The Fall 2022 Preview Guide

Tiger & Bunny Season 2 Part 2

In the city of Sternbild, superheroes aren't just heroes, they're corporate-sponsored reality stars. Following the success of Kotetsu and Barnaby's partnership, Hero TV has implemented the “buddy system,” where every hero works as part of a duo. Some of the pairs are more harmonious than others, but there's pretty much bound to be some growing pains after the heroes are used to competing solo for so long. They better get their acts together soon, though, because a pair of villains have been taking out small town heroes, and they're on their way to Sternbild…

Tiger & Bunny 2 is a sequel to the Tiger & Bunny original anime and streams on Netflix.

Caitlin Moore
Rating:

There was something not quite right about the first episode of the latter half of Tiger & Bunny 2, and y'all get to watch me try to work it out in real-time. The episode starts with the announcement of the top Buddy Hero Team: Fire Emblem and Sky High. As they go down the rankings, Kotetsu and Barnaby are conspicuously absent. After all, they got pretty badly messed up by Hugan and Mugan, and the implication is supposed to be that their recovery has gone on long enough that people are starting to wonder if they'll ever return.

Except that passage of time isn't really keenly felt. The characters are mostly in the same place emotionally that they were at the end of last season, except that Magic Cat has moved in with Dragon Kid. All the teams are getting along famously, and Kotetsu and Barnaby are looking forward to getting back to work. However, as happier, more contented people than they were in the first series, they may be eager, but they're not really champing at the bit. I'm happy they're happy, but it's not exactly the most compelling TV.

Everything feels a little off, like a badly-painted bootleg model. Actually, considering how regularly the animation goes off-model, they kind of look like badly-painted bootlegs about 75% of the time. The chemistry misses the mark as the characters come across more like sitcom versions of themselves, sharing one brain cell between whoever is onscreen at the moment. There are a couple funny gags, but I didn't feel like I was watching the group that I've grown to love over the last few years. It felt like a mediocre mid-season filler episode, not the beginning of a new arc.

I mean, there is some plot going on, but the way it's presented is deeply uninteresting. All of a sudden a bunch of NEXT are going berserk, but their powers are weird, they're acting strangely, and there are so many of them. Hm! I wonder what could be going on! Perhaps it is like every single fictional universe where evolution has led people to start developing powers, and now some villain has a nefarious scheme to force powers on the ordinary folk. It's extremely boilerplate and maybe it's preview guide burnout, but I'm having a hard time feeling excited about the rest of the season.