Tiger & Bunny - First Impression

Title: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Action, Comedy

Summary:
Sternbild 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.

“Orion wo nazoru (オリオンをなぞる)” by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN

Another series with an interesting premise where heroes are now being used by advertisers to promote their brand. There's also this point system that determines who will be considered as the king of heroes and their performance is being documented in a show named Hero TV. So far there's nothing much in the plot and story. It is mostly consist of villain of the day but thank to that we were out into the shoes of the heroes and we were able to see how its like to be a hero and how its tough to be one since it seems that people only cared for the hero in a suit then the person himself. In the recent episode we were introduced to the back story of Barnaby and a possible major antagonist of the series. With that at least we got a bit of an idea or where this series is heading.

This series really reminds me a lot of being a kid since its similar to the shows I watch every Saturday/Sunday morning. Though those shows that I watched before are honestly shallow since they're for kiddies, Tiger & Bunny is way beyond that and I got a feeling its not also heading in that direction (hopefully). With a nice combination of comedy, action and a bit of drama I'm quite hooked to this series and I think it’s a first time for me to like a superhero anime.

We got an interesting bunch of characters. There's Wild Tiger who is your old school hero who places his morals & values above anything else. He always screws up every time he tries to save the day and even gets in the way of his partner Barnaby because he tend to act first before thinking. He might be annoying at times because of acting stupid and eventually screws up a lot of times but I got admit that there are a couple of times I found him cool. I actually like him more than his partner because he's more natural and is like a real person with his flaws. Every time he act cool I always end up cheering him on and then yelling at the bad guy: "Ha! In your face!". Barnaby is your next generation unmasked superhero and he is a complete opposite of Tiger since he cared more about the points instead of helping people. He might act cold towards Tiger at first but I got this feeling that he's warming up to him. His character is starting to get interesting with the tiny bit of revelation of his past. The other heroes are also have their share of struggles of being a hero and thankfully it was shown in the first few episodes. I can't wait to get to know them more (specially Blue Rose) as they also try to help our duo.

I think the animation is well done and thankfully the CGI is not painful to my eyes. I like how they flawlessly combine the CGI to the 2D animation it just made the show more futuristic. Sunrise sure know how to wow the audience by making the fight scene and the heroes in it awesome with that awesome choreography and smooth animation. I just love how they designed the city since it was like a futuristic city where it was bright and it doesn't have only one level it is composed of multiple level like a building. I like how they made the city look lively with that gold color during the night time instead of using the usual gray. The character design on the other hand is fabulous since they really reflect the personality of the characters though I was a bit disappointed since the casual clothes of the characters doesn't change.

I found nothing special with the OP and ED song but at least they fit the hero theme of this series.
I am enjoying this series a lot and hopefully this won't go down hill. It really has an interesting setting and characters so I'm hooked and I'm looking forward to it every week. Just like Sid said in his first look, I'm also wondering why does this show didn't get much attention. Was it because it doesn't have your moe looking characters that is typical of an anime? Well I love anime with moe characters but hey this is a nice change of pace and somehow its refreshing and I hope a lot of people have the same opinion as mine.

“hoshi no sumika (星のすみか)” by Aobozu

Until then…

~ ja