Can Barnaby survive his encounter with the deadly Jake Martinez?
What They Say:
To protect Stern Bild and its people, the heroes have accepted Jake’s challenge to a one-on-one death match. Each hero in turn falls before Jake’s mysterious power, until Barnaby steps up to challenge him.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Martinez has certainly raised the stakes when it comes to dealing with the heroes that are trying to take him on. With Barnaby up next in the spinning wheel of doom, even the media is terming him as Revenge Boy when it comes to how he’s taking on Martinez. What makes the whole thing surreal is that as its broadcast, the other heroes are watching it from the comfort of the company couches and observing how it will all unfold. It may fit with the corporate side of the series taht’s been in play, and with the stakes that are being dealt with here, but it’s a weird moment to see many heroes just hanging out and watching what’s going on as one of their own does battle with someone threatening to destroy half the city.
The fight between the two is kept off screen for a good part of the beginning of the episode, but when we do see it, it’s a pretty rough fight to be had as nothing that Barnaby is doing is actually connecting with Martinez. With Martinez actually coming across as a bit crazy, he adds a certain kind of style and flair to things that feels like it’s partially borrowed from Fight Club with the outfit and hair but also the Joker from the Batman world as he simply likes to play with people. That he’s actually a real rarity, potentially the first of the super powered people to have two abilities instead of the usual one, it just makes him all the more unpredictable. It’s definitely a surprising revelation for Martinez to make and it leaves an impact on everyone else, but opens up the world to a lot of possibilities.
The fight does have a lot of good fun to it, especially with how Kotetsu gets involved and comes up with a plan for his partner to execute in order to save not only him but the city. It’s a creative approach that’s taken but it’s not without its lumps to be taken as well. The pairing of Kotetsu and Barnaby continues to be an amusing one to watch as they do work well together when it really counts and the way they’ve dealt with their issues to get to the point they’re at now is spot on. But there’s a real danger to all of this, that’s being plainly televised no less, with what will happen when Barnaby actually does get his hands on him. With his “Batman” like origins, losing his parents to a criminal and all, there’s plenty of potential for him to go completely dark, but a lot depends on the kind of influence that Kotetsu may been on him.
In Summary:
You do have to love a fight that ends with a good amount of explosions, panic and fisticuffs. Tiger & Bunny has worked through an awkward arc here at times, especially since it’s trying to tell a few stories, and I get the impression that this will definitely have a much more solid feel when it runs in a marathon form. This does clean up some recent issues, especially in the city’s trust and faith in the heroes, as well as working through things with Barnaby himself. And it really cements the partnership between the two men in a good way while still providing enough room for some humor and tension to be had. It’s the kind of episode that does work the halfway mark of the series run well and gives it a big enough moment but also leaves room to go bigger for the series finale in another thirteen episodes. Good stuff and I hope we do see more of Martinez someday.
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.