Tiger & Bunny is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Sunrise under the direction of Keiichi Sato. The series began its broadcast run in Japan on April 3, 2011, on Tokyo MX, followed by rebroadcasts on BS11 and MBS, and ended on September 17, 2011. Viz Media simulcast the series on Hulu and Anime News Network.
The show was created aiming to appeal to changing audiences and various demographics by making use of a huge number of superheroes and reaching an equilibrium between the traditional and unconventional leads working side by side.
A one-shot manga and two films were announced based on this movie, the first film titled Tiger & Bunny: The Beginning was released on September 22, 2012. The second film, Tiger & Bunny: The Rising, was released on February 8, 2014.
The second season of the show was released on April 8, 2022, on Netflix.
Tiger and Bunny Season 3 Plot
The series is set in a fictional derivation of New York, “NC 1978”, where extraordinary individuals with superpowers began to appear and a few of them eventually become superheroes, collectively termed as NEXT (n acronym standing for Noted Entities with eXtraordinary Talents). Each of these superheroes works as our ambassador for a particular company, with their heroic acts being broadcasted on “Hero TV”. Every heroic deed adds points to their individual scorecards and in the end, one of them is crowned as “King of Heroes”.
The story highlights the partnership of veteran hero Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, a.k.a. Wild Tiger, and Barnaby Brooks, Jr. who has the same power as Kotetsu, and the struggle they face whilst working together because of their poles apart personalities and differences in the way of looking at the world and handling things. Amidst these conflicts of opinions, they are trying to solve the mystery of Barnaby’s parent’s murder. The appearance of a homicidal vigilante NEXT named “Lunatic” stirs up the public and makes them question the place of heroes in the city.
The first half of the show ends up with Barnaby solving the murder case with Kotetsu’s assistance while the latter half reveals the culprit is unknown when Kotetsu is torn between continuing to help Barnaby or looking after his daughter. Kotetsu learns he will eventually lose his powers and so decides to retire from his job which makes Barnaby feel rather betrayed.
Simultaneously, one of Barnaby’s caretakers decides to take over the hero system and brainwashes all Kotetsu’s allies to kill him. Kotetsu somehow regains his allies and in the end, Barnaby reveals the real reason for his retirement while Kotetsu decides to continue being a hero even if he will lose his powers.
Will We Get a Tiger and Bunny Season 3?
Netflix officially has not made any comment on the renewal for a potential season 3 but Tiger and Bunny Season 2 has been developed as a split cour production-wise. Split cour is defined as an anime that is technically one series/season but released in parts. So even though it is not officially out there but yes, we can expect a season 3 for Tiger and Bunny.
As Tiger and Bunny is a split cour, Season 2 and 3 combined were announced to have 25 episodes in total. Thirteen of them were released as a part of Tiger and Bunny 2 on Netflix recently, and the rest 12 are expected to be in the next installment.
Tiger and Bunny Season 3 Expected Release Date
The second season of Tiger and Bunny has been released recently so we cannot expect season 3 to release right away, based on some sources the third season can be expected to meet the audience towards the end of this year.
Tiger and Bunny Season 3 Cast
- Hiroaki Hirata plays Kotetsu T. Kaburagi
- Masakazu Morita plays Barnaby Brooks
- Beau Billingslea – Ben Jackson
- Daran Norris – Alexander Lloyds
- Dave Wittenberg – Doc Saito
- Eden Riegel – Kaede Kaburagi
- Jamieson K. Price – Albert Maverick
- John Eric Bentley – Nathan Seymour/Fire Emblem
- Kari Wahlgren – Karina Lyle/Blue Rose
- Laura Bailey – Pao-Lin Huang/Dragon Kid
- Liam O’Brien – Yuri Petrov/Lunatic
- Michael Sinterniklaas – Ivan Karelin/Origami Cyclone
- Patrick Seitz – Keith Goodman/Sky High
- Stephanie Sheh – Kriem
- Steve Blum – Jake Martinez
- Tara Platt – Agnes Joubert
- Travis Willingham – Antonio Lopez/Rock Bison
Additional Voices
- Ben Diskin
- Jamie Simone
- Julie Ann Taylor
- Kirk Thornton
- Lucien Dodge
- Michael McConnohie
- Vic Mignogna
Where to Watch Tiger and Bunny
Tiger and Bunny are available to stream on Netflix as well as Hulu and Peacock.
Reception
Tiger and Bunny mostly received positive reviews in its first season from the audience with people enjoying the flashy superhero suits, the clashes, and the mysteries but the second season has left quite a few disappointed after such anticipation. It has an IMDb rating of 7.3/10.
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