Where ‘Tiger & Bunny’ really manages to distinguish itself from other shows, is the concept and the characters. This superhero story doesn’t only evolve about people trying to save people. There’s a popularity race involved, and most of the character’s goals aren’t that noble at all. I also like the idea of sponsors for the hero’s, makes it even more believable that everything is just one big commercial stunt.
The characters really stand out. Each of them had there own voice and is recognizable. They do things and the things they do, just fit their personality perfectly. There wasn’t a single moment when I thought: damn, isn’t he acting out of character? Each of the characters have their strong and weak points: no (semi) perfect characters are seen here – yes, I really do love flawed characters. The villains had their own motivation, that wasn’t as simple as ‘I’m evil because being evil rocks’. (I do think Jake would have been more interesting if he wasn’t a half madman, since his goal is pretty damn interesting.)
Also, the relationship between the characters is done pretty damn well, especially Barnaby and Kotetsu. They started off as rivals and totally didn’t like each other. But, the more they worked together, the more they learned that they could learn from each other. Still, their friendship isn’t flawless: they still argue, they still have trouble telling each other everything on their mind. And I like this, because it’s believable. No single friendship exist without a fight every now and then.
Though I really enjoyed ‘Tiger & Bunny’, not everything about it is perfect. One of my struggles with this show (although it’s just a detail) was [very minor spoiler] relationship between a certain hero and an android. I get why the android needed to be introduced, but I don’t really get why there had to be this little romantic relationship? It was a subplot developed very poorly, I guess.
Second, the fact that Barnaby’s parents worked with androids did come out of nowhere for me. I think it would be better if they dropped some hints in the first arc about this, because now it seems like the whole parent-android thing was just dropped there to make everything work out. What I’m trying to say: it seemed more like a plot device and therefor it felt kinda forced.
Furthermore I didn’t like the fact that, at a certain point, some characters lost their memories and had false one’s implanted (tough it was executed pretty well). But I personally don’t like this trope, so my judgement could just be based of my personal bias.
I also would have been happier if [spoiler, but not really] a certain character would have stayed dead. I just really despise the ‘I’m dead, WAIT NO, just kidding’ thing. But again, could have been my personal opinion.
And, to round it up, [spoiler] what the hell happened to Lunatic afterwards? Again, this looks like a subplot that was left hanging. He didn’t really win, the hero’s didn’t catch him… there is just no closure to this subplot, unless there was a sequel – but there isn’t.
Besides all that: I liked the animation, though it’s a bit flashy at some points. And I did really enjoy the music and the voice acting in ‘Tiger an Bunny’. Action scenes were pretty nice to look at.
