Tiger and Bunny: The Rising - Some Info and Thoughts (Some Spoilers)
Wow, I haven't posted here in a while. But today is a perfect opportunity for me to update this blog, as I watched Tiger and Bunny: The Rising this morning! I wasn't supposed to watch it today, as I had papers to write, but since I got up early and could make it to the first screening, I decided that I might as well. And it's a good thing that I did, because it brightened my day!
Since I have some time to spare, I thought I might as well share some information and thoughts on the movie. A disclaimer, though - while I am studying Japanese, I'm not fluent yet and am somewhere in the intermediate level, so I could only understand maybe 60-70% of the movie (and not word-for-word, at that), and I attribute part of that understanding to the visual cues. I'm sure that the remaining 30-40% that I couldn't understand contained some important dialogue. I might also possibly have misunderstood some scenes, so if you've watched the movie, feel free to correct me.
Also, this post will contain some spoilers, but I will try to separate them as much as possible.
Some non-spoilery info and some personal thoughts
- Before the movie started, Wild Tiger and Barnaby explained cinema-viewing etiquette.
- Keith and Ryan introduced themselves and gave a brief recap of the series.
- The OP sequence was lovely. I can't quite articulate it, and the song hasn't stuck on me yet since I only heard it today, but the animation and visuals were pretty awesome.
- New sponsors! Some that I can remember are Sukiya (a gyudon chain that I love) for Rock Bison, Oedo Onsen Monogatari for Origami Cyclone, and Animate and Domino's Pizza for Fire Emblem.
- Kotetsu and Barnaby act as senpai to a group of Second-League Heroes, though the new Heroes seem to warm up more to Kotetsu.
- Since this part is mentioned in the press releases/synopses that I've seen on the Internet, I don't think this counts as spoilery: Mark Schneider is the new head of Apollon Media. He's depicted as quite the jerkass. During the launching of the Apollon Media Heroes, everyone expects the Heroes to be Wild Tiger and Barnaby, but, to everyone's shock, Barnaby's partner ends up being Ryan. The second-league Heroes also end up getting fired.
- There's a cute but sad scene in which Kotetsu ponders calling Barnaby before leaving, but hesitates. Then we see that Barnaby was also planning to call Kotetsu, but he hesitated, too.
- Ryan is on the good side but is very cocky. He reminds me of Joseph Joestar from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Oh, and he's also not from Sternbild. Barnaby doesn't seem to like him much, often telling Ryan to focus on the job.
- Karina is still quite tsun-tsun towards Kotetsu. XD
- I couldn't understand the entirety of the goddess legend, but it involved something like the goddess raining light (which one of the antagonists recreated by shattering the glass of a building, as you may have seen in the trailer) and creating a scene so fearsome that horses and other animals were terrified (which was recreated by an accident on a bridge). From what I understand, the goddess wanted to reduce the world to nothingness and thus rebuild it, which was what the 3 antagonists were aiming to do.
- The antagonists have a leader. Who? Check the spoiler section if you want.
- So about the 3 antagonists: no, they're not disgruntled second-league Heroes. The woman can create copies of herself and can use some hoops/rings to attack (her appearances are also accompanied by a sexy theme fitting for a bellydance number, and indeed, her outfit looks like a belly dancer's), the old man can knock people unconscious via energy balls/blasts (and mind-screw people while they're unconscious), and the other guy with a mask can destroy/attack via sound waves.
- Most of the action occurs during Justice Day, when the antagonists disrupt the festivities.
- Kaede seems less bratty now and has a better relationship with her father. In fact, there's one scene wherein she inspires him by telling him to just do what he wants to do (this is after he gets fired from being a Hero), to which Kotetsu says that Tomoe said something like that to him. That was, for me, a very touching scene.
- For Blue Rose/Dragon Kid fans: there's one epilogue scene during the credit sequence wherein they're filming a commercial that involves them holding an apple together and gazing into each other's eyes.
- Part of the movie has an LGBT-positive message which involves Nathan being proudly gay. He says, "Okama wa saikyou!" From what I know, "okama" usually means a crossdresser, not necessarily someone gay, but I've also been told that, because there's a lack of LGBT terms here, "okama" can also be used to mean "gay." And since Nihongo is a contextual language, in which the meanings of some words can sometimes vary depending on the context, I took that statement to mean, "Gays are strongest!" As for the specific context, check out the spoilers.
- Don't leave before the credits are over!!! Epilogue sequences play during the credits, and there is a brief post-credits scene.
- I'm not sure if I just missed her, but I don't think I saw Scarf-tan in the film.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, and I think that fans will, too. I don't think that it will divide the fandom the way The Rebellion Story did for Madoka fans. Watching this movie felt like watching a Western superhero movie, with the plot being nothing too heavy yet being very engrossing and entertaining. The animation was impressive, too. If I only had cash to spare, I'd watch the movie again!
Do not read beyond this point if you want to avoid spoilers!
Spoilers
You have been warned!
- After Schneider fires him, Kotetsu becomes a taxi driver, but he also opens a website in which he offers his Hero services to anyone interested. Not even getting fired will stop him from being a Hero, and it's Kaede's pep talk to him that gives him the validation that it's not stupid of him to want to keep being one.
- Kotetsu gets his chance to shine when Agnes calls him during the Justice Day festivities.
- About Nathan and his identity: the old man knocks Nathan unconscious for quite some time (days, I think? It didn't seem to be a matter of hours for me). Despite being unconscious, Nathan keeps emitting fire, so Karina kept trying to douse the fire using her powers. The fire can't be put out as Nathan is in mental agony, what with him having images of his classmates bullying him for being effeminate, his family saying that he betrayed them, and what I think is Nathan's image of himself as a woman spiting him.
- On Justice Day, while the other Heroes are busy fighting the antagonists, Kotetsu shows up, to Karina's surprise, with plenty of fire extinguishers so Karina can help the other Heroes. Later on, the Second-League Heroes try to help put out the fire so Kotetsu, too, can help fight.
- Nathan awakens after the old man, whom Blue Rose and Dragon Kid are fighting, taunts the girls about Nathan being gay. Dragon Kid gets mad and says, "So what if he's gay? You don't know how kind he is!" And that's when Nathan thinks to himself, "I am me." His inner mind sequence then shows him embracing his younger self, parents, and his female side. He then joins the girls, and then says that line about how gays are strongest.
- Other than the 3 antagonists, there's another one that wreaks havoc on the city: I can't quite describe it, but I guess calling it a huge metallic gargoyle/pterodactyl-like monster machine would do.
- So who's the big boss of the antagonists? The one controlling that machine: Andrew Scott (at this point, I'm not quite sure if that's his name or his father's name, because the camera quickly cut to a flashback right after that name was uttered, and I wasn't able to catch the previous dialogue. I presume, though, that that's his name). He was introduced in the movie as Virgil, Schneider's secretary. His father was a kind, innovative man who ran Scott Systems (or Scott Technologies; I can't quite recall). Partnering with Mark Schneider ended up screwing him over, however, which led to his suicide. Since then, Andrew has wanted to avenge his father. As for the other antagonists, they're also people whom Schneider has screwed over - for instance, he destroyed the old man's temple (the old man seemed to be a priest/monk before).
- When Barnaby says, "The one I want to save is you," he's not referring to Kotetsu. Sorry, guys! He was referring to Andrew. I think it was something about saving him from himself. This was after Andrew asked why Barnaby was still intent on saving Schneider.
- Speaking of saving Schneider, as another testament to Kotetsu's kind heart, despite Schneider being such a dick to him, he still kept trying to save the guy.
- Lunatic doesn't do much here, which might be disappointing for Yuri/Lunatic fans. I am a fan, so, while I enjoyed the movie, I found that aspect disappointing. I thought that Lunatic might play a major role in the movie, since Lunatic appears in one of the posters, but he pretty much just acts as Wild Tiger's antagonist. I suppose he might have done more if Kotetsu hadn't kept stopping him, though I have to wonder why Lunatic didn't appear earlier. Perhaps Yuri was in a pinch and couldn't get out of some bureaucratic business, just like during the Jake incident.
- I was also expecting Kaede to use her powers to help save the day, but she also didn't do anything. There's a cute scene during the credits, though, when the Kaburagi family is having dinner. Kaede uses the Hundred Power to grab a salt shaker that almost falls off the table.
- Agnes announces that Wild Tiger is Barnaby's partner again, to the delight of the crowd. They cheer Wild Tiger on. (Even before the announcement, they still considered him to be very much a Hero despite his getting fired.) This just made me so happy for Kotetsu, because after all the crap he went through, he deserved being reinstated as a Hero and getting recognition from the crowd. The poor guy has gone through a lot of ups and downs, but it's just so admirable how he remains so upbeat and kind after everything - that's why I'm an avid Kotetsu fan.
- The movie ends with the Heroes rebuilding Sternbild after the large-scale damage done during Justice Day, as the voice-over involves Kaede reading a poem about the sun and how it shines on everyone alike.
- About that poem: earlier, during a call with Kotetsu, Kaede expressed difficulty writing a poem for school. Talking about that poem is also what sets the pep talk scene in motion: Kotetsu and Kaede are having fun during Justice Day, when Kaede mentions the poem again. Kotetsu tells her to just write what she feels like writing, to which Kaede tries to advise her dad using the same logic. In the end, the poem manages to make allusions to each Hero's power.
- During the epilogue scenes, Schneider is convicted (by Yuri!), Ryan leaves Sternbild, the Second-League Heroes go on patrol, Barnaby volunteers at an orphanage (where he reads the goddess story to kids), Cain asks Mary out, Keith takes John for a walk and seems to consider getting a new puppy, Ivan experiences a tea ceremony, the 3 antagonists (I don't know their names; wasn't able to catch them) impress fellow prisoners with their powers (which they seem to be using for good this time, as the old man is shown leading other prisoners in meditation, and the woman seems to be teaching others to dance), Nathan gazes at a picture of him from his childhood, Andrew Scott gazes fondly at a picture of him and his father, among others. I've mentioned the epilogue scenes for the Kaburagi family, Dragon Kid, and Blue Rose elsewhere in this post.
- The post-credits scene didn't seem to hint at anything in particular; it just involved Kotetsu and Barnaby riding together.
End Spoilers
Since I have some time to spare, I thought I might as well share some information and thoughts on the movie. A disclaimer, though - while I am studying Japanese, I'm not fluent yet and am somewhere in the intermediate level, so I could only understand maybe 60-70% of the movie (and not word-for-word, at that), and I attribute part of that understanding to the visual cues. I'm sure that the remaining 30-40% that I couldn't understand contained some important dialogue. I might also possibly have misunderstood some scenes, so if you've watched the movie, feel free to correct me.
Also, this post will contain some spoilers, but I will try to separate them as much as possible.
Some non-spoilery info and some personal thoughts
- Before the movie started, Wild Tiger and Barnaby explained cinema-viewing etiquette.
- Keith and Ryan introduced themselves and gave a brief recap of the series.
- The OP sequence was lovely. I can't quite articulate it, and the song hasn't stuck on me yet since I only heard it today, but the animation and visuals were pretty awesome.
- New sponsors! Some that I can remember are Sukiya (a gyudon chain that I love) for Rock Bison, Oedo Onsen Monogatari for Origami Cyclone, and Animate and Domino's Pizza for Fire Emblem.
- Kotetsu and Barnaby act as senpai to a group of Second-League Heroes, though the new Heroes seem to warm up more to Kotetsu.
- Since this part is mentioned in the press releases/synopses that I've seen on the Internet, I don't think this counts as spoilery: Mark Schneider is the new head of Apollon Media. He's depicted as quite the jerkass. During the launching of the Apollon Media Heroes, everyone expects the Heroes to be Wild Tiger and Barnaby, but, to everyone's shock, Barnaby's partner ends up being Ryan. The second-league Heroes also end up getting fired.
- There's a cute but sad scene in which Kotetsu ponders calling Barnaby before leaving, but hesitates. Then we see that Barnaby was also planning to call Kotetsu, but he hesitated, too.
- Ryan is on the good side but is very cocky. He reminds me of Joseph Joestar from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Oh, and he's also not from Sternbild. Barnaby doesn't seem to like him much, often telling Ryan to focus on the job.
- Karina is still quite tsun-tsun towards Kotetsu. XD
- I couldn't understand the entirety of the goddess legend, but it involved something like the goddess raining light (which one of the antagonists recreated by shattering the glass of a building, as you may have seen in the trailer) and creating a scene so fearsome that horses and other animals were terrified (which was recreated by an accident on a bridge). From what I understand, the goddess wanted to reduce the world to nothingness and thus rebuild it, which was what the 3 antagonists were aiming to do.
- The antagonists have a leader. Who? Check the spoiler section if you want.
- So about the 3 antagonists: no, they're not disgruntled second-league Heroes. The woman can create copies of herself and can use some hoops/rings to attack (her appearances are also accompanied by a sexy theme fitting for a bellydance number, and indeed, her outfit looks like a belly dancer's), the old man can knock people unconscious via energy balls/blasts (and mind-screw people while they're unconscious), and the other guy with a mask can destroy/attack via sound waves.
- Most of the action occurs during Justice Day, when the antagonists disrupt the festivities.
- Kaede seems less bratty now and has a better relationship with her father. In fact, there's one scene wherein she inspires him by telling him to just do what he wants to do (this is after he gets fired from being a Hero), to which Kotetsu says that Tomoe said something like that to him. That was, for me, a very touching scene.
- For Blue Rose/Dragon Kid fans: there's one epilogue scene during the credit sequence wherein they're filming a commercial that involves them holding an apple together and gazing into each other's eyes.
- Part of the movie has an LGBT-positive message which involves Nathan being proudly gay. He says, "Okama wa saikyou!" From what I know, "okama" usually means a crossdresser, not necessarily someone gay, but I've also been told that, because there's a lack of LGBT terms here, "okama" can also be used to mean "gay." And since Nihongo is a contextual language, in which the meanings of some words can sometimes vary depending on the context, I took that statement to mean, "Gays are strongest!" As for the specific context, check out the spoilers.
- Don't leave before the credits are over!!! Epilogue sequences play during the credits, and there is a brief post-credits scene.
- I'm not sure if I just missed her, but I don't think I saw Scarf-tan in the film.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, and I think that fans will, too. I don't think that it will divide the fandom the way The Rebellion Story did for Madoka fans. Watching this movie felt like watching a Western superhero movie, with the plot being nothing too heavy yet being very engrossing and entertaining. The animation was impressive, too. If I only had cash to spare, I'd watch the movie again!
Do not read beyond this point if you want to avoid spoilers!
Spoilers
You have been warned!
- After Schneider fires him, Kotetsu becomes a taxi driver, but he also opens a website in which he offers his Hero services to anyone interested. Not even getting fired will stop him from being a Hero, and it's Kaede's pep talk to him that gives him the validation that it's not stupid of him to want to keep being one.
- Kotetsu gets his chance to shine when Agnes calls him during the Justice Day festivities.
- About Nathan and his identity: the old man knocks Nathan unconscious for quite some time (days, I think? It didn't seem to be a matter of hours for me). Despite being unconscious, Nathan keeps emitting fire, so Karina kept trying to douse the fire using her powers. The fire can't be put out as Nathan is in mental agony, what with him having images of his classmates bullying him for being effeminate, his family saying that he betrayed them, and what I think is Nathan's image of himself as a woman spiting him.
- On Justice Day, while the other Heroes are busy fighting the antagonists, Kotetsu shows up, to Karina's surprise, with plenty of fire extinguishers so Karina can help the other Heroes. Later on, the Second-League Heroes try to help put out the fire so Kotetsu, too, can help fight.
- Nathan awakens after the old man, whom Blue Rose and Dragon Kid are fighting, taunts the girls about Nathan being gay. Dragon Kid gets mad and says, "So what if he's gay? You don't know how kind he is!" And that's when Nathan thinks to himself, "I am me." His inner mind sequence then shows him embracing his younger self, parents, and his female side. He then joins the girls, and then says that line about how gays are strongest.
- Other than the 3 antagonists, there's another one that wreaks havoc on the city: I can't quite describe it, but I guess calling it a huge metallic gargoyle/pterodactyl-like monster machine would do.
- So who's the big boss of the antagonists? The one controlling that machine: Andrew Scott (at this point, I'm not quite sure if that's his name or his father's name, because the camera quickly cut to a flashback right after that name was uttered, and I wasn't able to catch the previous dialogue. I presume, though, that that's his name). He was introduced in the movie as Virgil, Schneider's secretary. His father was a kind, innovative man who ran Scott Systems (or Scott Technologies; I can't quite recall). Partnering with Mark Schneider ended up screwing him over, however, which led to his suicide. Since then, Andrew has wanted to avenge his father. As for the other antagonists, they're also people whom Schneider has screwed over - for instance, he destroyed the old man's temple (the old man seemed to be a priest/monk before).
- When Barnaby says, "The one I want to save is you," he's not referring to Kotetsu. Sorry, guys! He was referring to Andrew. I think it was something about saving him from himself. This was after Andrew asked why Barnaby was still intent on saving Schneider.
- Speaking of saving Schneider, as another testament to Kotetsu's kind heart, despite Schneider being such a dick to him, he still kept trying to save the guy.
- Lunatic doesn't do much here, which might be disappointing for Yuri/Lunatic fans. I am a fan, so, while I enjoyed the movie, I found that aspect disappointing. I thought that Lunatic might play a major role in the movie, since Lunatic appears in one of the posters, but he pretty much just acts as Wild Tiger's antagonist. I suppose he might have done more if Kotetsu hadn't kept stopping him, though I have to wonder why Lunatic didn't appear earlier. Perhaps Yuri was in a pinch and couldn't get out of some bureaucratic business, just like during the Jake incident.
- I was also expecting Kaede to use her powers to help save the day, but she also didn't do anything. There's a cute scene during the credits, though, when the Kaburagi family is having dinner. Kaede uses the Hundred Power to grab a salt shaker that almost falls off the table.
- Agnes announces that Wild Tiger is Barnaby's partner again, to the delight of the crowd. They cheer Wild Tiger on. (Even before the announcement, they still considered him to be very much a Hero despite his getting fired.) This just made me so happy for Kotetsu, because after all the crap he went through, he deserved being reinstated as a Hero and getting recognition from the crowd. The poor guy has gone through a lot of ups and downs, but it's just so admirable how he remains so upbeat and kind after everything - that's why I'm an avid Kotetsu fan.
- The movie ends with the Heroes rebuilding Sternbild after the large-scale damage done during Justice Day, as the voice-over involves Kaede reading a poem about the sun and how it shines on everyone alike.
- About that poem: earlier, during a call with Kotetsu, Kaede expressed difficulty writing a poem for school. Talking about that poem is also what sets the pep talk scene in motion: Kotetsu and Kaede are having fun during Justice Day, when Kaede mentions the poem again. Kotetsu tells her to just write what she feels like writing, to which Kaede tries to advise her dad using the same logic. In the end, the poem manages to make allusions to each Hero's power.
- During the epilogue scenes, Schneider is convicted (by Yuri!), Ryan leaves Sternbild, the Second-League Heroes go on patrol, Barnaby volunteers at an orphanage (where he reads the goddess story to kids), Cain asks Mary out, Keith takes John for a walk and seems to consider getting a new puppy, Ivan experiences a tea ceremony, the 3 antagonists (I don't know their names; wasn't able to catch them) impress fellow prisoners with their powers (which they seem to be using for good this time, as the old man is shown leading other prisoners in meditation, and the woman seems to be teaching others to dance), Nathan gazes at a picture of him from his childhood, Andrew Scott gazes fondly at a picture of him and his father, among others. I've mentioned the epilogue scenes for the Kaburagi family, Dragon Kid, and Blue Rose elsewhere in this post.
- The post-credits scene didn't seem to hint at anything in particular; it just involved Kotetsu and Barnaby riding together.
End Spoilers