Many anime series have numerous seasons and hundreds of episodes, but this winter, Crunchyroll brought a brand-new series to life, Sentenced to Be a Hero. The story comes from a Japanese light novel series called Sentenced to Be a Hero: The Prison Records of Penal Hero Unit 9004 (what a mouthful!), which came out in 2021. The story follows Xylo, a knight who was sentenced to death. Only in Sentenced to Be a Hero, criminals are instead condemned to fight as “heroes.”
English voice actor for the character Teoritta, Emi Lo, described it best, “Heroes are actually prisoners. Goddesses are weapons and not things that are worshiped.” And that short description had me very intrigued. I was able to sit down with Lo, and another English voice cast member, Dawn M. Bennett, who plays Patausche Kivia, to discuss what it is like bringing a brand-new anime to life, and what has people calling Sentenced to Be a Hero “Winter’s Gem.”
Can you tell me about each of your characters and where we can expect to find them in the first season of Sentenced to Be a Hero?
Emi Lo: Teoritta is the Goddess of Swords. Her goal is to defeat these demon lords. And she is paired up with Xylo, our leading man, who is a hero. And she’s basically just trying to do her job and be praised and get head pats for it.
Aren’t we all?
Emi Lo: Yeah. For real. [laughs]
And yourself, Dawn?
Dawn M. Bennett: Patauche Kivia is the captain of the 13th Order of Holy Knights. She was supposed to make a pact with Teoritta, her and her order that didn’t happen. Thanks, Dotta! She’s super strict. Super harsh in her words, but all she wants to do is she wants to do the right thing. And she also wants to protect the goddess, protect Teoritta.
Emi, how does it feel to be the character that everyone wants to protect?
Emi Lo: She’s precious. I also want to protect her. I love all her little pouts and all her little tantrums. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m grateful.
You say pouts and tantrums. Are there any lines from Sentenced to Be a Hero that really stuck out?
Emi Lo: I love “Behold Divine Glory.” I also love ”The other goddess got a whole seven head pats in one day, and I have not even received one. I don’t even want…I don’t want seven. Half as many is totally fine. That would be fine, too.”
Dawn, do you have any favourite moments from season 1 of Sentenced to Be a Hero that you can share with us?
Dawn M. Bennett: My favourite moment is when Kivia has to pretend to be Xylo’s lover. So, you just see a whole different side of her, and you really see that she likes looking pretty, and she likes wearing dresses, and she likes sweet desserts. And she’s also a really good actor. But it was a lot of fun.
What drew each of you to Sentenced to Be a Hero?
Emi Lo: Dark fantasies are fun, and it really intrigued me at how the setting was not what you’d expect. Heroes are actually prisoners. Goddesses are weapons and not things that are worshiped. And they’re more expendable. It’s just there’s so much intrigue, and I just wanted to find out more about it.
Dawn M. Bennett: I love underdog stories. I love having a hero to root for when other people aren’t. When you see the disdain from villagers and whatnot, they’re like, “Oh, this hero, he’s a bad man.” And you see all these heroes, you fall in love with all these different heroes, and they’re not bad at all. They just…you don’t know the story. I do love having that.
I also love having Xylo, who is very, extremely capable. I feel like sometimes he just wants to be a loner. But then he has this group of people that do genuinely care about him. And you see him slowly accept that, “Oh, you know, this thing, this terrible thing happened to me. But I don’t have to live out this new life by myself.”
As voice actors, how do you create a bond with other characters? Do you ever get to film together? Do you get to know each other beforehand, or are you all just hanging out now while doing press?
Dawn M. Bennett: I will say, when I heard that Joshua Waters was going to be Dotta, I was like, “Yes! Yes!” Joshua Waters is so good. And hearing their performance…
Emi Lo: Hilarious. Oh my God.
Dawn M. Bennett: Well, yes. Like, very funny. Joshua’s very, very great at comedy. But then, when you see Dotta’s backstory and Joshua just acting their heart out on that one. Also, Marnocha as Norgalle.
Emi Lo: Marnocha as Norgalle!
Dawn M. Bennett: Yes, yes. Norgalle is so good. I realized when I was watching, the kind of vibe that I got is, oh, gosh, what is that gentleman who’s like, “I’m eating a succulent Chinese meal!”
Emi Lo: Did you see someone had tweeted that, and they were like, “The character. Norgalle.”
Dawn M. Bennett: Really? That’s the vibe that I got, too.
Emi Lo: I sent that to Marnocha, and he was like, “Oh my God, this is amazing.”
Dawn M. Bennett: And again, Marnocha, another phenomenal actor, also a very sweet human being.
Emi Lo: He is. Yeah. When I found out Marnocha was going to be Norgalle…
Dawn M. Bennett: He’s just perfect.
Emi Lo: Same with Matranga, I was in another show with him where he played my father, actually, he’s played my father several times, but he’s just such a sweetheart, and it’s just amazing being able to work with him again.
That’s great. I know there’s source material, Sentenced to Be a Hero, but how does it feel to voice these characters that are being shown on the screen to us for the first time?
Dawn M. Bennett: It’s really cool.
Emi Lo: It’s fun.
Dawn M. Bennett: It’s so, so fun. Every character has a fantastic backstory.
Emi Lo: Yeah, I love them.
Dawn M. Bennett: And you just want to learn more and more and more. Like, right now I want to learn about the, oh, gosh, I’m terrible with names. Is his name Tatsuya?
Emi Lo: Yeah. Tatsuya the Berserker.
Dawn M. Bennett: Yeah. I want to know what happened to him. Because on the surface, he seems like a very simple character. This guy who’s just completely lost his mind. But then you see, he’s really powerful. And they hint that he was brought to this world from another world by a different goddess. And we barely scratched the surface on him. And then, as well as everyone else.
Emi Lo: But I also love how they’re taking the time to flesh out all of these characters. It’s so easy to just focus on one person, and the fact that they let you get attached to everybody else is really wonderful.
Awesome. From your perspective, what makes Sentenced to Be a Hero stand out in a sea of winter anime? I’m seeing people already call it “Winter’s Gem.”
Emi Lo: I mean, of course, the animation is fantastic, and the music is really great. It’s also just, all the characters are just so likable, even though they’re all crazy. Even the villains are very compelling. It has so much substance. You want to know more. It shows, it doesn’t tell as much. So some people might call it a slow burn, but that makes it so that you have to pay attention, and it means that every little bit is important, and I love shows like that.
And yourself, Dawn?
Dawn M. Bennett: I mean, honestly, back to what we were talking about. The backstories of everyone are just so well fleshed out. And also, I’m a big sucker for character designs. Everyone looks so unique and beautiful. Like, I love Venetim’s design. What a beautiful-looking character.
Going back to the animation, episode number one just slaps you in the face with beautiful animation and action and wow, oh my gosh. Like that entire scene with all of the fairies, just, you see this whole crowd of fairies, I’m like, “Man, this would be like a really cool rave party if I wasn’t going to die.” But I love it. It’s just a beautiful show.
Amazing. Thank you so much. You both seem so excited about Sentenced to Be a Hero. It’s been very nice to talk to you.
Emi Lo: Thank you, Dayna.
If you aren’t already watching Sentenced to Be a Hero, this is clearly one you don’t want to miss. Sentenced to Be a Hero has one more episode left this season, releasing next Thursday, with 12 in total. You can check it out on Crunchyroll now and get caught up.
