Tiger & Bunny - Episode 19

After the shock of finding out that everything he thought he knew about his parent's murder was wrong, I think it's fair to say that Barnaby is in a place that even Kotetsu's cooking won't help him out of - not that this stops him trying, mind you...

Despite his own problems however, Kotetsu still seems determined to help Barnaby overcome his current predicament, suggesting that they try and retrace his steps on that fateful day to see if it helps to jog his memory.  Thus, off they set to a nearby skating rink in the hope that this, and its Christmas ambience, will trigger some long-forgotten memories for Barnaby - ultimately though, all this does is to cause his mental breakdown to proceed yet further until he collapses from exhaustion.

As Barnaby recovers, Kotetsu phones home to let Kaede et al know that he won't be home for a while yet - a decision that receives short shrift from his daughter, and one that's also picked up on by a now-conscious Barnaby as he overhears the conversation.  Rather than coming out with the truth about his waning powers, Kotetsu lies about the situation, once again breaching the trust between these partners seemingly irreparably.  It seems as though Barnaby could do with all of the help he can get right now as well, as a recollection by his Aunt leads to some shocking revelations about the day of his parent's murder that reside surprisingly close to home - not that Barnaby looks likely to be able to remember them any time soon....

I'm really not too sure how to feel about this episode of Tiger & Bunny - I expected early on in the series as a whole that there would be some kind of revelation about an inside job to make Hero TV more exciting and popular, only to decide that perhaps I'd been too cynical about the series, yet here we are with that exact plot point called into action complete with the revelation about the killer of Barnaby's parents.  I suppose this plot twist isn't necessarily a bad thing if the series handles it well from this point forth, but right now it feels a little bit like too much of a stretch of the imagination to give it as much credence as it maybe requires.  Given the quality of the series as a whole I'd like to think that Tiger & Bunny hasn't just jumped the proverbial shark, but this is perhaps the closest it's come.