Sentenced to Be a Hero 1×11 and 1×12 Review

Sentenced to Be a Hero anime season 1 came to an amazing conclusion with episodes 11 and 12, titled ‘Sentence: Aid in Evacuation of Ioff Cheg Port’ Part 2 and Part 3, respectively. I’m already hyped about season 2!

Sentenced to Be a Hero was definitely one of the best new anime that debuted early this year. Not only did it feature high-quality animation with a whole lot of well-choreographed action sequences, but the emotional moments also packed a punch, with everything culminating in the finale being one of the best episodes yet!

The ‘Sentence: Aid in Evacuation of Ioff Cheg Port’ arc was all about Xylo and his crew trying to prevent the port city of Ioff from falling prey to a horde of faeries. The stakes were raised due to the Demon Lord Spriggan masquerading as a human and targeting Teroritta. On top of that, Kivia suspected her religious leader, Uncle Marlen, might be part of the Coexister movement. There was a lot for the creative team to address during the final couple of episodes, and kudos for a job well done. Not only did certain story threads come together nicely, but we got an exciting setup for season 2.

We got introduced to another member of Xylo’s squad, named Rhyno. Equipped with a tech-suit, Rhyno served as the team’s artillery, responsible for devastating long-range attacks. I was curious why Teoritta felt uneasy around Rhyno even though he was being friendly toward her. Xylo’s team consisted of unhinged criminals, but Rhyno came across as a very different type of unhinged. He had a habit of talking about life and death in a very casual manner, even going as far as stating how allowing numerous civilians to die might be the best course of action while facing the current faerie army.

The finale revealed Rhyno’s real identity, and I have to say that I hadn’t seen that one coming. Turns out, he was a Demon Lord named Puck Puca. However, instead of wanting to kill humans, he was obsessed with killing his own kind. Rhyno’s condition was presented as something similar to certain human serial killers experiencing a rush by targeting their own kind. Rhyno also put forth a philosophical aspect to his behaviour that was about how easy it was to be considered a hero or a foe, depending on your victims. Even though he was a Demon Lord operating by using a human body as a host, he was still considered a “Hero” by humans because he was exterminating faeries. And to the faeries, Rhyno was a psychopath who had aligned himself with the enemy.

The scene where Rhyno killed an injured Spriggan was quite intense, with Spriggan yelling at Rhyno to stay back while he tried to crawl away. It was so good!

As for the battle with Iron Whale, Shiji Bau, and Boojum, I was expecting a bit more of a fight from Shiji Bau and Iron Whale, but it was also understandable that certain foes needed to be taken off the board during the finale. At least, Rhyno and Jayce played a role in assisting Xylo. Both characters were able to unleash OP attacks.

Most of the action occurred during Xylo and Teoritta’s confrontation with Boojum, who had transformed into his demonic state. I was so here for Xylo using Teoritta’s Holy Sword again to wipe Boojum from existence. However, unbeknownst to our leads, the real Boojum was still alive. Now being aware of the Holy Sword, I wonder what plan the rest of the Demon Lords will come up with to counter such a weapon.

The narrative continued developing Xylo’s relationship with Teroritta, with our lead hero being more willing to praise the enthusiastic little Goddess. He also grew to understand Teoritta’s resolve to save as many people as possible, even when she wasn’t beholden to following strict orders to do so like the rest of them.

With the action taken care of, Kivia’s storyline delivered on the emotional beats. Being suspicious of her uncle, Kivia had been collecting information about the Coexister party and had even asked Frenci for help. Of course, Kivia’s suspicions regarding Marlen were revealed to be true after Frenci’s investigation. The way Kivia determined Marlen’s connection with Lideo due to how the men (from different regions) had pronounced the name “Mahaeyzel Zelkoff”… such a good example of mystery writing!

Due to Marlen having taken Kivia under his wing and having trained her to become a Holy Knight, the animators and Kivia’s voice actress did an amazing job of portraying Kivia’s emotional turmoil over having no choice but to arrest Marlen. We did get to hear Marlen give a similar speech to Lideo about how he joined the Coexister movement because he wanted to keep his loved ones safe after humanity fell against the Demon Lords. As expected, Kivia wasn’t buying his words because to her, the right thing to do would be to continue fighting demons for the sake of humanity instead of giving up. Also, there’s no way that Demon Lords would fulfill their promise to the Coexisters once the war was over. It was also ironic how Marlen talked about keeping his family safe, aka Kivia, only for him to try to shoot her dead instead. Like, Sir! Who are you talking about saving if it’s not your niece?

Marlen’s motivations, similar to Lideo’s, simply boiled down to the intensity of human greed playing a role in encouraging people to sell out their own kind as long as they were the ones holding onto positions of power when the dust settled. Marlen wanted to survive the Demon Lords’ army and be given power over the remaining humans, whether Kivia stuck with him or not.

After being forced to kill Marlen, Kivia was blamed for murdering such a high-ranking religious figure after being accused of being a Coexister herself. She also got arrested over Rajit’s death, who had sacrificed himself to protect Kivia from Marlen’s initial attack.

I had been hoping for Kivia to do more in the main story, especially when it came to the action sequences. However, with the role she played during the finale, the writers more than delivered, even if it wasn’t action-heavy. Her fate laid an exciting foundation for an already greenlit season 2.

While awaiting her prosecution in her prison cell, after having been publicly shamed for crimes she didn’t commit, Kafzen appeared to offer a solution. If Kivia didn’t stop being adamant about her innocence, she would be executed. However, if she accepted the criminal charges against her, she would continue to live as a… drumroll… Hero!

When I began watching this anime, I would have never expected Kivia to become a Hero and join Xylo’s team. But, in hindsight, such a development made sense, considering how Kivia had learned to empathize with the Heroes after having spent time around them. I do think if Kivia hadn’t done so, she would have refused Kafzen’s offer. Also, with how things currently were, it was better for Kivia to still have a way to continue battling against the Demon Lords instead of accepting death.

As for developing the lore, we found out that the First Goddess could summon fighters from another dimension. However, the differences between said fighters and human culture had given rise to issues. This made the humans find a solution. Instead of having her summon outworldly fighters, they asked the Goddess to resurrect dead humans. The drawback was the First Goddess’s inability to keep the memories of the dead intact upon their resurrection, resulting in what we know about how Heroes lost their memories the more they were brought back after death.

Kafzen’s Goddess, named Enfei, had the ability to summon books housing a person’s life story. This helped give the First Goddess more information to work with when resurrecting the dead. However, from what I could understand, Enfei could only summon a limited number of books at a time, meaning that after Kivia, Kafzen would have to decide to terminate a book of a current Hero’s memories to make room for a new Hero. I don’t know if that might happen, as Kafzen didn’t seem too interested in creating more Heroes than necessary, but hey, the narrative possibility was there.

With Kivia becoming a Hero, I’m very excited to see how her dynamic will change with Xylo and the rest. I don’t know if her ex-Holy Knight soldiers will still trust her, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she regained their loyalty down the line.

Did you watch Sentenced to Be a Hero anime season 1 episodes 11 and 12? Are you excited about season 2?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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