Well, here’s the new villain. I’ll just touch on the main points of interest in the pair of episodes.

Lunatic

Our new villain is more like an executioner with a twisted sense of justice. He chides the heroes for being weak and ineffectual. On the other hand, he insists that his justice will totally get the job done. Light’s already been here, man, and he didn’t have to wear a dumb outfit. Plus, I’m not sure I want to trust the code of someone who calls himself Lunatic. It’s kind of a bad name for a superhero unless he knew all along he was going to be a villain, but if that’s the case, why rant on and on about justice? It’s like naming myself Mr. Snugglewookems when I’m trying to be some gladiator. In the end, Lunatic’s justice is merely enacting capital punishment without a fair trial.

I gotta say… I’m disappointed over Lunatic’s characterization. He’s just another megalomaniac painted in broad strokes. You’ve all seen the type — the dork who likes to say “Omoshiroi” at everything the protagonists do. Like shit, in all their wisdom and foresight, they never once guessed that the protagonist could do something interesting. Of course, most superhero villains are hardly nuanced. Even so, you’d think Tiger & Bunny, somewhat tongue-in-cheek about the superhero tropes thus far, could put a better spin on a primary antagonist than something like Lunatic.

Corporate Sponsorship

The capitalism-takes-over-heroism angle is taken to another level now, but with nothing to really balance it. Lunatic’s creed somehow appeals to the masses, but that’s not surprising. Most people would rather see criminals killed than given a flawed trip through society’s justice system. Our bloodlust is insatiable, after all; we have entire industries based on vigilantes following their own sense of justice. Of course, in the world of comic books, it’s easy to say that the justice system is corrupt and weak — only the ubermensch can save us, etc. I think this all culminates in the conception of the entertaining but immoral Dexter of the series with the same name, where we’d rather cheer a serial killer hunting down other serial killers like dogs rather than see them apprehended by our appointed agents of justice.

Anyway, enough digressing. My point is that following Lunatic’s appearance and the subsequent drop of trust in the corporate-sponsored superheroes, everyone’s worried about the bottom line: money. Instead of doubling their efforts to solve crime, the companies launch a limp campaign to restore the image of the heroes through community outreach and whatnot. Nothing wrong with picking up trash or assisting the elderly, but y’know, I can do that. What’s that cheesy line in the Spiderman movies? Oh yeah — “With great power comes great responsibility.” With all their powers, the heroes should be doing something else besides picking up trash. Hell, you could argue that they have a moral imperative to do something else.

What’s ultimately most disappointing is the lack of push back from any of the heroes. Oh, Barnaby and others complain, but only because it’s boring or some shit. Tiger never lets go of his creed to save and protect the innocent, but he’s too naive to really spearhead his sense of justice into anything substantive. The Dark Knight, in its obscene running length, finally argues in the end that a superhero must sometimes go against the grain in order to achieve justice. In other words, justice isn’t a popularity contest. To hell with what the masses think — do what is right. Instead, the heroes are told to dick around with pointless PR stunts and they follow their orders with nary a protest. How disappointing.

Ivan

Our superhero of the moment is Ivan, a.k.a. the Origami Cyclone. How peculiar… a white guy is the most distinctly Japanese superhero. I guess he’s a Japanophile or something, and maybe he’s studied the likes of Shinji of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame ’cause Ivan is one emo dude. Ivan spends much of his screen time moping over whether or not he’s fit to be a hero. He’s even crestfallen that people are blasting him on his blog. Why all the angst? Y’see, in Ivan’s youth, his inaction led to a close friend’s incarceration.

Edward

That old friend was Edward. Edward was the leader and Ivan was the follower, but you can’t always get your followers to follow. When a woman was being held hostage with no heroes in sight, Edward wanted to jump in and help. Unfortunately, Ivan was too scared to move from the sidelines. Going at it alone, Edward appeared out of nowhere (he has the ability to phase through solid objects) to take the gun away from the criminal. At this point, the woman could’ve run away, the cops could’ve swarmed in, etc. Unfortunately, another hooded man stepped out from behind a corner without any opposition whatsoever from any of the cops and surprised Edward from behind. He called to Ivan for help but to no avail. In a struggle with the two criminals, Edward accidentally fired the gun. And just who happened to be standing there instead of running away? The woman.

So anyway, fast forward to the present and Edward has escaped from prison to enact revenge. Again, there’s no subtlety. Edward, who had so wanted to be a hero, has now resolved himself to take revenge on a former chum over an accident. Sure, a man could go nuts in prison; I’m not debating the realism of the anime. I just feel this plot development is too easy and, ultimately, boring. Again, I’m not charging the anime of implausibility. It’s just that everyone acts with such one-sided conviction in anime. Motives are always clearly defined and thrown right in your face. No one ever has to pause and say to themselves “I wonder what that character is thinking….”

Tiger & Barnaby

So Lunatic shows up again in the eighth episode and Barnaby goes off into a rage. The old adage, however, is that you can’t think straight under heavy emotions or something so Lunatic has the upper hand. As he launches some neon flame bolt thingy at Barnaby, Tiger dives in to take the hit instead. It struck me that he could have pushed Barnaby out of the way a whole lot easier than running ahead of Barnaby and then jumping before the projectile, but whatever… Tiger and Lunatic go at it, finishing with one of those simultaneous double punches. Y’know the one — where they both leap and magically punch each other at the same time. I’m sure TV Tropes has its own name for it.

Following the action, Lunatic suddenly confesses that he has no quarrel with the heroes. So why does he keep antagonizing and picking fights with them? Crazy fella doesn’t know what he wants. If he was there to punish Edward and Edward alone, then shouldn’t someone with his supposedly infallible sense of justice realize that Edward wasn’t guilty of murder? Guess not. Lunatic flies away, bitterly remarking that he can’t wait to see where Tiger’s justice leads. So while Lunatic is considering Tiger’s justice, i.e. wavering on his steadfast principles, his mask cracks. Very subtle, this anime…

With Tiger throwing himself in harm’s way for Barnaby, though, the most pertinent question here is whether or not Barnaby stops being so goddamn frigid.

Circus of Freaks

We’ll end with the levity. There’s an academy for the NEXT in the world of Tiger & Barnaby and its full of prospective heroes. Most of them seem to have a hard-on for Mr. Fantastic. The guy seen above takes it quite literally, turning his cheeks into extended penises. I’m not sure that’s what a lady meant when she asked you to go down on her. There’s an old woman, however, who can sweat buckets at will. I mean, damn… that’s definitely something else.

The two girls in the background are completely shocked, but that old man smiles with approval. Like yeah… that’s my sweaty MILF right there. SMILF?