Sentenced to be a Hero First Impressions

Written by Ross Locksley on 06 Jan 2026

2026 arrived with a hype train attached, this year's first "hot thing" being a fantasy anime based on the 2020 novel by Rocket Shōkai and illustrated by Mephisto. It's been described as attracting "perfect scores on Crunchyroll" (Forbes) and a "Near Perfect Debut Episode" (CBR). So ever the one to arrive late, I sat down last night and watched it.

The world we're presented with is a fantasy realm full of knights, Goddesses and heroes, though the latter of these is not the hopeful moniker you might be expecting. Here, heroes are criminals sentenced to fight on the front lines, where even death might not claim them - indeed, we're told early on that a soul can be recalled from hell, back to the original body or even another if the original is too damaged (shades of Altered Carbon perhaps?) 

We meet former knight commander Xylo Forbatz, a bitter and grizzled warrior who spends most of the episode in battle. When he's not killing monsters created by demon spawn, he's yelling at Dotta Luzulus, a pink-haired fellow hero who spends most of his time scheming on how to rob the knights he's supposed to be protecting. One such raid finds him in possession of a coffin, inside which is the mysterious and praise-seeking sword-goddess Teoritta. After saving a number of embattled knights, Xylo and Teoritta find themselves tasked with aiding knight commander Patausche Kivia who stubbornly refuses to retreat and brings the pair head-to-head with a demon lord, against which the pair have no chance unless they form a contract...

Xylo and Teoritta

Much like last year's Clevatess, a lot of action has been poured into the opening episode to get your attention, but while Clevatess kept the runtime at 45 minutes, Sentenced to Be a Hero goes a full hour. There's a LOT of fighting in this opening episode which seems to be the pull for a lot of people, but I have to say that had the last 10 minutes not significantly shifted gear and added some contextual narrative, I might have called it a day.

The praise for this episode is mainly focused on the designs, animation and the fighting.

So far as the monster designs go, there's a lot of influence from Ghibli's Princess Mononoke, the forest animals infected by the Demon Blight taking on mutated forms bear a likeness to Mononoke's boar god Okkoto. They're interesting in so much as they're varied, but ultimately they're just fodder for our protagonists. As such only the sheer numbers make them seem particularly dangerous, though I'll grant you that the one menacing Dotta early on was particularly gruesome. The Demon Lord of the final battle is somewhat more spectacular, taking some very fancy moves to take down, but I think by this point I was so exhausted from the constant noise and battle that I'd sort of zoned out. 

Animation is decent - I think the lack of shadows at times cheapened the look, but it did have the style of a hand-drawn animation which I appreciated. 

As you can see, there's very little depth in terms of shading, just a touch on Xylo's shoulder, but I think this adds a level of 80's animation charm so I'm not entirely against it. Character designs are interesting and detailed, smoothly animated and distinctive enough to be recognisable outside of their setting, so if the level of adulation for the show continues, I see a bright future for merchandise. The diminutive loli goddess is perfectly cute, especially the flaming hair, so I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of her over the next year. I'll be interested to see whether we meet more of her kind and the variety of powers they might possess.

Goddess of merch - Teoritta already has a figure up on the Crunchyroll store

Then there's the fighting. There's plenty of it and it's extremely bloody - fans of shows like Tougen Anki or Berserk will find plenty of gritty, nasty death served up here, knights being gobbled up by Demon Blight and snapped like twigs while gushing crimson rain. It's all stylishly handled, especially the fight with the Demon God, wherein Xylo finally shakes his reluctance to join forces with Teoritta and shows us just how much damage she can really do when unleashed - blades of all shapes and sizes pretty much everywhere.

But honestly none of the battles, shouting, murder and mayhem really got me invested. For my tastes, it was the last 10 minutes that really sold the show, where we learn why Xylo was convicted and the reasons for his hesitation toward anything goddess. It's tragic, laced with treachery, betrayal and mystery, enough to actually make me want to see what happens next. Sure, keeping the reveals until the end keeps us guessing, but I was in danger of just writing it off as something shallow and unconvincing. Spectacular to look at maybe, but nearly an hour of constant battle with little to no narrative movement is draining for me at best. 

So I get the hype, I really do - for action junkies it's going to be literal mana from heaven. For my tastes it was a bit overlong but thankfully when the wider workings of the plot were revealed I was pulled in. I'm sure, much like Clevatess, it will slow the pace and introduce more story for the following episodes, something I look forward to. Posters show a lot more characters who I'm eager to meet. So it has everything to play for.

Whether or not Xylo can break the cycle of battle and death to exact revenge on those who betrayed him will, I'm sure, be a riveting ride.

Sentenced to be a Hero is streaming on Crunchyroll.