Line #7 WesternAnimation/VirtualHero


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/virtual_hero_3.jpg]]
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3	AnimatedAdaptation of the Spanish comic book trilogy of the same name, based on an original idea by famed Spanish Website/{{YouTube}}r Rubén Doblas "[=ElRubius=]", with Lolita Aldea, the cartoonist behind the original comic, on board as one of the character designers.
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5	The series follows Rubius ([[AsHimself voiced by himself]]) after he receives a pair of state-of-the-art virtual reality glasses, the ORV, that transport him into the Game Worlds. He will soon find out that it's a trap: himself and 99 other players are [[TrappedInTVLand trapped in the Game Worlds]] as part of an EvilPlan hatched by the mysterious Trollmask, who is obsessed with Rubius and has lured him into the game to defeat and humiliate him. To foil Trollmask's plans, Rubius soon enough recruits a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, including his virtual cat assistant [=G4T0=], [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Zombirella]] and [[TheBlank Slimmer]], and Sacred Huntress Sakura, who is kidnapped by Trollmask's henchmen early on.
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7	The first six episodes of season 1 were released on October 12, 2018 on Movistar+'s on demand service; the remaining six were released weekly between November 23 and December 28, 2018. The second season premiered on February 28, 2020.
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9	!!Tropes seen on this series:
10	* ActionGirl: Sakura is a skilled archer and an overall dangerous warrior. Trollmask also has two {{Dark Action Girl}}s among his allies in Demonika and Silueta.
11	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Zombirella is a {{Fangirl}} of Rubius and has a major unrequited crush on him... and in turn, Rubius has a major unrequited crush of his own on Sakura.
12	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Slimmer reveals on the fourth episode that he was often laughed at in the AI school because [[TheBlank he had no face]].
13	* {{Animesque}}: Much like the original comic, the series displays notable anime/manga influences in style and plot.
14	* AsHimself: [=YouTube=] stars [=ElRubius=] and Mangel Rogel voice fictionalized versions of themselves. In fact, the former is the main character.
15	* BadassInANiceSuit: The impeccably-dressed Slimmer can be a serious threat when things get ugly for him and his friends. More on that on BewareTheNiceOnes.
16	* BadWithTheBone: The wood sword with which Rubius starts the game turns into a bone cane after entering Fear World, and he puts it to good use when finding himself in the middle of a ZombieApocalypse-like scenario.
17	* BerserkButton: The prospect of being paired with an '[[{{Griefer}} asshole player]]' really makes [=G4T0=] tick.
18	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Slimmer is a polite, refined, [[TheBlank blank]] gentleman. But his screams can literally turn an enemy into stone if he gets mad.
19	* BreakingTheFourthWall:
20	** During the first episode, when Sakura explains to Rubius that Trollmask trapped them in the Game Worlds, he shouts "What kind of cliched [[Literature/SwordArtOnline anime plot]] is this!?" and screams for help looking directly at the camera.
21	** This quote from Trollmask (incidentally, during the fifth episode):
22	-->We haven't even completed five episodes and the system has already frozen twice!
23	** Rubius tells Zombirella that he's not letting her do the cold open again after [[UnreliableNarrator she makes up parts of the story]].
24	* ButtMonkey: A RunningGag for Mangel is that some other character will beat him down when he enters the Game Worlds by way of connecting his computer to the ORV glasses... which in turn causes the computer to break down.
25	* CharacterBlog: A variation. The show's official Website/{{Twitter}} feed is said to be run by [=G4T0=].
26	* TheChosenZero: Sakura's first impression of Rubius. She has been told to protect him because he's the player who could free them from the game, but when she meets him, [[CurbStompBattle he's getting his ass handed to him by Armadurón]] and Sakura finds him too incompetent to actually be any help. Of course he'll end up [[TookALevelInBadass taking a level in badass]] later on.
27	* CuteMonsterGirl: Zombirella is your average cute zombie girl.
28	* TheDragon: Demonika is presented as the second-in-command to Trollmask.
29	* DramaticThunder: At one point, Trollmasks requests Guruf to play this effect to go along with his EvilLaugh.
30	* EnemyMine: When Ust turns out to be [[GoneHorriblyRight too powerful for Trollmask to control]], the villain ends up reluctantly teaming up with Rubius to find a way to stop him.
31	* EvilCounterpart: Guruf to [=G4T0=], as they both are cat assistants, the former for the villainous Trollmask, the latter for the heroic Rubius.
32	* EvilDoppelganger: Ust is a clone of Rubius created by Trollmask. In the second half of the season, it runs amok and ends up becoming a much bigger threat to the Game Worlds than Trollmask ever was.
33	* ExpositoryThemeTune: The lyrics of the opening, "El Libro de las Sombras" by Spanish metal band Music/MagoDeOz, are thematically related to escapism and virtual reality, both things being quite present in the series in a meta way.
34	* GagPenis: Rubius ''builds'' one in the Mine World to crush an enemy tank with it. Unfortunately, it then gets out of control and starts destroying the rest of the world.
35	* GratuitousEnglish: Rubius occasionally drops expressions in English like "Holy shit!".
36	* HeroWithBadPublicity: Trollmask seems hell-bent on turning Rubius into this, first delivering a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech against him with the entire population of the Game Worlds watching, then letting an EvilDoppelganger of him run amok all over the place in the second half of the season.
37	* HowWeGotHere: In some episodes, the opening prologue presents Rubius and the crew already in the middle of the action, then, after the opening credits, we get to know how they got to that point.
38	* JokeItem: Rubius's first weapon after entering the Game Worlds is... a wood sword, which makes a whimsical sound and flashes a goofy smile when Rubius pulls it out, further emphasizing its status as a joke weapon. Thankfully, as [=G4T0=] explains later, the weapon adapts to his level and the setting, so it gets upgraded to a bone cane upon entering Fear World.
39	* LastOfHisKind: Sakura is introduced as the last of the Sacred Huntresses.
40	* LoveAtFirstSight: Rubius falls hard for Sakura pretty much the second he sees her. Downplayed in that [[AllLoveIsUnrequited she doesn't warm up to him that quickly]].
41	* MissingStepsPlan: Trollmask's plan consists in luring 100 players into the Game Worlds, then defeating and humiliating Rubius. But when Demonika and Guruf ask him how he plans to carry out the second part, not even he seems to know it exactly.
42	* NewRulesAsThePlotDemands: The rules for raising levels in the Game Worlds are different in each world. Some of them are [[PlayedForLaughs downright absurd]]; for instance, in Mine World, Rubius manages to raise his level by [[spoiler: peeing]].
43	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Zombirella seems to be an actually sentient zombie. A possible justification is that, being introduced as a FanGirl of Rubius's, she's likely a player avatar rather than an AI from the game.
44	* PercussiveMaintenance: When his surveillance system crashes, Trollmask tries to restore it by repeatedly punching the controls.
45	* PokemonSpeak: Ust, Rubius' EvilDoppelganger, can only speak by saying "Ust!".
46	* PottyEmergency: A RunningGag for Rubius during the third episode is being interrupted every time he has to go to the toilet.
47	* ProperlyParanoid: Mangel is suspicious of the ORV glasses after Rubius receives them, because he's the resident tech geek and hadn't even heard of them being in development. His warnings, which Rubius dismisses as [[YoureJustJealous mere jealousy]], are proven right when Rubius finds out he's stuck in the game.
48	* SecondEpisodeIntroduction: Zombirella and Slimmer are both introduced during Rubius' visit to Fear World in episode 2.
49	* ShoutOut: The series's plot is almost an AffectionateParody of ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', while Trollmask resembles Kagetane Hiruko from ''Literature/BlackBullet'' and Slimmer is essentially a parodic, [[BadassInANiceSuit sharp-dressed]] version of Franchise/{{The Slender Man\|Mythos}}. Also, the Mine World setting is pretty much a spoof of VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}.
50	* TheStarscream: Demonika almost turns into this in the second quarter of the first season. She tries to turn off Trollmask's electric relay (which is what's keeping the players locked in the Game Worlds and giving them electric shocks when they try to take off the ORV glasses) so that she can leave the game momentarily to recover from a headache, but turns out [[CrazyPrepared Trollmask protected it with a force field]]. After this, in the sixth episode, Trollmask locks her away out of fear she'll betray him again.
51	* SurvivalHorror: The Fear World setting is based on this genre, as Rubius has to fight his way through a ZombieApocalypse.
52	* TookALevelInBadass: A quite literal example: since most of the first season takes part inside the game, Rubius spends a good chunk of it leveling up.
53	* TrappedInTVLand: Rubius and 99 other players are stuck in the Game Worlds courtesy of Trollmask.

Context WesternAnimation / VirtualHero