This episode contained the big plot twist. The one that had been looming for ages now and had been hinted at numerous times. It’s again the characters who made it awesome, but I do have one problem with it:
The ending would have been a great cliff-hanger if it wasn’t so bloody overused. Maverick is a great villain, but he also falls victim to the “let me tall you all about my evil plans, because I’m going to kill you afterwards anyway”-syndrome. At least I can understand the reasoning of him: his powers are convenient, but take a long while to load, so without some kind of precaution, nobody is stupid enough to wait for that. It’s a good way to tell about his plans in order to buy some time. Just… don’t pretend that it’s a cliff-hanger and that we don’t know what’s going to happen next.
As for the rest of the episode… is it really that weird for Kotetsu to have trouble saying that he’s losing his powers? How does that make him a ‘retard’, when his pride refuses him to expose a weakness to his partner, who he always tried to look cool in front of. People really aren’t that eager to share their personal problems with others. In fact, just about every character in this series is full of inner struggles, and throughout the entire series we’ve had the people around them just guess what’s up. It’s not like this is Kimi ni Todoke, whore the characters spend an entire season dodging their issues.
This episode, on top of having the big plot twist, also probably marked the depth in this series, where the relationships between the characters are at their lowest. Tiger who tried to keep both of his promises has instead gotten into a big fight with both Kaede and Barnaby, and the next few episodes will probably focus again on him, trying to make up with them.
The big question mark right now lies in the kind of villain that Maverick is: one kick and he’ll be out. At this point, the climax will be either en over the top fight with Lunatic, or a plot to expose Maverick’s lies to the public: something that also could be done by people without superpowers.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Having trouble telling that he was losing his powers is fine, but I didn’t really like the fact the Bunny learned that he is quitting by accident. I was really hoping the tiger would tell him when he said the “I decided I’m going to stick around until this is done”.
Anyway, despite the predictability, coincidences and a few cliches, this was still nicely done.
Problem is. It seems that the creators have played all their hands now. We practically know the answers to everything now. And there doesn’t seem to be any reveals left for the climax.
I found that one of the main draws of T&B is not the plot itself, which hits pretty much every cliche the superhero genre has to offer, but how well the series delivers it, supported by the strong and (mostly) well developed cast of characters. Maverick telling about his plans runs in the same vein as no one recognizing Kotetsu when he wears his little mask. As you already mentioned, Maverick did the usual villain trope of “let me tell you about my plans”, but in the same paragraph you also acknowledged that the way things played out made sense. Not that I think about it, I guess that expecting the series to be something other that a declaration of love for the classic superhero genre and all its tropes, is setting oneself up for disappointment.
Anyway, for me, the big “twist” wasn’t the centerpiece of the final scene, as it has been hinted at various times already, but how it played out and how the participants were characterized. The director managed to send a nice chill down my spine by making Maverick genuinely creepy in that scene and made me feel the tragedy of Barnaby’s situation in this moment.
Once again I really like how solid the characterization of everyone is and how each individual stays true to the picture we got of them throughout the series, like Kotetsu. As you mentioned, it makes sense that he’s would try to hide his troubles, even to the point of getting himself into trouble. Something drastic would have to happen to get him to act otherwise, which probably is what happened in this episode. It’s who he is and which has been showcased time and time again. Even his very own brother had to coerce him into telling what’s up.
I can understand why Kotetsu keeps dodging the bullet in regards to telling Barnaby about his resignation. But that doesn’t mean I can’t feel frustrated watching him acting like this. I really had hoped that after Barnaby overheard his conversation with Kaede he would finally make a clean breast of it. Instead, he tries to give a lame a** reason that wouldn’t fool anyone with half a brain, and really insults the bond that they’ve both developed. Barnaby has confided a lot of his secrets with Kotetsu, so I think he’s really justified to feel angry with him. Kotetsu did the same thing during the Jake arc, where he didn’t trust his partner as Barnaby had put his trust in him, so I really thought he would have learned his lesson. Too bad he hasn’t.
Although by the end of the episode Kotetsu is finally trying to make amends, I hope he won’t be too late to help Barnaby. That Maverick knows Kotetsu heard Kriem’s testimony means that he will be targeted, either for a memory modification or an “accident”. And Samantha will probably be in great danger too. I hope she gets in touch with Kotetsu about the picture she found. I’m guessing her memory was also modified, as her previous recollection of that day, she told Barnaby that she only went out. Really looking forward to next week.
I’ve seen some people speculate that Maverick drugged Bunny (I think I saw a shot where the pen he was playing with earlier in the episode was lying next to the tea set with some liquid coming out) and that’s why he didn’t run away (and means that Maverick did have a plan to make sure that Bunny didn’t escape before he altered his memories).
I was so agitated with Kotetsu because he finally had his chance to come clean but didn’t take it. Thus, it blew up in his face but I kinda understand his reasoning of trying to dodge the bullet. Ugh…I was screaming at the screen for Bunny to run or Tiger to save him(which would’ve been cliche) but then realized he was drugged…Usually I don’t connect with characters but this series got me feeling Bunny’s pain…Next episode please! Lol Im wondering how everything is going to play out now!
It does seem, that most of the mysteries have been solved by this point, but then again, I’m wondering how it’ll all play put.
I really liked, how subtly the theme of prejudice between the normal humans and the NEXT was played out. The Hero TV seemed like something a bit ridiculous and a statement about commercialism in our society in the first episodes, but this revelations firmly points to its true purpose – to make people view NEXT without prejudice, as Heroes instead of super-powered threats.
The Villains in Tiger&Bunny are really impressive in how the approach their objectives. Even the Jake’s seemingly meaningless acts of terrorism, now make sense – the ratings of the Hero TV are at their highest and the world believes itself safe from NEXT, with Heroes protecting them. Very impressive.
Hahaha, totally called it.
Though it was a nice touch of the extra background for Mavrick, I was just thinking of him as some consumerist elite killing his parents so that Bunny could be trained by him as a Hero fully under his influence. Instead he sensationalized the media for heroes as a way of fighting the prejudice against the NEXTs. That certainly has its appeal.
I’ll look forward to the conclusion.
Hahaha, totally called it.
Though it was a nice touch of the extra background for Mavrick, I was just thinking of him as some consumerist elite killing his parents so that Bunny could be trained by him as a Hero fully under his influence. Instead he sensationalized the media for heroes as a way of fighting the prejudice against the NEXTs. That certainly has its appeal.
I’ll look forward to the conclusion.
I really liked the ‘twist’. Yes, it was cliche, but so what? They still managed to make me feel bad for Barnaby and the villain was actually creepy. Also, Maverick had a goal other than ‘world dominantion’ so hurray for that. I don’t think a series needs to be ‘fresh’ to be good.
That tea was definately drugged, which makes the preview shot of Tiger drinking tea too very interesting…
I guess its too late for me to say “hahaha! I knew who the final bad guy was all this time and it was obvious his memorys were programed”.
I guess the only thing left for me to point out is the date. It’s 1978? Wow that totally sets the stage for a second series staring the kid and her plucky sidekick in “modern times”.
@alt: It’s NC 1978 and according to the pilot episode the series takes place in the 22nd Century. So, I’m assuming NC stands for something like New Century and is used in a similar fashion to our BC/AD or BCE/CE.
As for the episode itself, I was waiting for this episode for a *long* time. While I may have already known who the big bad was, the execution of this was excellent and really creeped me out and made me feel anxious for Barnaby as well as for Samantha and Kotetsu.
Also, the series could go in a few directions right now, and I have a few theories running through my head. And while I may get some parts right, I doubt I’ll be able to predict everything. Tiger and Bunny, while they use cliches and execute them wonderfully, they also usually throw in one or two things that no one expected and that throws the fandom off a bit.
So, I’m looking forward to what Sunrise has in store for us…Of course, I’m also dreading what Sunrise has in store for us, because this is Sunrise. D:
I think they probably should have gone with the popular hypothesis that the resting chambers were the source of Maverick’s ability to alter Barnaby’s memories. Maverick’s ability makes killing Barnaby’s parents rather pointless, unless he was strongly motivated to steal their child. It would also have given him a reason to torment Saito in the elevator while possibly removing some alterations to the machine. So is that another thread that will pop up later or was it already used for cover for something I’ve forgotten?
After the two major curveballs they threw into the second half I would not have been surprised if Maverick had turned out to be a red herring. Still, it’s interesting that they pulled the curtain now when there are so many episodes left, which opens up the possibility that we’ll get to see a bigger fish. It’ll also be interesting to see how Lunatic ties into the finale, and if the whole thing will end with a sequel hook in light of the show’s financial success.
Oh, and Kotetsu not telling Barnaby about his power instability is a pretty serious character flaw. It’s not like they’re office workers, but rather crime fighters dealing in a dangerous business where Kotetsu’s powers screwing up could get Barnaby killed. Kotetsu is a really flawed guy that in the hands of a more jaded writer would be made to pay for his many selfish traits with real hardships, and not just some throw-away guilt over Lunatic killing some serial killer.
@m: About why Maverick didn’t just alter Barnaby’s parents memories, there could be a number of reasons why he didn’t do that and killed them instead.
The first being that, if a small difference can then trigger and undo the memory alteration, then that would have been risky for Maverick to let Barnaby’s parents live with altered memories. He probably saw them as being far more of a threat than Barnaby and he may have thought that their will was too strong to alter or the memory alteration wouldn’t have held for as long as he would have liked. Killing them was then the easiest way to silence them and not have to worry about them remembering what they found out.
Plus, others have mentioned that there may be limitations on his powers. Just like how Barnaby and Kotetsu can only use their powers and then they have to wait an hour to use them again, perhaps Maverick can only erase or alter one set of memories at a time. When dealing with two people at the same time that could be problematic. There could also be other issues such as that, which made killing them the easier route to go.
And I don’t doubt that this series is going to have a least one more twist before it is over. As for how Lunatic can be brought back into all of this, if Maverick goes and kills Samantha, he can then frame Kotetsu for it, and then Lunatic will be after Kotetsu. Of course, once Lunatic finds out the truth he could then (possibly) help out Kotetsu, Barnaby, and the other heroes go up against Maverick (or the whole of the corrupted HERO TV organization in general). Kaede also needs to fit somewhere in there, though…
Tiger not telling Barnaby about his powers fading wasn’t so unbelievable. It’s makes sense that he would try to hide it. He hasn’t be shown to be the smartest man in the shows. However time and time again I find myself questioning why he doesn’t trust Barnaby.
Barnaby gas never done anything to lose Tigers trust. Tiger has often asked for Barnaby’s trust and got it. While Tiger isn’t very smart it doesn’t make sense for him to distrust Barnaby without a good reason. So while this continues it only serves to make Tigers character very jaded and hypocritical.
What?! Sawako isn’t a whore at all!
Kotetsu has a serious issue in trusting others. There really isn’t a single person in his life whom he is completely open to (maybe his late wife). There’s always something that he hides from anyone. There are only 2 people who know about his power decline, his brother and Ben, and there isn’t a single person who knows about his dilemma about quitting and leaving the stressed out Bunny alone. All he tells his family is that there are “circumstances.”
He keeps marking his boundaries and pushing away anyone who wants to cross that boundaries and get closer to him with bad lies and false smiles. His body language says “it’s none of your business, don’t bother me!” very clearly.
It’s not just about pride, it’s basically an insult to people who care about his well being, such as Bunny. Under normal circumstances, Bunny might just get pissed off at Kotetsu, like Kotetsu’s brother. However, Bunny is less than stable now so he understandably throw a tantrum.
Well .. that’s one hell of an episode .. many people had doubts Maverick was a villain .. but no one ever thought it would be delivered this well … i really love how they tied everything together (Barnaby’s parent research, Hero TV, Oboboros,NEXTs … etc etc) .. simply magnificent .. and they also manged to make Maverick’s debut as a NEXT and a villain right down creepy and chilling.
As to why Barnaby didn’t resist .. it is pretty well done too .. as some people mentioned … HE IS DRUGGED .. the pen Maverick was playing around with was leaking a sedative on the table when he left it there .. so the tea he gave to Barnaby had the sedative in it (hence Barnaby’s warning to Kotetsu in the preview while he is drinking Maverick’s tea).
Also .. we saw how Maverick’s power takes time to activate … meaning he couldn’t have used it on two different people and without sedating them first … he HAD TO kill Barnaby’s parents to keep himself from being exposed .. it all makes sense.
Maverick has a gun. He could have easily put Barnaby’s parents into a closet before altering their memories. He did not have to kill them. To be perfectly blunt he didn’t even have to alter their memories, since anyone in their lab or part of Maverick’s organization could have leaked the information. He could have simply cast aspersion on someone else, since they almost certainly lacked any hard evidence that he was personally responsible.
@m
Well .. it seems they were certain it was him and he clearly had a very strong motivate too … we weren’t told exactly how they got that info but it clear they did their investigation into the matter before asking him to stop .. as for what you said about threatening them with the gun or locking them .. it seems that’s what he did .. but they tried to resist him so he ended up shooting them.
Interesting comments here. I think that m’s right, in terms of the writers not putting Tiger through the wringer as is common in these stories, but I think they have too many characters to put through said wringer.. it would be odd to just bash on Tiger, and this helps balance the series from becoming an emofest.
I appreciate how T&B seems to actually use cliches as they’re meant to be used, without totally abusing them or phoning it in as usual for this type of show/anime. It’s just used for the mindless and obvious stuff, while the story focuses on things that aren’t usually handled with any grace or tact in superhero shows.
Barnaby is a stupid fuck