Story: 6/10
Yes I'm being generous but hey, there's a lot of good ideas here. The overall premise captures the mystery of the mask and the mask's abilities quite well. In this season I enjoyed the addition of Tina's story as well as her budding friendship with James. And if they had actually concluded the setup of the Special Service of Crime (SSC) versus the regular Capitol Police Department branches and a new evil in the ranks of the SSC, the show could've been well respected. But instead Hiroyasu Aoki leaves the viewer with many unanswered questions and too many "almost" death scenes.
Art: 9/10
One of the reasons the show is ending now is that it can't keep up with how labor intensive it is to make Hero Mask. Aoki focuses on faced-paced editing which I think works to the show's advantage. But, alas, it proved to be too expensive for Pierrot. Overall, very well done and pretty impressive.
Sound: 10/10
The soundtrack for Hero Mask is pretty much nonexistent. The OP is a dramatic orchestral piece and that's really all you get for music. But I'm giving Hero Mask a 10/10 for sound because of the amazing sound mixing. Everything from the combat noises, punches and kicks to explosions and gunshots were implemented beautifully.
Character: 4/10
James Blood is your classic American hero and never lets down the audience with his quit wit. Though, in all fairness, the beloved character does not have much of a backstory or that is to say, any.
Then one of the most fleshed out characters (and my personal favorite), Harry Creighton, has undeniably the worst character in cinematic history. Okay.. Perhaps an overstatement but the audience doesn't even know he's dead until another character mentions it in passing.
James and Harry's relationship is never explained, from the first season it hinted at a lot more than just two men who worked together, a friendship. But who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also who is the man the new commander was conspiring with ?!?
I loved all the characters at their surface level because that's all that was available to the audience.
Enjoyment: 10/10
I have to be honest, I loved every minute of this series. I can easily get sucked into the world Hiroyasu Aoki created. But I was bitterly disappointed by the ending.
Overall: 6/10
For an anime that wasn't based on a manga I would say it's a very good attempt at an original anime. Given it had more writers and editors before creation it probably would've been much more successful. Even with it's many downfalls I do hope there is a Hero Mask sequel series or movie in the future
