Tiger & Bunny – 13
This week’s fashion tip: Fur is murder.
I love saving Tiger & Bunny for a time when I can really settle down to enjoy it. Right after an exam, for instance, to console myself after failing miserably. This time the exam was actually pretty forgiving and I didn’t need any post-exam consolation, but of course I watched it anyways. After all, the longer I wait to watch it the higher my chances are of getting spoiled from stuff on Tumblr.
Quick recap: Barnaby has to win against Jake or else half of the city will be demolished by the exosuits. As a back-up, they’re setting up signal jammers to tamper with Kriem’s control of the stuffed animals inside the suits so they can hopefully take out all the mechs once they’re immobile. All in all, everything rides on Barnaby winning this fight. However, it’s hard to have hope when Jake is toying with Barnaby as easily as he toyed with the other heroes.
By now, the signal jammers are finally working, so Agnes sends out Fire Emblem, Blue Rose and Dragon Kid to take out the exosuits. Although the stuffed animals have stopped controlling the suits, a self-defense program has been activated in its place. The three of them are in for much more of a fight than they bargained for, and it’s hard to tell if they’ll be able to finish off the exosuits before Barnaby’s fight is over.
Hey, you wouldn’t hit a lady, would you?
Kotetsu is more than a little pissed that he couldn’t go with the trio of, erm, ladies, to help protect the city. In the mean time, he watches Barnaby’s fight and tries to figure out how Jake has been avoiding getting hit all this time. Jake even helps them guess by bragging about his second ability to the camera. He even let his guard down on purpose in a cloud of smoke so Barnaby would attack and then countered him without even turning his head. Is this really such a hard power to guess?
After a lot of pondering, Kotetsu finally realizes that Jake can read minds. Instead of calling Barnaby on his phone or getting someone less FATALLY INJURED to relay the news, he uses his Hundred Powers to heal himself to a certain extent. After picking up a special grenade from Saitou, he heads to the arena to deliver the news to Barnaby.
Meanwhile, Barnaby is slowly losing the battle. He’s been viciously attacking all this time without even activating his powers. Seeing as how he’s on his last legs, he finally unleashes his Hundred Powers…only to be kicked all the way to the roof. Feeling the weight of the situation and how utterly useless his life has been, he starts crying. Barnaby wavers, and then starts to fall. Before you can say “that is totally heterosexual,” Kotetsu appears behind Barnaby to catch him.
Kotetsu explains that Jake has super hearing and that he should attack after throwing this sound grenade to damage his ears. Before you think “KOTETSU, YOU FOOL!!!” realize that he can’t exactly tell Barnaby he reads minds because then Jake will realize their plan. As ridiculous as it sounds, Barnaby takes the blood-splattered grenade and jumps back down to use it. The high-pitched shriek it emits does nothing, but when Jake makes it explode, it reveals its true nature as a stun grenade. Barnaby uses the opportunity to hit Jake so hard he bounces onto the roof himself, out of commission from a broken rib.
Naturally, Barnaby follows suit to finish off the horrible murderer, clutching him by the neck. Kotetsu stands there idly and waits for Barnaby’s rage to dissipate. Sure enough, he eventually lets go of his vice grip and leaves Jake lying there to talk to Kotetsu. The gist of the conversation is that Barnaby and Kotetsu have rebuilt their levels of trust to an all-time high.
But it’s not over! Kriem appears in a helicoptor to reclaim Jake and make their getaway, but with nothing left to hold hostage, she doesn’t really have any leverage. Cue the trio of ladies standing triumphantly over the wreckage of exosuits and cute, deactivated Mad Bears. On the edge of desperation, Jake leaps off the roof for Kriem to catch him. Kotetsu grabs him with his wire, Jake accidentally shoots down the helicoptor, and the bad guys die a fiery death. Or at least get their eyebrows singed off. The end!
The power of good always prevails over mullets and gaudy make-up!
Always the underdog, Kotetsu gets no appreciation for anything. Even the no good mayor gets more praise than Kotetsu, who limped his way to an arena to cheer his boyfriend on. But he does get one prize. Barnaby calling him “Kotetsu-san” and actually having the confidence to smile fondly at the old man as he did it.
What Happened This Episode From A Fujoshi’s Perspective:
Kotetsu went to quickly have his way with Barnaby on the roof in between the battle.
Power suits came off
Bandages came off
And it was so good, Kotetsu spent the rest of the day limping.
End Thoughts: Bromance reaching critical levels!!! I repeat, we have record-high homolust here!!! I’m well aware that to anyone who isn’t biased this qualifies as just buddy-buddy actions, but hey, you can’t talk sense into a fujoshi. I completely lost it when Barnaby actually called Kotetsu by name and didn’t even act tsun about it. I was also immensely pleased when Kotetsu showed up to Barnaby’s fight in person and caught him while he was crying. I’ll admit that was a bit cheesy, but hey, it worked. I’m glad their trust was patched up so quickly, although I can only wonder how much closer the two can get from here. There has to be some sort of ceiling for them, and with Barnaby finally trusting Kotetsu, I wonder if the two of them will still exhibit the same levels of character growth in the episodes to come.
As much as I liked this episode, the rushing from episode 12 is still present. It seems like a really abrupt end to the arc, and it’s kind of unsatisfying to see Jake die (or at least collapse) from his own stupid helicoptor. After putting up such a fight and taking out all the heroes in one shot, he crumbles from a punch. :/ It was a bit of an anticlimactic ending, and I sort of wish they’d shown more of the other Heroes fighting and cut back and forth between the two fights to add suspense. Too much of the episode was spent on “HMM, HE SAYS HE CAN HEAR EVERYTHING, WHAT COULD HIS POWER BE?!?!” I had already guessed his power from the last episode, so it was painful for them to be in the dark for so long >_< All in all, the Jake fight was kind of average. I liked Barnaby’s first big fight against Lunatic more than this.
Where this episode lacks in badass battles, it makes up for in character development and general lulz. Aside from the obvious death-inducing TigerxBunny shenanigans (I died.) the other characters have little glints of development here and there too. Yuri is actually pleased that the heroes defeated Jake, either because Jake doesn’t follow his code of justice or because he was encroaching on his title of Worst-Dressed Man in Sternbild. Blue Rose’s life also continues to revolve around Kotetsu a frightening amount, which has me worried about what sort of crazy puppy dog love antics I’ll be in store for in episode 14. Please don’t make this cannon in lieu of my gay romance, Sunrise, or you will shatter my black and withered heart.
Preview: The Ouroboros arc is over and that means it’s time for more ridiculous one-shot episodes that have nothing to do with anything! Kotetsu and Karina seem to be doing some sort of weird stretching together? Barnaby is nowhere to be seen, so Kotetsu is teamed up with Karina for whatever criminal is in their way. Wait, is this a love episode to make up for the ridiculous amounts of homolust from this episode? Nooo!!!
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Jake got pwned by his own friend ouch, I laughed so hard with Tiger = He has super hearing LOL Yes that explains everything, even thou we all were probably like NO HE CAN READ YOUR MIND DUDE!! Still fun and duel powers?! WTF I call haxxorz.
Anyway I guess this ends an arc? for Bunny anyway since that was his main goal to take out Jake. Next week what Bluerose is in loveeeeee?! And yes time to do some random episodes about the other heroes again.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yeah, why didn’t Jake just read Kotetsu’s mind to know his plan? I guess there’s a limit to his lifehack skills. Maybe later on Tiger will suddenly develop another power? =O
After the random eps, I wonder what new arc they’ll have in store for us~?
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 79 comments
I was a bit disappointed that Lunatic didn’t jump in to help during the conflict, and that we didn’t get to see more of the fight vs. the Mad Bears. I really like that Jake could only have been defeated by the duo’s teamwork, though – Kotetsu brought the grenade and formed the plan, and Barnaby kept his Hundred Power for long enough to pull it off. I really liked their post-fight interactions too, from Kotetsu silently convincing his partner not to off Jake to the bromance everywhere. As for Jake, I’m not surprised that someone with his set of powers crumpled when someone got in a good hit, and the whole thing gave me definite Captain Hammer vibes. And there’s no way I’m buying his death until we see the body, I know supervillains too well for that.
The one thing I’m wondering now is where we’ll go from here. The episode was a great conclusion to the arc and I’ve heard some spoilers for future episodes to guess on where things may go from here, but the preview was pretty vague other than Tiger and Blue Rose being in focus. Either way I do like the way this show brings the lulz, so I’m pretty optimistic about starting the new cour.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I was really banking on him coming in to save the day too! He was just chilling in his office, he could have done it! Heck, he could’ve dived in when everyone was weak and killed them both. :/
I wanted to see Kotetsu and Barnaby actually fight Jake together, but this works too…and worked more to let their relationship flourish. I was careful with my wording in the post, so I’m not sure if he’s dead yet either lol. I never trust anime with death.
I got some spoilers too, sadly. D: I think we’ll delve back into some randomness before the next real arc starts. And even I’m not sure what that will be. Maybe Lunatic will come back into the spotlight again?
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Critique with 1024 comments
HOMOLUST
HOMOLUST EVERYWHERE
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
360 DEGREES OF GAY.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
I really liked the Super Hearing moment. I was totally convinced that Tiger got it wrong. XD
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
He tricked me too! It would totally be something his character would do…XD
POWUH: 400-499 with 406 comments
That Ouroborus fail at the end was funny. I hate spelling their organization name.
I totally was KOTETSU YOU FOOL at that moment. THEY GOT MEEE.
Barnaby without his glasses looks so different.
/Though maybe that’s just me.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I always add too many u’s. Stupid Canadian spelling, always adding in u’s to words!
I don’t think he looks too different in his glasses. I think it’s the fact that just his head is peeking out of the suit. It looks…weird. lol.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 323 comments
I really, really like Tiger. I wish he got more credit for his work. He’s a legit super hero. <3
I thought Jake's demise was hysterical. He was so full of it and he totally deserved to make a fat fool of himself in the end. xD
I was kind of disappointed at how little we found out about Ouroborus though. Then again, we still have another 10+ episodes. WOOH!
I am also not a fan of Blue Rose x Tiger. Like, he's so much OLDER than her JEEZE. I don't even really like him with Bunny, but I'd prefer him with Bunny over her. xD
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Me too. I was so crestfallen that no one gave him any praise for all his hard work.
We never did find out much about them, did we? My guess is Jake and Kriem aren’t the only members of the Ouroborus. Found an interesting rumour in my lurking grounds that Jake and Kriem are supposed to sound like Jack/Joker and Queen. So who knows where the other card suits will turn up *speculation galore*
Yeah, Kotetsu is older than…pretty much everyone by quite a bit. <_<
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
I’m curious about next week’s episode. Possible Tiger/Blue Rose hook-up?
I wrote about the series and its look at the media & heroes: http://www.mangatherapy.com/post/7058545573/tiger-and-bunny-heroes
This is probably one of the more unique series I’ve seen in quite some time! I though the most homolust was when Bunny saved Tiger from getting killed by those Mad Bear exosuits. 😛
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I hope not, but it seems so. :/
Hmm, nice article there! I actually have an editorial talking about similar issues that’s been ready and in waiting for a while. :3 Tiger & Bunny is surprisingly fun to discuss despite how silly it seems on the surface. There’s some real depth in there you wouldn’t expect. I love it to pieces…the homolust is also a nice bonus. Heh.
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
Let’s see where they go with that supposed relationship. I’m expecting a huge conflict between Kotetsu & Lunatic in the end!
POWUH: iLurker with 14 comments
heya, you come back ^^
i’m giddy to watch one-shot episodes after the fight with ouroboros (damn hard spelling here)
i like how karina’s love for the oldman. almost hear she’s thinking ‘why i fall for this mannnnnn’ desperately lol. i thinks its cute. though still barnabyxkotetsu… WIN
have you noticed, that kotetsu-being-hurt-and bandage is the sexiest or moe charm of him??? i mean i swear when he colapsed on bed, i could hear blood spurting through nose from his comrades, lol
so please sunrise… make him wear no shirtless or bandages
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
It’s kind of cute as long as it’s one-sided. She just likes him because he made her straighten out her priorities, but she doesn’t realize that haha. Poor Karina, falling for someone’s dad. o_o
Oh God, I already have a bandage fetish. I died. I think I have a comic somewhere around here of the other heroes fanboying over Kotetsu’s old man moe in that scene…I’ll have to go find it again!
POWUH: iLurker with 6 comments
Just some random internet stranger dropping by to say that I enjoyed reading your T&B recaps (all in one go, as I’ve just finished the series). They’re hilarious!
You might want to tag this post with “Tiger & Bunny” though, so that it’s easier to find with the rest of them. For a terrifying second there I thought you didn’t recap Ep. 13 because it didn’t turn up in the tag list results. Orz
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Wow, thanks!! That’s quite the marathon, I don’t know how you did it…
That’s weird, this post should be tagged with “tiger & bunny 13” and should appear under the Tiger & Bunny tag. I don’t get how our tagging system works sometimes…u_u