[Akito Kinomoto]

Tiger & Bunny is an example of a work that successfully grows the beard but ends up requiring fine-grooming in the process.

If I had to describe this anime as shortly as possible, it's an old-school superhero throwback. You're not going to find multi-faceted characters and a ton of subtlety, but rather it's the kind of show you watch as simple popcorn entertainment.

Unfortunately though the first several episodes are simply underwhelming. Often times the antagonist of the week is so mundane that I was left wondering how it created any conflict for people with super powers at all, and the instances calling for them generally resulted in mediocre fights at best; indeed I found myself getting quite bored after a while, but after the introduction of Lunatic--who as far as I'm concerned is the catalyst for triggering the main conflict with Barnaby--the show also finally decides to stop playing around and introduce antagonists that pose a legitimate threat.

However the amount of focus on Barnaby made me question whether or not Wild Tiger was actually the main character, and ends up eating into the screentime of the other cast members to the point where one of them lacked a spotlight episode. Adding insult to injury is the fact that one of the heroes is given an extra modicum of depth, only for said development to become a pseudo-plot device that's all too entirely expected.

But despite my rather negative tone, it really isn't all bad. If there's one thing Tiger & Bunny definitely succeeds at, it's storytelling. After a very shaky first several episodes, it begins to establish plot elements even during the spotlight episodes. They're normally akin to filler, but here they come around to serve their purpose in the overarching story, and for the most part are integrated rather smoothly.

Surprisingly though the strongest aspect of the narrative is what isn't adequately founded. To put it simply there are major events that have absolutely no foreshadowing of any sort prior but remain consistent with everything else, leading me to believe that there's more to this campy anime than meets the eye. In fact, the only reason I'm not going to rate this higher is because the questions it raises seem deliberate.

Should a second season roll around and assuage all of the loose ends, I'd have no qualms about calling Tiger & Bunny more than mere popcorn entertainment. However a good show needs to stand on its own and unfortunately its main strengths aren't quite enough to make up for some rather noticeable problems. It isn't actually bad either, and taken altogether it's solidly above-average.

Superhero fans will definitely want to consider this, but otherwise the slow start and deliberate plot holes are enough to keep me from being quick about recommending Tiger & Bunny. A flawed yet enjoyable series.

Second season needs moar Lunatic.