Barnaby: I can't really help, I have a knee injury.

*Kotetsu is in danger*

Barnaby:

Barnaby consistently does what he needs to do for his own well-being. I'm not saying that he doesn't want to be a hero and protect the city and help others (he does).

But his motivation for being a hero is never driven purely by a desire to help others. He becomes a hero to avenge his parents. He retires, and later comes back out of retirement, because he wants to be Kotetsu's partner more than anything. In season 2, he tells Yuri that he doesn't know himself, but he knows that he's happier being a hero with Kotetsu and the other heroes, so he stays.

There's other things, little things, too. But another big one is Kotetsu's power loss in season 1 and their battle with the robot. Kotetsu never told Barnaby about his power loss cause he didn't wanna worry him. He didn't tell him his powers were gone before he told him to shoot, either. I firmly believe that if he had, Barnaby wouldn't have shot, even if it meant losing everything. And I think Kotetsu knew that.

I mean, we see Barnaby prioritize Kotetsu over and over again-- one example off the top of my head from season 2, he very nearly ditches little baby Subaru during the prison breakout as soon as Kotetsu so much as hints that he's in trouble, and Kotetsu has to tell him to stay there. Hell, he begs Kotetsu to let him go out with the heroes, knowing that he's a liability, because he can't emotionally handle losing working as a hero with Kotetsu.

Toshiro going against Mayuri on that time loop was visually very cool, as they both shined. It was nice to see Toshiro in action, even though he was a zombie...but surprisingly, the fact he had now dark skin and red eyes, suited to him? I don't know, the contrast of his outfit and hair versus his new 'color' was very cool.

Oh boy, Mayuri surely dominated in this episode, eh? The pure agony that bled out of Toshiro as he slowly regained his sense of self was delicious. It was obvious he thought he could cut Mayuri at first, but the more he seemed to gain a sense of him...yeah, the terror just sank to him as while Mayuri looked like a big, glowing sunflower, he was anything but not poisonous one. The viewer (at least I) could just feel how Toshiro spiraled into agony...I suppose in the end it was a good thing because, despite the fact I understood as much about Mayuri's speech as Gigi, Mayuri will fix Toshiro. Maybe not right away, but later on. After all, just that small interaction was enough to bring back Toshiro when compared to Kensei and Rose...ah, they appeared quite zombie when coming to Byakuya's rescue?

Though I couldn't help but wonder what happened to Rangiku, because she appeared with those two, but after a while, it seemed like she just disappeared? Oh well.

Moving on to Byakuya~. Yes, as Hisagi pointed out, there truly is a difference between a captain and a lieutenant. It was very impressive to see Byakuya defeating those three Quincy without even breaking a sweat. Then again, he got a brush-up at Zero Divison. I'm not sure if he also went some training in there like Rukia and Renji, but he clearly came out stronger: both mentally and physically.

Though, PePe's words about Byakuya not feeling love...yeah, I don't think so. I think he just managed to keep his love tighter to himself and not fall for PePe's 'charm'. Ugh. I've always disliked cherub-like figures because...well, PePe was like a primary example at the end of why such caricatures aren't my cup of cacao. I'm just glad in the end he got defeated, though the fact Liltotto ate him kind of felt like something well-deserved. After all, it wasn't at all nice PePe pit everybody against each other and Meninas against Liltotto! Girls, before guys, hm?

Some of the visuals of this episode were absolutely stunning and effective. I especially liked those parts where Mayuri's whole being was turned dark and his eyes were only visible. Ah, the fear in Gigi's eyes when she realized she crossed the wrong opponent... Mayuri is indeed very strong in his own way, not to mention scary. After all, using everything at his disposal to bring victory to shinigamis side? Yeah, that's war, alright.

It was nice there was once again that ending quote, though I wasn't sure just who spoke it...

A round up of all the TIGER & BUNNY 2 related news that was released today! First, the most important news, we have a new trailer for cour 2! A reminder that the final set of episodes (14-25), will be releasing on October 7th (yes just 1 week away!) @ 4pm JST - worldwide over on Netflix.

If you haven't seen the trailer already, check it out here:

Next, the cast watch parties, hosted by the troublesome buddy duo - series' seiyuu Hiroaki Hirata (Kotetsu) and Masakazu Morita (Barnaby), will be making its return, with hopefully more cast/staff guests!

The first watch party will be streamed live on the 7th October at 21:00 JST over on the BNPictures Youtube (note - this is most likely to be region locked again). This will then follow with weekly Saturday streams for episodes 15 - 24 at the regular time of 21:00 JST, from the 15th October onward. The final watch party for episode 25 will be hosted on Christmas Eve (also known in the fandom as BUDDY REUNION DAY) on the 24th December!

We hope that Anime Netflix will continue to translate these episodes for us and release them a week after they air, like the 1st batch of episodes.

Want to catch up on the past watch party shenanigans? Check out this handily put together playlist which contains all the episodes so far!

Moving on, the 2nd Blu-Ray cover art and slip case box art has been released, featuring Rock Bison and Origami Cyclone! The art on the left was drawn by series' main character designer, Masakazu Katsura, whilst the art on the right is by one of the series' main key animators, Mika Yamamoto!

This will have 3 episodes, along with many special features:

>Cast watch party episodes 4 (special guest Inoue Gou - Keith Goodman/Sky High), episode 5 (special guest director Mitsuko (Atsuko) Kase) and episode 6 (special guest Mariya Ise - Pao-lin Huang/Dragon Kid).

>TIGER & BUNNY 2 -Precious EVE- night performance recording

>Making of T&B2 Part 3 : Behind the scenes of 'Style 3' hero suit production! (Long ver.)

>Making of T&B2 Part 4 : Infiltrate behind the scenes of "Taibani 2" recording! (Long ver.)

>Special booklet (16 pages)

and a special audio drama CD! Drama #2 "From a Former Hero Academy Student" - summary of the story:

"Ivan is asked to be the MC for a radio show featuring only heroes from the Hero Academy, and he goes to see Edward to prepare a story for the show. On the day of the recording, however, things take a turn that Ivan never expected."

And finally, there will be a Greeting Event held in Japan, to celebrate Barnaby's birthday on the 30th October! The special Barnaby Birthday Party live stream over on Twitcasting will also be delivered on the same day!

Plenty of exciting things to look forward to over the upcoming months. Not long to go until the 7th October, get emotionally prepared!

Bleach TYBW - OP 2