Sunday 3 July 2011

Tiger & Bunny - Episode 14

With the whole Jake Martinez saga now resolved, the second half of Tiger & Bunny fast forwards us by ten months, bringing us a very different partnership between its two titular characters than we're use to - indeed, you could almost go as far as to call them friends... shocking stuff, eh?

As well as harmonising their personal relationship, things are also going well in the superhero business - not just for current "MVP" Barnaby and fourth-places Kotetsu, but also for the industry as a whole as the popularity of Stern Bild's heroes are at an all-time high.  Whilst trying to attach themselves as fully as possible to the ensuing gravy train, Tiger and Barnaby find themselves recruited as unlikely pop idols as they're paired with Blue Rose to create a single and perform a song and dance number as a result.


As for Blue Rose, this pairing gives her plenty of food for thought as she ruminates over her own relationship with Kotetsu and how she feels about him, bringing forth some decidedly tsundere behaviour from her as she tries to come to terms with her emotions.  All of this comes to a head as the trio make their musical début, in an event that is soon overshadowed by the appearance of a NEXT-sporting backstage thief who proves beyond the newly recruited "Second League" superheroes - but can Kotetsu catch the culprit and impress Blue Rose?  Of course not, but somehow everything works out in his favour anyhow, complete with some rather interesting developments regarding his own powers...

After the serious business of Ouroboros and the Jake Martinez saga, it was actually a refreshing change of pace to be served up some light-hearted fun this episode.  Okay, the prospect of a relationship between Wild Tiger and Blue Rose doesn't really fit particularly well, but the character dynamic between the two works pretty well and Kotetsu encompasses everything that the series needs in terms of both slapstick and dynamism to keep things broadly entertaining.  Its first story arc might be over, but Tiger & Bunny looks set to keep on truckin'.

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