Tiger & Bunny – 06

This episode is positively FLAMING

Based on the Amazon BD listings and MAL, Tiger & Bunny will be getting a second season and will therefore run for 25 episodes. YAY! That’s good news for me, because it means I get to fangirl over the show for all of spring and summer. You won’t mind sticking around with me for that long, right? Think of all the beautiful, thinly veiled homolust that will be gracing Metanorn for months to come. I could not think of a better thing to dedicate my time to.

Three criminals were suddenly set ablaze by a neon green and blue fire in prison, sending them to their deaths. Having no idea how this happened, the blame is pinned on the only one thought capable of producing such intense flames: Fire Emblem. As Barnaby takes glamour shots to boost the advertising for his company, Kotetsu is sent to stand in front of Fire Emblem and get blasted with his flames. If they do enough testing, they might be able to prove Fire Emblem is innocent.

Whatever data they collect that day isn’t enough to say that Fire Emblem is innocent, so he’s still temporarily suspended from Hero TV. More concerned about ratings than justice, Agnes schedules yet another flamethrower experiment the next day. As if Kotetsu has a choice in the matter. Just as things look like they’re wrapped up in the prison, a man catches on fire. It’s the new trend. Kotetsu rushes in to save him, but he’s already dead by the time Kotetsu puts out the flames. Kotetsu notices a shadowy figure on a roof and immediately pounces on top of the building with his super powers, but doesn’t see anyone there.

Barnaby spends all of his spare time angsting, I kid you not. Even in interviews he has flashbacks to his tragic past. His parents were killed before his eyes in his burning living room…during Christmas…by a man with an Ourobouros tattoo. The troubled blonde has been asking around for years about this mysterious symbol, and like a shark, will NOT let go. He doesn’t even remember the attacker’s face, so the tattoo is all he has to go on.

Fire Emblem drives Kotetsu home and drops him off a few blocks from his house. As soon as his car rolls away, he’s attacked by a strange mecha-type thing. Without his suit he has to dodge the hail of bullets to keep his life in tact. He ducks behind a corner and tries to call Saito but only gets a call from Bunny, complaining about the dirty pictures Kotetsu took of himself on his cellphone. Yeah, he called just to say that.

Without any backup from his partner, Kotetsu just runs as fast as his legs can carry him until he catches up with Fire Emblem’s car..somehow. They hide behind the car and argue over who will use their powers first, finally deciding that Fire Emblem will unleash his powers first since he has no time limit. It fails miserably, as his flames just aren’t as hot as the machine’s. They switch plans and make Fire Emblem a decoy as Kotetsu rips off parts and reveals the pilot. Barnaby and Saito finally come in to help, so the strange robot fires a flash bomb and escapes.

Tsuntsun Bunny claims he’s there just for points (even though there are no cameras rolling, and he was just staring out window all lonely-like before coming) and doesn’t really care about the case. That is, until Kotetsu realizes that the pilot was they guy who planted the bomb in the building a couple of episodes back. From there they deduce that he’s trying to kill all the witnesses and that…uh oh…Agnes was a witness.

I’m fabulous, you’re fabulous…Come on, we were made for each other!

The three of them save her in the nick of time from death by giant sharkface robot (darn) and manage to corner him. Before they can make the arrest, Barnaby suddenly loses his cool and starts asking the guy about what the Ourobouros is. The guy has the exact same tattoo on his neck, and Kotetsu has to stop him before he dismembers the criminal in question. As they argue, he points a gun to Agnes’ head and tries to escape, only to be sniped by a hero (villain?) in the distance who uses the same flames that killed those 3 prisoners.

And he was henceforth referred to Sparky Sparky Boom Man

 

Bonus Screenshots:

Kotetsu..you’re…You’re b-breaking up with me?

Oppai, man. It’s all about the oppai.

I don’t remember what is supposed to be happening here, but it looks kind of hot.

Classic Kotetsu.

At least we can SEE where both his hands are…

End Thoughts: Now that was an excellent episode. They managed to up the serious level while still keeping the same amount of jokes and Kotetsu-isms throughout. This may be a ridiculous show with ridiculous characters, but it knows how to give you some meat every now and then. We’re really starting to get into the dark part of Barnaby’s past, and overarching plot. The addition of more serious topics worked quite well, giving us some great scene like when Kotetsu looked lost as that man died after bursting into flames. He’s a hero, and yet there are still people he can’t save. It hit him pretty hard.

Speaking of reactions, if you take a look at the first screencap in my “Bonus Screenshots” section, you’ll see the usually stone-faced Barnaby looks notably upset when Kotetsu accuses him of having no notion of the gravity of death. I ALMOST felt bad for him there, having become so haunted by the death of his parents that he can’t move on, even now. You’d be an asshole too if you focused every iota of your attention on getting revenge instead of making friends. But really, it’s such a horrible sob story at this point. You’re not Batman, okay? As much as I don’t care for Barnaby, having his past addressed can only be good. It might be uninspired and a stupid excuse for his sour personality, but at least he will get development. The more screentime the little bugger gets, the faster we get to the root of his jerkface nature and have him warm up into something less glacial. Or so I would hope. He’ll always be a bit of a prick, but maybe he’ll at least spend less time obsessing over his parent’s death.

Of course we get some lulz, this is Tiger and Bunny we’re talking about here. Every second Fire Emblem was on the screen was wonderfully flamboyant. He’s a real diva, and as stereotypical as flamboyant gay characters come. He flirts with just about any man, and Kotetsu is pretty calm about the whole ordeal. Must be really comfortable with his sexuality. I expected Fire Emblem being more in a huff over being accused of murder, but this worked too. The murder accusation was just an excuse to get him in the episode as opposed to making us actually worry about his innocence, and that’s alright in my book.

Preview: More of the crazy flame guy! He seems to be some sort of ruthless hero who just kills criminals without regard for points or giving them a chance for redemption. This seems to be the start of a new arc, so I’ll be excited to see how this develops. Just one more week until we find out~

HURRRRRR. DURRRRRRR.