And with this, Maverick sold me: this guy is one great villain. Most of the time when an old guy is the main villain, just about all he does is sit on a chair and order around. This guy however has found a great use of his powers and position to attempt to wrap up his own past. It’s great to see that here, the villains don’t have this flimsy plot that depends a lot on “we are the strongest! muahaha!”, but instead one where they also use their heads, and make it profitable as well.
What’s more is that he also makes very good use of his control over the mass media and the status of Hero TV, where he can pretty much convict anyone he wants to, without any counter-opinion on TV. I will play Devil’s advocate a bit though, because it remains a bit of a shaky plot, considering the amount of people it involves. Maverick altered the memories of the people he drugged, but what about their colleagues? I mean, tiger was pretty well known. They will probably find it strange that suddenly these people don’t know who Tiger is anymore. There’s just one of them who needs to raise a voice, and there will be a bit of a problem.
I also love how well this plot is created on hind-sight. I mean, it was clear that Maverick was the bad guy, but the creators did this without obvious foreshadowing. It’s just that some of his actions subtly gave things away, but you could only see these when looking for the bigger picture. Take the city that’s shaped like Ouroboros’s logo: at first I thought that they remodeled the city after the logo, but instead Maverick probably modeled the logo after the city for some reason.
Think back to that one prisoner who got caught by Tiger, who was ready to give himself up and go to prison before Lunatic murdered him. On hindsight that didn’t really look like your typical criminal: he’d be pretty pissed that he got caught and had to go to jail, giving up his freedom. It seemed more like this guy was a prisoner that was used by Maverick. He probably got a lighter sentence if he cooperated. That logo could be linked to one of the prisons of the city.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Oh, I just love Maverick as a villain. I also love to hate him (though, seriously, he really creeped me out this episode. That apron! D;)
But, anyway, the plan that Maverick came up with does, indeed, have holes in it. But it is supposed to have holes in it, because Maverick basically came up with it right on the spot. And really, he has become to caught up in his own powers that he lost his sense of caution.
Now he probably thinks the public is too stupid to really notice a change in Tiger (though, he didn’t erase the existence of Tiger, he just erased the fact that *Kotetsu* is Wild Tiger). He also didn’t even think about Kotetsu’s family or Ben (he probably saw them as being too lowly of people to worry about).
He already stated that he thinks Kotetsu is an idiot, and therefore probably isn’t even faintly aware of how much of an impact he has had on the other heroes (especially the younger ones), and probably assumes that Kotetsu is so stupid that he won’t be able to survive long and will therefore be killed off quickly.
He was also completely unaware of the interest that Yuri has taken in Kotetsu and therefore didn’t even see the end to erase Kotetsu from Yuri’s memories, because he probably assumes that Lunatic will show up on the scene and handle everything quick and neat.
But, of course, by ignoring and/or not realizing about all of these things (and wanting to put on a great spectacle), Maverick has left a ton of holes in his plans and Sunrise has a bunch of different ways they could go with this, without really messing anything up.
As for this episode itself, the execution was wonderfully handled, once again, and my heart really went out to Kotetsu, Barnaby, and also Kaede! Poor Kaede, she shouldn’t have had to find out her father’s secret in such a way.
Nevertheless, a lot of people are expecting her and Lunatic to play a large role in this current arc and I am personally eager to see more of those two characters.
I’m also highly impatient for next week’s episode and am really excited for this series’ conclusion (especially since it is going to be show in theaters in Japan, so it better be really, really, really good!)
Very insightful LilyGinnyBlack.
Maverick did seem desperate after failing to drug Tiger. Based on what you said, It would make sense that Maverick is probably hoping to capture and terminate Kotetsu before any huge inconsistencies pop up among the heroes.
I’m also reminded of the very limited information on Jake. It is very possible that Maverick has influence to rewrite official documents, giving him more time to capture Kotetsu before they find the truth.
I’d agree on the erasing Kotetsu as Tiger. The series already established the tongue in cheek detail about a flimsy mask hiding Kotetsu’s identity. Basically no one will now believe Kotetsu’s a hero because no one besides his mother and brother still knows his alias as Wild Tiger.
I will say I was slightly dissappointed by Tiger’s stupidity. He’s displayed before that he has moments of insight and general brilliance. I hoped him finding Bunny’s pin and seeing his maid would showcase his more intelligent side.
@Jsl273: Thank you! Oh, and I have no doubt that Maverick has the type of power that could rewrite or get rid of records if he wants/needs to. I also have no doubt that he was the one who was behind everything with Jake.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he had this Jake plan in mind for a while, since he probably used Barnaby’s desire to avenge his parents to get him into the superhero business, then saw the opportunity to use Jake as the killer (he may have done it as a favor to Ouroboros or something), and then thought that Barnaby getting revenge on his parents’ killer would be great for ratings and that Barnaby would be the new star hero (and would no longer be plagued by the desire to get revenge).
Of course, then Kotetsu came in and messed everything up! XD
I’m really looking forward to next week though. A lot of fans are hoping for a “Tiger and Lunatic” team up (though, I’m thinking if they are going to team up, it won’t be in next weeks episode, but possibly in 22), others are speculating that Yuri might meet up with Kaede and those two will team up and help Kotetsu. Either way, there is a lot of “Let’s Believe Yuri” campaigns going around in the fandom right now that I am getting great amusement from.
A lot of fans are also assuming that Karina is going to be one of the first heroes to remember Kotetsu again (considering she has a crush on him and still has his towel).
@synkronized: Kotetsu really wasn’t all that stupid this episode. He has absolutely no reason to mistrust Maverick, unlike all of us watching who know that Maverick is no good. To Kotetsu Maverick is his boss, the person who brought up Barnaby and who Barnaby really cared about, and (as Kotetsu said back in episode 16) a kind of father figure to all of the heroes on Hero TV.
I have no doubt in my mind that when Kotetsu saw the pin on the ground he probably thought, “Barnaby must have come here to talk to Mr. Maverick and dropped his pin. After I talk to Samantha, I’ll find him and give it back and apologize.”
As for the whole thing with Samantha…Kotetsu doesn’t really notice things being out of place until he is put into a pinch, and then he remembers those tiny details (like with the bomb incident, it wasn’t until he learned about the bomb that he remembered the man who set the bomb and figured everything out. The same with Jake, he only remembered things like Jake calling him by his name when he knew that Jake had a second power).
So, I’m sure he’ll actually be able to quickly figure out that Maverick is behind all of this.
I’m disappointed with Maverick. Story wise, he makes things more dramatic by pitting the heroes against Tiger, but everyone knows that the more convoluted your scheme, the easier it is to pinpoint the culprit. To me, he comes out as dumb and big headed rather than cunning and dangerous.
But this is anime and I’m all for convoluted schemes that makes the anime more interesting. Yay for more dramas and character developments between the heroes.
Maverick’s plan is indeed full of holes, but that is understandable as it was conceived at the spur of the moment. I think Maverick’s main aim is to kill off Kotetsu as soon as possible, and after Kotetsu is dead, he can more easily concentrate on smoothing out any inconsistencies with the story he fabricated.
On the second season, I hope it will focus on the Ouroboros organization as a whole. I feel that this season will end with the Heroes defeating Maverick, but Maverick is only a pawn of Ouroboros, and I don’t think there’s enough time to fully flesh out Ouroboros this season.
So after they take Maverick down and expose the shady dealings behind Hero TV it will most probably result in the cancellation of the show. The Heroes will probably get normal jobs, but when there’s trouble, they can always lend a hand for the police, reverting to a more traditional form of voluntary heroism. Kotetsu will most probably retire with his powers fading away, but he’ll probably have his hands full training Kaede or even other new heroes as he does have the disposition to be a good teacher.
Well, I guess is gonna be another long week of waiting for the next episode.
Second season?
@Troyen:
There will be an anouncement about a continuation after the series ends, if it’s a movie, OVAs or a second season we have yet to see…
Fucking hell, I have to wait a whole week after THAT ending? GOD DAMN IT!!!
It would be awesome if there’s a second season 🙂 Kind of like the new generation of heroes ^^ The younger ones could stay and they could add new ones like Kaede and Lunatic!