Helck (2023)

[ヘルク]

Director: Tatsuo Sato
Studio: Satelight
Starring: Katsuyuki Konishi, Mikako Komatsu, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka
Episodes: 24

Synopsis:
A tournament is held to determine the new Demon Lord and the leading contender is a human hero who vows to wipe out humanity.

Impressions:
I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard or seen anything about this series before diving right in, so I didn't know what to expect. I was quickly drawn in by the humor of Helck's logic-defying feats of strength and skill and Vermilio's angry tsukkomi response to it. At the midpoint of the series, however, we turn to focus on Helck's tragic backstory as a lead-in to the big confrontation in the finale. While the story is solid, I didn't enjoy the tone shift and the series lost its original charm for me. Let me say again that I don't find the story poorly written by any stretch and all these elements are set up before the big shift, but I simply enjoyed the first half too much. Perhaps if the tone was a little more balanced between the comedic and dramatic elements, I would've been more accepting of the second half. Anyway, regardless of how you take the tone shift, this is still worth watching at the very least.

Rating:
Watch It