Beware of babies with strong telekinetic powers.
What They Say:
Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Kotetsu’s good nature has landed himself in quite the predicament this time around after some rough episodes with the action and dealing with Lunatic. What he has to face now is probably one of the hardest challenges in that he has to watch the mayor’s baby son for awhile as they want him under some decent protection. While that would be bad enough and out of place for someone of his caliber overall, the main reason he’s been paired with Kotetsu and the other heroes is that the little baby is a NEXT himself, one that has telekinetic powers that go crazy with his crying and temper tantrums. Something that goes off right from the start to grand effect as it definitely causes a ruckus and puts everyone into a really concerned mode. Baby Sam is definitely going to be a problem.
While there’s some definite comedy to come from the way the baby uses his powers at times, there’s also some welcome quiet moments to it as well, especially as Kotetsu and Barnaby end up discovering that Pao-Lin is actually really good with the baby. She’s almost a natural and the baby takes to her very easily, making it a very good combination for trying to keep him quiet. What helps even more is that when Pao-Lin and the baby crash at Barnaby’s place, it allows the newly strengthened bond between Barnaby and Kotetsu to continue as they spend time together with Barnaby filling him in on the Ouroboros and what he’s really after. There’s a welcome maturity to this in how they deal with it, a certain emotion to be sure, but also an approach that only comes from being established as adults and dealing with the situation without the impetuousness of youth.
OF course, the episode can’t be without some action and things go wonky when without Kotetsu or Barnaby realizing it, Pao-Lin and the baby end up kidnapped and held for ransom. It turns surprisingly violent when the kidnappers go after Agnes when she tries to make the trade and they attempt to kill her, but it lets Kotetsu and Barnaby get into things with some attractive ladies who remind me of the Misfits from Jem and Holograms. But with, you know, modern anime style and breasts. The fight does go in a pretty amusing direction and there’s an interesting angle used with the three women that are running the operation in how their NEXT powers work. Part of it is just designed to let Pao-Lin have her time to shine and to reinforce some things about her past to make her view her life as being better, but it’s a cute bit of fun with some largely ineffective bad guys that got caught up in something bigger than they expected.
In Summary:
Tiger & Bunny has a largely fluffy episode here as it focuses on the Dragon Kid hero and some of her issues while giving her a chance to shine overall. There’s a lot of fun to be had with her and the telekinetic baby when you could normally expect this to be an awful episode, but it’s handled just about right and not entirely for the humor, though it does add a soft touch. The bad girls brought in to be the foils here are cute though they’re lightweights in the end and the action is simple but well animated and more fun than it has a right to be. The quiet moments of the episode with Barnaby and Kotetsu continue to surprise me though as it shows a certain maturity and helps to highlight the way their relationship is changing and will continue to do so as they start to really work together to deal with the Ouroboros. Good stuff here, but an episode you could miss and not lose a lot out on.
Grade: B
Simulcast By: Viz Media
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
