Oh I see what you did there, Kotetsu.
What would I do without you? … No, no, NO! No. You… you… complete me.”
Under Barnaby’s questioning, Maverick finally spills the beans:
“How can you look at me like that? You should be grateful that I’ve raised you to be what you are today.”
It turns out Maverick has been supplying criminals with high-tech weaponry and armor all along to drive up ratings for Hero TV. This sounds like a world Big Boss would’ve loved: perpetual conflict so that soldiers could forever be venerated and honored. As a result, the symbolism of the ouroboros is so apt: a snake consuming itself and thus re-creating itself for eternity.
Heroes wouldn’t exist without villains and villains wouldn’t exist without heroes; they are merely two sides of the same coin. “Tiger & Bunny” started out as a tongue-in-cheek superhero story, but it has now morphed into a crime thriller where the line between cops and robbers are blurred.
Maverick
At first, I thought the man confessed to his crimes a little too easily, but I guess Maverick had nothing to worry about when he can just modify Barnaby’s memories on a whim. Still, I wonder whether Barnaby couldn’t literally fight back (i.e., does Maverick immobilize his victims telekinetically?) or was he just too stunned at that moment in time to struggle. According to a commenter, it seems as though Maverick drugged Barnaby, but I missed it somehow. Ah well, that Maverick sure is a crafty fella.
Plus, if Maverick was so smart, why didn’t he cover his tracks better? Why didn’t he modify Jake’s memories while he was imprisoned? It’s easy — just make Jake think that he did kill Barnaby’s parents. Why didn’t Maverick make sure Kriem would never recover? Why didn’t Maverick erase Aunt Samantha’s memories too? Sloppy, sloppy work there, Mr. Maverick.
Bros before h-… er, your cute daughter…
Unfortunately, I didn’t find the rest of the episode to be very strong. Barnaby overhears Kotetsu’s phone call to home and learns that his partner intends to quit. In his current state of vulnerability, I can understand why Barnaby would be pissed off and jump to conclusions (i.e., Kotetsu’s only being nice so he can quit). Still, the emoting here is rather wooden. Yeah, Barnaby’s just a stiff in general, a guy who seems like he has a stick up his ass at all times.
Still, you might think this is the chance for Barnaby to really let go and revel in his indignant rage. Instead, he sort of just stands there and “yells” at Kotetsu with the same tone he’s always had throughout the entire series. Oh yeah, he has one hand on his hips the whole time too so it just made him look even more ridiculous.
Memories
Everything I wrote about memories in the last “Blood-C” post would also apply here, I think. Just take out the record player bit. It’s telling when Maverick said, “I’ll give you this present once more.” Oh, I’m sure Barnaby will regain his memories for the second time since this isn’t a cynical anime, but you’ll still have the same “Believe what you want to believe” idea.
I enjoyed the Kotetsu and Barnaby scenes at some sort of Christmas festival. Although the setting depicts a time for happiness and celebration (it is Christmas, after all), there’s an ominous undercurrent to the whole affair as Barnaby struggles with his elusive memories.
Everything is actually quite reminiscent of the first season of “Dexter,” a Showtime drama about a dark superhero. In that TV series, the main character was also trying to recover some rather painful memories. Like Barnaby, Dexter lost his real family at a very young age and it forever changed the course of his life. Like Barnaby, Dexter eventually recovered his memories by revisiting locations he had been to as a kid. Of course, Dexter grew up to be a serial killer and Barnaby didn’t, but “Tiger & Bunny” is a light-hearted anime series after all. Still, Barnaby does have a miniscule amount of sociopathy in him.
Domestic drama
Kaede lingers in the picture only to remind us that Kotetsu has multiple problems to deal with. As such, we gain no further insight into that particular area of the story — just more stroppy pre-teen anger.
Kotetsu cosplay
Here, have a pic:
Moe Sucks 
Maverick drugged Bunny’s tea. There was a shot to Bunny’s tea, and then a shot of Maverick’s pen which was unscrewed open and suspicious liquids leaking out.
Ah, I must have missed it.
Tiger&Bunny is really a surprise for me, The first anime in years that I care enough about to watch it to the very end haha…
…
Actually I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your thoughts on this series. I don´t always agree but still look forward to your entrys for every episode *thumbs up* Also nice cosplay, where did you find it ? :)
Same here. Most people praised “Ano Hana” at the start, including me, but I now think “Tiger & Bunny” is the best thing about last season.
Oh, thanks. About the agreeing thing, what fun would it be if we always agreed? ;v
Oh, a forum I check from time to time likes to post cosplay pics from recent conventions. Someone noticed how Kotetsu cosplayers tend to be female.
That’s because Tiger&Bunny panders to the fujoshi audience.
Yep, it sure does.
Doesn’t mean they can’t pander to the other side, just a little.
You have to draw a line somewhere. Otherwise, words would lose all meaning. A scant topless scene of Barnaby once is hardly pandering. Kotetsu and Barnaby tripping and falling on top of each other, both guys blushing and stammering — that would be pandering. Emphasizing Karina’s ass every time she’s ass-kicking is pandering.
The idea of female Kotetsu cosplayers turns me on for some reason…
Oh, what else is new?
This blog entry got me thinking a bit more about this episode :) And i apologize in advance for my faulty english, it´s not my native language !
Maverick more or less says that this memory alterings fall down like a card tower when beeing presented with evidence, so it´s a fragile thing I guess. Samantha said earlier in ep. 18 that she thought that she was sick that day. Kind of strange considering that this day was so crucial for Barnaby…when she showed the photo to Barnaby she seemed a bit surprised herself to actually have it so I do think that her memory was altered too…
Maverick needed to drug Barnaby in order to mess up with his mind so maybe it can´t be done this easily, Considering Jakes mind reading ability it would have been hard for Maverick to get within his reach. Jake would have noticed that ( the mystery about his 2 powers is also still up in the air) …Kriem is another thing… If Barnaby got the news about her beeing awakend before Maverick it might make sense, the victim probably needs to be concious in order to have their memorys altered.
I really wonder now what else has been altered haha
I thought the arguing between Kotetsu and Barnaby was pretty much in Character, Barnaby seems like the introverted type, and for that his reaction seems plausible to me. In a different way Kotetsu is pretty introverted too somehow…you mentioned in an early episode review ( I think it was 17 ) that Kotetsu needs to accept that his powers are reclining and it looked good around that time, but it obviously seems like he still can´t really do that, or is not trusting Barnaby enough to speak about it with him… which makes it hard to build up mutual trust. At least for me this scene hits home. It´s the fear of how the other might react to your own shortcomings that make you want to hide theese aspects of yourself, so you start lying about your own situation. At the same time I can understand Barnabys dissapointment..
I seriously love the way these two are written…
And Barnaby is such a poser !
Sorry for the ramble haha
I dunno, couldn’t Maverick just drug Jake as well?
The inflection in Barnaby’s voice just bothered me.
I actually thought he felt he couldn’t abandon Barnaby at such a critical time.
>I actually thought he felt he couldn’t abandon Barnaby at such a critical time.I dunno, couldn’t Maverick just drug Jake as well?<
In Prison ? Wasn´t serving a 200 year sentence or so? Maybe…
wow sorry, half of my comment vanished into nothing it seems D: damn…
Ah, I hope you feel like retyping out the rest of your comment. As for Jake sitting in prison for the next 200 years, Maverick should have figured that Barnaby might want to talk to Jake at some point. You have to prepare for every contingency!