Stand My Heroes: Piece of Truth

I began to suspect Stand My Heroes’ mobile game origins when we were introduced to roughly the 13th pretty anime guy whose looks, nearly identical to every other fellow we’d met so far, were made only barely distinguishable by his somewhat differently styled hair, and his one fashion accessory. I want to say he might have had glasses, or maybe a quirky scarf, but I must admit that by about halfway through this premiere I stopped furiously typing out my character name and backstory chart. I usually need something like that to keep track of large casts (I’m no good with either names nor faces), but Stand My Heroes makes it pretty clear that there is simply not enough time to actually introduce all of these men and their indistinguishable characterizing features. To get more than your basic, first-chapter-in-a-gacha-game levels of introduction, you’ll just have to wait another week, or two, or maybe even three. Then again, there’s always that free game you could just download if you really wanted to find out more…

I’m not naïve. I know that commercial ambitions are what the whole of the anime industry, because all of the artistic vision in the world won’t amount to a hill of beans if nobody bothers to buy your stuff so you can keep the lights on in the studio. That being said, I’ve never at all be comfortable in productions that so blatantly exist to act as a glorified commercials, especially for products so consistently sleazy in their business practices as free-to-play games. Sometimes, the stars align just right, and you get a creation that transcends its origins and stands on its own as genuine art or entertainment (examples of which include Rage of Bahamut Genesis, Kemono Friends, or even 18if). Other times, fate has no concern for the whims of mere mortals, and you get pablum like Stand My Heroes: Piece of Truth. I will give it this: I continue to appreciate more adult driven stories that focus on genres other than fantasy and science-fiction, and the show’s execution is functional enough to get you from OP to ED without much to fuss over.

Then again, it’s also the kind of otome story where the central heroine, Rei, who has about as much personality as a freshly squeezed cheese-cloth. That is to say, she is mostly limp and featureless, she serves a very limited purpose in the story, and what few defining features she does have sort of stink. Her single useful quality is that she is somehow immune to all drugs, which I suppose is useful for an agency that primarily deals in drug related crimes, but the show acknowledges that she’s not even that good at her job, so it isn’t like she’s a ball of brilliant but uncontrollable energy that will do anything to get the job done. She’s just sort of a dweeb, but since she’s the hero of a schlocky mobile game anime, the dozens of comically handsome men that surround her are all bound to be captivated by her and drawn in to her world, one way or another. The show is also barely animated, save for a single moderately successful fight scene near the end of the episode, so even though the show presents itself in a functional manner, it’s hardly the kind of show that will inspire excitement or passion in its fans. If you’re looking for hard-boiled investigative drama this season, stick with something like Babylon. Only diehard genre fans will be able to get much out of this one. You can also free Stand My Heroes: Piece of Truth anime download and watch anime online.