This was another pretty solid episode of Tiger & Bunny, and strongly portending dark times to come. But I couldn’t help but notice that the central premise was a fairly blatant ripoff of (Sunrise seies) Outlaw Star episode 20, “Cats, Girls and Spaceships” – the best ep of one of my favorite shows. If you’re gonna steal, steal from the best, I guess…  But kudos to Sunrise for the Terminator 2 reference and using real kids in the press conference scene.

While the episode focused mostly on Sky High, the former king of heroes who has fallen behind T & B in the race for points and stardom, the events of lasting import are seemingly surrounding Kotetsu. Once again, he feels great and his powers seem stronger than ever – but the flame out quickly. Ah, the tragedy of the middle-ages man – lacking the stamina of the young. But for Tiger, this represents a potential life & death problem.

We knew this – but what was sort of new was the fact that the old manager of Kotetsu who we’ve seen here and there seems to know all about it. He overhears Tiger blab about his enhanced powers during one of his endless string of interviews with Bunny, and calls Kotetsu out for coffee to discuss it. How does he know, I wonder? The speculation has been than Mr. Maverick – the CEO of Heroes Inc. – is the former Mr. Legend. But what if that old, fat cabbie is in fact the former hero of heroes? It would explain how he knows about powers flaring, then going out – and how he ended up driving a cab.

While it was largely fluff, it was still nice to see Sky High get a little time in the spotlight. Losing to Jake and seeing Tiger and Bunny assume his role in the spotlight has got him down, but when he meets a strangely stilted and stiff young woman on a park bench, he adds romantic troubles to his list. Sky assumes she’s an awakening NEXT, though in fact she’s an android – a superpowered model created by the protege of Barnaby’s parents. One gets the sense that Sky High isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier – even his attacks seem to have one speed and style, and that’s straight ahead. That’s about how he macks for chicks, too.

The android, Cis, has her identity revealed to Tiger and Bunny when they intervene after she goes crazy and starts attacking everything hero-related. It’s Sky High who ends up finally destroying her – getting his mojo back in the process, but not realizing the machine he’s defeated was actually the “girl” he was meeting for strange daily conversations. Like Jim Hawking, Sky shows up at the park to meet his girl but, oddly, she never shows up…

Terminator 2?

There was a little something for everyone this week, not least of which some serious modeling shots of Barnaby for the fujoshis. There was also the revelation that Lunatic will be back in the game next week. Still, the focus has to be on Kotetsu and what’s happening to him – and how the cab driver knows about it. Sunrise is not above the occasional tragic ending, though I don’t necessarily think we’re headed in that direction. It’s certainly possible that Kotetsu’s powers are flaming out, but if so I think it’s most likely he leaves the heroing to the younger generation and goes on to try and be a real father to Kaede. I’d consider that a pretty happy ending, actually.