Created specifically for Netflix by Studio Pierrot (Tokyo Ghoul), the show opens with a terrific origami sequence for the opening titles, accompanied by a great piece of music that wouldn't be out of place in a Mission Impossible film. The origami theme ties into elements only hinted at in the first episode, but will obviously become important down the line.
The main plot revolves around James Blood, a London operative for the elite SSC (Special Service of Crime) division. I did giggle a little at the thin James Bond reference. Like his almost-namesake, James is a hot-blooded but inventive operative who's unorthodox methods often get him into trouble with his superiors, and we open with one such mission, followed by a telling-off. There's no wink to the audience though, which is disappointing. Hero Mask takes itself very seriously, and it shouldn't when this many cliches are served in one sitting.
Masks are a theme with the show - initially there's a carnival with people wearing actual masks, but in the closing five minutes of this episode we are shown a prison break by people using paper to craft masks for themselves. It's also got something to do with biotech. Hm.
Hero Mask has a distinctly Westernised look and a dull colour palette, which puts me in mind of Witch Hunter Robin, another show with a terrific opening and similarly bland contents. Animation is pretty basic, and worse than this, the actual characters often have distorted or elongated limbs, which is very distracting, especially when the dialogue is so unrelentingly banal and your eye is wandering for something interesting to focus on. The actual line delivery isn't bad, the actors actually have solid timbre and range, but the script asks very little of them. Damien Lewis couldn't liven this mess up.
What really hurts the show is how half-arsed everything seems. No one thing is strong enough to carry it, so we're left with barely a plot - some woman gets killed, a witness "thinks" it could be murder but can't prove it, and there's a jailbreak by people with strange eyes and paper faces. A better writer could have sewn all of this together into something more compelling, but I really struggled to watch the entire episode.
The music during the show is incredibly overpowering, trying to make up for in atmosphere what the screenplay lacks in tension or cohesive narrative. It jumps out too, with no lead in - one conversation at a funeral takes a DARK TURN BECAUSE MUSIC STARTS LOUDLY but nothing that's actually said is all that dramatic. It is, to say the least, jarring.
There's not enough of anything here to encourage further viewing. I pity the poor sod that has to review the entire series, it's just very, very dull. My recommendation is to skip it altogether, there's better fare to be had on Netflix.
Check out the trailer - how many shots do you need of people drinking?! 10 seconds of this 60 second trailer is the studio name! Argh!
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