Martinez makes his move in order to prove how awesome he is by taking down the seven best heroes of Stern Bild.
What They Say:
Origami Cyclone infiltrates the hideout of Ouroboros so he can learn how to deactivate the powered exosuits storming the city, but is soon discovered by the enemy. Meanwhile, outside the enemy hideout the remaining heroes stand by to make their move.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Martinez now free and ready to cause as much trouble as he can in the world, he’s easily going to be the target of Kotetsu and Barnaby, especially since Barnaby feels he may be the one that’s responsible for the death of his parents. Martinez has lead a pretty wild life though from what we can tell, so he’s easily believable when he rambles on about how he may not even know, but still be guilty, and just messes with them through his powers to cause a lot of explosions. Martinez is the type of bad guy just to do things because he can, because it suits him, and as one famous movie has said in the last couple of years, because he likes to watch things burn.
With Tiger and Bunny having a hard time dealing with him, it’s causing the higher ups in power to be even more concerned about this and wanting it taken care of quickly. Martinez going to ground briefly doesn’t help either, as it just leaves a lot of chaos and destruction in his wake while he starts to put things together for his next plan. And it’s one that definitely fits with his style as he draws together a plan called the “Seven Matches” in which he’ll go up against a select group of heroes over the fate of the city. It’s an arrogant and confident position he has, but it’s also one that could easily be a ruse. What it can do though, as Martinez picks out his opponents by random, is to allow the heroes a chance to figure out what his powers are by really paying attention to how each of the fights go.
And they are interesting, such as the first one that happens with Sky High going after him and discovering that not only can he shoot laser beams as Kotetsu discovered, but he can create an energy shield with them as well. When Kotetsu goes up against him again, it’s quite a lot of fun. And funny, as the ticker along the screen talks about Wild Tiger and some of his problems in being a hero, which is contrasted with very concerned citizenry watching what’s going on. Martinez is a lot of fun to watch because of his flippant style and that makes going up against the serious Kotetsu even more fun to watch. Two serious heroes beating each other up has its moments, but this disparity allows it to be quirky fun because of Martinez while you can still root for Kotetsu because of his earnest approach.
In Summary:
Tiger & Bunny is taking a curious turn with Martinez as he starts his Seven Matches gig, but at least it’s not something where it seems like it’ll be drawn out heavily. That we get a couple of matches in the first instance of it helps and Martinez’s personality helps to make it fun for now, though he can wear thin easily in the next couple of episodes. That said, there’s a lot to like here as the fallout from Martinez being freed is dealt with and it has some neat quirks that works within the framework of the series, especially when it comes to the ratings and the heroes, and it has you wondering how it will all go. It could easily wrap up part of this in the next episode as it hits the halfway mark, and then move in another direction for the second half of the series. Either way, the show continues to be fun, well animated and keeps you pretty well engaged with what’s going on, making you want more still.
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.
