Top 10 To Be Hero X Arcs

To Be Hero X exploded onto the anime scene this year as one of the most creative and unexpected triumphs in the Asian animation industry. Despite being the third entry in a fairly non-impactful To Be Hero anthology, To Be Hero X has found a place amongst 2025’s top anime with its stunning visuals, unique premise, and of course, its arc-based structure. Despite being only a 24-episode series, To Be Hero X is compiled of a sequence of 10 character-based arcs, each arc focusing centrally on one of the member’s of the top 10 heroes in the show’s universe. Despite their short episode count, each of To Be Hero X‘s arcs manage to stand out in their own distinct way – and today, we’re here to rank them.

Today, we’re ranking all of the To Be Hero X arcs in the show’s first season – I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a second season of this in the future, but for now, we’ll be ranking based purely on how each arc contributed to this initial season, rather than speculating on how they may develop in the future. As we’ll be talking about all of the To Be Hero X arcs today, spoilers are ahead! Please experience the show for yourself before reading this article, it really is an amazing time. With that being said, let’s get into our To Be Hero X arcs ranking!

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10. Loli Arc (Episode 13-14)

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It seems pretty widely-agreed that the ‘Loli Arc’, taking place right in the middle of To Be Hero X, is the series’ worst, and while the arc is by no means awful, it does claim this title by a fairly wide margin. First off, the ‘Loli Arc’ is incredibly creepy, not only because of that awful hero name, (if you aren’t aware of this word and its meaning in the anime industry, google it at your own risk), but also because of the main storyline revolving around a back-alley stalker. It would be more satisfying if we saw this stalker get his comeuppance in a rewarding way, but this never really happens, and instead, the ‘Loli Arc’ stands as an uncharacteristically eerie arc amongst its counterparts.

On top of this, I’m simply not sold on the struggle that Loli herself faced with being a ‘cute’ girl who struggled to convince people of her strength because she’s cute. This storyline may work in an older series, or a series where misogyny is a more central theme, but when characters like Lucky Cyan, Moon, and even The Johnnies exist in this universe, I’m not buying that a hero’s sweetness is a genuine obstacle to their growth in the hero ranking. The arc does eventually fit itself nicely into the overarching narrative of the show, but as far as To Be Hero X arcs go, the ‘Loli Arc’ unfortunately stands in the shadow of the rest of the series.

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9. Ahu Arc (Episode 23)

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I do feel like I should give the ‘Ahu Arc’ some credit for being the most unique arc in To Be Hero X, not only because of its focus on the only canine hero in the series, but also because of its quirky art style. However, despite how well the ‘Ahu Arc’ indicates that even the most unlikely of heroes can rise to the Top 10 based on their trust values, it simply doesn’t have enough time to develop into anything more than a somewhat strange detour in the series’ penultimate episode.

Funnily enough, the ‘Ahu Arc’ does fairly succinctly loop back into the series’ first arc, the ‘Nice Arc’, and Ahu himself has quite a large presence in the final episode of To Be Hero X, but aside from one very cool scene involving axe-deflection, the ‘Ahu Arc’ falls fairly flat, opting for off-colour humour over the emotionally-compelling storytelling we had seen in just about every other arc in To Be Hero X. Though the ‘Ahu Arc’ may be the most unique of the To Be Hero X arcs, and though the titular hero himself does appear in some of the series’ far better outings, this arc ultimately stands out for the wrong reasons, and ends up feeling like an unnecessary sidebar when compared to the higher entries on this list.

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8. The Johnnies Arc (Episode 17-19)

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I feel bad that ‘The Johnnies Arc’ is appearing so low on this list, because based on their appearances in other To Be Hero X arcs, I really like both of these characters. Any good superhero show needs at least one hero with an animal sidekick, and Little Johnny has the advantage of his animal sidekick possessing the ability to turn into a giant, village-destroying monster. However, the actual arc dedicated to this duo simply doesn’t exist on the same level as the higher entries on this list, earning it this eighth place spot.

While ‘The Johnnies Arc’ gets some credit for tying many of the arcs in the middle of To Be Hero X back to the ‘Nice’ and ‘E-Soul’ arcs that kicked off the series, a lot of this arc is simply too paint-by-numbers for the show’s own good. Existing in the latter half of the series, ‘The Johnnies Arc’ starts to let the cracks show in terms of how original To Be Hero X can make backstories when the series is tasked with pulling it off so many times in sequence. Was Little Johnny’s backstory sad? Absolutely, but it was also something we’ve seen done over and over again in anime, and when a show like To Be Hero X is so unique otherwise, unoriginality like this sticks out like a sore thumb.

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7. Ghostblade Arc (Episode 15-16)

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This was a difficult one to rank, because I can easily see Ghostblade himself being the favourite hero for many fans of To Be Hero X. He’s cool, calm, collected, and has absolutely no qualms with killing. In fact, when the arc began, I was fairly convinced that this would be one of my favourite To Be Hero X arcs, and considering how much I enjoyed Ghostblade’s backstory, it might have been – were it not for pesky connection to the ‘Loli Arc’.

Discovering that Ghostblade was the stalker that Loli was dealing with throughout her arc just didn’t sit right with me. It absolutely made sense, and tied in well with Ghostblade’s dynamic with his daughter. However, it added an undeserved feeling of creepiness to an otherwise compelling character. The actual current-day events covered in the ‘Ghostblade Arc’ are also not all that interesting, with it ultimately skyrocketing up this To Be Hero X arcs ranking based entirely on the titular character’s history.

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6. E-Soul Arc (Episode 5-7)

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The ‘E-Soul Arc’ was a difficult one to rank. By the time To Be Hero X ended, it felt like what we saw happen in this arc was actually far more important than any of it felt at the time. Considering the 3D-artstyle that marked To Be Hero X’s early episodes also disappears once this arc ends, the ‘E-Soul Arc’ is really a series of episodes that you can only fully appreciate in hindsight. In the moment however, the arc is at the disadvantage of coming directly after the first arc of the series, which I consider to be a lot stronger, resulting in a tinge of disappointment lingering over this series of episodes.

However, the arc does deserve a lot of praise for being able to hold its own as the first arc to divert from the characters introduced at the beginning of the show, and though I do ultimately prefer the ‘Nice Arc’, the ‘E-Soul Arc’ is far grittier, street-level, and action-oriented. In many ways, the ‘E-Soul Arc’ feels like the ‘Batman’ to the ‘Nice Arc’s ‘Superman’. On a rewatch, I think this arc will shoot up my To Be Hero X arcs ranking, but after my initial viewing of the series, it didn’t quite hit the same spots that the rest of these arcs did for me, even if it does introduce Rock to the show in tremendous fashion.

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5. Lucky Cyan Arc (Episode 8-10)

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For many fans of To Be Hero X, it seems like the ‘Lucky Cyan Arc’ was the first time that they felt the show missed the mark. However, for me, this arc was a welcome change-of-pace after the ‘Nice Arc’ and the ‘E-Soul Arc’ both showered the viewer in relative misery. Though the ‘Lucky Cyan Arc’ is not completely free of tragedy and heartbreak, it dishes it out in far more measured quantities than either of its predecessors, and with the art style taking a turn towards what is more typical of an anime/donghua, there’s a sense of familiarity to the ‘Lucky Cyan Arc’ that I couldn’t help but gravitate towards.

I am also a firm believer that the plane scene in the final episode of this arc is one of my favourite moments in the entire To Be Hero X series, making Cyan herself one of my favourite heroes in the show. Though the arc could lean a little too heavily into its musical elements at times, and though Luo himself is sort of unceremoniously written-out of the show after the arc concludes, I enjoyed the ‘Lucky Cyan Arc’ far more than I thought I would. Not the best arc in the show in terms of quality, but easily one of the most memorable To Be Hero X arcs for me.

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4. Dragon Boy Arc (Episode 21-22)

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There’s a lot of things to love about the ‘Dragon Boy Arc’ of To Be Hero X, and funnily enough, Dragon Boy himself isn’t really one of them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to get to spend time with a true, unfiltered villain to this extent (E-Soul could be considered a villain, but is ultimately a victim of manipulation). However, going into the Top 10, Dragon Boy is easily the least appealing character of the bunch to me. It’s all of the things that happen around Dragon Boy that make this arc what it is, and earn it a spot this high on the list.

Not only does the ‘Dragon Boy Arc’ set the stage for the twist that started it all, that being Nice’s suicide in Episode 1, but it also lets us see the top-ranked hero, X himself, get into the action to this extent for the first time. Smile is also a very enjoyable character for how little time he gets to shine in the show, and the fight scenes that happen in Episode 22 are easily some of my favourites in the series, particularly from a visual perspective. It feels strange that such a strong arc is tied to Dragon Boy of all characters, but this pair of episodes are absolutely some of To Be Hero X’s best, from both a plot and production perspective.

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3. Queen Arc (Episode 11-12)

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In many ways, the ‘Queen Arc’ suffers from the same pitfalls as the ‘Dragon Boy Arc’, in that each arc’s titular hero is easily the least interesting part of them. Queen herself becomes a much more entertaining player in the world of To Be Hero X in the episodes after her arc concludes, but as for her role in her arc itself? Well, it says a lot that this arc’s side character, Bowa, was a more compelling character to me than Queen herself. However, this arc does some serious heavy-lifting when it comes to world-building, introducing other central characters, and essentially setting up the entire middle-section of To Be Hero X.

I love the ‘Nice’, ‘E-Soul’, and ‘Lucky Cyan’ arcs in their own ways, but the ‘Queen Arc’ feels like the first time that To Be Hero X puts any real cohesiveness to its overarching story. With the introduction of plenty of recurring heroes, a deeper insight into the inner workings of the hero system, and a compelling antagonist storyline, Queen herself may not be the most compelling namesake when it comes to the To Be Hero X arcs, but her arc is easily one of the strongest when it comes to doing the groundwork for just about everything that follows it, including X himself’s role in the story.

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2. X Arc (Episode 24)

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Speaking of the ever-elusive X himself, he finally gets his chance to shine in the final episode of To Be Hero X, and though my expectations were high, I wasn’t prepared for just how wild of a ride this entire episode, and arc, was. While the episode doesn’t exactly act as a true climax for the story of To Be Hero X, as a sequel season is likely in the works, it does let us truly experience X’s world-changing powers in all of their glory for the first time, and if the animation in this episode doesn’t win some type of award when it comes to the industry’s yearly round-ups, I don’t know what to say. The world-bending action sequences in this arc are absolutely stunning, and prove that X deserves his first-place hero ranking based on pure aura-farming alone.

However, spectacle is not all that the ‘X Arc’ has to offer. Across this final episode, the ‘X Arc’ also ties together just about everything we’ve seen happen in To Be Hero X so far into one, neat, chronological timeline, while also revealing connections between our central heroes that we never even knew existed. There’s very little to fault when it comes to the ‘X Arc’ as a finale, and so it could have easily taken the top spot on this ranking – that is, if I didn’t have such a soft spot for our final entry…

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1. Nice Arc (Episode 1-4)

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That’s right, the best out of all of the To Be Hero X arcs remains its first, the longest arc in the series, the arc tasked with setting up the entire show to come, the ‘Nice Arc’. Though it’s only 4 episodes long, it’s truly impressive how much the ‘Nice Arc’ manages to do with its runtime. Each and every side character feels fleshed-out enough to star in their own mini-series, particularly Moon, who leaves such a mark on the story that it’s hard to believe she’s in it for such a short amount of time. This arc also introduces the power-system of To Be Hero X, a system where trust results in greater strength, and I cannot think of a better character to focus on than Nice in this regard, a character that proves that in the world of To Be Hero X, trust is so beneficial that sometimes, the most heroic thing you can do is lie.

The ‘Nice Arc’ feels like the best parts of modern superhero shows like The Boys, Invincible, and My Hero Academia pulled into one, with a stunning art style that this arc has the benefit of introducing to its audience. Everything about the ‘Nice Arc’ feels like it plays a role in why we’ve seen To Be Hero X skyrocket in popularity, unlike either of its anthological predecessors. Sure, it’s a little unfortunate that the show never manages to top the magic of its opening arc, but who doesn’t love an amazing opening act? While other To Be Hero X arcs may deal with far more complicated and intricate storylines, the ‘Nice Arc’ is simple, sweet, and checks all the boxes when it comes to the responsibilities of an opening arc.

See also: Lord of Mysteries Review

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Conclusion

I find it hard to believe that To Be Hero X is actually over, but I’m thrilled that it seems like a second season is soon to be announced! Though some To Be Hero X arcs are certainly better than others, there’s really no weak arcs in this entire series, so I definitely recommend you check this show out if you haven’t yet! What did you think of our ranking? Be sure to let us know, and thanks for reading!

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