Tiger & Bunny Half Season Review 3

Shit goes down as I summarize the plot as succinctly as possible.

Yuri killed his abusive father, Legend.

Sky High is French and sad.

Tiger’s power is fading, but Kaede has a NEXT power.

Mr. Maverick murdered Barnaby’s parents.

In conclusion: SHIT GOES DOWN.

If there’s anything I have to say about Tiger and Bunny that makes it so amazing, it’s the producers’ amazing ability to put thoughts into our head. What do I mean by that?

We always thought there was something weird about Lunatic and Legend’s relationship, right? We notice that Tiger’s ability is fading, and that Legend really wasn’t as heroic as we may have thought. Finally, Yuri tells us that he had an abusive father. Though this doesn’t mean this has to be true, all these pieces fit and imply, if you don’t have the intelligence of a blind toothless donkey (being blind and toothless doesn’t make it stupider, by the way, but most donkeys wouldn’t be able to figure this out anyways), that Legend was Lunatic’s abusive father, who turned Lunatic into the crime-murdering Type IV (don’t make me link you to TVTropes) Anti-Hero that he now is. And holy shit, when that actually happens… the feeling of success is unimaginable. Yet, Tiger and Bunny manages to do just this… MULTIPLE TIMES!

We always thought there was something weird about Mr. Maverick on the day Barnaby’s parents died, right? Even before Barnaby and Samantha’s memories start getting fuzzy, we notice that Mr. Maverick looked extremely suspicious, and that Jake, whose ability allows him to kill people easily, would not have needed to use a gun. Finally, Kotetsu tells us that Jake’s hand didn’t even have that tattoo. Though this doesn’t mean this has to be true, all these pieces fit and imply, if you don’t have the intelligence of a blind toothless flatworm (wait, they don’t have eyes or teeth, do they…), that Mr. Maverick killed Barnaby for whatever reason. And holy shit, when that actually happens, and Mr. Maverick’s motives revealed… amazing.

(Of course, we ask why Maverick didn’t simply change Barnaby’s parents’ memories – one could argue that he didn’t have the ability to change memories, but he obviously did, changing Barnaby and Samantha’s memories. The more likely explanation was that he killed his parents so that Barnaby could become an interesting hero, but that’s going a bit too far…)

“Your parents killed Jake-sama!”

I was complaining last cour about Jake’s introduction in the series. Before, the series was all about arguing about advertising, corporations, capitalism, money, heroes, and the like, but suddenly Jake appears and EVERYBODY’S HAPPY, NO MORE ARGUMENTS. It’s like how divided countries start wars to unify its people against a common cause, except in this case, I actually want arguments to happen.

But now, they’re restarting those arguments again! I’m sure Lunatic and his questionable morals will make a presence in upcoming episodes, as well as Mr. Maverick’s. However, I hope that Tiger & Bunny doesn’t end with everybody teaming up only on Mr. Maverick – a much more suitable end would be everybody realizing the corrupt state of society, and then somehow attempting to fix it. Just as Jake isn’t the core of Ouroboros (and there’s another enemy to tackle), Mr. Maverick isn’t the core of corruption. In fact, it’s hard to say that he’s corrupt – after all, look at how many lives the Heroes have saved. Not all of those crimes could’ve been planned…

I wonder if Maverick planned the escape of Jake, too? After all, Jake could’ve easily escaped from any prison – the only reason he would’ve stayed in there is because of Maverick. But one can only wonder how Maverick persuaded him to do such a thing…

Tiger & Bunny really is tackling a lot more than I expected it to – there’s also Kotetsu coping with his diminishing powers and family relationship problems with Kaede. With only 7 more episodes to go, I seriously hope Tiger & Bunny will end as a true masterpiece – in fact, all of the shows I’ve carried over from last season feel like masterpieces. Hmm.

“Mr. Hopper has recently jumped /curved/ to the top of buildings!”

Now, as usual, some MANY short notes.

How can Yuri be alive in the era of Colour TVs? I wonder how old he is. He was watching a Colour TV with his dad in his childhood – if better TVs were introduced in the 1980s (Legend obviously earns big bucks; he can afford to buy a better TV as soon as it comes out), then Yuri would be 40-60ish now (2030). I thought he was merely albino, not actually old, seeing as his mother’s still alive…

As for his mom, it’s funny how anime portrays Russian mothers as so mentally unsound – look at Menma’s mom.

I wonder if the Second League heroes are going to do anything. It doesn’t seem like they will – the tradeoff between ‘OH MAN NEW CHARACTERS NEW ABILITIES THAT’S SO COOL!’ and development of our main characters doesn’t seem worth it, especially as the plot gets thicker and thicker. Man, it’s not often that you see a show with so many parallel threads – even Steins;Gate, whose plot is ‘so awesome’ and ‘complicated’ and ‘has so many things going on at once’ really only has one thing going on at any given time. That’s pretty funny – Tiger & Bunny, a cliché superhero show, goes around in more directions than Steins;Gate, which really just follows one line. Think about it for a while. Steins;Gate’s plot isn’t good because it goes in a lot of different directions, it’s good because it goes in one direction and goes in that direction with the focus of the entire show.

Finally, WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU GET APPLES THE SIZE OF HEADS?! IT’S LIKE CHERRIES IN I WANNA BE THE GUY, except in AMERICA, you EAT CHERRIES AND THEN YOU GET TO KILL GHOSTS FUCK YEAH

“YOU WANT TO BE… THE GUY?!‽”

Was Kotetsu writing in English or Japanese in Episode 16’s diary? It makes sense to write in English as he’s in SternBild, but also in Japanese, as that’s his language.

Sky High (who STILL doesn’t have a backstory yet…) can only fly because he has a jetpack. I’ll bet if Kotetsu had a jetpack his ratings would… SOAR. *rimshot*

Rock Bison doesn’t even have an episode that features him! Even Lunatic does! I wonder if this means that Rock Bison is secretly an evil. Him being at the bottom of the ratings means that Origami Cyclone actually did something, too… maybe because Rock Bison doesn’t really have an ability, besides being able to wear a suit that has drills on its shoulders.

Either it was set-up by Maverick (the more likely scenario), or Legend defeated Jake in the same way that Kotetsu did – surprise. Jake was probably harassing people when SUDDENLY, a FAT MAN JUMPED OUT OF NOWHERE AND TACKLED HIM DOWN. I mean, seriously, who would expect that. Nobody reads fat peoples’ minds – there’s no reason to.

That said, I was totally expecting Legend to suddenly appear out of nowhere and help them destroy the exosuits at the end of episode 13. I guess not…

“Hello, I’m Blue Rose’s replacement~”

It seems that some NEXTs are not blue – maybe they’re colour-coded, with blue being good and red being bad. Then, having Mr. Maverick’s eyes being blue means that his motives really are questionable – they’re not morally right; they’re not morally wrong.

Tiger & Bunny also manages to blend the psychological into everything, with Barnaby’s fluctuating memories and subsequent denial. It’s turning into more of a psychological drama (Barnaby’s repeated memories of that day gave tons of AnoHana vibes) than a superhero show, and hey – that’s the type of show I want.

The source music in Episode 19 is brilliant too, in its contrast against the sombre mood. Tiger & Bunny’s music stands alongside Nichijou in its expressiveness and emotional strength – if I had the money, I’d spend all of it on buying this OST (after Nichijou’s though :P).

How can I not love a show like this?

In conclusion: lolyaoi Okaeri, soshite… OKAERINASAI! SKY HIGH STEALING THE SHOW SINCE EPISODE ONE