Thoughts on Hīrōpanchi, by <8Lori8>

Although the Westernized version of Hero Punch (Hīrōpanchi) starred Bradley Johnson, and featured a young and hip high schooler (with potbelly in costume), the original Japanese version was very different.

Played by Mirai Sato, Hīrōpanchi is a brooding detective that fights crimes through research and punching bad guys. The hero's journey starts with the normal plots of "Monster of the week" and the occasional romance.

However things become much darker in episode 8, "Kurai Mori" where we find out that Hīrōpanchi's nemesis, Dākupanchi, is actually himself from a future where he has wiped out all crime.

Because evil (apparently) cannot completely disappear it has flooded Hīrōpanchi's body, changing him into Dākupanchi.

Hīrōpanchi has to confront the fact that every villain he defeats merely brings him closer to becoming his arch nemesis, and that he is not actually lessening the evil of the world, but only concentrating it.

Although the show hints that balance can be achieved, it unfortunately only ran for one season leaving many dangling plot threads.

Including a few tantalizing (!!!) hints at a possible romance between Hīrōpanchi and Dākupanchi. In this essay I will-

(A stack of aged and yellowed printed sheets of paper, stored deep in Hannah's Subspace arm)