The following article contains spoilers for Tiger & Bunny 2, Episode 1, “A Word to the Wise Is Enough,” now streaming on Netflix.
Since Kotetsu and Barnaby’s last appearance in the 2014 film Tiger & Bunny: The Rising, fans have been waiting with bated breath for the duo’s triumphant return. Eight years later, it’s arrived on Netflix at last in the form of Tiger & Bunny‘s second season, simply titled Tiger & Bunny 2.
Season 1 ended with the pair briefly retiring from super-heroics — and in turn Stern Bild City’s illustrious First League — before making their return in the Second League. The Rising dealt with the aftermath of this, with Barnaby being promoted to the First League without Kotetsu and being paired up with a new hero named Golden Ryan. By the end of the film, however, Golden Ryan stepped aside, allowing Kotetsu to join his old partner in the First League.
This setup courtesy of The Rising allows Tiger & Bunny 2 to hit the ground running. Kotetsu and Barnaby are back in the First League where they belong, and join in on the exciting action sequence that kicks the season off. It is through this scene that Tiger & Bunny 2 establishes some major changes to the status quo.
The most notable is the addition of four more heroes to Stern Bild’s First League, making for a total of 12 heroes on the roster. Three of these are all-new characters: there’s Subaru Sengoku AKA Mr. Black, who can conjure energy barriers, as well as his partner Thomas Taurus AKA He Is Thomas, who is able to psychokinetically lift objects. Last but not least among the newcomers is Lara Tchaikoskaya AKA Magical Cat, a feline-themed magical girl hero who can shoot waves of water as a projectile.
The final addition to the First League is a returning character — Golden Ryan from The Rising. At the end of the film he was seen leaving Stern Bild City for new pastures, making his return in Tiger & Bunny 2 a surprise to fans.
The new recruits aren’t the only major change to the First League. There’s also the introduction of the buddy system — inspired by Kotetsu and Barnaby’s partnership, each hero in the First League is paired up with another. Kotetsu and Barnaby are of course one of the pairs, as are the aforementioned Mr. Black and He Is Thomas. The other duos are Sky High and Fire Emblem, Blue Rose and Golden Ryan, Rock Bison and Origami Cyclone, and lastly Dragon Kid and Magical Cat.
In Season 1, the heroes were encouraged to compete for points to become the King of Heroes; now pairs of buddies are made to compete against other pairs for the title of King of Buddy Heroes — a title currently claimed by the partnership of Sky High and Fire Emblem.
The rest of Episode 1 is a fairly back-to-basics romp in which the heroes must foil a villain, including a humorous subplot in which Barnaby petulantly ignores Kotetsu because he drank his energy drink. It’s a humorous tangent that calls to mind some of the sitcom-esque plots and misunderstandings of the first season that endeared viewers to the titular duo in the first place.
Despite not being on speaking terms, however, the pair are able to effortlessly foil the villain of the week’s scheme, to the amazement of Mr. Black. It goes to show that even when they’re unable to communicate with each other, the Tiger & Bunny duo are perfectly in-sync.
The premiere also drops some tantalizing hints as to where the rest of Season 2 might go. Before the opening action scene reintroduces the First League heroes, the episode’s actual first scene is a flash-forward to two months in the future, where Barnaby is on the receiving end of a beating by two mysterious white-haired villains — Fugan and Mugan.
Episode 1 concludes with a post-credits scene showing the duo having defeated a number of superheroes. It’s a reminder that for as fun and light-hearted as Tiger & Bunny can be, it also knows when to present genuine peril and drama as well — no doubt that peril will take center stage by the season’s end.
