Tiger & Bunny - Episode 25 (Completed)

It might be game over for Kotetsu after his rash but brave actions to assist in bringing down H-01 at the end of last week's episode, but there's little time for crying over spilt blood as the remaining heroes turn their attention towards Maverick.

Although it might seem that they have this old man cornered, they've reckoned without the existence of yet more androids - a veritable army of H-01 models which Maverick wastes no time in unleashing upon his opponents, with obvious consequences.  Just as it looks as if it's game over for our heroes however, Saito's work in the background finally pays dividends by deactivating the machines, before Maverick's final desperate attempts to escape seem him first outed on Hero TV as a villain while an attempt to use Kaede as a hostage is quickly put to bed by the return of a fast-returning phoenix from the proverbial flames.

So, the day is saved, and it's decision time for some of the heroes of the day as to their futures before we fast forward a year to see if and how the city of Stern Bild has changed.  Needless to say, there are still criminals to be apprehended, while the second-string heroes find themselves with at least one new addition to their family.  But what of Maverick, and perhaps more importantly what of the Ouroboros organisation he created?  While the former is relegated to a dribbling old man in his final attempt to avoid justice before arguably finding it ultimately at the hands of Lunatic, Ouroboros' future still appears to be woven into the city's everyday life...

I mentioned last week (and I'm sure it isn't the first time I've said it) that Tiger & Bunny has frequently been greater than the sum of its parts, and that trend rings true all the way through to its final episode, which sports some ridiculous twists and turns yet never really suffers because of them.  Anime fans are often loathe to call the subject of their passion "cartoons", but in a sense Tiger & Bunny deserves just such a label, and not even slightly in a derogatory way - its characters, scenarios, heroes and villains are all preposterously larger than life, while many of them are simultaneously so likeable that it doesn't really matter that their predicaments defy belief, because we still love them no matter what.  This is, perhaps, animated entertainment in its purest form - it doesn't claim to be highbrow, but nor does it pander to the lowest common denominator.  Instead, it focuses every ounce of its energy upon entertainment value, be it via humour, drama or action, and quite often through a combination of the three.  That it has managed to blend these elements into a single package so effortlessly is worthy of the highest praise, and surely there can be no higher plaudit than this - I want to see a second season of Tiger & Bunny, and I know I'm not the only one.