Andraste

After one of the longest hiatuses of all time - not quite Doctor Who levels, but after eleven years they were certainly getting there - superhero anime Tiger & Bunny finally gets a second season thanks to Netflix! After the first thirteen episodes, I am delighted to report that it remains my favourite anime.

In the first season, veteran hero Wild Tiger and talented rookie Barnaby Brooks Jr. were forced to team up whether they liked it or not, and in the way of buddy comedies they eventually bonded and became fast friends. By the time Season Two rolls around, they've been through everything the hero life can throw at them and come through it with a rock solid partnership. It's such a good idea that now the people who organise the local superheroes have decided that everyone should have a buddy!

Kotetsu and Barnaby are both excellent characters and their relationship is the heart of the show, but the thing that pushed me over the line to declaring it my favourite anime in the first place is the care and attention it gives to its great supporting cast, as well as the interesting world-building. In Season Two, the writers take advantage of the fact that the audience already know the leads well to focus on other characters, to the benefit of the story as a whole. I'm also very pleased that everyone came back, because I love everyone in this bar and believe they all have more stories in them.

( Spoilers currently aren't speaking to each other because someone stole an energy drink ... )

All in all, if you've got a Netflix account and like superheroes and/or buddy comedies where the supporting cast are more than window dressing, Tiger & Bunny is very much worth checking out. You've got plenty of time between now and October, when the rest of Season Two arrives ...

Hooray, I wrote something for Porn Battle! And it only took fourteen porn battles and a shiny new fandom.

Rating: This is for Porn Battle. Appropriately, there is porn.

Pairing: Kotetsu/Barnaby

Word Count: Approx. 1,200

Summary: They shouldn't do it. Maybe that's what makes it tempting.

( Read on ... )

So, my friends and I finished watching Tiger & Bunny a few days ago, and I was left a melted puddle of emotions. I am not actually given to waving my arms and claiming to have ALL OF THE FEELINGS about things, but in this case I think it is empirically true. I certainly went through all the basic ones defined in Darwin's The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals, which I consider enough to justify the expression. Although the embarrassment was of course vicarious. Kotetsu is a great inspirer of Fremdschämen [1]. I may have spent the past two days grinning stupidly and working on a vid, the better to express my undying love. (I hate clipping. And I hate clipping on a computer that is not my own even more than usual.)

Anyway, while I was listening to the Drama CDs and innocently looking for porn, I came across what I have scientifically determined to be the most adorable missing scene ever. It occurs after Episode Thirteen, and involves Barnaby inviting everyone over for a party. Among other things, we learn that he actually does own a bed.

[1] See, I even had feelings there are no words for in English! Because I definitely experienced Schadenfreude at certain points, too. I did not feel my favourite Italian emotion, but campanilismo can of course only be inspired in me by things set in my beloved home city. Beautiful as Sternbild is, its towers are not mine.