Is there a lot of nudity in this?

There is a lot of 'comedic nudity'—meaning characters are often stripped of their clothes during fights or gags, but genitals are always pixelated or hidden by 'convenient' objects. It's crude, but not pornographic.

Is the humor actually funny or just gross?

It's a mix. If you like South Park or Family Guy style 'shock' humor, you'll find it funny. If you prefer witty or dry humor, this will likely just feel loud and annoying.

How long does it take to watch the whole thing?

With only 12 episodes at roughly 11 minutes each, you can knock out the entire series in about two hours. It's a very low time commitment.

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To Be Hero – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

Quick facts for agents: To Be Hero

TL;DR: A divorced dad gets sucked into a toilet and becomes a pudgy superhero in this bizarre, crude, and surprisingly emotional short-form anime.

TV show, 2016
WISE score 58/100 (Wholesome 48, Imaginative 78, Safe 52, Enriching 55), scored by Screenwise
Verdict: To Be Hero is a weird one. It’s a Chinese-Japanese co-production that feels like it was written on a dare. It starts out as a relentless barrage of low-brow toilet jokes and 'pervy dad' gags that might make you want to turn it off within five minutes. If you have a low tolerance for crude humor, this is an easy skip. However, if you can stomach the gross-out stuff, there is a weirdly touching story about a father who is willing to be hated and mocked if it means his daughter stays safe. It’s not a masterpiece, and the 2016 animation is just 'okay,' but it has more heart than the synopsis suggests. Just don't watch it with your parents—or your kids.
Age fit: This is firmly for the 14+ crowd. The humor is too crude and sexually suggestive for younger kids, and the underlying themes of divorce and parental failure are aimed at a more mature audience.
Typical age range: 14-99
Watch for: **Extreme toilet humor** is the show's bread and butter. If farts, toilets, and 'number twos' aren't your thing, you'll hate this.
Watch for: **Sexualized gags** are frequent. The main character is the 'creepy pervert' archetype common in older anime, which can feel dated and cringe-inducing.
Watch for: **Body shaming** is a central plot point, as the hero's 'ugly' fat form is treated as a tragic curse and a source of constant ridicule.

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To Be Hero

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

show2016

58%

WISE Score

6.6

IMDb

A divorced dad gets sucked into a toilet and becomes a pudgy superhero in this bizarre, crude, and surprisingly emotional short-form anime.

6.6/10

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To Be Hero

show

TV-14, 2016

58%

WISE Score

6.6

IMDb

A divorced dad gets sucked into a toilet and becomes a pudgy superhero in this bizarre, crude, and surprisingly emotional short-form anime.

6.6

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6.6/10

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Screenwise Verdict

To Be Hero is a weird one. It’s a Chinese-Japanese co-production that feels like it was written on a dare. It starts out as a relentless barrage of low-brow toilet jokes and 'pervy dad' gags that might make you want to turn it off within five minutes. If you have a low tolerance for crude humor, this is an easy skip.

However, if you can stomach the gross-out stuff, there is a weirdly touching story about a father who is willing to be hated and mocked if it means his daughter stays safe. It’s not a masterpiece, and the 2016 animation is just 'okay,' but it has more heart than the synopsis suggests. Just don't watch it with your parents—or your kids.

Age Fit

This is firmly for the 14+ crowd. The humor is too crude and sexually suggestive for younger kids, and the underlying themes of divorce and parental failure are aimed at a more mature audience.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

At its core, there is a genuine father-daughter relationship, but it is buried under a mountain of crude toilet humor and 'perverted' character tropes that undermine the sentiment.

Imaginative

The premise is undeniably weird. Sucking a protagonist through a toilet to transform him into a 'fat' hero is a bizarre subversion of the typical 'magical transformation' genre.

Safe

While not 'dangerous' in terms of trauma, it's packed with crude sexual innuendo, nudity for comedic effect (often pixelated or obscured), and constant references to bodily functions.

Enriching

Surprisingly, the ending hits a deep emotional chord regarding parental sacrifice and the reality of how children see their parents, but you have to sit through a lot of fluff to get there.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Short-form pacing makes it easy to binge; episodes are only about 11 minutes long, cutting out the typical anime filler.
Subverts superhero tropes by making the hero's 'power-up' actually make him less attractive and socially rejected.
Genuine emotional payoff in the final episodes that reframes the entire series from a silly gag show to a story about a father's love.
Absurdist comedy that will appeal to fans of shows like One Punch Man or Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.

⚠

What to Watch For

Extreme toilet humor is the show's bread and butter. If farts, toilets, and 'number twos' aren't your thing, you'll hate this.
Sexualized gags are frequent. The main character is the 'creepy pervert' archetype common in older anime, which can feel dated and cringe-inducing.
Body shaming is a central plot point, as the hero's 'ugly' fat form is treated as a tragic curse and a source of constant ridicule.

Conversation Starters

"Why do you think the show chose to make the hero 'fat' as part of his sacrifice?"
"How does Min's view of her father change when he's a 'hero' versus when he's just her messy dad?"
"Does the gross-out humor make the emotional scenes harder or easier to take seriously?"

Deep Dive

The 'Ugly' Hero Subversion

In the world of anime, transformations usually involve glowing lights, better hair, and a sudden increase in physical attractiveness. To Be Hero flips the script. Our protagonist, 'Uncle,' is already a handsome (if lazy) guy. His transformation into a superhero makes him short, chubby, and unrecognizable to his own daughter. It’s a literal sacrifice of his ego for the sake of power, which is a clever take on the genre.

Tonal Whiplash

The biggest hurdle for any viewer is the tonal shift. For 90% of its runtime, the show is trying to see how many toilet jokes it can fit into an 11-minute window. It’s loud, obnoxious, and frequently 'ecchi' (lightly erotic/perverted). But the final arc pulls a 'bait-and-switch' that is genuinely moving. It forces you to re-evaluate Uncle’s behavior and the messy reality of his divorce.

"The price of being a hero isn't just fighting monsters; it's being forgotten by the people you're saving."

If you enjoyed the irreverence of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt but wanted a story about fatherhood, this is your niche. It’s a relic of the mid-2010s experimental short-form anime boom—flawed, filthy, but surprisingly human.

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