Part II of TCATC is a visual disappointment. The animation is noticeably poorer than Part I due to the animation being done by Akom. The Japanese company Sunrise did the animation for the first part, and they did some of the best animation for this show. But here characters look weird, they move awkwardly, and there is a lack of flow in the quality of the picture.
Still, the story itself is a serviceable follow up. Batman fends off a baddie from killing Catwoman/Selina's assistant while she is away, and then sends her into hiding, but not before the assistant enlightens Batman with the fact that Catwoman is deeply in love with him. But more importantly, Bruce Wayne has a date! And on said date, whilst both Bruce and Selina are in the car, they are attacked by a vehicle with one of Red Claw's thugs at the wheel. This car chase, though entertaining and a showcase of Bruce's willingness to take risks when not dressed in the Batsuit, is probably where the animation is at its poorest. The cars move peculiarly and the skid that eventually sends the villain's car off of a bridge seems to defy the laws of physics.
After this, Red Claw and her crew perform a train heist where they successfully manage to steal the virus that they've been looking for. Batman is unable to stop them and also surprised that Red Claw is a female, to which she replies you've finally met your match", "not surprising it's a woman!" I thought this was interesting as it's more of a reference to how Catwoman is ultimately Batman's weakness. And she is of course a woman.
The climax of the episode takes place in the military base, where Batman and Catwoman are captured and hogtied and Red Claw reveals she has threatened Gotham by blackmailing them with a placebo virus in exchange for billions and, in typical Bond villain fashion, decides to leave the virus with Batman and Catwoman before pissing off, without shooting them. Naturally, the Bat and the Cat work together to free themselves and Batman, in spectacular fashion, ends up blowing the entire base up with a conveniently-parked fuel truck and a hand grenade.
After the cops arrive on the scene and all the hullabaloo is over, Catwoman makes her way back to her apartment. She is greeted by Batman, who mentions he has not reported her to the police, "yet." In a rather touching exchange, Catwoman remarks "So you do care (about me)?" after which we hear a click and the camera (do we still call it a camera in animation?) moves down to show us that Bat's has cuffed Catwoman.
Before we fade out and the epic closing theme starts, Batman remarks "More than you'll ever know." Touching stuff.
Overall this is a fine episode but rather let down by some dodgy animation.
My rating: 7.5/10
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