Filthy Casual for Life

EPISODE 1 – NICE

The episode begins with a montage of a hero fighting with a villain. In the background, the voice of a hopeful young man narrating. Lin Ling, our narrator, is interrupted by his boss who immediately begins to chastise him. We learn that Lin Ling is pitching a commercial to his boss, however his boss isn’t feeling the vibe. He commands Lin Ling to start over, but gets interrupted by the phone. It’s the client. Lin Ling already sent the proposal over. His boss immediately fires him.

At the top of the building holding his belongings, Lin Ling is contemplating suicide. As he stands thinking, a promo video with Moon, a female hero, plays on a large screen. Then, a commercial with the hero, Nice, comes on. He obviously had a hand in making those promo videos. As he is cursing the virtual Nice, the REAL Nice flies down in front of the screen. Walking calmly, Nice walks onto the ledge. He flashes his trademark pose, and walks off the ledge to his death.

Lin Ling is stunned by what he just witnessed. Can’t Nice fly?! Miss J comes running from around the corner with a security team. Lin Ling swears he had nothing to do with Nice’s death, but they cover his head with a bag and kidnap him.

In a warehouse, Miss J tells the team to cancel all of Nice’s activities for a week and to tell the public he is training. Lin Ling wakes up and Miss J immediately interrogates him, but he has nothing to say. Nice literally walked off the ledge without so much as a word. Miss J’s phone rings. It sounds like someone important. Lin Ling yells that Nice is dead and tries to run away. Instead of getting away, Miss J grabs the nearest paint can and throws it at Lin Ling’s head.

Ending her call, Miss J leans over Lin Ling and makes an observation. Lin Ling looks like Nice. One week later, Lin Ling has assumed the life of Nice. As he gets ready for his event, Miss J explains that trust is everything. The more people trust him, the more he becomes Nice. As they arrive at an event, Miss J reminds him that he has yet to see his girlfriend, Moon. Lin Ling frets. After all, Moon will notice any changes. Irritated with his indecision, Miss J kicks him out of the car. There, he meets Moon for the first time.

They are whisked away to the live set of True Love Recipe, a show centering around their love. Their original host was exposed as a fraud and replaced by the 249th ranked hero, Enlighter. Immediately, Lin Ling suspects that Enlighter is there to expose the lie.

Enlighter begins the show and wants to start with a test on how well Moon and Nice know each other. He starts with an impossible question. How many commercials has Moon been in and what is their collective runtime. Miss J is panicking.

Enlighter wasn’t prepared for Lin Ling to actually know the answers. It is clear Enlighter has a vendetta against Nice. With the question foiled, Enlighter moves on to the next phase. Truth or Dare. Lin Ling is hooked up to a lie detector. He asks Nice if Moon is really his girlfriend. Lin Ling panics. Of course he can’t tell the truth or lie! So, instead, he passes the lie detector test by admitting that Moon is his goddess. Irritated by this outcome, Enlighter moves to phase three to expose Nice.

It’s Lin Ling’s old boss! Apparently, Miss J had fired him and now he has turned into a villain, Fear. Nice and Fear engage in a serious battle. Just when Nice thinks he has it won, Fear evolves. Fear starts to overtake Lin Ling.

Then, he hears the voice of Moon and he is reminded of his dream to become a hero. Shaking off his fear, he defeats Fear. It is then reported that the attack against Nice was a terrorist attack.

Miss J finally entrusts Lin Ling to go “home” to Hero Tower. Their popularity determines which floor they live on. When Lin Ling arrives at the apartment, he is met with a garish statue of Nice. He immediately begins to strip out of his costume and plops on the bed only to find Moon asleep. He remembers that they live together. He tries his best to not disturb her. However, as he tries to sneak off, he turns around and find this:

THOUGHTS

WOW! What an ending. I was totally not expecting that.

This was an amazing opening episode. I really hope that they can maintain that forward movement and not lose steam. The concept is not new. Heroes that are forged by popularity. But, there is something sinister that lurks behind these heroes. Why did Nice commit suicide? Miss J basically tells Lin Ling that he will be faced with a similar decision in the future. What the hell is that?

Let’s talk about the animation. It’s different and I like it. It has a comic-book vibe which totally fits the subject matter.

So far, I really like it. Will continue to monitor.