![Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO”: Tragic Hero [Review]](https://thathashtagshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/32RAtAD-1280x640.png)
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO” has a title that is a bit misleading. On one hand, we do get to see quite a bit of Luke’s backstory, both before he met Natsuko and during his meetings with her. On the other hand, the story of this episode doesn’t quite feel heroic. At least, not in an uplifting sense. There is a great act of heroism here, but it feels as much tragic as it is heroic.
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO”: Details
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO” is the ninth episode (you can read my reviews for Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, and Ep. 8 here) of this isekai fantasy anime series. Said anime series is not the anime adaptation of any manga, but rather, it is its own original anime. MAPPA (Zombie Land Saga, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man) is the animation studio behind this anime series. Crunchyroll is the company licensing this anime for its global release.
Production Cast
Alas, most of the production cast for Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO” save for Kimiko Ueno still being the writer. As for Zenshu as a whole, we do still know that Mitsue Yamazaki is the director, with Kimiko Ueno as the script writer. Yoshiteru Tsujino is responsible for character design and world setting, with Kayoko Ishikawa also doing character design while also being the chief animation director alongside Etsuko Sumimoto, Kazuko Hayakawa, and Shuji Takahara. Sumie Noro is the assistant director, with Akio Shimada as the art director, Ayako Suenaga as the color designer, Kenta Fujita as the director of photography, Mutsumi Takemiya as the editor, Yukari Hashimoto as the composer, dugout as the sound producer, Makoto Tanimura (Sound Wing) as the casting manager, and Takahiro Ogawa as the animation producer.
Now as for that music: the opening theme song for Zenshu is “Zen” by Band-Maid. Meanwhile, “Tada, Kimo no Mama de” by Sou is the ending theme song.
Voice Cast
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO” features the voices of Anna Nagase (Madeleine Morris in English dub) as Natsuko Hirose, Kazuki Ura (Ryan Negrón in English dub) as Luke Braveheart, Rie Kugimiya (Luci Christian in English dub) as Unio, Minori Suzuki (Alexis Tipton in English dub) as Memmeln, Akio Suyama (Derick Snow in English dub) as QJ, and Romi Park (Corey Wilder in English dub) as Justice.
The other notable character in this episode is Yoshiko Sakakibara (Wendy Powell in English dub) as Kametaro Tsuruyama.
When and Where to Watch
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO” made its streaming and airing (aka. simulcast) debut on March 2, 2025. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can watch this entire anime only on Crunchyroll due to it being an exclusive there.
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO”: Synopsis
Alas, Zenshu is still an ongoing anime series. In fact, Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO” only made its debut three days ago as of this writing. Thus, you will all get the official synopsis of this anime from Crunchyroll rather than a spoiler-filled plot summary. Here’s that synopsis below:
Luke thinks about his life as the legendary hero.
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO”: The Good
As always, the best thing about Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO” is the story. However, this time, it’s great not for the usual reasons. First off, getting to see Luke’s backstory is doing a lot to develop him as a character, and a pretty tragic one at that. He’s basically a child soldier who has been fighting a war for his entire teenaged life. It’s sometimes easy to forget that he is a young adult, and so his backstory scenes had to have happened when he was a teenager. Which means that when he should’ve been in a high school somewhere horsing around with his friends, he’s instead in life or death situations, losing his friends left and right to the war. It definitely contrasts heavily with the introduction of Natsuko into his life, and the sudden injection of slice of life and romantic fun into his life. It definitely makes for a tasty dark chocolate of an anime experience here.
Which also plays into the mood whiplash of the battle in this episode. Alas, this is not meant to be a victory for Natsuko. Oh, the Heroes do win the fight, but wow, is the cost great. So great that one of the Heroes actually dies in the process. I won’t provide any details for spoiler reasons, but I will say that the character in question goes out like a shooting star. It’s actually a wonderful example of how to properly kill off a character, due to all the character building that happened in previous episodes prior to this sacrifice.
All with studio MAPPA’s quality animation enhancing that story to boot. Their animation team actually upped their game for this episode, all for that sacrifice scene. The quality of the episode jumps up a notch higher than it already is, and it’s amazingly effective at enhancing the tragedy of the scene.
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO”: The Bad
Zenshu Ep. 9 “HERO” has everything you could ever want in an episode, from tragedy to slice of life fun to flashy action sequences. However, action junkies might find that they only pay attention to the episode in the latter half, where the majority of the action occurs. If you want more of that, then might I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, and/or Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II? Those anime should have more than enough action to tide you over until the next episode of Zenshu. Alternatively, Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF and Blue Box could be a nice break for you all if you want a break from the tragedy.
Tune back in to THS to find out more about Zenshu and other anime when we do. If you have already watched this episode and know who gets to do the heroic sacrifice, then leave your thoughts about it below in the comments section.
