Tiger & Bunny 2 Superhero Sequel Anime to Premiere in 2022
Before My Hero Academia taught the world that even kids can be heroes, or even Marvel Studios’ The Avengers had assembled, Sunrise introduced us to the commercialised superhero metropolis of Stern Bild City back in 2011, and now Wild Tiger and Barnaby Brooks Jr. are set to make a return in 2022, with the surprise announcement of Tiger & Bunny 2! This will mark the return of the franchise after 8 years, following the release of feature film sequel Tiger & Bunny: The Rising in 2014.
The new series will be produced by BN Pictures (Bandai Namco Pictures), a spin-off from Sunrise whose previous works include Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun and the more recent Gintama series. Mitsuko Kase (Young Black Jack) is set to direct the series, with Masafumi Nishida returning to write the series. The first series’ character designer Masakazu Katsura is also returning to the series. Hiroaki Hirata has been confirmed to be reprising his role of Kotetsu T. Kaburagi/Wild Tiger, alongside Masakazu Morita as Barnaby Brooks Jr.
(Trailer for Season 1)
Viz Media, who released the series in the United States, describe Season 1’s story as:
Sternbild City is home to people called “Next,” who use their special abilities to protect the people as superheroes. These heroes solve cases and save lives so they can wear sponsor logos or acquire “hero points.” Their activities are documented on the popular program “Hero TV,” which picks the “King of Heroes” in a yearly ranking. The veteran hero Wild Tiger has always preferred to work alone, but now he’s been assigned the rookie Barnaby Brooks Jr., who has a different perspective on being a superhero.
Tiger & Bunny was known for its real-life corporate sponsorships, with real companies including Amazon, Domino’s Pizza and even the Japanese bank SoftBank having their logos featured prominantly on the main cast’s hero costumes.
The first season of Tiger & Bunny was simulcast on the now-defunct streaming service Anime-On-Demand in 2011 and released on home video by Kazé UK, who have since ceased UK operations following the end of a distribution deal with Manga Entertainment UK. The 2012 recap film Tiger & Bunny: The Beginning and 2014’s series sequel film Tiger & Bunny: The Rising are both available on home video from Anime Limited. A Hollywood film adaptation was announced back in 2015, to be produced by Imagine Entertainment and All Nippon Works, with Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code), Brian Grazer producing alongside Sandy Climan and Annmarie Bailly from ANEW, as well as Masayuki Ozaki from Bandai Namco Pictures.
Double Decker: Doug and Kirill, a Sci-Fi crime series was announced in 2018 as part of the Tiger & Bunny Project and featured some of the staff who worked on the series. Double Decker: Doug and Kirill was released that same year, and is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Funimation Now.
