Hero Inside (Korean: 히어로 인사이드) is a South Korean-Chinese-Thai-Vietnamese computer-animated television series created and directed by Joogong Meang, Taewook Hoh, Jeehyun Kim and produced by Million Volt Animation Studios, CJ ENM, Tencent Video and YGG Global. It premiered on November 8, 2023 on Tooniverse in South Korea. A second season was released in July 2024 on Roku & Tubi in the US and released in the last quarter of 2024 worldwide.
Synopsis
The cartoonist Scott Weller mysteriously disappears, leaving behind 100 volumes of Hero Books, a series of superhero comic books that spread throughout San Francisco. The protagonist, Mike, stumbles upon Crying Man and, as a Reader, ends up summoning the superhero from the book, forever changing his life. But it's not just Mike—many other Readers begin to summon superheroes from these Hero Books, leading to a series of events that unfold throughout San Francisco.
Episode List
| Episode
# |
Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | ||
| 1 | "Cry for Justice" | November 8, 2023 |
| 2 | "The Darkest Night" | November 15, 2023 |
| 3 | "Great GRAVITY" | November 22, 2023 |
| 4 | "Jewel of the Nile" | December 3, 2023 |
| 5 | "When You Hear That Funky Groove, I'm Coming For You!" | December 10, 2023 |
| 6 | "Can You Water My Plants?" | December 17, 2023 |
| 7 | "Give Me My Gloves" | December 24, 2023 |
| 8 | "Two Smiles" | 2024 |
| 9 | "Top of Coit Tower" | 2024 |
| 10 | "Revolution" | 2024 |
| 11 | "Villains vs Heroes" | |
Season 2
- Strawberry On The Air
- Criminals & Chameleon
- Hard-Hitting Interview
- The Good, The Bad, And The Jelly
- Coin Robber
- Dizzy Donut Clues
- Special Delivery
- Get The Book!
- Battle On The Bridge
Season 3
N/A
Release
The first season, an exhilarating collection of 11 episodes, premiered successfully last November in Latin America through Cartoon Network and HBO Max, becoming the fifth-ranked show in the VOD platform and securing the second position in “HBO Max TV Shows” across 19 Latin American countries, including Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Warner Bros. Discovery, which commissioned the first two seasons of Hero Inside, plans to broadcast the series across multiple Latin American countries during this year. The second season of Hero Inside will premiere in multiple territories in the last quarter of 2024.
Hero Inside arrived in Europe through linear channel Cartoon Network last January, premiering since then in Portugal (January 15), Germany (January 20), France (February 19) or United Kingdom (March 4), among other territories; the series also arrived to Italy on January 8 via free-to-air TV channel Boing. HBO Max launched the first season of the series last February, arriving to Spain, Portugal, Northern Europe (Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden), CEE countries, Poland and Netherlands. Beyond Europe, Hero Inside arrived to Africa on January 22nd and to the Middle East on March 4th, in both cases through Cartoon Network.[1]
Trivia
- Meang Joo-gong, the CEO of Million Volt Animation Studios and director of Hero Inside stated that they plan to expand the universe of Hero Inside beyond the animated series into feature films, spin-offs, games, comic books and a range of products beloved by kids and audiences alike.[2]
- Meang Joo-gong is also the creator of the popular slapstick cartoon Larva.
- The original title before it was finalized was Hero Books, which is more straightforward than the current title. The current title is an ambiguous title that means both that there is a hero in the book and that everyone has the qualities to become a hero in their hearts.
- The show's premise is similar to the 2015 animated TV series Exchange Student Zero. However, that show is animated with 2D animation, and Hero Inside is animated in CGI.