Tiger and Bunny 8 – take it before it is taken

Lunatic makes things difficult for the heroes.

In Tiger and Bunny episode 8 Origami Cyclone, the lowest ranking hero, finally gets his due. We also get more information about Lunatic. This episode seemed to have less comedy in it, and suffered as a result. Still it was interesting, especially in some of the revelations about Lunatic.

Is this any way to run a city?

Lunatic’s appearance is causing some problems for The Powers That Be. Seemingly there is no real distinction between those in charge of the company that runs Hero TV and those that are in charge of the various branches of the government of Sternbild city. At the very least the CEO’s advisers include the judge who moonlights as Lunatic. As a representative of the Justice Bureau, he insists that their first priority should be to hunt Lunatic down, since vigilantes cannot be tolerated.

The "Let's believe in HEROES" campaign, anti-litter patrol.

The CEO is more concerned that the public will be swayed by Lunatic’s direct approach, and a public relations campaign begins. I actually think this is decent social commentary, because this sort of brand polishing always seems to be the first thing that corporations think about. When an oil rig leased to BP blew up in April 2010, it created the largest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the largest ever to originate in US waters. Before the spill was cleaned up, before the wellhead was even closed off, US media was saturated with BP advertising, citing their commitment to “making it right”. In 2008, the global economy imploded due to malfeasance by a collection of large financial institutions. To this day, the large banks whose irresponsible behavior caused our current economic malaise, are putting their capital to use, not in loans to small businesses, but in speculation in the commodities and equities markets. Meanwhile I see multiple advertisements every day telling me how great it is that J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs are investing in American jobs. Burson-Marsteller is a name that is synonymous with the reparation of damaged brands.

Ivan, AKA Origami Cyclone.

When Tiger and Bunny do outreach at a school for Nexts, they take along Origami Cyclone, the hero voted most likely to fade into the background. As it turns out Origami’s power is pretty cool, but of limited use in saving people. He can mimic anybody, but he doesn’t have super strength, or anything useful in a fight. He’s pretty down on himself, but fortunately there is a busybody who just can’t keep himself from seeing the potential in people. Yes, after one of Wild Tiger’s signature pep talks, Origami realizes he too is a hero,  and risks his life to save an old friend who has fallen from the path of justice.

Now THAT's how you do a catch phrase! Blue Rose take note.

Lunatic makes another appearance. Tiger and Bunny manage to get some answers out of him. They confirm that he is not part of Ouroboros. They also confirm that he is killing criminals out of a sense of justice, and that he would prefer to not fight the heroes. Tiger makes it clear, however, that his sense of justice won’t tolerate some crackpot running around killing people. So we have two conflicts that need to be dealt with. Lunatic versus Wild Tiger, and Ouroboros versus Bunny. In the meantime, Bunny seems to be warming to Tiger. At least he realizes that Tiger is more accepting of him than he has been in return.