Tiger & Bunny - Episode 5

After giving Blue Rose a run out in the spotlight last week, this latest instalment of Tiger and Bunny returns to keeping an eye on its main pairing, who of course are getting on as "swimmingly" as ever.

With Wild Tiger in particular having to attend court to see Apollon Media paying some hefty fines in lieu of damage he's caused, things still aren't exactly going well for him, particularly given that Barnaby seems to be tiring of his antics and style of crime-fighting.  Still, with Tiger getting wind that it's Barnaby's birthday in a couple of days, perhaps here is a chance for him to get into his partners good books by arranging a surprise party - something which proves more difficult than you might think amongst his fellow superheroes until Sky High gets involved.

Things only become more ridiculous plot-wise when this convoluted attempt at dragging the anti-social loner Barnaby to the party in question becomes mixed up with a real-life robbery committed by a NEXT-wielding criminal with the ability to shield his entire body with diamond.  Thus, any thoughts of celebrations are put on hold as our batch of heroes set about catching the villain in question, in a scenario that ends with an unlikely display of Tiger and "Bunny"'s teamwork while also netting the former the birthday present he was unable to fathom for his partner in the first place.

Early on, it looked as though this episode of Tiger and Bunny was going to fail spectacularly - it had a shamefully clichéd plot point in its loner characters upcoming birthday (which at least served as a reminder that Barnaby pretty much really is alone), and somehow the way the whole thing was presented felt trie to the point of being irritating.  Thank goodness then for the second half of the episode, which somehow managed to turn things around via an equally daft plot point that saw our heroes playing villains and an actual, real life villain get mixed up in genuinely amusing fashion, taking us in turn into a segment of Hero TV-based baddie-chasing capers that somehow never fail to entertain no matter how cheesy they become.  It's a close shave, but in the end this episode of Tiger and Bunny managed to come out on top against the odds, just like its heroes.  It even found time to throw in the (again clichéd) introduction of what looks to be another major character, just to add a little intrigue to proceedings... I'm not entirely sure how it does it, but I'm still entertaining by this series for all its (occasionally glaring) flaws.