Alright, let’s start with the obvious: if you’ve seen To Be Hero X, then you absolutely get that this anime is chaos with a capital C. One minute it’s making jokes, and the next you’re just sitting around going, “Wait, what the heck is happening?” And right in the middle of all that emotional rollercoaster, one character took a serious hit from the story: our boy, Nice.
But surprise! Director Li Haoling has assured us that OG Nice is returning, and no, he’s not just gonna show up, dramatically jump off a building, and peace out forever. He’s actually part of the bigger story, and we’re finally gonna get the context he deserves. And guess what? If Nice is getting a proper arc, you know who else might get the redemption of a lifetime? Moon. Let’s unpack it.
Let’s talk about Moon from To Be Hero X, because she deserved so much better
If you’ve wanted To Be Hero X recently (and you should), you’ll start to realize that Moon got done dirty. And by that, we don’t mean “oops she died” dirty. We mean soul-crushing narrative injustice. Moon is introduced as this quirky, wild, free-spirited girl who literally wants to fly around the world. That’s her thing.
She’s a total traveler, a wanderer, you know, that ‘catch me if you can’ kind of vibe. And then what does the plot do? Locks her down. Forever. Sure, they gave her a tiny bit of depth later. But let’s be real, it was only done to make Lin Ling’s journey more emotional. She did have her own full arc, and we hardly even touched on it.
Director Haolin Q&A Part 1 (Nice Arc)
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Now, here’s the thing: turns out those first few episodes? They’re actually the end of the story. Yup. The whole timeline is non-linear. Director Haoling spilled the tea and said straight-up in an online interview session:
I just want to reassure everyone that Nice won’t just show up, jump off a building in the first four minutes, and then be gone from the story. As for the future, Nice will definitely appear again. So why is it that characters who were written off earlier will show up later? Actually, whether it’s Nice’s arc or the Lin Ling arc from earlier is actually told in the reverse order (non-linear way). The first four episodes are actually the ending of the entire storyline. It’s just that. In terms of narration, they are used as the starting point. And so, gradually, many characters from different timelines will be revealed through this non-linear approach. In the end, it will slowly lead to Nice’s timeline and the story before he jumps off the building.
This means we’re actually gonna get more Nice. Like, real Nice. Not hurt, broken, Nice. We’re talking about the Nice before all the pain, before the betrayal, before the fall (literally). The Nice, who was a whole person with ambitions and jokes and feelings and probably a killer Spotify playlist. He’s coming back, and finally, the story is going to do him justice.
If Nice is coming back in To Be Hero X with this reverse storytelling thing, then that means we’re going back to Moon’s original timeline, too. Before all the baggage. Before the sacrifice. Before she was reduced to a mere prop. It appears that we will actually get to see Moon as an actual person, and not just “that girl who had everything go off-screen.”
Reverse storytelling: The anime version of ‘surprise, trauma!’
So here’s the genius (and sorta evil) thing about To Be Hero X: it tells the story backwards. It’s like they pulled your heart out, handed it to you, and said, “Oh yeah, you’re going to totally want to stick around because we’re going to be telling you about this pain afterwards.”
Everything from Lin Ling’s identity crisis to Hero X’s war crimes to Nice’s death it’s all the aftermath. But now, with the timeline slowly folding in on itself, we’re finally walking backwards into the truth.
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Nice’s fall? Not the end. Moon’s heartbreak? Not her only personality trait. The chaos is just getting started, but it’s also unraveling in the best possible way.
So here’s what we’re hoping for (let’s manifest it with me, guys): We want Nice to be the badass, deeply emotional, beautifully broken character he was meant to be. He can’t just be a punchline for a sad opening scene. We need to give him that backstory, that build-up, that emotional payoff from To Be Hero X.
And Moon? She needs a story of her own in To Be Hero X. She doesn’t have to be Lin Ling’s sidekick. Let her dream again. Let her be wild again. Let her fly. Because if Nice is getting his timeline back, Moon better be right there with him. Not just as a side character, but as a real, layered human being who deserved more from the beginning.
To Be Hero X is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
