Tiger & Bunny

[DrgoFx]

Hey Escapist. So as some of you might know, I don't praise Anime, and I'm more of a Western Animation fan, even though I think both styles have ups and downs, master pieces and garbage. Well recently, I have found an Anime that has caught my eye, and this is honestly a rare thing.

Tiger & Bunny is produced by Sunrise and is directed by Keiichi Sato, the Animation Director for Wolf's Rain. The concept of the show is rather unique to my understanding, and if not please give examples. In the near future of Japan, super powered humans with special abilities known as NEXTs fill the streets and either stay in hiding, or use their powers for crime or good. Those that use their powers for good are placed on a Reality TV Show called Hero TV and are given sponsors to act as their bosses and give them the equipment they need. In each season, the heroes compete for the most arrests and civilians saved in a point system.

Now granted, the show does scream "BUY OUR TOYS. THEY ARE AWESOME." Because, well, one of the sponsors is also another producer, Bandai. But there are several Real-Life sponsors like Pepsi, Bandai, S.H. Figuarts, Animax, Ustream, etc. The two main characters, Wild Tiger (Kotetsu) and Barnaby Bunny (Barnaby Brooks), are the first super hero team in the show's history. Kotetsu is a veteran on the show and has old-fashioned thinking when it comes to being a super hero. Do whatever it takes to save the day, even if it means break shit. Barnaby is the new guy and he's immediately loved by the viewers of Hero TV, which makes Kotetsu a little jealous. Barnaby also has logical thinking, but cares more about competing in the show rather than being an actual hero.

The two bounce off each other wonderfully and it's interesting to see how they react. Even though I prefer Wild Tiger, I've found several occasions where I'll side with Barnaby in arguments. The show is very much a humorous action show, and is beautifully animated. I'm unsure what to make of the art style to be frank, because at times it seems to be slightly different from most Animes, and then later not so much. But I do enjoy the show and as I said, it takes something really interesting for an Anime to catch my eye and have me watch it on my own. Normally I get recommendations that never really flesh out into something I truly love.

So Escapist, what's your opinion on the show if you've seen it? I'm not done watching it, but I have taken a great interest in the show.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

a friend of mine showed me the first episode a while back. It was pretty fun to watch.

I'm probably gonna get into it once I'm done with gundam 00 (season 2) and Steins gate.

 

[DrgoFx]

a friend of mine showed me the first episode a while back. It was pretty fun to watch.

I'm probably gonna get into it once I'm done with gundam 00 (season 2) and Steins gate.

You should really go a bit farther than the first episode to get an idea of the show. I would say the fourth episode is a good example of the show. Third as well...Because of Barnaby and Tiger, the overarching theme of the show is instinct vs logic. Tiger is hot-headed and quick to go off and do what his gut tells him. He doesn't care about his score in the show, he cares about saving people no matter the cost. Barnaby however is more prepared than Tiger, as episode three demonstrates, but he's more concerned about their score rather than who he saves.

This theme plays out through all the heroes, as each hero has an interesting personal episode. Amongst all of them, my favorite is a tie between Origami Cyclone [Ivan] and Dragon Kid [Pao-Lin]. I think Dragon Kid might be a reference to Bruce Li, with her identity jumpsuit and all.

 

[DarkRyter]

It's pretty rad.

Not really much else there is to say though. The show's like a year old, by now.

 

[Jumendez-sama]

Hey Escapist. So as some of you might know, I don't praise Anime, and I'm more of a Western Animation fan, ... Well recently, I have found an Anime that has caught my eye, and this is honestly a rare thing.

You say this as if it's surprising, but really when looking at what Tiger & Bunny is, it really isn't considering that it's structured very similarly to Western Animation, specifically superhero based series. By this I mean that it delves little into improving the main character's overall character and extends itself longer than it should. The show could've easily ended after the first arc (ep 13), but they decided to extend it, by saying "Oh wait, that guy wasn't actually the culprit so Bunny can just go back to being angsty again." This only served to destroy any character development Bunny had gone through and so we can once again watch him slowly climb back to where he once was. The aspect of people losing their powers, while nice, did little to Tiger's character as he was still a bumbling idiot who didn't know his daughter too well. Yes, there was that great episode (I believe episode 18) where he saves her, but at the same time, I feel like that doesn't improve his character as much as it made his daughter more accepting of him.

And the personal episodes were just filler. The most enjoyment I got from them was seeing that Wind Hero Dude falling in love with something as robotic a character as he was, as well as the show trying to sell me that the Ice Queen had a thing for someone probably over twice her age for little reason.

Granted, I haven't finished the show and I dropped it after watching partway through episode 19 so maybe something changed, but I'm pretty sure the following happens: Tiger learns to live with his lack of powers and realize he won't be useless or some jargon like that, while Bunny stops being angsty and becomes Bronaby like he was at the beginning of this arc.

Overall, the show was too Western and monotonous for my tastes, and I saw as not much more than a cash cow feeding off an apparently easily exploitable niche market.