Tiger and Bunny

[blackruzsa]

An anime series that reconstructs the classic American hero and the rampant PROPERTY DAMAGES most writers just brush aside when super heroes break stuff in the fight for justice.



It surprised me, honestly. It's really Western-oriented in terms of the superheroes and the setting in general, and very anime in terms of the drama and character development.

In this show, superheroes take part in a reality TV show that ranks them by "villains captured" and "people saved", and have sponsors which pretty much pay for property damages and use the superheroes' suits for product placement.

BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY YOU MAY VERY WELL ENJOY IT.

It focuses on Wild Tiger, a "washed out" veteran hero with old school ideals and a long list of debts due to property damages, and Barnaby Brooks Jr., a young blond Batman pastiche (MY PARENTS ARE DEEEEAAAADDD) who becomes a popular hero, whose identity is the only one shown to the public. They both have the same powers, which is the HUNDRED POWER, a combination of super strength, speed, and enhanced abilities which, by the way, only last for five minutes.




The English dub (which is EXCELLENT, by the way), is only in the process of coming out. In fact, only the first and second dubbed episodes have been released so far.

Anyways, it rose in popularity VERY quickly, to the surprise of its producers, and has since spawned a few hundred fancomics made by famous doujinshi/manga circles, and a single official manga one shot.


READ RIGHT TO LEFT.

Here's pages from the one shot by Katsura Masakazu.






So it starts out with the heroes trying to figure out what's the best "posing" for their upcoming publicity stunt. Tiger, as usual, doesn't care.

























And, as I'm sure you're aware, the dynamic duo relationship stretches far.

Very far.

Comments

[leoboiko]

I'll go ahead and freeze the fire!!

…what… who… how…

[blackruzsa]

They are in a tense situation, I'm sure what came out of her mouth translated differently from her head :))

But yeah, I noticed it too.

[arilou_skiff]

Well, she does have ice-powers.

[randyripoff]

Never thought I'd see a reference to 80's rap group L'Trimm here...

[crinos]

That guys pretty awesome, and I like the idea of his powers. He's kind of like a Japanese version of Hour Man.

Totally gonna use this guy in my MnM campaign.

[blackruzsa]

MnM?
Also, if you watch the series, he's the least appreciated hero, but he's the one pretty much everyone who everyone falls in love with, hahah.

He's such a good guy. And he's a dad, too!

[arilou_skiff]

Heh, my favourite bit is when they're taking care of a child (long story) and Blue Rose is like "You'd be a good father!" and Bull-guy (whose name I can't remember...) goes "He IS a good dad."

Then BR spends the rest of the episode in shock at the fact that Tiger has a daughter :p

[blackruzsa]

Yes. =)) And everyone is like
WHAT

[crinos]

Mutants and masterminds, Its a super hero rpg based (Loosely, though it was closer to it in 2nd edition) on the 3rd edition d20 rules.

It is arguably the best super hero system I have ever seen for an rpg.

[gamerguy]

It's pretty good. It's not /very/ Westernized, since people tromp around in power armor instead of costumes, nobody bothers with a secret ID, etc. Possibly the closest Westernized superhero stuff is still either Gatchaman or Moldiver, as far as I'm aware.

[salinea]

Actually there are secret identities. Bunny was the first one to go around w/o a secret identity; and the anime had a whole plotline about Kotetsu hiding his from his daughter until she got involved into the story.

[blackruzsa]

I actually liked how everything in English was in correct grammar, spelling, use, etc

[karmakaze]

And the city they're in is soooo obviously New York with the serial numbers filed off. (You really see it in some of the aerial shots, the shape of the island is just about exact.)

It then cracked me up because the countryside/suburbs are totally rural Japan, easily accessible by train...

[arilou_skiff]

Nah, all of them have secret identities. (although BR's is kinda weird in that she has her secret identity, and her hero persona who is also a public figure (as an idol..))

Bunny is the only one who isn't. And most of them don't actually wear power-armour. (IIRC, it's only T&B, the others just wear fancy suits)

[md84]

Tiger actually wears a more standard superhero costume in the first episode before his contract is purchased by the same company that employs Bunny.

[pyrrhocorax]

So...they're totally smooching, right?

[blackruzsa]

The fact that it is one of the most popular subjects for doujinshi of the yaoi persuasion would say so.

Translation: EVERYONE WISHES.

This is actually the reason I 1) learned about the story because somehow no one would explain it to me and 2) Decided to watch it:

[md84]

They do bicker like an old married couple in most episodes. And Barnaby is a total Tsundere for Kotetsu -- he snarks at him and criticizes his goofier antics, but deep down he deeply admires Kotetsu's dedication and heroism and tries hard to earn his approval.

[blackruzsa]

Plus they get to the point where Bunny apparently thinks no wrong of Kotetsu and praises him every time he opens his mouth about the guy and gives him all those sweet smiles like there's no tomorrow.

I'm gonna go sit in my pile of doujin.

[filkertom]

My ladyfriend and I watched the anime last year. We loved it, and I've been waiting for the damn dubbed DVDs to be released over here. One episode had kinda substandard animation, but except for that the entire series is simply great.

[md84]

Your life will be better for having watched this series. It's one of the better anime series that's been produced in the last few years.

You want comedy, drama, awesome, and tearjerking? This series has it all in spades.

[jelly_ace]

I think I got my addiction to chao han (fried rice) from Kotetsu. Love this series.

[blackruzsa]

The fried rice line near the end of the series made me shout in the middle of class. Goodness.

[silverhammerman]

I heard about this series a while back and have been waiting for the dub, I've never been a huge manga guy but this seems fun.

[blackruzsa]

Dub episode 1 is up, you can watch it to get a taste :)

[silverhammerman]

Ooh, where? I'm not really up on the appropriate sites.

[blackruzsa]

... Appropriate, yes.
http://www.watchcartoononline.com/tiger-bunny-episode-1-english-dubbed

Trying to find episode 2 but some streams don't register for me :P

[silverhammerman]

Thanks, I didn't know watchcartoononline.com was working again. I mostly stopped streaming things after Megavideo went down.

[blackruzsa]

The episode 2 dub on the site doesn't work for me, but I did find an alternative streaming site for it if ever you decide to continue.

Episode 1's good, though, and watchcartoononline is pretty good with the multiple linked streams.

[nefrekeptah]

You know, I hesitate to call this a parody. Sure, it has parody elements, what with "Hero TV" and Blue Rose's utter disdain for her costume and catchphrase, but all the main characters genuinely like being superheroes, and the tone is genuinely optimistic. Really, the later episodes made me think of this as an alternate-universe X-Men series.

A lot of the time, it seemed less a deconstruction of the American Super-Hero, and more a loving tribute.

[salinea]

I think it's a reconstruction myself. And one that definitely takes from both American comics and Japanese narratives.

[lonewolf23k]

Yeah, if this was a deconstruction, all of the Supers would be arrogant a-holes more interested in the fame and fortune of being a celebrity then in actually HELPING people.

Here, the fame and fortune are just perks, and the Supers actually WANT to help people.

[nefrekeptah]

Right, wrong word here. I should have said that it's less a parody, and more a reconstruction.

[blackruzsa]

I was trying to find the words for it, I knew parody wasn't right but I couldn't come up with it. Thank you!

[md84]

I'd say the series starts out looking like a Deconstruction with the commercial elements of superheroing and some heroes becoming disenchanted with it. It then reconstructs superheroism by showing that, at the end of the day, they are all true heroes at heart who want to help people.

The whole point of deconstructing something is to reconstruct it better than new, after all.

[green_hellfish_of_doom]

Considering Katsura always had a hard on for superheroes I am glad he is living his dream, and that art looks reeeeeallly nice.

[runespoor]

IT'S NOT LIKE I'M PRAISING YOU AT ALL

OR ANYTHING

OLD MAN



JUST KISS ALREADY.

[blackruzsa]

In-series:

"I just want to be worthy of his trust"

And even more so, how Kotetsu has gotten on his list of "people who matter the most to me in this world" right beside his dead parents and his former caretaker (aka the Alfred)

[dustbunny105]

That story felt out of character to me, honestly. While I can see Kotetsu lying about why he's late, I can't see him claiming so nonchalantly that he powered up to make up for lost time.

[blackruzsa]

He didn't tell them, though, they just assumed he used his power so he wouldn't be late since he's pretty obviously powered up. He himself wouldn't use power unless it was to save people, but the team seemed to have forgotten about it.

[dustbunny105]

Fair point. It still reads as untrue to me, though, Idk.

[blackruzsa]

They didn't let him explain himself, and since Barnaby's still curt, we can assume this is the time where everyone is either an ass or too caught up in the limelight to respect Tiger on the level they do at the end of the show.

Me, I think it's totally in character for Kotetsu to save a pregnant lady and not care how he looked or was thought about afterward.

[dustbunny105]

Well, yeah, I can tell that much. But even if they don't have the respect for him here that they come to have, it's weird to me that they're all willing to buy that he's that much of a rube. Though I guess I could buy that they're too irritated with him to particularly care.

Ehh, but Kotetsu does care how he looks and is thought of, no matter how much he tries to pretend he doesn't. Like I said, I can see him lying. It's letting the others think that he would waste his powers on something as mundane as rushing to work that strikes me wrong.