English Dub Review: Viral Hit “First Upload”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

With his mother in the hospital, Hobin Yu can only look on in envy as his classmates make obscene amounts of money from live streaming on NewTubu, but when he accidentally goes viral, a new world of possibilities opens up to him.

Our Take:

There are many options for someone to become an online sensation, including playing video games and showing off your artistic passions. However, we didn’t expect the other option to involve beating up school bullies live on camera until now. Enter Viral Hit, the adaptation of a South Korean comic that takes the phrase in a literal direction. Usually, this would’ve been illegal to accomplish, but in the world of anime, anything’s legal as long as the concept’s creative.

The first episode introduces its viewers to its protagonist, Hobin Yu, whose sick mother is in the hospital with some pretty expensive bills, resulting in him working extra hours at a fast food restaurant. He’s also seen as the least successful in the school district, with his classmates making easy money off of NewTubu, the anime equivalent to YouTube, including online sensation/school bully Pakgo. Hobin is also constantly bullied by his roommate, Snapper, who seeks popularity through NewTubu. Fortunately, his luck somehow turned around when Hobin’s fight with Snapper was caught live on camera and became a monetized online hit. However, while Hobin earned tons of money through the video, Snapper became the school’s laughingstock. The solution to Snapper’s problem is joining forces with Hobin to make videos of putting the other bullies in their places.

“First Upload” introduces an intriguing take on a classic high school underdog story, with online popularity playing a significant role in the series. It introduces Hobin Yu as an outsider worth rooting for due to his struggles to pay his mother’s hospital bills and deal with crappy people like Snapper and Pakgo. When he gets a stroke of luck of being with the online crowd, the episode develops a sense of interest in seeing if it’ll help Hobin rise to the top or cause his downfall. But, of course, it appears that he’ll be getting assistance from Snapper, whose personality and actions make me want to punch him myself. It’s one thing for Snapper to beat up Hobin for his clumsiness, but for him to insult Hobin’s sick mother is where I draw the line. That jerk deserved that ass-whooping from Hobin.

Besides Snapper being an awful character from a narrative perspective, “First Upload” provided a solid start to the show’s approach to the high school underdog tale through its animation and plot. However, despite how detailed and slick the presentation looked, it might take me a couple more episodes to get used to its animation regarding the characters’ creepy expressions. Whether the quality of Viral Hit will improve as the season progresses will depend on how it handles its character development, especially Snapper. That guy needs a redemption arc after what he did to Hobin before he winds up being the worst part of the series. I’m not quick to call it a hit yet, but it might have a chance to become one if it continues to pull in huge numbers in the later episodes.