©Subaruichi/SHOGAKUKAN/The Legendary Hero is Dead! Production Committee
Alright, we’re here at the end of The Legendary Hero is Dead!, at least for the foreseeable future. This finale doesn’t wrap up the story and is most definitely angling for a second season, but with no announcement on the horizon, it’ll likely be a while before this zombie rises from the grave again, if ever. So I’ll treat this as a series finale for now.
Granted, there’s not much to say since everything that happens here is as predictable as it is generic. Touka saves the day with a bunch of assistance from the supporting cast, and the bad guy of the arc is defeated. He reunites with Yuna, and sexually harasses her a few times, but this time she gets all blushy afterward because she is in wuv with him now. With everyone back to normal, our ragtag heroes venture out to the next part of their quest, and the adventure continues. It’s exactly the ending you could imagine from how the last episode left off, but only because that’s how every version of this plotline goes.
The one surprising thing is that the production finally finds some life in its waning moments. The animation isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s competent enough to carry a little momentum in this final fight, and there’s some decently dynamic storyboarding to boot. With how badly animated the battles have been the rest of the season, it’s a relative treat to see something this comprehensible. My biggest nitpick is that the battle ends on two very sudden reveals that don’t feel earned – first, that Touka can shove Sion’s soul into his vacant body to Mimic Tear his way through the boss, second that Touka’s a good fighter so long as he’s wielding a dagger and he just…forgot about that skill? The one somewhat interesting part of this show’s fights was that Touka had to win by being tricky and clever, so throwing that gimmick out the window feels like sanding off the final bit of unique personality this setup once had.
Other than that, there’s nothing to go into. I’ve said more than enough times that I find Touka and Yuna’s relationship contrived at best, and nothing about their reunion changes that. I suppose I’m glad that the show didn’t make Yuna go through with letting Touka stroke her thighs 100 times (god, imagine the chafing), but that doesn’t change the fact that their entire relationship consists of him either objectifying her or saving her from imminent danger. It’s not a convincing or charming romance, and the only way her falling in love with him can be satisfying is if you treat her as a prize to be won through enough Cool Guy points.
Meanwhile, the rest of the cast is too flat and inert to have changed at all. Marguerite and Anri are the same as they were six episodes ago. Milly and her whole group stopped mattering outside of fanservice weeks before this. Kyle returns and is now an ally, because why not. Everyone else is a jokey side character. The world has not functionally changed, nor has our understanding of it. So with the Touka/Yuna romance as the only landmark for development or resolution, this finale feels as hollow as an unworn pair of our hero’s beloved stockings. It’s a fitting end for what has turned into a dull, unremarkable series. The Legendary Hero is Dead! was never going to be a great show, but if it had leaned more into its strengths and perhaps broadened its comedic repertoire, it could have turned out at least charming enough fans of ecchi comedies to look back on fondly occasionally. With an ending this cookie-cutter, even that is outside its grasp now.
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The Legendary Hero is Dead! is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.
