STORY: Saturday morning cartoons about superheroes were awesome, but that's the past and those shows are near dead, but this anime here, this lovingly homage to those flashy costumed hero shows is quite frankly one of not only the best, but one of the most important anime created in 2011, it's one of those kind of anime while it isn't the most original thing ever, but the execution of its premise is executed hundred percent perfectly you'd look on similar anime and find them mediocre by comparison. Sure the series is heavy on being campy and borderline silly, but it's made that way, and works, it simply works. But there's a under taste of well thought up satire beneath the goofiness along with a future that is surprisingly dark and strongly character driven.
Tiger & Bunny takes your average cliché super hero show and almost turns the genre on its head by including the concept of a reality game like competitive television show with a points system where all of the heroes are sponsored by real life companies (Like Bandai for example) that adds an interesting depth to this series that others fail to achieve, challenging the characters to whether or not to take the call of justice and save the day or work for a superfluous award for popularity and bragging rights. That is where the most important development for the characters lay, and it's incredibly partnered up with two very fascinating main leads, Wild Tiger and Barnaby.
Tiger is one of the most realistically relatable character in anime I've personally ever seen, a single man in his thirties (Not a god damn teenager for once!) with a daughter with realistic problems such as putting his job as a hero (This show let's me say that being a superhero is job, like an office job even, if that's not unique, I wouldn't know what it would be) on a higher ground then his family, which isn't an easy decision to do, but with his dream that is important to himself he does what he has to do to achieve it despite that he comes off as, in the start of the show, a washed up has-been, the old fogey pass his prime who just can't keep up with the more popular heroes because he doesn't care for the points or for that matter what his TV directors tell him to do because all he wants to do is save the day, or for that matter get his merchandise based on him to even get looked at on the shelves, is forced to join up with the popular new comer, Barnaby, who even has the same powers as Tiger for the world's (Of this anime) first superhero team.
Opposite of Tiger, Barnaby is driven by revenge (Hold your moans and groans for a sec) to be become a superhero, he doesn't care for Tiger's old fashioned way of thinking what superheroes should be, he's out there to make himself as popular as possible, getting the points, all for the sake of his revenge, which quite frankly, is similar to popular anime. Barnaby comes off arrogant and somewhat cold, but he Tiger have an incredible chemistry that alone is entertaining to watch as they bicker and argue (Which has most of the show's comedy come forth) and their ideals clash despite that they are partners. As the show progresses, they become more understanding of each other, while they both gain equally outstanding character growth and development, yes, a revenge based character development that actually has favorable outcomes. You want to know why? Because the target(s) of revenge are developed adequately enough to be easily hated by both Barnaby and you the viewer, I guarantee that.
Not only the characters Tiger and Barnaby are fleshed out to extraordinary lengths, but even the other heroes too, heck even the villains (Of course not to the point where Tiger and Barnaby are fleshed out, I mean they're the main characters, it's understandable they get the spotlight, if a series main cast has no priority development, you simply failed at making a show). Other Heroes include, Blue Rose the series, unfortunately, the real commercialized character (Pepsi anyone? No? I don't want one either) and main female character of the other heroes, she is pretty much that teenager the usual shonen action show would start with, SkyHigh, your typical boy scout of a man, who represents the typical hero of any superhero show, Origami Cyclone, the background character, literally the background character, Fire Emblem, the painfully stereotypical homosexual man with real fire power, Dragon Kid the tomboy little girl with kung fu skills paired with electricity powers, and Rock Bison, the least shown character in the series. Each of the other heroes do get their little background episode with brief development (With Blue Rose getting the most attention out of all of them) but are hardly deeper characters than respective character archetype, but along with the heroes, there's even a vigilante criminal killer, Lunatic, who even gets his own episode that completely rocks the world of Tiger&Bunny to its core, after kicking off the series surprisingly much darker tone later on than what the early episodes about friendship and whatnot was going about with.
But it's each characters individual quirk that get fan reaction such as "We want to see more of so-and-so" is what makes these characters special to the series in their own right.
While plot threads like Barnaby's revenge takes many twists and turns and Tiger's later on problems with his powers keep you on the edge of your seat with baited breath for happens next, Tiger&Bunny may come off as too cheesy, or too silly at times for some people, but it's that cheesiness and throwbacks to superhero shows with a satirical twist is what can keep viewers returning for more, and it helps that the core characters are interesting with satisfying developments.
ANIMATION: As great as the story this is, the animation is a bit iffy relaying on mostly CG animation (Similar but fortunately done better than that Gonzo is known for) is by Sunrises least talented animation crew, but this show is one of those kind of shows where it could only take off from the ground through endorsements from other companies, not just Sunrise.
During the CG scenes, the models look great, and the action scenes are well animated but the anime still falls into the category of "3d on 2d" so it looks awkward most of the time. While the 2d animation is fine, not terribly great, but fine either way. Character designs however, look great, very diverse, and very creative.
SOUND: As for the audio department, the background music sounds exactly like your average super hero show, which works perfectly for this series. The theme music however, is a bit bland, though as a bias opinion I like Unison Square Garden and their music is good enough to me. Voice acting is good and is probably the performance that stands out is definitely Tiger's, from bickering with Barnaby to just simple dialogue, he's a treat to listen to. No English dub has yet to emerge, but a show like this will definitely benefit from one.
OVERALL:
The Good:
+ Perfectly executed theme with a fun and exciting story to boot.
+ Great lead characters, Tiger is one of the best leads in an action anime I've seen in a good while.
+ Good humor and character interaction.
+ Legitimately love to hate villains.
+ Decent animation, with some of the best uses of 3d animation in 2d settings.
The Mixed:
+/- Side characters are likable / despite that they are stereotypes.
The Bad:
- Not enough attention to the rest of the cast.
- Might come off as too campy for some.
Why is this anime one of the most important anime of 2011? Because it has the potential to bring fans into anime with power equal to what Cowboy Bebop and Fullmetal Alchemist had, and is hopefully the first step of anime in general to finally move forward from the current and shameful trends of the anime of today.
