REVIEW: ‘Sentenced To Be A Hero’ Episode 5 — “Sentence: Defense Against Corruption at Mureed Fortress 1”

Sentenced to Be A Hero Episode 5 does a fantastic job of highlighting and breathing more life into its characters, including a brand new one. It remains entertaining, with its interesting dialogue and worldbuilding, and it raises the stakes more than any previous episode.

Sentenced to Be A Hero Episode 5 begins with the same character as the previous episode ended with. Tsav (Jun Fukushima), a psychopathic killer, is fully introduced in this episode, which starts off with his sentencing interview.

As the previous episode did with Venetim (Shunichi Toki), the interview sees the Holy Knights discuss the mass killings Tsav committed and how he belonged to an assassination order that indoctrinates children via inhuman ways to become Assassins. Despite his killings, most times based on pure impulse, he feels no remorse and is not bound by morality. As a result, he’s ultimately sentenced to be a hero by the same unnamed character who sentenced Venetim.

The opening of Sentenced to Be A Hero Episode 5 perfectly showcases who Tsav is.

This cold open does a great job of showing what kind of character Tsav is. He’s a maniac that doesn’t think much about the people he kills, but also shockingly has empathy and would go out of his way not to kill someone potentially deserving and instead kill someone innocent if he likes the former over the latter. He’s impulsive and acts that way, but he also fears death as much as the average person. Like other characters in this series, Tsav is interesting through and through.

Sentenced to Be A Hero Episode 5 officially begins with Tsav,  Dotta (Shun Horie), Kivia, and Xylo (Yôhei Azakami) on a scouting mission investigating the incoming Faerie horde approaching the fortress. The scene reveals Tsav’s weapon and excellent marksmanship, as well as more of his lackadaisical personality through his banter with Dotta.

Xylo and Kivia discuss the upcoming mission, which reveals that Kivia isn’t a noble like other Order Captains, but her uncle is a High Priest. On their way back, the two meet the Ninth Order captain and the third goddess seen in the anime so far, Pelmerry. Her personality isn’t as cheery as that of other goddesses seen so far, but she craves validation like them nonetheless. Her character design, particularly her hair and eye design, is unique and effectively differentiates her from the others. Her purple outfit also likely indicates her poison powers.

A new goddess showcases a slightly different side to divinity.

The group returns to a jealous Teoritta (Mayu Iizuka), who is upset at Kivia and Xylo hanging out. She also gets angry when she sees how the other goddess is treated and demands that Xylo do the same, but he ignores her, as he always does. Teo’s erratic, cartoonish movements are animated incredibly well, intricate in an absurdly funny, zany way. These noticeable animated movements are then followed up by the slight, almost unnecessary facial animations specifically seen in Xylo’s eye twitch when he is upset at being summoned.

The miners from a previous episode show up to help, much to Xylo’s dismay, but Norgalle (Yôji Ueda) uses them to craft new weapons and contraptions. Norgalle’s charisma and kingly demeanor are well displayed, as he earns the miners’ admiration despite being a hero.

The next scenes show Xylo explaining the plan to handle the upcoming horde and being harassed by the recruited prisoners, who unsurprisingly do not like heroes. Tsav, seeing this, maims one of them impulsively, but not the largest one doing the harassment, as he’s more important for the work ahead, which is both smart and psychotic. Xylo gets angry and demands that Tsav not do it again.

The animation choices made by Studio Kai add surprising depth to even the smallest details.

The splash of blood on the camera as Tsav maims one of the prisoners is another excellent animation choice from studio Kai that superbly enhances a seemingly minor dialogue scene. This scene, like many throughout the episode, is entertaining and does a great job of showing how bizarre the heroes are, and of juxtaposing them with Xylo, who oddly always seems like the most reasonable person in the room, even when the heroes aren’t in it.

That said, he’s far from normal himself, as despite being sent a package from a noble family that could possibly help in the upcoming fight, Xylo refuses their message and demands Venetim drop the matter. The fear on Venetim’s face as he brings up the topic with Xylo is animated with incredible realism, and through this, the episode makes it clear that many of Xylo’s party members are afraid of him.

Venetim and Xylo’s conversation also reveals two other heroes they’re acquainted with, Jace and Rhyno, and that the latter is a volunteer hero, which is an interesting revelation that almost goes against the reason heroes exist. The conversation then turns to conspiracy theories, and Venetim brings up to Xylo the possibility that some humans want the demon lords and demon blight to take over humanity, but Xylo brushes it off.

All the conversations in the episode build up to an epic battle.

Venetim bringing up this subject sees him toeing the line of his potential death by almost revealing the truth he learned years ago. This scene is perhaps the most engaging of Sentenced to Be A Hero Episode 5, as it provides entertainment through dialogue alone.

The final scene sees the start of the big battle as the horde of Faeries arrives. It shows an explosive battle as the credits roll, backed by epic music. The studio went above and beyond to make the episode not end without excitement by skipping the regular ending sequence. The battle features excellent animation and composition with striking visual effects and excellently detailed gore of defeated Faeries.

The battle takes a dramatic turn when it is revealed that humans are helping the Faeries breach the fortress, proving the very same people revealed to be affected by the blight are now making their move.

Sentenced to Be A Hero Episode 5 is another fantastic episode that, while not bombastic, finishes in an explosive way. It excellently displays each character’s personality and proves how unique they are compared to the typical tropey characters of the genre.

Sentenced to Be a Hero Episode 4 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.  

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