Hero Is Back (2024)

Started well, fell off the middle, but still delivered.

After a drama drought in my case, this drama has been my saving grace as I watched and anticipated every episode when they get released for the past weeks.

Story: 7.0
General. It has a solid plotline, a son looking for his mother, a daughter looking for her father, and a father looking for a way to save his daughter. All of these crossed towards one goal and one place. Now the first few arcs were FIRE. They were so good and each story of these arcs, to me, were engaging and good, until they arrived at Lingfeng street. The Lingfeng street arc as someone who had gone through hell watching through it every day was not only boring and frustrating but it broke the pace of the drama as it became unnecessarily long and draggy. They could've finished that arc in 4 episodes and it was tiring to see the same setting again for like more than 8 episodes. The pace picked up again once they left that street but what more can they do with 4 episodes left?

Ending. Linghua tower arc felt rushed but to me the pacing was good as it was back to the pre-lingfeng street pacing again. What felt even more letdown about this though was there was barely any fighting scene compared to the past arcs and I expected more since it is the last arc. Storywise the story of the last arc was wellmade and made me cry a lot like how the first few arcs did (Shadowbound prison & Hanxian street in particular). But sadly, the ending ending felt underwhelming and they could've done more by adding a decent epilogue of them in the human world.

Romance Line. MDL should remove the romance tag. I really like romance in stories and in this one it's very lowkey (maybe to not disturb the story) but there were so many opportunities for romance scenes that would have gone well storywise. The two leads carried all the romance feels with their chemistry and compatibility as well as very cute moments but these moments were not enough. I do hope they carry the romance to the next season just to get some closure from watchers.

Character Contradictions. I did praise the story but I rate it a 7 not only because of the above mentioned but I've noticed character breaks particularly from Xia Ling and Beilou who would act contradictory to what their character would (based on their portrayal). There were times when somethings happening in the scene and I would go "Why aren't they doing anything? Why isn't she helping him? Why are they just standing there? Why would he not believe him first?" These contradictions happened only in Lingfeng street for some reason and that's why I deemed that arc so frustrating. This is the only minus of the story for me.

Acting/Cast: 10
Dare I say all of the cast are good and kudos to them for a job well done! Ao Rui Peng and Zhang Yu Xi in particular are very good actors! I was pleasantly surprised too that the side characters also felt natural. So acting wise I don't have any problem with this drama. I did mention character contradictions before but actors aren't to blame for it as the director dictates the scenes.

Music: 10
The scores are really good especially both the opening and ending songs and it goes well with the drama's theme and story.

Bonus. Cinematography: 9.0
I have to comment on this as the cinematography for the first arcs were topnotch. The choreography of the fighting scenes were good but one thing I really gush about (as someone who is familiar with film making) is the camera shots. A notable shot that I adore and would love to use if I ever film again would be the POV one on the Yanbing's flashback scene when he was training and we first see his mother. Sadly, after they stepped on Lingfeng street the cinematography when down so bad it became generic. The CGI also felt not as good as the past arcs. (Wow that street must be cursed). The cinematography came back once more in the Linghua tower arc (I am LMAO-ing at this point do the editors hate Lingfeng street too?) but it didn't feel as good as the prior arcs aside from the flashback scenes.

Rewatch Value: 8.0
I think this drama would be fun to rewatch as they go to different places (Just fast forward Lingfeng street for your sanity) and take on different tasks. If you're into adventure type drama you'll love it.

Overall Rating: 8.0
Overall, this drama is good in my books and if you're undecided to watch this give it a try! (I won't recommend enduring through lingfeng street though so feel free to fast forward on that one). This drama made me cry, laugh, and left me yearning for more. I have high hopes for season 3 and I hope we'll be able to watch it this year or next year!

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It’s morphing time at Rakshasa Street

Rakshasa Street, a place where all dead spirits from Human World wander into. Each street has a Requiem General to maintain order as these dead spirits will turn the citizens living at Rakshasa Street into evil beings.

That’s where the story for Cao Yan Bing, the ex-Requiem General of Luosha Street, began.

Growing up with the mission to protect the home to his family and the place his mother fight dying to protect, Cao Yan Bing suddenly uncovered clues that his mother’s death 10 years ago may not be as simple as he thought. To find the truth of what happened then, and possibly to reunite with him mum, he embarked on a journey to find the secret Luohua Ancient Tower. Together with him on this journey was Xia Ling and Beiluo, each with their own family related reasons to find this Luohua Ancient Tower.

What’s favourable to Hero is Back is the timing of when the story is release, a fitting story theme with logical plot line, and likeable cast. With a case of good C-drama drought which is in sync with their airing time, Hero is Back was engaging enough of a simple superhero family story to tune into with the kids at home.

I like the theme of family overlay that’s important in Chinese culture - it’s an interesting contrast with Western superhero stories and more akin to the Japanese version of Power Rangers, minus the morphing sequences. Most challenges that came up served to strengthen our trio’s resolve and faith to protect their loved ones. Fitting of the comic superhero troupe and fans of superheroes stories, overlay with Asian culture. By the end of the story, we know that they will look to mark their own path to resolving the problems they came across in their journey at Rakshasha Street.

Hence, it’s a slight pity that the flow of the story got draggy once they reached the Lingfeng street. What could’ve been a simple search for the guide to the Luohua Ancient Tower and a 4th party member evolved to a “battle” of philosophy - as General Yan continued to see Cao Yan Bing’s group as a threat to Lingfeng Street’s peace and prevented them from connecting with Yan Feng Zha. This part of the story could’ve cut short and be replaced with an expanded vs battle with each King at Luohua Ancient Tower instead.

All in all, Hero is Back is pretty much the origin story of a team of superheroes turning “vigilante” - quotation marks to fit the PG-13 rating and this team’s righteous values. It’s more forming of the team and finding their moral compass than to defeat any big boss or change anything concrete.

Not to worry. If they have enough budget and popularity to green lit the next season, we will have our mighty morphing Cao Yan Bing and friends standing firm to protect Rakshasa Street.

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