and unabashedly fun. Check it out if you're a fan of more light-hearted super hero works or if you just like silly action works. My final rating is going to be an 8/10. Excelsior! Next week, I end the year with a look at Heat Guy J.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 14, 2019

josefaraujo99

Mixed Feelings

Heroman dosen't make a lot of sense, but animes don't have to make sense, so that's okay. The emergence of heroman is not explained at all ( and i has hoping to see how and why he was created ), he basically was born from a lightning, end of explanation...
Joey is a character that fully dependent of heroman, i wish he had some kind of attack like a blast from that glove, instead of just a shield and super velocity.
However, the storyline is good, you get involved with the characters, wishing everything goes fine and the fights are also ... good (not as good as of naruto and Dragon ball for example, but you can enjoy it as well).
Taking everything i said in consideration, i think this is an average anime. If you are looking for a different kind of shonen anime, you should give it a chance.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 2, 2010

AfterGlow

Not Recommended

Preliminary (11/26 eps)

Stan Lee is great. Sadly, Heroman is far from great, it's not even mediocre.
It's the perfect example of what happens when somebody who watched a couple of shows during the 70s and then, 40 years later, decided to try and make a show. The influence from Gigantor is tragically obvious, mixed with some Marvel shenaningans, and you've got something which is close to unbearable.

Story - 3:
It can be described in one word; yawn.
Evil cliché aliens from what could be the C roster of Marvel, invade earth and start fucking up shit because they want to drain the earth of it's natural resources (of course), and ... it's up to our unlikable hero and his uncharismatic robot to save the day, which they of course do with record speed, leaving the viewer with an even more uninteresting sub-plot, which instead becomes the main plot.

Art - 7:
This is where the show shines, Bones rarely disappoints, and such is the case here as well. The animations are fluid, the ether sparks and the fighting scenes, albeit completely uninspired, are visually appealing.

Sound - 5
No real complaints here either, the effects are fitting for the scenes.
The voice actors, aren't terrible with the exception of the main character, who manages to sound even more effeminate than the female lead. When I first heard him, I though it was a joke to be honest. I knew he was a boy, but his voice was absolutely ridiculous. Add him screaming HEROMAN at least five times during every episode, and you've got the recipe for something that will annoy most viewers to no end.

Character - 1:
Ah yes, and thus, we reach the core of the problem; a cast of the most unappealing characters ever produced. Can you spell cliché?
The hero is a young, effeminate boy obsessed with doing the right thing and upholding morals, the typical shonen lead in other words, but without any charm or personality.
We also have the cool and tough best friend character, the bossy/bitchy girlfriend who desperately wants to be tsundere except the writer doesn't understand the tsundere character, the good, scattered-brain mad scientist as well as the evil, elitist mad scientist and the obnoxious bad-guy-jock who isn't really evil and his truly evil as well as fat sidekick.Because you know, fat and rich equals evil.

The characters is a complete abortion, and make the show close to unwatchable.

Enjoyment - 4:
Even though the story is boring and the characters are horrible, the show manages to be somewhat entertaining, much thanks to the visual eye-candy present. It's the kind of show where you can turn off your brain and enjoy the action present. If I was five years old, retarded and this was on during Saturday mornings, I would watch the shit out of it. Sadly, if you're not five year old, retarded and watching this on Cartoon Network a saturday morning, there isn't much for you.

Overall - 4:
This show isn't good, at all.
I don't think anybody with half a brain could enjoy this any other way than ironically. The animation saves this from a lower grade, still it gets a 4, because it's [b]bad[/b] no matter how you try to twist it around, since there is no substance; the action, story and characters suck.

Watch this as an example of what happens when somebody who watched a few episodes of Gigantor back in the 60s decides to write a script for an anime that could fit into the Marvel/DC comics universe, as one of it's most generic and uninspired titles.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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