Studio Kai’s adaptation of Rocket Shokai’s 2020 light novel Sentenced To be a Hero is an absolute visual feast, immediately grabbing your attention with a jaw-dropping opening battle that flaunts its animation budget and sets the stage for nonstop eye candy. Yet as dazzling as this anime may be, the story initially struggled to hook me. The 58-minute, movie-length premiere throws viewers straight into a sprawling world with its own rules; no primer included. But if you stick with it, the new show’s knightly backdrop and honorable scoundrel of a protagonist offers a helpful point of comparison: everyone’s favorite Westerosi Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister.
Sentenced To be a Hero follows two heroes, Xylo and Dotta, as they battle monstrous faeries and demon lords and escort Holy Knights through their trenches. In this universe, “heroes” are expendable cannon-fodder, resurrected each time they die in battle, and sent back into deadly missions. Meanwhile, “goddesses” are weapons forged long ago to fight the demon lords, representing humanity’s last ray of hope. It’s a lot of worldbuilding jargon to digest before the stakes land, and Xylo and Dotta’s brash-and-cowardly dynamic doesn’t immediately resonate — until a magical girl shows up, and suddenly, the story’s hook clicks.
Teoritta is a goddess in the form of a small girl, and she deems Xylo worthy of her help. Xylo hates goddesses and refuses to ask for her help despite desperately needing it. A lot happens, but eventually, Xylo accepts Teoritta’s power once too many lives are at stake.
Later, we find out why Xylo is so reluctant, despite her burning desire to prove herself to him: he already had a goddess partner when he was a knight, and he was forced to kill her. It’s the reason he was sentenced to be a hero, the harshest punishment bestowed for killing a goddess, and the highest dishonor in this world. He explains to the High Council in court that he was forced to do so, and that his goddess condoned it, because a demon was going to take her body and use her power to devastate humanity. But the council wants this information buried and forces Xylo to take the fall.
It isn’t until the very end of the episode that the story finally gives us this crucial backstory for Xylo, and suddenly, I have a reason to root for him. His arc hit the same chord as Jaime Lannister’s in Game of Thrones. Jaime is infamous across Westeros as the Kingslayer, having murdered the king he swore to protect, apparently betraying his honor for personal gain. But seasons later, we learn the truth: he killed the Mad King to stop him from blowing up the entire capital, sparing countless innocents from an insane and destructive plan. Game of Thrones spends its first two seasons highlighting Jaime’s flaws and selfishness, yet it also sprinkles in moments that hint at the honor still within him, setting the stage for a slow-burning redemption arc. Like Jaime, Xylo’s complexity emerges gradually, turning a seemingly brash character into someone worth rooting for.
Despite the chip on Xylo’s shoulder, he remains honorable on the battlefield. He earns Teoritta’s respect in moments where he could act selfishly — like rescuing a group of Holy Knights from a faerie ambush. Similarly, Jaime Lannister constantly struggles against his own worst instincts to live up to the ideal of an honorable knight, contradicting the dark reputation that precedes him. While Jaime often backslides, Sentenced To be a Hero imagines a path he never took: What if Jaime had been punished for killing the Mad King instead of pardoned? What if, stripped of his father’s protection and his twin sister’s influence, he’d been sent to the Wall to serve in the Night’s Watch? Far from King’s Landing and the scheming Lannisters who exploit his Kingslayer persona, Jaime could have matured by walking in the same path as Xylo — a soldier bound by duty, forging brotherhoods with his own Teoritta and Dotta. (Jaime does get his redemption arc eventually, sort of, thanks to the influence of characters like Bronn and Brianne of Tarth, but it hardly sticks.)
If you stick Sentenced to Be a Hero out to the very end of its debut episode, the comparison becomes clear. It’s a shame Xylo’s backstory and his disdain for goddesses are so buried so deep into the runtime; with that context up front, the premiere might have been much easier to digest. Still, thanks to the promise of his arc, Sentenced to Be a Hero has finally grabbed my attention.
Sentenced to Be a Hero airs weekly on Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. ET on Crunchyroll.
