Alternative TitlesEnglish: Tiger & Bunny Synonyms: Tiger and Bunny, Taibani Japanese: TIGER & BUNNY （タイガー・アンド・バニー）
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 25
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Apr 3, 2011 to Sep 18, 2011
Duration:
24 min. per episode Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 8.291 (scored by 22570 users)
Ranked: #2072
Popularity: #338
Members: 45,799
Favorites: 1,358 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
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SynopsisSternbild City is home to people called "Next," who use their special abilities to protect the people as superheroes. These heroes solve cases and save lives so they can wear sponsor logos or acquire "hero points." Their activities are documented on the popular program "Hero TV," which picks the "King of Heroes" in a yearly ranking. The veteran hero Wild Tiger has always preferred to work alone, but now he's been assigned the rookie Barnaby Brooks Jr., who has a different perspective on being a superhero.
(Source: ANN) |
Related AnimeAdaptation: Tiger & Bunny, Tiger & Bunny Anthology, Tiger & Bunny, Tiger & Bunny
Prequel: Tiger & Bunny Pilot
Alternative version: Tiger & Bunny Movie 1: The Beginning, Tiger & Bunny Movie 2: The Rising
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Reviews
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Nadir
310 of 462 people found this review helpful
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2 of 25 episodes seen
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
I'd like more people to give this show a chance.
At first glance at the title, the first impression was that the show "Tiger & Bunny" will be a cutesy show with talking tigers and bunnies. It is not.
This may be a disappointment for some.
And looking at the promotional art, people assume "Oh it's some mecha anime. Since I don't like mecha, I won't watch it." I assure you, this show is not about mechas at all. Those "mechas" are in actuality the main characters of the show in their power suits. Calling them "mechas" is akin to calling Tony Stark (of Iron Man fame) a mecha pilot.
Now, you must be wondering what this show actually IS. To be blunt, it's a hyperactive fluffy kid's show, much like the 7:00 Saturday morning cartoons many people used to watch way back when. The plot is extremely simple, and fast moving. It's basically a show about good old fashioned superheroes (attempting to) kick some bad guy butt.
If you're here to know more details, it's better to just look at the description and watch the show. It's extremely simplistic.
However, that isn't to say that there isn't anything for the older viewer. Besides some of the nostalgia rush that I get from watching this show, I see some intriguing plot factors pop up that separate this from any other anime or superhero show (Western or otherwise).
1.) This show is STUFFED TO THE GILLS in product placement. This is not a bad thing. To the contrary, it adds to the appeal to the show. Rather than tasteless placement, it adds to the setting. These superheroes are commodities. Capitalism has taken advantage of the charismatic heroes, and they are used to advertise products. It's not much different from now, with people slapping celebrity names onto products in order to sell.
2.) This show is light. While modern day superhero stories tend to go for "darker and edgier" plots (Watchmen, Batman, etc.), this show remains untouched by such baggage and instead opts for optimism and feel good messages. "Believe in yourself. Be proud of who you are." You'll be rooting for the heroes the whole time.
3.) The main character is an older man with a daughter. Let me tell you: this is mind blowing. Instead of using a child/teenage character as the protagonist, they use an aging papa bear character. The protagonist is someone the audience has someone to sympathize with, and many anime go the lazy route and use a child/teenager as the protagonist for us to sympathize with due to age similarity to the target audience. But Kotetsu is genuinely likable despite his older age setting.
^TL;DR: The story is great and unique, and is quite different from modern day anime offerings and superhero shows. It uses it's premise and setting to its advantage.
The characterization is great. Kotetsu is an idealist, though not frustratingly so. He's basically balancing his own individuality against the expectations of his employers, and his ability to compromise prevents long drawn out misunderstandings. The other heroes seem to have their own agenda, especially Kotetsu's unwilling partner, Barnaby. Characterization through action, not description, is the series' strong point. These aren't just archetypes with faces.
Many complaints with the show deal with the CGI. Honestly, it's not to much of a problem. With some of the Karas staff on board, the CGI is integrated well, with no glaring problems. It beats some of the cheap 2D "QUALITY" animation that we are subject to every anime season.
All in all, this show is wonderful. It makes me feel excited to see what's in store next, though I realize this may not be everyone's cup of tea: the whole "Western" feel of the show can throw people off. But it is this exact "Western" feel that made Cowboy Bebop and Trigun so successful, and I hope that this show continues to appeal to various demographics.
I say give this show a shot for the first episode, and see if you feel like a kid waiting for next week's 7:00 Saturday morning cartoons. read more
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IceAndCream
161 of 267 people found this review helpful
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25 of 25 episodes seen
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
Before it came out, I saw the title and a poster art, and I figured it would be Playboy-esque. Or about Mafia. Then on a fansub site, I saw it tagged as a shounen mecha with action and comedy. Now I was confused. But whichever it was (about Mafia or mecha) it wasn't gonna be good.
Then I saw that episode 1 was on Hulu. HULU? Was this legitimacy? OK, so I watched it. It was not what I was expecting. It's not about Mafia or mecha. It's about SUPERHEROES! Why couldn't somebody just come out and say so? But mind you, this isn't like the other Japanese superhero animes that are re-makes revolving around American-made characters. This ain't Wolverine or Iron Man, folks. No, this is good stuff. GOOOOOOD. Just count how many times I use "awesome" and "cool" in this review.
Here we have bright and saturated visuals, comedy, some pretty sweet action sequences, loveable characters, and enough drama and melodrama to keep a sieve full. And an interesting twist on athlete sponsorship.
SYNOPSIS:
This is Stern Bild, the bright city of the (American) future, where citizens are kept safe by the troop of the city's resident heroes. But these heroes aren't freelancers or government employees. No, they're privately sponsored. After all, it takes big bucks to get those suits done at the dry cleaners. But that sponsorship doesn't just mean they get corporate logos slapped all over them like a biker or racecar. No, they have to let camera crews follow them around, to broadcast their feats in reality-TV style.
Our main character is one of these heroes, Kotetsu, whose hero name is Wild Tiger. Back in the day, he was cool. But now he's older, and has lost his shine. And his tween daughter thinks he's an absolute dweeb.
When his current hero company goes under, he gets transferred to another, where they aren't too thrilled about having an old has-been hero. So they make the unusual decision to partner him up with another hero, and sell them to audiences as a team. They pick one that has the exact same superpower as Wild Tiger. And it happens that this guy's everything that Kotetsu is not: fresh, new, young, arrogant, no sense of humor, dutiful to the sponsors, and he uses his real name for his hero work. Everyone knows that heroes are supposed to have a secret identity! Young upstart.
So Kotetsu's partnership with Barnaby Brooks Jr. gets off to a rough beginning. And it stays that way for a loooooong time, while Kotetsu keeps trying to loosen "Bunny-chan" up. (Yes, Barnaby is the 'Bunny' in Tiger & Bunny.) But Bunny isn't a hero just to do good. He has a specific goal in mind, and he won't let Kotetsu's goofiness distract him.
It turns out they will both need to learn a lot about each other to get this partnership to work.
MOST EVERYTHING ELSE:
I tried a few minutes of some of the animes based on Marvel characters. I didn't like them. And judging by their low MAL ratings, most other people don't either. But this is an original story. Fresher, brighter, and with no comic book (or manga) to compare it to. But you can still see classic superhero roots, in the villains particularly. They're generally very flashy, unlike real criminals. And hey, we even get a mad scientist.
Even though Tiger and Bunny are our main characters, there is a whole cast of heroes that they work alongside: ice-caster Blue Rose (who has a crush on Tiger), the fire-shooting Fire Emblem, wind-warping Sky-High, hunky Rock Bison, tomboyish Dragon Kid, and Japanophile Origami.
And there's non-hero characters. Kotetsu's daughter Kaede, his mom, his former boss Ben. His suit-maker, Saito, with the quiet voice (he gets his own subtitles, since apparently Tiger is the only one who can hear him). Agnes, the producer of HERO-TV, the reality show that follows the heroes around. Legend, the hero that saved Kotetsu as a kid, and encouraged him to become a hero himself. The rogue Lunatic, dispenser of vigilante justice, who I think most people wanted to get more screentime. (I wanted to see more of him too; after all, he's the only guy whose suit had bell-bottoms. BELL-BOTTOMS.)
It has a couple of story arcs. Some are as short as one episode, and give us a close-up look at the life of one of the heroes in the story. Other arcs span several episodes, as our heroes battle the villain of the moment. But there are clues scattered throughout the series that are used later.
The action scenes are generally pretty cool. There isn't one every episode, but when they come, they are, like, AWESOME!!!!
There's comedy aplenty, of the light kind.
But what's at the core of the show is DRAMA. Lots of it. If the scene involving the little boy and the trading cards doesn't impact you some way, then you should just stop watching, because that's the melodramatic slant in this show. There's the drama of a dad trying to get his kid to say he's cool. Promising to meet with her, but then having to break his promise because he has been called to an assignment. There's the drama of a man whose goal is to take revenge for his parents who were murdered. You almost wonder if Barnaby suffers from depression, since he keeps getting bogged down in melodramatic angst, and takes it out on anybody who tries to get close to him. And the one who tries to do that is our very own Kotetsu. Barnaby is in serious need of some professional counseling.
Incidentally, there is a bit racial variety. Which is unusual for anime, but was probably obligatory since the story is set, after all, in a place much like the United States. We have a couple of black characters: The mayor of Stern Bild (à la Obama, I'm sure); Ben, who is Kotetsu's former boss and current mentor; and Fire Emblem (a lot of viewers chew out his character because he is the cliché gay character you see a lot in anime; oh well, the makers are still Japanese after all). And Kotetsu and his family, and Saito are Asian...or more specifically, Japanese. No other kinds of Asians around apparently. And all the other characters are probably white.
The animation is very awesome. The setting is often the sparky-lit city at night. Outlining is done in brown instead of the usual black, so the everything looks "warm" and alive. Action scenes are done well. And there's lots of CGI. Which makes some purists mad. The suits are where you see it most. Some people squawk at this, which isn't fair, because it's usually done pretty well, especially for the chunky suits that Tiger and Barnaby wear. The only place where it doesn't work very well is Fire Emblem's skin-tight suit. Though his cape with the creeping-flames pattern is cool. I'd want one of those myself.
Style. There's lots of style. There's something about this that almost says "superheroes are a fashion statement." Well, that and the fact that Tiger and Bunny almost ALWAYS wear the same clothes. It's just begging for people to cosplay them. And the music seems to fit in with the style. The music is cool. Awesomely awesome. It varies from jazz to opera and places in-between. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Pixar movie "The Incredibles." Something about that retro-esque heroes-in-real-life feels very similar to this.
MAKE SURE to watch after the ED in each episode. Often, there's a little bit of extra story at the end before the previews roll. And by then you might as well watch the previews too, since they're usually narrated by either Tiger or Barnany, and begin with him saying "Hi, I'm Tiger, the member of Tiger and Bunny who wears a beard!" or something else idiotic. Also, the episode titles are all in English, and based off some proverb. Tiger doesn't even try to say the next episode title, but Barnaby does, and sound pretty horrible. Some people said it was worth it to watch each episode just to hear Barnaby's Engrish at the end.
Some viewers felt that the final arc in the series was a bit lame. I wouldn't say it was terrible, but it definitely did go for the cliche situations of "superhero meets the big boss" and more. Not necessarily bad, but it raised the bar pretty high for itself by then. But fans are waiting to see if there will be a second season….
WHAT IT'S NOT:
It's not primarily action. We don't get a full-blown action sequence every episode.
It's not primarily comedy, unless you want to laugh at Barnaby's childish attitude, or Kotetsu's blunders. Which ARE funny.
There's very little ecchi. Unless you count Blue Rose's costume.
There's little romance. Blue Rose obviously has a thing for Kotetsu, even though he's a generation older than herself. (It's OK Blue Rose, I sorta do too.) Yaoi fans may be disappointed that nothing goes on between our two main characters. (Though that hasn't prevented scores of Yaoi doujinshi from being made.)
It's also not hugely….intelligent. I have to say this for people who are expecting an amazingly intricate and solid plot. While the story overall is good and throws a few cureveballs, there are some mental goofs. But that is all forgiven because the drama is SOOOO feel-good, and the characters are so loveable.
CONCLUSION:
I can say I'm very happy to see this show as popular as it is. I wrote a review after seeing episode 4, when the show's MAL rating was below 7. Now it's above 8. I'm happy it's getting love.
Unlike most shounen series which are primarily about an action or suspense-driven story, Tiger and Bunny's partnership, or attempt at a partnership, is the main draw. You care about them, and the other characters. You REALLY CARE. You might even say this is meddling in seinen territory. Which is probably why this attracts viewers from all sorts of demographics. If you like drama, and a little action, comedy, nice music and animation, and an interesting setting, please, please give this a try. But beware. You might just get hooked.
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Recommendations
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Very similar super powers and how people use them .
Lets say that humans were to develop powers in the future. There comes a very important question. How would the people end up reacting to the people who develop said powers. On one side, we have Darker than Black, where those with powers are kept in secret and feel ostrasized from the other people. On the other, we have those with powers being publically known as heros, but not by their real name, not to mention people still don't have much respect for those with powers trying to help them. It is an issue of being used as a tool, one side being unknown, the other known.
Both series try to put their own unique spin on superhero stories. DtB opts to be a dark and (acctording to some) deconstructive mindfuck while T&B's approach often borders on the satirical.
Both are amazing and are very similiar when its about how to use the powers of the characters...anyway, if u liked DTB u should see this one. For me is the bestest anime of this year. o/
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It's not hard to say what those two series have in common:
• surely the first thing you can notice is that the art is very similar, well of course it does. Masakazu Katsura is a great manga-ka and author of Zetman, he in fact also worked as original character designer for Tiger & Bunny. His great art is already something that might catch you to watch both.
• still, both series are about superpowers and the concepts of hero & villain, justice & crime, honesty & corruption.
Overall the stories, those concepts play a dominant part.
• the main characters in both series are the heroes and fight against the "evil" in their own way.
Both series are interesting, although i have to say that Zetman is way much better in the manga version rather than anime.
A big difference i can say so far about those two series is:
while T&B takes place in a megalopolis modeled after the american New York city and has a bunch of "typical american heroes", Zetman is located in Japan and has a brand new vision of the word "hero" (as in fact, the main character, can be seen more as "not your typical hero"..)
Anyways, if you liked one of those, give a try to the other as well! You might be happily surprised!
Two superhero-like series, with one being darker and the other lighter. The animation and character design almost had me believing it's the work of the same studio, but it turned out false. Zetman is more about the titular Byronic hero, but can be as invigorating as the heartwarming Tiger & Bunny, whose main guy is anything but typical--a middle-aged, wifeless father named Tiger.
Being a hero is not easy and in both of these series, it proves just that.
The theme of saving people from the villians is a major theme in both anime thus has plenty of action and supernatural elements. Both series' protagonists are striving to become heroes for what they believe in.
Tiger & Bunny contains more comedy while Zetman has much more violence. Nonetheless, both anime(s) are something to keep an eye on if you're interested in the superhero/dark hero genre.
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Opening Theme#1: "Orion wo nazoru (オリオンをなぞる)" by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (eps 1-13)
#2: "Missing Link (ミッシングリンク)" by NOVELS (eps 14-25)
Ending Theme#1: "Hoshi no Sumika (星のすみか)" by Aobozu (eps 1-13)
#2: "Mind Game (マインドゲーム)" by Tamaki (eps 14-24)
#3: "Orion wo nazoru (オリオンをなぞる)" by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN (ep 25)
Fansubbing Groups
Which fansubbers do you like the best? Click + to approve of their subs for this show. Click - if you don't think they did such a great job.
Related ClubsEnglish Dub Fanclub, VOMIC (UTA PRI WINNER CARDS R UP!!!), Missile Punch, Original Anime, Miyu Irino Fans!!, Ivan "Origami Cyclone" Karelin Fanclub, Barnaby "Bunny" Brooks Jr. Fanclub, Oyaji ♥ Club, Tiger & Bunny, Maaya Sakamoto fanclub, Minako Kotobuki FC, Tiger & Bunny Brasil, Tigers and Tigeresses, ♥~ SKY HIGH ~♥, AnimeServ Club, WoH , Kotetsu T. "Wild Tiger" Kaburagi Fanclub, The Real Ghei Club, New York anime club, Donut ClubOkamoto Nobuhiko FC, Anime America Club, Turk Anime Fans, [Facial Hair]Sexy[/Facial Hair], Karina "Blue Rose" Lyle Fanclub, Kotetsu x Barnaby FC, The Beard see all
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