TIGER & BUNNY

[Destiny_Gundam]

While I'm enjoying the show so far and look forward to it every week, what I really want to see is more of is the single father aspect of Kotetsu's character. While you can see part of it in the way he treats Karina, we haven't seen Kaede in awhile. Everyone generally views Kotetsu as a loser, so I wanna see how the other heros would react to learning he has a kid.

[hitokirigarou]

The judge apparently burned the newspaper he was holding in blue flames. There is an unnamed hero or villain in the opening credits who has the same powers.

[Dean_the_Young]

While I'm enjoying the show so far and look forward to it every week, what I really want to see is more of is the single father aspect of Kotetsu's character. While you can see part of it in the way he treats Karina, we haven't seen Kaede in awhile. Everyone generally views Kotetsu as a loser, so I wanna see how the other heros would react to learning he has a kid.

I agree. I doubt we'll see it soon, not until the 'every character has their episode' mark, but I look forward to it.

...I can't recal, but is Tiger and Bunny going to be a 13 episode season?

[Destiny_Gundam]

I'm fairly certain that the episode count on the first DVD/Blu Ray suggested it'll be 26 episodes.

[kayone73]

Thanks for the tip on hulu.com I watched the first three eps last night, I thought the series was great so far and recommended it right off to a couple friends. Great superhero and corporate sponsorship satire.

[Ryujin]

Didn't notice at first, but Barnaby apparently got a new sponsor in the last episode.

[Dean_the_Young]

Saw the new episode, and damn did we leap into the overarching story with a blast. And flames. And the best darn drama yet. My thoughts are still bouncing around.

Spoilers aplenty below

In the first half of episode 7...

Spoiler

It's a direct carryover from the end of episode 6, and I honestly thought Barnaby was going to kill Kotetsu. In short of that, I was still impressed that he effectively went AWOL as a hero, even passing up points.

Instead, Tiger got some working time with Fire Emblem and Blue Rose. With Fire Emblem, they talked about the nature of the still-mysterious Our- Ore- the snake thingie group. The heaviest thinking was towards that the Blue Flames guy was a member of the group, silencing members.

With Bunny AWOL, and his stand in thankfully a joke throw-away, Blue Rose went out on a limb for a team up with Tiger. And, as with all things, it was a good laugh: pretty much all the villains (generic mooks with broadswords and claymores) wailing on Tiger to no avail while Blue Rose steals the show, rescues the girl, and is surprisingly kickass. (And I am definitely loving how she's saving the catchphrase for after the fights now.)

Was kind of sweet to see Tiger oblivious as to why she was helping him, thinking she was worried about Barnaby. Parental/mentor relationships usually rest on the older person being aware of their influence. (At least, I hope that's what it is.)

In the second half...

Spoiler

Blue Flames is the judge, as speculated earlier. A NEXT calling himself Lunatic, he's not a mob enforcer but a vigilante with a penchant for murdering criminals. He doesn't confirm or deny any connection to the snake-group, but he's killing non-involved criminals as well, so the ambiguity still exists.

An impressive second half, with Bunny showing some actual emotional investment for once. The battle was pretty impressive, for all that it was a constant run-away fight: Lunatic maneuvers more by bursts of flames than by constant flight, which only accented the choppy angle changes and Bunny's leaps and bounds. Tiger actually came out cool for once.

Lunatic's two-episode entrance definitely marks the movement of the series into the main story mode. While there's still some more characters to be delved into (Dragon Kid, Rock Bison, and Origami Cyclone especially), it looks like from now on they'll be more integrated with the plot like how Fire Emblem's focus-episode was last episode.

Next episode preview suggests a focus on Lunatic's reveal and continued actions in the city, combined with the character-focus on Origami Cyclone.

[Bonesy!]

http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php? ... d=18827913

here's a pixiv link some of you might get a kick out of

[Dean_the_Young]

Noticed/had some things pointed out on another forum.

Like, say, when Judge Lunatic showed up back in episode 1 at the party, behind Blue Rose. Even before episode 5, when he was both the judge in Tiger's court case and then the post-credits teaser.


Also, thisgirl has shownup more than once (and, while I can't find a picture, I think she was also the girl Tiger and Blue Rose saved in episode 7).


Combine that with the Orobos on the Stern Dollar, apparently Tiger & Bunny is better at being subtle than I realized.

[Ryujin]

I like this show more & more with each episode.

It's good to see that Cyclone actually takes it all seriously, in spite of what the sponsors have him usually do. That power of his would be quite useful in espionage or law enforcement, de gozaru.

I'm glad that they've taken quite a bit of effort with the world-building, with such things as retired superheroes working as commentators, the Stern Bild counterpart of Grauman's Chinese Theatre/Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hero Academy.

And those Academy students showing off their powers....I was half-expecting a coach resembling Bruce Campbell to walk in and tell them, "You, you, you--Siiiidekick."

I have to wonder about the whole deal with secret identities, since it's very clear that a lot of people know the heroes' civilian identities--yet Kaede manages to be clueless about her dad, and Karina doesn't have any stalkers. Perhaps they'll address this in a future episode.

Also, next episode: Adventures in Babysitting with Dragon Kid!

Also, thisgirl has shownup more than once (and, while I can't find a picture, I think she was also the girl Tiger and Blue Rose saved in episode 7).

Combine that with the Orobos on the Stern Dollar, apparently Tiger & Bunny is better at being subtle than I realized.

Indeed, she was the girl that Tiger & Blue Rose saved (not sure if she appeared in the episode credits as she squealed a few times); she shows up in the latest episode as well.

I like how Lunatic's responses to Tiger & Barnaby's questioning, especially regarding Ourobouros, are all rather ambiguous and can be interpreted in any number of ways--to the point that Barnaby seems to have written him off as a potential lead, at least for the time being. He doesn't confirm or deny anything, just lets Tiger & Barnaby jump to their own conclusions. Then there's the whole conversation following the cross-counter.

That and his responses at the multi-corporate meeting is really molding him into quite an interesting antagonist (can't quite call him an anti-hero or a villain yet).

Also, props to the staff for his Iron Man-style thrust-vectoring with the hands and his JoJo's Bizarre Adventures-ish character design.

[Destiny_Gundam]

I hope the baby in the next episode will give Kotetsu a chance to flex his fatherly muscles.

[Dean_the_Young]

I hope the baby in the next episode will give Kotetsu a chance to flex his fatherly muscles.

Here's to hoping. Maybe Tiger gets the job because he's still 'recovering.'



All in all, I actually didn't like this issue too much. Besides what seems to be an art change with Tiger and Bunny themselves, I found the plot lackluster itself. Ivan's guilt really didn't strike me as, well, reasonable, nor did his friend's revenge mindset. I was expecting, I don't know, Ivan to have changed into his friend during that encounter, having accidentally killed the person, but his friend took the blame. Then I could understand some later anger and guilt on both sides.


What also got me was the rather lacklust battle choreography. Besides the, well, lack of any mystery at all about which of the two 'criminals' was the real one, Tiger's later sacrifice just struck me as badly handled. He's more than capable of outrunning a flame blast aimed at Ivan and his friend and pushing them out of the way, but has to run past Bunny and jump into the air to intercept a blast aimed at Bunny? I understand that the point was 'Tiger gets injured saving Bunny, gives Bunny second thoughts,' but yeesh.


The benefits of this episode were the world building more than anything else. The execution, in my view, was subpar compared to prior episodes.

[yazi88]

Episode 9 was a interesting episode, most of it was pretty much a mutant version of "3 men and a baby" except it was really 2 men and a teenage girl with a baby with telekinesis.
Boy was Blue Rose and everyone else in for a shock when Rock Bison revealed that Wild Tiger had a 9 year old daughter although Blue Rose was still very shocked and depressed. Only the producer chick knew this aside from Rock Bison as he and Wild Tiger are close friends/acquaintances.

They also finally give a glimpse of who might be

Spoiler

Barraby's parent's murderer, although he thinks it might be Wild Tiger because of he was holding a taser with flames in the background and the murderer cultprit also had facial hair except after the credits it actually shows the supposed real criminal putting burnt marks on rocks at a disclosed location. He will also be the focus according to the preview for episode 10.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Finally the moment I was waiting for!

Spoiler

I wasn't disappointed by everyone's reactions to learning Kotetsu is a father. I knew Rock Bison would already know but I didn't expect Blue Rose to react so poorly She definitely feels more than just respect for Kotetsu. I've always found it cute when younger girls have crushes on older guys (though it can cross into creepy territory if reciprocated). In the begining I had wanted to see something between Kotetsu and Blue Rose since she was the most prominent female character, but that was before I found out she was a high school girl.

Anyways, we also learn that Kotetsu's wife had died of an illness. I was thinking maybe she was killed by a criminal, allowing him to empathise with Barnaby's situation, but that's not the case.

I was eagerly waiting for Dragon Kid to get the spotlight. She really is cute.

Also nice to see Barnaby opening up to Kotetsu. I was worried for a second he was going to start suspecting Kotetsu of being his parents' killer but thankfully they aren't going that route.

Is it just me or is the major of Sternbuild supposed to be Obama?

[yazi88]

Spoiler

Is it just me or is the major of Sternbuild supposed to be Obama?

I noticed that too. Although not the first anime to do it either.

[Ryujin]

Backpack Girl's in trouble again. Kinda makes you think she's some kind of deranged fangirl doing all of this deliberately. Maybe she's the personification of all them fujoshi. Or a Hero TV employee. Or a NEXT hypnotizing people into becoming 'criminals' for attention-getting purposes.

As with the previous episode, it looks like the staff's B-team handled this episode's animation, with a nod to Karas in the villainesses' character designs.

Bringing up the wife in this episode ties in neatly with the first Drama CD, which dealt with Antonio, Kotetsu & Kotetsu's wife.

Spoiler

Apparently, they've known each other since high school, with Antonio being the leader of a gang from another school. Kotetsu's wife, Amamiya Tomoe (voiced by Maaya Sakamoto) was the meganekko tsundere class rep who was responsible for his hero name (mainly because Kotetsu kept coming up with lame ones). Anyways, Antonio challenges Kotetsu to a fight, his gang members kidnap Tomoe without Antonio's knowledge, and Kotetsu ends up saving Tomoe using his powers because the building she was in caught fire for some reason. Antonio asks Kotetsu why he didn't use his power during their fight, and Kotetsu answers that his powers are for protecting people, not fighting people.

Afterwards, Nathan begins to recount the story of his first love, a rugby player, at which point Antonio & Kotetsu decide to leave the bar.

Among other things, the drama CD also implies that Hero TV's been around for quite a while already.

The first BD's came with a short 'pilot episode' featuring earlier character designs (what BIG hair you have!) and apparently, an Aussie-sounding narrator speaking in English. The BD's also come with English subtitles.

[Dean_the_Young]

Now, having some thoughts after having watched the dub:

-Seems like everyone but Dragon Kid understood the value of the present her parents gave, and Tiger even recognized the flower language. Flow language is always a nice device for conveying sentiment.

-Blue Rose really did have her view shocked about Tiger... but then, it's actually hard to tell what it was. Since T&B is avoiding traditional anime pitfalls (rampant blushing, super deformed comedy, etc.), most of what we believe is often projection. I do wonder how it will proceed: while I'd be leery for an actual relationship, one-sided crushing towards an older figure is a phase all teens and older kids go through.

-So Dragon Kid's from... China? Not too surprised, but as with most anime no one in the cast looks particularly Japanese. Says more about the culture than the show, though.

-Bunny is definitely opening up to working with Tiger. Still some guilt, but also acceptance: hope he doesn't go too soft, since their irritation at each other was pretty fun. Remains to be seen if Bunny is going to have a suspicion-phase against Tiger: I don't think it likely, for lack of tatoos, but it remains to be seen.

-Bunny saving Mrs. Agnes Princess Styles seems to be... subverted? I don't think she was embarassed, and she really is the sort of character who could be annoyed by a dirtied dress. Props to the humor.

-Those three sisters were surprisingly interesting in their powers and how they worked together. Even minor-powers can get things done, and I suppose there's no reason not to exploit it. Even so, I really wanted to see Tiger punch a lady who was kidnapping a kid. Paternal Instinct Roar!

-Tiger does another spiritual adoption: he doesn't steal people from their parents, he just becomes the second dad. It's like a reverse-harem, but actually socially acceptable. Papa Tiger is surprisingly good at helping people with their troubles... which is why I predict that it's Tiger who is going to be thrown into crisis later on in the series, probably by Lunatic, and it will be up to everyone else to draw him out.

-It will be good to get back to the crime fighting next episode. And... Tiger with a gatteling gun? What the heck?





A minor quibble deserves to be raised, however. Dragon Kid was said to have been enamored with heroes since childhood, which is why she's now a child, but nothing like that really came across this episode. Sort of like Origami Cyclone's being a nippon-phile. Minor quibble, and can easily be explored later, but still.

[Amadi Akintunde]

So, finally started watching this show, finished the current nine episodes last night. This is definitely a good hit from Sunrise - very unique compared to most of everything else out this season. There's no one in the cast that I can hate.

I love the art style, too.

[Ryujin]

-Those three sisters were surprisingly interesting in their powers and how they worked together. Even minor-powers can get things done, and I suppose there's no reason not to exploit it.

They weren't that smart about it, though. It would've made more sense for danger-smeller to go with lie-smeller for the ransom pick-up, as she would've been able to sniff out dangers such as undercover cops or heroes. As it was, money-smeller was superfluous, since lie-smeller could've just asked if Agnes had brought all the ransom money with her. And, given their MO, they could at least have worn something to conceal their faces (but then again, Blue Rose & Dragon Kid get away with it too. Gotta maintain those tropes!).

Also, it's interesting that they don't give off the characteristic blue 'glow' when their powers are in use. Perhaps it's connected with the rather subtle nature of their powers.

Given all the students in the Hero Academy, I'd really like to see some NEXTs in the show use their powers for day-to-day, civilian applications. Someone who can smell a person's financial status would be an asset to banks and investment houses, for example...

gatteling

Duuude....I'll assume you were intoxicated when you typed that.

Judging from its appearance, Tiger probably got the Gatling from one of the mecha baddies.

[Destiny_Gundam]

(but then again, Blue Rose & Dragon Kid get away with it too. Gotta maintain those tropes!).

To be fair Blue Rose looks extremely different in her civillian guise. It's the hair that does it.

Also, it's interesting that they don't give off the characteristic blue 'glow' when their powers are in use. Perhaps it's connected with the rather subtle nature of their powers.

Their eyes glowed blue. But yeah, I bet it has something to do with the strength of their powers.