Yesterday I was asked about reconstructions by Deedee. Back then I couldn’t really think of a good example that I really liked of one, but as I watched this episode of Tiger & Bunny I realized that it’s actually a pretty good example of a deconstruction. It accepts the flaws of the superhero genre, and then proceeds to create a highly creative setting around this flawed concept that both celebrates it and criticizes it. Of course it makes no sense for the heroes to be able to always be at the right place at the right time, but this series happily plays with that idea and has fun with it.
Also, apparently Tiger & Bunny will be 24 to 26 episodes long. I’ve yet to find official confirmation of this, but if this is true then it’d be awesome. This would really allow the creators to flesh out this setting of theirs, and this episode showed that they have every intention to do so. We finally get to see some background on one of the other heroes: the ice girl. My guess is that the other side characters will also get their own episodes. I also like that finally the most stereotypical character also became a bit more than a walking tramp. It’s a nice addition to see him own his own company, making him constrained by a whole number of different rules.
In the meantime, the action scenes still are fun to watch. They’re varied, and I like how they always involve multiple and different combinations of superheroes to make them fresh. The banter between the characters in-between the scenes especially is fun, and what the characters say are more than just cheesy one-liners.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Yes, this series is 25 episodes. There are 9 volumes planned for release, each containing 2-3 episodes.
This show is getting better and better. My guess is that the next hero to get his own episode will be Sky High, then Dragon Kid. Also… why do I have the feeling that Dragon Kid will also get the Bunny treatement?
I loved this episode! Although I felt like the animation was a bit off towards the middle, the story was great and turned Blue Rose into an awesome character. DmonHiro, what do you mean by the Bunny treatement?
I don’t get the praise for this episode. Its been done a dozen times before, the only difference being that the characters were super heroes.
For me it was disappointing. I wish there was a main story or something more happening in the background. Right now its just random episodes and that gets boring pretty fast.
I’m still waiting for some villains. How can you have superheroes but no kick ass villains.
Awesome. So out of my top 5 favourite series this season (AnE, AnoHana, HanaIro, TigerBunny, SteinsGate), 4 is going to be 2-cour? Can this season get any better than it already is? 🙂
“What will Wild Tiger destroy today?!”
I love this series and how it makes fun of itself. Plus I’m really liking the main character. He too dorky to be extremely cool, but he’s experienced enough to have those moments of guidance, even if he can’t really follow through on them. I kind of wonder if Blue Rose is setting him up for when his own daughter reaches that age?
I like that the heroes are essentially cooperative, but also indulge in competitive play for status and pay. It’s basically how humans in successful nation states operate, and it works as a source of humor and to keep the heroes sympathetic. If they were too powerful that they didn’t have to work together, it’d be hard to accept them as working stiffs rather than as overlords; if they weren’t too powerful, but were too competitive we wouldn’t like them, because they’d be disagreeable and self-defeating; if they worked together, but there wasn’t any friction between them it wouldn’t be funny.
I suspect that the heroes will be developed with threads of the main plot being left about, so when it comes time to deal with the major conflict we are able to understand the heroes’ individual motives and actions. Some of the seemingly unimportant things will turn out to lead back to the actors behind the major plot, and figuring out who is behind it will probably be part of the story. You guys need a little patience. There’s a lot of fun things every week to enjoy while the plot unfolds. How do you make it through novels? “I’m through three chapters, and I don’t even know who the villain is! Worst writer ever!”
Hmmm – why am I still watching this, and how long till the thread breaks?
I soill find the characterization & banter strained and pretty shallow. I’m waiting for more friction from the corporate-sponsored superhero setup, not just more complaining stage-managers.
I’m with aegd on this episode. It was so formulaic that I didn’t need any subtitles from minute 5 onwards to understand what was going on.
It would have been interesting if they had had the balls to drop somebody from the hero cast, but that inner-turmoil-thing? The show itself has already handled this better in episode #2 when they turned that little brat around.
It still has one of the most intriguing premises this season, but I’m not yet convinced that 24 – 26 episodes is the way to go. This one was too much of a filler for that.
Why is it that when an episode doesn’t directly correllate to an ongoing plot that people cry ‘filler’? What happened to character development? What Tiger and Bunny is doing is strengthening the relationships between characters and having fun with its premise.
It’s the beginning of a 20-something episode series. It can take its time, folks.
So i just finished watching all 25 episodes and i would let to see more, the way the series ended left to many questions. Whats Lunitic story? Why does Maverick fry his brain to protect his crime organization? I mean really to mainly loose ends not to continue.
Like* not let
Many* not Mainly
haha only a few typos