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In the late spring of 2021, Prime Video viewers were treated to an impressive subversion of the usual superhero TV show audiences were accustomed to for decades with the arrival of Invincible. Within episode 1's closing moments, its tone rapidly changed from Mark Grayson's long-awaited powers to emerge as the son of Omni-Man, to a blood-soaked, abruptly horrific affair in which Omni-Man brutally massacres the Guardians of the Globe, upending his image as a Superman-like defender of Earth. With each passing episode, even the title card symbolically gets more drenched with blood, indicating the worst is yet to come.
Invincible was excellent, particularly in its first season, in setting up a world dependent on superheroes, with those same figures stripped of archetypes and plot armor, often vulnerable to heinous deaths, and facing grim consequences of their actions. It's not even just Mark Grayson or Invincible who grapples with these, with each episode bringing personal moments and harrowing danger to even its non-superpowered individuals. While later seasons have certainly come under scrutiny for declining animation quality, though, Invincible fans can still get their fix of flawed superheroes without compromising visuals, thanks to a 2025 series known as To Be Hero X.
Crunchyroll Has A Solid Invincible Replacement With More Episodes On The Way
Debuting over 24 episodes through Spring and Summer 2025, To Be Hero X is one of the most buzzworthy donghua (essentially Chinese anime) to come to streaming on Crunchyroll. Animated by PB Animation Company, Studio LAN, and Paper Plane Animation Studio, it's been a breakthrough sensation and frequently discussed as an Anime of the Year contender from last year, even if it wound up with no actual nominations as a historic snub. But with a varied ensemble cast of superheroes, often from wildly different walks of life (and even different species on Earth), To Be Hero X crafted a truly unique experience initially released on Bilibili, FNS, and Crunchyroll.
Across 24 episodes, To Be Hero X concentrates on various high-profile heroes and the often highly different people who assume their respective places among the vaunted Top 10 heroes, whose powers are dictated by Trust Value. Instead of innate powers such as Mark Grayson inherited from his Viltrumite father, characters like Lin Leng from the first arc are ordinary people who, for one reason or another, don the identity of heroes they either admire or are forced to replaced, their powers galvanized as the public places their trust in them. It's essentially a weaponized attention economy in which, even a small-time impersonator, like Yang Cheng, could overtake the popularity of #9 hero E-Soul, and even take his identity.
It's an interesting series on a conceptual level, but for those looking for comparable elements to Invincible, it's important to focus on the human drama fueling each of its characters. In some cases, they don't even want to be heroes, but find themselves motivated to fight evil for one way or another. Not all of the characters come through all roses, either. Heroes like Enlighter, consumed with a desire to control public perception and expose what he believes is a deception, becomes the villainous God Eye.
Some don't even have the audacity to be broken in the traditional path to becoming supervillains. Heroes like Nice, embodying the squeaky clean ideals of a superhero who'd fit nicely within a Marvel or DC pantheon, commit suicide for reasons only revealed much later on, forcing others to take on his identity, even if they have lives they'd prefer to live instead. Characters put on inspiring fights and win moral victories, but often still find loved ones paying the ultimate price for being close with them.
It's brutal, and sometimes hard to watch, something that Invincible viewers can certainly agree with, without shoddy animation being a factor like in later seasons. But To Be Hero X's animation, by comparison, is utterly breathtaking as the result of a clever collaboration.
To Be Hero X Boasts Breathtaking, Multifaceted Animation
Within the first several episodes, viewers may quickly notice that To Be Hero X doesn't stick to one visual style, blending expressive CGI animation, traditional 2D, and hyper-stylized flashback sequences with a more static yet striking, motion comic appeal. It's interesting to behold, and a big advantage of the three-studio collaboration under BeDream. Other high-profile productions featuring these studios, like Studio LAN, have broken out in the past like Link Click, but not perhaps to the level of To Be Hero X. The results is dynamic actions and beautiful, emotionally-driven fights, and moments as if ripped out of action-heavy anime like Black Cloverwith its incredible impact frames.
But To Be Hero X is deliberate in its varied style, directly tied to its eponymous X character, the #1-ranked hero whose powers to manipulate reality were quickly and accurately tied to these shifting visuals. It adds greater depth to the viewing experience, while opening minds, particularly in the anime fandom, to the vast potential of well-executed CGI animation when mixed with a greater reverence for more traditional styles.
It's something Invincible can't hope to replicate if, indeed, animation quality is among its cost-cutting measures in order to meet production deadlines. While there's certainly plenty to be said about the Chinese animation industry and how To Be Hero X is a rare exception dodging its biggest issues, Invincible fans will hardly find themselves complaining as they follow each arc and their endearing featured heroes, especially with season 2 on the way.
