Tiger & Bunny is a new anime program current airing weekly in Japan and simulcast on Hulu and Viz Anime. Produced by Sunrise it's directed by Keiichi Satou (best known for his work on Big O). The series revolves around a couple of super heroes who fight crime while driving ad revenue and product placement for a hero themed television program. Sorry for the poor quality snaps. Just went with the first raw I saw.
Synopsis
Following the unfortunate events at the end of episode 6, Bunny lets loose about his parent's death and the organization known as Ouroboros. The strain has taken its toll however and the hero goes MIA forcing Tiger into an uncomfortable partnership with Blue Rose.
He's not gone for long though as he and Tiger take Saito's newest invention, an oxygen elevated isolation chamber, for a test drive. While resting a call comes in - the police are about to raid the hideout of a suspected crime syndicate. All of the heroes have been brought on to support the police and make sure the criminals don't escape during a live broadcast of Hero TV. Their plans fall apart when our mysterious villain NEXT, referring to himself as Lunatic, shows up and sets the town ablaze with his own sense of justice.
Review
Writing up a review is a lot easier to do when there's something to bitch about. As it turns out, I don't have anything to bitch about regarding this episode. Okay, there is one thing. Basically the judge's light skin tones and oddly colored hair don't work well with the brown outlines... but other than that - fantastic episode!
All doubts about the main villain, whom we now know as Lunatic, have been cast aside. His creepy costumes works really well. The jerky movement of his flight, due to his flame launches, is rather smart. It's a lot more balanced than simply letting him produce continual thrust. As is the limitation brings him down a notch and makes his fight against Bunny a lot more balanced.
There are some subtle animation highlights in this episode as well. Take when Agnes is digging around in her pocket for her cellphone. They could just have easily had her produce the phone, but went to the trouble of realistically making her shoulder and breast jossle about. While in the command truck the onscreen maps throw in more detail about Stern Bild. The main island (which looks like Manhattan) looks to be called the Stern Nedaille/Medaille Area and the outlaying area where the church is located the Blakus/Blokus Industrial Area. The three layers of Nedaille, called Stages, are Bronze, Silver, and Gold. There were a couple quick shots in there, of the police trucks on the highway and a highways getting shut down in preparation for the raid. Though quick they gave off a little Big O and Evangelion vibe.
Tiger has more great facial expressions but everyone else stole the show. Blue Rose's performance, beating a handful of thugs, was easily her best to date. (BTW, was that staged? And who brings a broadsword?) The highlight though, without a doubt, is Bunny's fight against Lunatic. Extremely well animated with bunch of cool movies that out sage anything we've seen up until this point. Bunny's 360 degree spin while sliding upward on a glass surface? Awesome. Lunatic's blue/green flames look great and the unique sound they make really helps differentiate himself and add depth to the action.
Fighting aside, the story develops nicely too. It's the subtle, yet strong development, that the previous two episodes have been missing. Fire Emblem works well as a informant (for a lack of a better word) when not trying to force gay awkwardly down our throats. It was also great to see all of the heroes deployed with a plan, supporting the city police. I hope we get to see more of that in the future. Strategy was something the second season of Gundam 00 lacked and Tiger & Bunny would benefit greatly from.
That said, the next episode looks to feature Origami Cyclone who has done little more than cameo thus far. Many suspect his NEXT power to be invisibility or super speed, what do you think?
