[DreamSword]

Episode #22: Memories

This is my favorite episode of Heroman.

And yet, in contrast to all of the love that I'm about to give this episode, it's also the one that cemented me never liking Holly.

A vast majority of the episode is about what heroism means to different people, ontop of Joey and Holly's' relationship with their parents. While they have the typical main character trait of both parents being dead, this episode delves into it.

Joey takes a very positive and optimistic view of both of his parents, as do the residents of Center City, given that Joey's' father was someone who ended up sacrificing his life in order for others to live. Holly, however, takes a very negative and pessimistic view of her father, and refuses to elaborate.

Look, I get it. Holly's' entire viewpoint is meant to highlight not only her not processing the sudden death of her father properly, but to have a contrastic viewpoint to Joey in order for the overall message of the episode to come out stronger. Remember the lesson Psy imparted to Joey last episode? Holly is meant show the polar opposite of that idea.

But just because I can acknowledge the purpose, doesn't mean that I have to like it, nor like Holly as a character. She is entirely selfish in this whole ordeal, and whenever Joey attempts any sort of communication with her, she brushes him off. And yet the episode still attempts at making her look sympathetic in all of this. I will definitely give the episode credit in that it never once tries to show Holly as being in the right, though.

So, on nothing but positive notes going forward, I dug almost every moment of this episode through and through. The atmosphere is incredibly somber throughout. The backstory of Joey's' parents in themselves were ones I found very engaging, and the subplot about Lina meeting Will felt every bit as powerful despite not being the center focus. The climax of the main plot, showing how the anime has had hints leading up to this big moment were great to see too, leading to the twist about the helmet that really did work for me.

It's been years, and yet I still remembered almost the entirety of this episode beat for beat. And hopefully that'll tell you something.

Following in the somber mood, today's' music highlight is "Lost" which is an equally somber song. Here it's used in regards to Lina, who fittingly enough is at a loss about what to do with her own family situation. I really felt for her in all of this, as her sections being the side plot helps to highlight her own feelings of being pushed aside. And this song very much helped in carrying those emotions.