The series was co-created by producer Masayuki Ozaki and director Keiichi Sato. Sato wanted a story about heroes with mundane problems. Ozaki wanted to depict the "conflict and drama one sees when they've belonged to an organization for a while". The project idea came from watching a news item on the controversy over the competition swimsuits in the
Beijing Olympics. He saw an interview that stated a specific swimsuit style would give swimmers a better chance at setting a record, but the athletes who had contracts with Japanese companies couldn't wear it. Taking the director's idea, they decided to make a story of heroes who have to bear the weight of sponsors and depict the conflict, drama, and cultures it entails. Manga artist
Masakazu Katsura was chosen as the series' artist due to his large amount of works involving superheroes most notably
Zetman and
Wing-Man as well as attractive female characters. Katsura was surprised upon being hired for such series. The team had character concepts when starting, their superpowers and animal motifs. However, their abilities and personalities were vague until Katsura started the designs. Once Katsura finished his sketches, the Sunrise staff came up with ideas for their traits. The character Seymour became the hero name "Fire Emblem". However, this was not a direct reference to Nintendo's video games with the same name. The company logos are not visible in the manga adaptation nor the episodes on Netflix. In September 2011,
Bandai's Tamashii Nations division released a series of figures under their S.H. Figuarts line. The first of these was a Wild Tiger action figure. The figure was a success, with most Japanese retailers/dealers being caught off guard and the figure selling out quickly. The next to be released was a Barnaby Brooks Jr. (a.k.a. Bunny) action figure, followed by figures of Rock Bison and Sky High. All of the figures feature diecast metal parts and sponsor logos printed on the armor, such as
Softbank &
Amazon.jp. As for the idea of having commercials, the superheroes are corporate-sponsored and need to act as a spokesman for their sponsor, so it is something that is a very enticing idea to incorporate into the show. Specifically for the Bandai logo, Bandai is a real-life sponsor of the
Tiger and Bunny series. While the series incorporates elements from the
tokusatsu genre, it is primarily a drama. Although Ozaki considered the series having 25 episodes to be too little, he wanted to tell the story of anime himself. While the main focus of the story was to tell the relationship between Kotetsu and Barnaby, the team faced difficulties to give all the other secondary characters proper screentime. Ozaki had already in mind the idea of giving
Tiger & Bunny a sequel back in 2011. The usage of logos was thought ahead to properly make them work in English regions, especially with the company
Viz Media. This has also led to directly to collect the series' episodes in Blu-ray volumes in order to appeal to the global market. The staff was inspired by the superhero's stories and how they are handled by sponsors. There was a conflict with having a sponsor which delayed the development. Kotetsu was created to be a quirky anime main character due to their notable facial hair and his being far older in contrast to younger heroes. As a result, the series was created to appeal to an older audience. Furthermore, Bandai wanted to aim the series not only to a Japanese audience but a worldwide audience, so the setting is a Manhattan-like city, with the characters being racially diverse. Two main themes involving the leads involve Kotetsu's refusal to give up and his bond with Burnaby. There were problems with promoting Seymour, Fire Emblem, due to his homosexuality. Ozaki was proud of the series, due to being an original story despite calling it traditional. While Kotetsu and Barnaby bond for the series' entire run, there was an agreement to focus on a build-up during the first half. The two main characters are Kotetsu T. Kaburagi and Barnaby Brooks Jr., who are respectively voiced by
Hiroaki Hirata and
Masakazu Morita in Japanese. According to the director, Kotetsu's image was created to make it easy for Hirata to play him. However, Hirata still faced difficulties in portraying such a character. This was mostly due to his easygoing personality which contrasted with the more serious one he related more to. Their recording mics were always next to each other, and, unlike Hirata, Morita found Kotetsu as a helpful character to play along with. Morita felt that Barnaby was too antisocial until the fifth episode where he felt his character was for the first time having real interactions to which Hirata said that Morita was struggling in early episodes. During the series' second half, Barnaby developed his character which made him more pleasant to voice. Hirata felt that Barnaby was the same, claiming that his personality was that of the
tsundere archetype who is awkward at displaying his emotions. Meanwhile, Kotetsu was noted to try to remain like an older man as a result of his age. The development of the main duo was originally left up to the audience's expectation until Nishida wrote the movie
The Rising where there would be more pressure in regards to an official break up. Another anime series made by some of the same Sunrise staff was announced on January 4, 2018. It is titled
Double Decker! Doug & Kirill, and it premiered on September 30, 2018. Like
Tiger & Bunny, the top 2 main characters of
Double Decker! Doug & Kirill are a crime-fighting duo, one who is an experienced veteran and one who is an ambitious young rookie, but it does not take place in the same fictional universe as
Tiger & Bunny. On March 30, 2019,
Nikkan Sports announced that a sequel to the original
Tiger & Bunny series was currently in production. On April 2, 2020, the sequel was announced as
Tiger & Bunny 2. Voice actors Hiroaki Hirata and Masakazu Morita returned to voice their respective characters. The anime was produced by studio
Bandai Namco Pictures, with director Mitsuko Kase replacing director Keiichi Sato. The character designs were done by manga artist Masakazu Katsura. The sequel had 25 episodes, split into two cours. Its first 13 episodes premiered on April 8, 2022, on
Netflix, and the remaining 12 episodes premiered on October 7, 2022. The opening theme is "kaleido proud fiesta" by Unison Square Garden, while the ending theme is "Aida" by
Ano.
Films The production of two films based on the series was announced during a special event on November 13, 2011. The first film, titled
Tiger & Bunny: The Beginning was released in Japan on September 22, 2012, also receiving screenings in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries, and was released on Blu-ray-Disc and DVD on February 22, 2013. The first half of the film recaps the first few episodes whilst also introducing a new story. A second film,
Tiger & Bunny: The Rising, is an entirely new work which was released on February 8, 2014. The second movie takes place about a year after the anime finale, sometime around the epilogue, with Kotetsu's identity now public, and Tiger & Bunny return to their team dynamic. == Related media ==