Tiger and Bunny

I am not normally much for anime TV shows, I’ve liked some, like Fullmetal Alchemist and Cowboy Bebop, but it’s not really my thing. But when I saw this Cracked article: http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/6-pathetic-attempts-by-corporations-to-create-superhero/ I felt compelled to watch the #1 entry, Tiger and Bunny, because I thought the Japanese take on American style superheroes would be good for the WTF factor if nothing else, since the Japanese often transform Western ideas into something COMPLETELY BIZARRE. I also had to see why on earth they would name a male superhero ‘Bunny’ (turns out it was a nickname that Tiger gave him which was meant to be insulting, and it kinda stuck, he actually hates it) And I thought the corporate sponsored reality TV superheroes idea, while not completely original, had potential.

Found a good quality sub online, and I have to say, while I’m only like 5 episodes in so far, I’m very much enjoying it! It’s quite fun, the two lead characters are interesting, and so is a lot of the supporting cast. Also, costumes aside, they are actually fairly faithful to the American superhero concept overall, though in a tongue in cheek sort of way. It contains a whole lot of nods to superheroes, they’ve clearly done their homework. While it is poking fun at superheroes, it’s done in a loving way.

There is one character that is very stereotypical flaming gay man that had me cringing a bit, but they had an episode dedicated to him which mostly redeemed the portrayal. Still a little offputting, but I know that’s just how things sometimes are with Japanese media so I’m willing to overlook it. And are Bunny and Tiger a canon couple later? I know I stumbled across a LOT of fan-art of them together, though that may just be slash, and that ‘top or bottom’ argument (in relation to wires in a bomb) was dripping with subtext. If so that will balance things out because they are handled very well.

Also, as per usual with Japanese media, they have no clue about how American schools work. It’s clearly supposed to be set in the States, but there is one character who is in high school, and all of a sudden it feels like your typical Japanese school setting, with the uniforms and such. Ah well, minor quibble, just something i keep noticing with Japanese stuff.

Imported from Tumblr: http://rayegunn.tumblr.com/post/36655219910