“Tiger and Bunny” Season 2 has been directed by Atsuko Kase, with Masafumi Nishida as the story director and scriptwriter. The season was released on Netflix on March 8th, 2022, after a wait of more than a decade, and features the original cast returning to voice our favorite characters. After eleven long years of waiting, the series “Tiger and Bunny, Season 2” returns with a new plot and a gripping storyline. The first season was a surprising hit for a quirky storyline. They retain certain mysteries until the end, but they do not reveal them even after the season finishes.
Short Recap Of ‘Tiger and Bunny’ Season 1
In the first season, we saw Tiger and Bunny overcome their hatred for each other and become reliable partners. Together, they defend the city and gather points harmoniously. When Tiger had decided to retire and was about to inform everyone of his decision, the world flipped on him, and he had to push back his retirement to defend himself. He was framed as a murderer and had to fight against his teammate, Bunny, and his friends. After Kaeda, his daughter, with the help of her power, saved him and brought everybody’s memories back, they realized that Maverick, the chairman of “Hero TV,” was the real villain who had orchestrated the entire incident and was also the real murderer of Barnaby’s parents.
When Maverick gets caught by everyone, he formats his memory using his powers and turns into a brain-dead but alive person. On his way to jail, he’s killed by a lunatic, who has a twisted sense of justice. Eventually, after things settle down, Tiger and Bunny announce their return from the active frontline and instead defend the city as 2nd league warriors. The first season mainly focused on the lives of Barnaby and Kotetsu and the struggles they faced before they started relying on each other as partners. They learn how to trust each other and fall into a pattern of knowing each other’s moves.
See More: ‘Tiger And Bunny’ Season 1: Ending, Explained – Who Is The Real Villain, Tiger Or Maverick?
‘Tiger And Bunny’ Season 2: Plot Summary – New Heroes And Their Dynamics
The second season saw a shift in perspective. Instead of focusing just on the lives of Barnaby and Kotetsu, the script starts by bringing their friends’ lives to light. There is a new project in town headed by Agnes, who is almost unrecognizable by her features. Well, it has been a long time, but her spirit remains just the same. Our heroes and Saito, the guy in charge of making and improving their suits, do get taken aback by Agnes, but they wisely do not comment. Yeah, surprisingly, they do have common sense.
After the duo of Barnaby and Kotetsu became such a hit, Agnes introduced the buddy project to the other heroes. All our heroes get paired up. Barnaby and Kotetsu become the veteran duo to lead these new pairs and teach them about team spirit and guide them through their struggles to understand each other.
Yuri Petrov, who was a judge at the Judicial Bureau at Sternbild as well as the curator of the show “Hero TV,” becomes the director of Superhero Management as well and gets more involved with the different projects assigned to the heroes and makes the decision to deploy them when the need arises. He was a lunatic in the first season, and in this season, he stuck to making decisions rather than taking justice into his own hands. He is not necessarily for the notion of the heroes getting paired up simply because he thinks that having a partner might cloud their decisions. He challenged the heroes to prove him wrong, therefore ensuring their spirit to work better.
They paired up senior veterans Fire Emblem and Sky High because of their dynamics, and Rock Bison got paired up with Origami Cyclone. Dragon Kid and Blue Rose got paired up with new heroes, Magical Cat, and Golden Ryan, respectively. Another pair of new heroes were introduced to the crew: He Is Thomas and Mr. Black. Each episode focuses on these teams struggling to keep up with each other and ultimately trusting each other. Barnaby and Kotetsu act as an example of what a team should be as they guide the new teams. Everyone has a problem they have to sort out together. They focus on the build-up of trust and the need for communication so that they become better at their jobs and can easily rescue and attack while trusting their partner blindly.
Trouble Brews In The Horizon
As the heroes spend their lives dealing with minor criminals, trouble starts brewing up. This season uses the post-ending scene as a means to highlight the dangerous power that would bring about a type of defeat the heroes have yet to face. The season builds up to the mystery behind the villains whom the heroes face at the end. However, they are introduced at the very beginning, as they share a glimpse of what is set to happen two months down the timeline.
The heroes set about defending the city and racking up points to remain at the top of the leaderboard. However, while catching some of the criminals, some of the heroes face their own conflicts. Thomas and Subaru, He Is Thomas, and Mr. Black face a few setbacks. Subaru is good at creating shields and not good at being in the frontline. Thomas has trust issues, and after losing his sister, his emotions impact him a lot. Thomas and Subaru do remind us of a younger version of Barnaby and Kotetsu. Thomas does not trust Subaru, and conflict arises whenever they have to partner. Thomas lost his temper and attacked a perp when the perp shot a woman after Subaru let his guard down and trusted that the perp would not take any action. Thomas faced a 3-day suspension, and during that suspension, he faced betrayal in the form of an old couple who lured him to frame him for murder and robbery. These events made it impossible for him to trust either Subaru or the rest of the crew.
In the meantime, while trying to save a woman from the Next with the power to turn objects into bombs after touching them, Barnaby met with an accident and hit his head badly, which resulted in him being comatose for ten days. All the other heroes and Kotetsu started to look for the perp. Kotetsu began investigating against the orders of the director. Heroes are not supposed to carry out investigations because it interferes with the authority of the police. Kotetsu stopped investigating but kept an eye out for the perp.
The Overpowered Villains: Did The Heroes Meet With Their Doom?
Meanwhile, Mugan and Fugan, twin villains with pale skin and platinum blond hair, have already defeated the heroes in the other cities and have reached Sternbild to defeat our superheroes. They wished to set a record that was higher than that of their idol, LL Audun, who had defeated 17 heroes and was a formidable opponent to Mr. Legend. They reached the city and went straight to visit Barnaby in the hospital, setting up rather peculiar dolls above his bed while he was still in a coma. Their powers include invisibility, warping, and using the energy from an enemy attack to turn the energy into sheer power and use it to attack the enemy back.
One by one, they start to fight the heroes of Sternbild. The first pair to get hit and petrified later was Fire Emblem and Sky High. Mugan and Fugan’s guardian was also a NEXT who had the power of a basilisk and Medusa, namely, petrification. Later, Dragon Kid and Origami Cyclone were taken out. Blue Rose, Rock Bison, and Golden Ryan followed suit after successfully protecting Thomas, Lara, aka Magical Cat, and Subaru.
Barnaby, Kotetsu, Thomas, Subaru, and Lara were left to fight and win against the charged-up villains Mugan and Fugan. The twins were imbued with a drug that increased their powers by tenfold, making them even stronger than they already were. Due to this, it would be impossible for the heroes to land a blow on them. They lost the advantage they had with Barnaby’s quick appearance because the twins knew he was still in a coma after they suggested a change of field. The heroes had held a meeting with Yuri and Agnes to strategize their moves, yet their plan failed due to a change in the playing field. But, they continued with plan B, which was to blindfold Mugan so that they could not warp through spaces.
Ultimately, with the help of teamwork and their intellect, they were barely able to defeat the twins. The twins, after getting defeated, warped to their guardian only to be killed by the next perp, who was being used as a test for the drug that charged up the twins. He was shown escaping after killing the twins and their guardians. This, in turn, released the heroes from their petrification with no critical injuries. However, the ones who did face the twins were injured quite heavily and had to remain in the hospital for a few days. Thomas and Subaru ultimately bonded through this incident, and Thomas finally started trusting others.
‘Tiger and Bunny’ Season 2: Ending Explained
Reliving through the backstory of the twins Mugan and Fugan, who were treated as outcasts because of their powers, and on top of that, they were orphans. Their guardian took them in after they were almost hit by a cook whom they asked for food from. He raised them as his own. Though the guardian was related to Ouroboros and was, in fact, a second-ranked member of the crime syndicate, he did not wish to use the twins but was ordered by Ouroboros to ask them to begin hunting down the heroes.
The twins loved their guardian and accepted it because they knew he was ordered. Proof of their love was shown when, at the end of “Tiger and Bunny” Season 2, the twins knew their time was over, and death was near, both due to the drugs and also the fight. They used up their remaining powers to find their guardian to tell him they loved him and to say their goodbyes.
The guardian was always against them being used as pawns, which he stated from the beginning when the scientist wanted to give them the drugs. The twins just wanted to defeat the heroes for their guardian and accepted the drug blindly. The guardian and his twins died after the next perp killed them with a gun, yet he held the twins closely while they died together. It was a tragic story of a family led by an ashtray because of certain decisions.
Though we know next to nothing about Ouroboros except the fact that they have a hierarchy, The next part of Season 2 or Season 3 might give us some insight. The abrupt ending of this season does point to another part and another season. But, this time, it might be released after a considerable amount of time, and the director may take some pity and not make the audience wait for another decade before releasing the next part or season.
‘Tiger and Bunny’ Season 2 is streaming on Netflix.
