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Protagonists
Isami Ao
- Voiced by: Ryōta Suzuki
A 3rd Lieutenant with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces (JGSDF), under the Titanstrider-based Special Armored Group. He ends up piloting Bravern when the Deathdrives attack.
- Ace Pilot: Even before Bravern arrived on the scene, Isami is shown to be a skilled pilot. Smith notes that given how dated the JGSDF's Titanostriders are compared to their American counterparts, Isami should be at a disadvantage, but during the exercise, he's practically a one-man army.
- Clothing Damage: Piloting Bravern causes his clothes to be ripped apart. He gets a special reinforced pilot suit to avoid future embarassment. Even that pilot suit is destroyed when Isami becomes Bang Brave Big Bang.
- Establishing Character Moment: During the exercise, Isami disobeys direct order by charging straight into the OpFor's defensive lines and almost single-handedly took the enemy units out. Smith recognizes this not just as an act of recklessness — had they waited for all units to assemble, the enemy will also have more time to shore up their defenses, thus Isami's actions would have saved more lives in the ensuing assault.
- Fish out of Water: He's an experienced soldier who would fit well in your average Real Robot anime; however, he ends up in control of Bravern, a Super Robot, with it made abundantly clear that he's way out of his depth.
- Heroic BSoD: Both Bravern and Superbia dying in episode 11 and 12 as well as being left to face Ira causes Isami to break down, at first surrendering, hoping the Deathdrives will spare him. When it becomes apparent Ira has no concept of prisoners of war, he freaks out, runs away and climbs into Bravern's dead body in an attempt to move it, thankfully he got out of it thanks to a last talk with Smith who revealed himself as Bravern and told Isami what he needed to hear, coming back with a bang.
- Interrogated for Nothing: The military, freaked out by the alien attack and the sudden arrival of Bravern, send Isami to be tortured by the CIA for info, not believing that the previous battle really was the first time he met Bravern.
- Military Maverick: Impllied. The lack of a strong reaction by his captain when he disobeys orders and charges ahead in "Wait's Over, Isami!" suggests that wasn't the first time he did something like that. Though to be fair, that was during training, not a real battle.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Tries to save Hibiki in "Wait's Over, Isami!" even when both Satake and Hibiki herself are begging him to just leave and save himself.
- Not So Stoic: Isami is initially taciturn and humble during the exercise, but as the alien attack intensifies, and more people are lost, he gets more unsettled, and then there's his utter befuddlement once Bravern shows up. If there were any traces of stoicness within him after that, those were definitely destroyed in the next episode by the torture he is put through. Happens again in episode 12 after Bravern and Superbia are killed. He breaks down in fear, surrending to Ira hoping Ira will take him as PoW, only to run away to save his skin and climb into Bravern's corpse when it becomes apparent Ira has no intention of sparring them
- Straight Man: To Bravern whenever he’s up to his usual antics.
- Took a Level in Badass: After getting out of his Heroic BSoD on episode 12, he became something more akin of a Super Robot protagonist with a new hairstyle to boot while becoming Bang Brave Big Bang.Isami: I shall block your wrath with my courage!
- Took a Level in Jerkass: The stress of his situation causes him to go from "stoic but caring" to "easily irritable and anti-social". Bravern notices this and works to reverse the change.
- Troubled Fetal Position: He ends the second episode in this pose inside Bravern's cockpit, mentally destroyed by all the painful experiences and insanity he had to go through. It lasts for most of the following episode too.
- Weak, but Skilled: As a Real Robot pilot. His TS is a dated model, but he can more than compensate for it with his skills alone. Miyu also makes a point to tell Smith that she made no big modification to Isami's TS, insisting its performace is entirely thanks to the pilot using the natural specs of the machine to their fullest.
- Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: The training exercise in the opening shows off his skill as a bold and reckless pilot willing to take serious risks to win, but he loses his nerve in the face of a real attack, and his first battle as Bravern's pilot all but traumatizes him despite winning handily.
- You Are Not Alone: As Bravern's pilot, he is Earth's best weapon against the Deathdrives, and this leads him to isolate himself in the belief that fighting the Deathdrives is a burden he should shoulder alone, to spare everyone else from the costs of war. This is not something Bravern himself believes, and in Episode 5 he nudges Smith into clearing the air between the two of them.
Lewis Smith
- Voiced by: Yohei Azakami
An experienced US Marine Titanstrider pilot under the 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. He sees himself as a rival towards Isami.
- Accidental Pervert: As he comes back from Bravern's first day of training, he ends up walking in on the girls changing. He is so tired from the training he doesn't even react to that.
- Ace Custom: The end of episode 7 gives Lewis a customized, two-pilot Titanstrider with an experimental control system. It even has a distinct red-and-white paint job to go with it. Works as Foreshadowing of what he will become and Bravern's true origin.
- Affectionate Nickname: Karen sometimes calls him "cowboy".
- Ambiguously Gay: While Bravern is clearly in love with Ao, it's unclear whether the Homoerotic Subtext between Smith and Ao truly means anything romantic or if Bravern's existence being some kind of a combination of Smith and Knuth played a factor in Bravern's Single-Target Sexuality towards Ao.
- Ascended Fanboy: Played with. Bravern rejects him as his pilot, but Isami is still eager to play a supporting role on the battlefield. Later played straight, as Bravern rejected him because he's a time traveling Deathdrive-fused Smith.
- Back from the Dead: After the Deathdrives and Verum Vita are defeated, Bravern vanishes and Smith is restored to his own body sans clothes of course.
- Decoy Protagonist: The narration at the start of "Wait's Over, Isami!" comes from Smith musing on what he wanted to be as a kid. But it winds up being Isami who pilots Bravern. This is Zig-zagged as he became Bravern after dying and travelled back to the past, meaning he was also a protagonist all along.
- Depower: The series ends with Smith's original body restored after the Deathdrives are defeated.
- Generation Xerox: Lewis comes from a military family. He joined the US Marine Corps after his parents died.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: To Isami in "Isami! You'll Be Here Soon, Won't You, Isami!?" to make him pilot Bravern again. Smith goes as far as slapping him at one point, frustrated by his behaviour.
- Gratuitous English: Prone to using this. Justified as he's an American.
- Nice Guy: Fitting for a guy who opens the series talking about his childhood dream of being a hero. Not only is he friendly and compassionate, he also spends most of the third episode taking care of an unknown girl he suspects is connected to the aliens. He even kept her a secret from the rest of Hickam our of fear of what they could do to her.
- Phenotype Stereotype: When your main human characters are an American man and a Japanese one, giving the American blond hair and blue eyes is a must to make them more distinct.
- Refused by the Call: In "Isami! You'll Be Here Soon, Won't You, Isami!?" he asks Bravern to let him take Isami's place, calling back to his narration about wanting to be a hero, but the robot insists only Isami can be his pilot. Because Bravern is Smith from the future.
- She's Not My Girlfriend: He's constantly denying accusations of being romantically involved with Lulu. The fact she frequently clings to him in an affectionate manner and that Isami first discovered her straddling him in a motel room while naked certainly doesn't help his case.
- Straight Man: Has to act this way somewhat with Isami as he’s breaking down from the torture the CIA put him through, and just in general when Bravern gets too overwhelming.
- Tempting Fate: During the training exercise in "Wait's Over, Isami!", he gets shot down right after assuring Arakai that he and Isami could take care of the enemy on their own.
- Unknown Rival: When Smith meets Isami in the café after the first exercise, he good-naturedly throws down the gauntlet, but Isami doesn't even remember his name.
Bravern
Bravern
- Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura
A sentient, brightly-colored mecha that very literally drops from the sky. He wants to be piloted by Isami, who he seems to know for some mysterious reason.
- Abhorrent Admirer: From Isami's point of view, at least. Bravern's inexplicable appearance and equally strange obsession with him puts the poor guy off.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: Manages to stop the beam blade of a Soldat Terror with his bare hands, while fighting underwater.
- The Big Guy: Well, he is a giant robot.
- Boisterous Bruiser: He’s loud, brash, and kind of obnoxious, but is also wise and acts as a leader towards the other soldiers.
- Calling Your Attacks: Bravern, being a Super Robot, is prone to this."Burn Blade, BLAZE UP!"
- Cloudcuckoolander: He makes up new attack names on the fly, needs a mask to breathe underwater, and can talk about his “special” relationship with Isami for hours. You never know what he’s going to do next. This is because Bravern was a human being newly reincarnated as a Super Robot who is unfamiliar with his new body and is humorously busting his gears off trying to get the hang of it.
- Finishing Move: Brave Zan (rechristened Brave Zubash in "Isami! You'll Be Here Soon, Won't You, Isami!?"), a powerful slash with the Burn Blade.
- Genre Refugee: Bravern seems to be a Brave Series-styled sentient Super Robot who literally appeared out of nowhere onto the scene of a more grounded Real Robot show.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: But of course. Bravern's signature (and so far only) weapon is his Burn Blade, which can be wreathed with energy to make it even larger.
- Future Badass: Bravern is Lewis Smith's reincarnation who got transported back in time from the combination of Knuth's Time Master powers, merge mechanism, and Knuth's Respawn Point.
- Hidden Depths: His boisterous, hammy attitude does not make him look like someone that uses his head a lot. But as he gets to interact with the cast, it becomes increasingly clear that Bravern is actually very introspective and great at reading people.
- In the Name of the Moon: This robot really likes to make speeches about how he is going to protect the world, humanity, and Isami before starting a battle.
- I Never Told You My Name: He has a habit of knowing characters' names without being introduced. He addresses Isami by name in the first episode, somehow knows Superbia's name, and is the one to inform Lewis that "Lulu" is the mysterious girl's name instead of just more babble. Because Bravern is the reincarnation of Smith after having merged with Knuth.
- Large Ham: Oh yes. In keeping with his Brave Series theming, he's loud, boisterous, and heroic.Hal King: "So, Mr. B-"Bravern: "BRAVERN!!!"
- Matter Replicator: He has access to Build Burn, a "hyperdimensional 3D printer" about as big as he is, capable of manufacturing any object he needs... in the form of sprues, which he has to clip from their runners and assemble by hand, exactly like a model kit.
- Mechanical Lifeform: Bravern seems to be a sentient robot. Where he hails from isn't clear. Episode 9 reveals Bravern is the reincarnation of Lewis Smith from fusing with Knuth shortly after Smith's Heroic Sacrifice.
- Motion-Capture Mecha: Isami normally pilots him with a pair of joysticks, but when he wields the Burn Blade, he copies the motions of Isami swinging around a smaller sword hilt in his cockpit.
- Mr. Exposition: Played for laughs. Since Bravern is seemingly the only person that knows what's going on with the alien invasion, the military brass hold a joint meeting with him. Unfortunately for everyone in attendance, Bravern is far, far more enthusiastic when telling them about his relationship with Isami."Of course, I want you all to hear the story of Isami and me... Chapter 1: 'The Two Meet, and Are Bound Together'..."
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Between his highly advanced technology and his penchant for the dramatic, Bravern frequently hides various techniques until they're needed, or to add some variety to his Finishing Moves. During Episode 6, for instance, Bravern seems fairly unconcerned about an imminent long-range strike if no survivors in the area are found. When they are at the last minute, after a salvo is launched, Bravern reveals he has "Brave The Summons", letting him hijack guided weaponry so he can aim them precisely at all the enemies instead. The following episode reveals he uses his spare time to build new weapons that he keeps hidden until he needs to use them.
- Omniglot: Implied. He introduces himself to Isami in Japanese and speaks the same language in his meeting with the military brass. However, when Heidemarie relays her suspicions about him to one of her subordinates in German, Bravern not only reveals that he understood her perfectly but also answers her in German, suggesting that he speaks every language on the planet and merely limited himself to Japanese for everyone's convenience.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: He is insistent that only Isami, and no one else, can pilot him because Smith's spirit remembers and trusts Isami to pilot him.
- Painting the Medium: Is fond of doing this by, for example, playing his own theme music or putting a holographic background behind him every time he transforms.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Of the Ambiguously Gay variety. Bravern's interest in Ao is absolute, whether it's romantic or not is unclear at first. Eventually it's quite clear that it is romantic, and potentially influenced by Knuth, the Deathdrive of lust who played a role in Bravern's creation.
- Skewed Priorities: While dueling Superbia for the second time, to benefit all parties involved, Bravern takes the chance to hit his enemy with an utility that can automatically convert their language into the language that is the most comfortable for the listener to understand. As an angry Isami points out, he could have used the same opportunity to strike them with an actual weapon, but Bravern insists that talking with their (sentient) enemies before fighting is vital.
- Transforming Mecha: Bravern can transform into a high-mobility flying form called Brave Thunder.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His sudden arrival and failure to give the military a decent explanation fast is part of the reason Isami gets tortured.
Lulu
- Voiced by: Saya Aizawa
A young woman that Lewis finds washed up on the shore after Superbia is defeated.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's implied that she was Superbia's "pilot" for lack of a better term. How exactly she ended up inside Superbia, as well as her relation to the Deathdrives as a whole, is unexplained. Until it's revealed by Superbia that the Deathdrives use her and others like her as power sources.
- Ambiguously Human: Superbia aside, while she looks human, she has an unusual hair color, can scream loud enough for it to stun, and is unusually resilient, being able to go from having no pulse to effective hand-to-hand combat in an instant. Nina discovers her body is almost identical to a human's, except her digestive system is underdeveloped in a way that suggests she never ate solid food in her life, and there is a mysterious object implanted in her hand. She is ultimately established to be an artificial humanoid generated by the towers to power the Deathdrives.
- Bad Future: Downplayed. Lulu originally came from a future timeline where Isami and Bravern died in the final battle with the Deathdrives. However, the pair succeeded in defeating the Deathdrives and the world afterwards is shown to be a peaceful one.
- Imprinting: After Smith manages to pin her down, she seems to have effectively adopted him as a parent. This is reinforced by the fact that her first on-screen appearance is juxtaposed with a turtle laying an egg.
- Living Battery: She, and all the Lulus by extension, are grown as disposable power sources for the Deathdrives, and aren't meant to be able to walk and talk on their own.
- The Load: Smith isn't happy when Lulu grabs on his machine during battle, as it gives him the extra job of keeping her safe on top of his actual mission. This begins changing with Episode 7 revealing that she can serve as Smith's co-pilot for his new machine, and averted when she regains her future self's memories and becomes Superbia's pilot.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite being a tiny thing, she's capable of slugging Isami, a grown man, hard enough to send him flying through a metal wall.
- Mystical White Hair: Fitting due to her mysterious origin.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Her mission is to alter the timeline so that both Isami and Bravern survives the final battle against the Deathdrives.
- The Unintelligible: The sounds that come from her mouth are pure gibberish, at least for the human ear. The most coherent thing she says is her own name, Lulu. She can be taught other words, but it's a slow process.
- Vague Age: Her profile on the official website states that she looks around 14 or 15, but her exact age isn't particularly clear.
- Verbal Tic: Has a tendency to say "gagapi", a seemingly gibberish phrase, even after learning to speak. It is actually the native language of the Deathdrives and Lulus, with Lulu and Superbia even having an argument almost entirely in "gagapi"'s in episode 10.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: While she and Smith aren't in a relationship, she appears to be infatuated with him and multiple other characters assume they're lovers. She also punches Isami through a wall after seeing him coldly blow off Smith.
- Womanchild: She's essentially a toddler trapped in a woman's body, particularly highlighted by her inability to speak coherently beyond a few scant words and her childish mannerisms. She was a lot more violent when she woke up but has since calmed down.
- Your Size May Vary: She's fairly short regardless but just how short depends. In the opening, she only reaches to Smith's waist, giving the impression that she's a child. Meanwhile in the show proper, she reaches to his chest and is only a bit shorter than Miyu and Hibiki.
Japanese Self-Defense Forces
Ryuji Satake
- Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya
The captain of the TS company Isami belongs to.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He doesn't explicitly condone Isami disobeying orders during training, but let's him do it anyway, showing he trusts the skills and good intentions of his Ace Pilot. He still punishes him after all is said and done, since the military requires this kind of discipline.
- You Are in Command Now: He becomes the field leader of all TS forces left at the base because the TS commanders of all nations were killed early during the first attack, leaving him as the highest-ranking officer.
Hibiki Rio
- Voiced by: Yume Miyamoto
A 3rd Lieutenant with the JGSDF. She is a TS pilot assigned to the same unit as Isami, and is one of his few friends.
- Action Girl: The only female TS pilot among the main cast at the start of the series.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: She gets stuck inside her TS after a destructive attack by the Deathdrives and Isami tries to save her. Naturally, she begs him to leave her and save himself through the entire scene.
Akira Mishima
- Voiced by: Shiori Izawa
A 2nd Lieutenant in the JGSDF. She's one of the few surviving JGSDF TS pilots working with their American counterparts when the Deathdrives invaded the Greater Tokyo Area.
- Action Girl: The second female TS pilot in the Japanese contingent.
- Covert Pervert: Lulu's comment about how her and Superbia used to be one seems to give Akira some ideas.
- Cute Little Fangs: When she speaks it's possible to see that she has one prominent fang, which fits well with her being the smallest and most youthful-looking of the cast barring Lulu.
- Love at First Sight: She is entranced as soon as she meets Smith in person.
- Older Than They Look: She is very short and has a youthful face, but at 25, she is older than some of the main characters.
Miyu Katō
- Voiced by: Ai Kakuma
A mechanic working with the JGSDF who is mainly in charge of maintaining Isami's TS. In Lulu's bad future post-Deathdrives invasion, she's responsible for making the Brave Driver.
- Hero-Worshipper: For Bravern. Amusingly, this isn't because of his heroism, but because he is, from Earth's point of view, a technological wonder and the most amazing thing Miyu has ever seen as a mechanic. While most people at the base are discussing if Bravern can be trusted, she is busy wondering how he even works and calling him "handsome".
- Motor Mouth: When she gets passionate about machines, she also gets very talkative.
- Yaoi Fangirl: If her excited reaction to Smith and Isami's boxing match is any indication, she's this.
Honoka Suzunagi
- Voiced by: Kaori Maeda
An AWACS specialist with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). Usually in charge of Isami.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Subtle, but she can be seen clenching her fist when Bravern calls her "Isami's former buddy". She also hesitates to mention Bravern's name when thanking Isami for protecting the base.
- Hero-Worshipper: She greatly admires Isami for his status as an Ace Pilot and is proud of working with him.
- Mission Control: Part of her role as AWACS.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: Her job is to relay information to the Titanstrider forces from the skies.
Isao Kawada
Rear Admiral in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces (JMSDF) and the commander of the Japanese contingent sent to Hawaii.
- Number Two: He serves as 2IC in the Allied Task Force.
US Military
Ryoma Arakai
- Voiced by: Subaru Kimura
A TS pilot under the 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force. He is the captain of Company C, to which Smith belongs.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: His death is very sudden, being vaporized by a laser mid-sentence with the only warning coming from the AI of his machine one second before it happened.
- A Father to His Men: He keeps a casual relationship with the members of the unit, drinking together with them when they are off-duty. Him and Smith are shown acting very friendly to each other at a restaurant and right before going to battle.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Killed by the Deathdrives in the very first episode, before the viewer can learn a lot about him.
Hiro Aury
- Voiced by: Hiroyuki Nozuyama
A US Marine Titanstrider pilot, assigned to the same unit as Smith.
- Out of Focus: Compared to the other TS pilots, he gets minimal screentime, usually showing up only in crowd scenes.
- Tempting Fate: His comment about believing they could end the war with the aliens in time for Christmas is identified as this trope In-Universe. Which turns out to be painfully right when not long after he mentions this, the base discovers Tokyo has become a sea of flames.
Shelley Rolen
- Voiced by: Saki Yoshida
A female TS pilot stranded in Japan when the Deathdrives invaded the Greater Tokyo Area.
- Action Girl: A female TS pilot who fought the Deathdrives with surviving TS pilots from JSDF and US Forces Japan units.
- Ms. Fanservice: She has a voluptuous body and leaves the top part of her uniform partially unbuttoned, exposing some cleavege.
Thomas J. Prahmman
- Voiced by: Tomoyuki Shimura
A veteran Sergeant Major of the American army.
- The Comically Serious: Just watch him play referee for Smith and Isami's friendly boxing match with all the seriousness of a professional match. Then watch as he pretends to not see a blatant foul from Smith so he can have his heart-to-heart talk with Isami.
- Easily-Distracted Referee: When Smith and Asami have their boxing match, Prahmman makes a point to not actually call out and rulebreaking, both to make the fight more interesting (and cast himself as a heel to the crowd) and likely to play Trickster Mentor to let the boxers share their emotions through violence.
- Nerves of Steel: The dangerous and highly unusual situation the characters find themselves in obviously gets a lot of emotional responses from them. Not so much from this guy, who keeps himself composed and serious.
Hal King
- Voiced by: Kenta Miyake
An admiral of the American Navy and the joint exercise commander for ADRIMPAC in the Pacific Ocean.
- Big Good: The overall leader of the multinational forces participating in the joint exercise, who suddenly found themselves in Hawaii isolated and fighting a war against aliens.
- Meaningful Name: The Leader of the remains of the ADRIMPAC force just happens to have the surname King.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He is cautious about Bravern like most of the base, but is also willing to give him chances to prove he is an ally, and treats him better once he does.
- Rousing Speech: Gives one not only to raise the morale of the surviving soldiers, but also to inform them that Bravern is an ally that will be helping them fight the aliens, making it easier for the base to accept his presence.
Karen Aldrin
- Voiced by: Yukiyo Fujii
An AWACS specialist with the US Air Force.
- Mission Control: Part of her role with AWACS.
- Voice with an Internet Connection: Karen's job is to relay information to the Titanstrider forces.
Nina Kowalski
- Voiced by: Nanako Mori
A military doctor in the U.S. military.
- Combat Medic: It's shown that she is, at the very least, training on how to use a gun. Given how many people were already lost in battle, it makes sense even the medic joins the training.
- The Medic: Nina's pushed into the role of treating wounded American marines after Soldat Terrors start raiding Oahu.
Bundeswehr
Heidemarie Barrow
Voiced by: Yuu Asakawa
Commander of German forces participating in ADRIMPAC.
- Bilingual Backfire: During the brass' first meeting with Bravern she tells a fellow Bundeswehr officer in German that she suspects Bravern is an American-made drone. Bravern, in perfect German, tells her this isn't the time for humanity to be distrustful of each other.
- Foreign Cuss Word: She doesn't like Bravern's antics, and is not good at hiding it. At one point in "Isami! You'll Be Here Soon, Won't You, Isami!?", she lets out a "Scheiße!" in frustration.
- Sour Supporter: Like most of the base, she is forced to admit they need Bravern's help if they want to get anything done. Unlike some of the other characters, she doesn't fully trust him and makes no attempts to pretend she does, openly voicing her suspicions about him.
CIA
Bob Craib
Voiced by: Cho
An intelligence analyst from the CIA.
- Bullying a Dragon: Yeah sure, trying to interrogate Superbia, a Deathdrive of all things in the same way he did to Isami and Lulu expecting nothing would happen is not a bright idea. Surprisingly, he survived it and wisely decided to give up afterwards.
- Break the Haughty: A comedic example. His complete failure to interrogate Lulu and Superbia leaves him a husk of the smug asshole he was during Isami's interrogation. After pleading for Superbia to say anything at all, he can only walk away with his head hanging after apologizing to Isami.
- Face of a Thug: Inverted. He has the appearance and mannerisms of a genial old uncle, Hawaiian shirt included, but he's a remorseless Torture Technician.
- Faux Affably Evil: He is extremely jovial and advising people to tell him what he wants in between bouts of waterboarding, sounding like some uncle exasperated at Isami's idiocy.
- Fat Bastard: He's overweight and not a nice guy in the least.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Tells Isami that he is nicer than the other people who are lining up to interrogate him. More obviously Blatant Lies have rarely been told.
- Torture Technician: He certainly sounded proud when talking about how he can get people to talk. His personal profile in the official site even claims his favourite thing is his "job".
- Would Hurt a Child: He has no problem trying to interrogate Lulu the same way he "interrogated" Isami. Emphasis on trying, as not only is she only capable of saying 2 words (those being "Lulu" and "Smith"), but she also drank all the water he had meant to waterboard her with.
Deathdrives
In General
The primary antagonists of the series. Deathdrives are a race of robotic lifeforms who have invaded Earth for seemingly no reason, prompting Bravern to come to Earth to stop them.
- Aliens Are Bastards: They arrived from outer space to annihilate humanity for no apparent reason.
- Amplifier Artifact: They use pods containing Lulus in order to boost their powers briefly when they want to go all out. Each Deathdrive has a port for inserting the pod into; stronger Deathdrives have two. Verum Vita has ten, one on each finger, like rings.
- Beneath the Mask: While they project the air of dignified villains, if one irritates them enough, they can be surprisingly foulmouthed.
- Death Seeker: Their invasion of Earth is driven by their desire to die. Each of them wants to die a different way.
- Human Resources: The high-ranking Deathdrives all use a Lulu as an auxiliary power source, rapidly burning away their Life Energy to power themselves up. Superbia is shocked to discover his Lulu speaking and moving around, as he was under the impression they were nothing more than mindless batteries. For some reason, it has to be a Lulu, as Smith's attempt to act as Superbia's battery is a complete failure.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: They claim they wish to die, but for whatever reason are unwilling or unable to do it themselves. Thus, their true purpose for attacking Earth is to force humanity to destroy them.
- Meaningful Name: The word Deathdrive comes from the Freudian concept of the 'death drive
', fitting their indiscriminate aggression and death wish. - Mechanical Lifeforms: The Deathdrives are machines lifeforms who gained sentience after millions of years of evolution.
- Respawn Point: Destroying a Deathdrive will only cause them to be rapidly rebuilt at the tower they came from. One needs to destroy the tower to get rid of them for good.
- Seven Deadly Sins: The eight named Deathdrives are based on the "eight evil thoughts" proposed by the Christian monk Evagrius Ponticus, which predated and were revised into the classic deadly sins:
- Greed: Cupiridas. His wish is to die in the biggest explosion possible, and refuses to take anything less.
- Sadness: Pessimism. Constantly morose, his wish is ironically to die without feeling sad.
- Vainglory: Vanitas. A self-absorbed personality, his wish is to die a flashy death.
- Lust: Knuth. With a Single-Target Sexuality fixed on Lewis Smith, her wish is to die "making love" to him.
- Gluttony: Paupertipum. Concerned only with feeding, his wish is to eat himself to death.
- Acedia: Segnities. His wish is to die in an awesome battle without having to do any of it.
- Pride: Superbia. A proud warrior, his wish is to die battling an opponent worthy of his skill.
- Anger: Ira. Driven by impulsive violence, his wish is to die while in a fit of rage.
Soldat Terror
The Deathdrives' primary foot soldiers.
- Deflector Shields: The main reason why they're so unstoppable. Even if their lasers can be evaded, human weapons can't get through their shields. Only Bravern can break them directly, but he explains they have another weakness in episode 3: focusing fire on on them from one direction forces them to concentrate power on that part of their shield, leaving them vulnerable from all other directions. His words are confirmed in episode 6 when Soldat Terrors in Tokyo are attacked by multiple missiles, one hit breaking their shields.
- Mecha-Mook: They are the most common and basic units of the Deathdrives' forces.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: They are head and shoulders above any Earth-made weapons, as no bullets or missiles can pierce their barriers and their beams are capable of oneshoting Titanstriders. That being said, they might as well be made of cardboard when going up against Bravern.
Soldat Fillet
The Deathdrives' primary aquatic soldiers.
- Mecha-Mook: Another common Deathdrive mech found in aquatic environment.
Superbia
- Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita
A high-ranking member of the Deathdrives' army who appears to share a past with Bravern.
- Calling Your Attacks: Develops this habit in Episode 11 to match Bravern, although Superbia's are more florid.
- Easily Forgiven: Following his Heel Realization, his role in massacring so many people as a Deathdrive commander is completely brushed aside as the series gets Lighter and Softer and the War Is Hell aspects become less pronounced.
- Eating Machine: The Lulu port on his chest can be used to consume food, something he's never done before. He proceeds to have an Orgasmically Delicious reaction after eating an entire grilled mahi-mahi, cementing his love of Earth. In the future Lulu comes from, she says Superbia became a foodie.
- Expy: Of Angilon from Super Robot Wars DD, as both characters has similar roles, motivations and even share the same voice actor. through he looks more like his female ally Mabilon from the same game in terms of color and design. This is even lampshaded like hell and back during the debut of the anime in SRW DD, as the show is one of the few ones which Dido, aka Didarion, name-drops during his attacks, as well of working very well with Bravern.
- Equippable Ally: He (or at least his body piloted by Lulu) becomes a sword for Bang Brave Big Bang.
- Heel Realization: Seeing Lulu talking and moving like she isn't supposed to do as a Living Battery shocks him so much he gives up on fighting so he can reflect on this discovery and what it means for his battle with Bravern. This gives Bravern and the humans the chance to talk with him peacefully, ultimately causing him to change his mind about how to treat Lulu, agreeing with Bravern's words about the importance of a soul.
- Killed Off for Real: Like all Deathdrives, killing him isn't the problem. The trick is making him stay dead. Died for real on chapter 12 against Ira, and while Bravern who was also killed by Ira eventually came back as Lewis Smith, Superbia stayed dead.
- Meaningful Name: His name is Italian and Latin for "Pride", and as shown when he actually starts talking he's very prideful. When he can be understood anyway.
- Not Quite Dead: Despite blowing up when Bravern defeats him, he returns four episodes later.
- Perpetual Frowner: Unlike Bravern, Superbia lacks an actual mouth, instead having a series of orange lines on the face arranged in such a way that it gives off this impression.
- Purple Is Powerful: Subverted. Despite this coloration and being set up as The Rival to Bravern, Superbia is rather swiftly defeated in "Isami! You'll Be Here Soon, Won't You, Isami!?"It didn't stick.
- Starter Villain: Superbia is the first unique enemy the heroes have to face, establishing they have more to worry about than just hordes of mooks. But while Superbia is a bit tougher than those mooks, Superbia is still not on the same level as Bravern, only gaining the upper hand during their fight because Bravern wasn't fighting at 100% until Isami arrived.
- Took a Level in Badass: Accepting Lulu as his pilot did wonders for Superbia, allowing him to fight evenly against Bravern, in contrast with their first battle.
- The Unintelligible: Speaks in the same kind of way Lulu does, but Bravern installed a translator microbe into him so that he could be understood by each human’s mother tongue.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: he's this by dying, the timeline which Lulu comes from is peaceful only because Superbia was still around and thus Verum Vita never came to be as the death of all Deathdrives are required for her to be born, once he died and Ira got killed, Verum Vita was born.
Cupiridas
- Voiced by: Tetsu Inada
- Death Seeker: His wish is to go out in a spectacular explosion. Bravern grants it for him, much to his pleasure.
- Evil Is Hammy: Like Bravern, he has a thing for dramatic lines, especially when he is talking about his desire to die in the greatest explosion ever.
- Not Quite Dead: The first to explicitly demonstrate that a Deathdrive's tower has to be destroyed to kill them permanently, as he comes back over and over again until he finally goes out the way he wants. And then it turns out the Deathdrives' mothership in orbit rebuilt him again... just in time to get vaporized by Knuth.
Knuth
- Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka
- Abhorrent Admirer: For some reason Knuth has had her sights set on Smith and only Smith and only wants to die after he "makes love" to her. Needless to say Smith doesn't reciprocate her feelings at all and futilely tries to redirect her to Bravern.
- Adaptational Name Change: Her name is spelled "Cunus," but was changed to "Knuth" in the west, possibly because the Latin word it's derived from (cunnus) is somewhat obscene.
- Death Seeker: Like the Deathdrives, she long to die, but unlike the others, she wants her death to be for good, and wants Smith to grant it by "Making Love to Her." She's so fixated on this she destroys the Deathdrives' original tower in orbit so it can't reconstruct her, or anyone else for that matter.
- Evil Counterpart: To Bravern. Like Bravern she's an immensely powerful super robot who is fixated on one human, Smith, and will only accept what she desires from him. But while Bravern's love for Isami is genuine, if a little too much at times, Knuth's love for Smith is completely selfish and deranged, manifesting in her killing and brutalizing the rest of the Brave Knights so she can have Smith all to herself.
- Hero Killer: Has Hiro killed during her debut appearance. In episode 9, this is averted thanks to time travel shenanigans caused by Lewis sacrifing himself.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: She destroys the Deathdrive's mothership and original tower so it can't resurrect her again, which handily takes care of the Deathdrive's Resurrective Immortality for the heroes.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Knuth is only present for Ep 8 and a small part of EP 9, but her actions play a role in not only causing Smith to become Bravern, as well as sending him back in time save humanity from the Death Drives but also preventing the Death Drives from resurrecting, removing the core advantage the Deathdrives had over humanity.
- Smurfette Principle: The only female among the Deathdrives.
- Space Master: She's capable of manipulating space by teleporting herself and others, creating portals, and performing Portal Cuts.
- Time Master: She can rewind time on anything she pleases, and apparenly has used this ability to relive her "tryst" with Smith multiple times. Her powers are the reason why Smith travelled back to the past after merging with her, becoming Bravern.
- Villainesses Want Heroes: She fixates on Smith and demands that he "make love to her."
- Wake-Up Call Boss: She's one of the first enemies to not be defeated easily, seems to have abilities far beyond the rest (Teleporting anything she desires, time manipulation and even shooting a beam powerful enough to eliminate a Death Drives Tower in one blast while it's still in orbit and even forces Smith to pull a Heroic Sacrifice in order to defeat her. She also demonstrated how dangerous she was by eliminating the revived Cupridras and supposedly removing the source of the Deathdrives Generals resurrection abilities
- Yandere: She seems to have taken to Smith and refuses to let anyone interfere until she "Makes love to him".
Vanitas
- Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa
- Agent Peacock: He's pretty flamboyant compared to most of the other Deathdrives and his body-shape and color scheme are very feminine. He gives Bravern a run for his money, continously bombarding him with Attack Drones through the fog and even blowing him out of the sky at several points.
- Attack Drone: He has Gundam-style bits that shoot beams for him instead of carrying a proper weapon- Appropriate for someone whose namesake is vanity.
- Dual Boss: He attacks together with Pessimism, with Pessimism's fog and his own drones proving to be a pretty lethal combination. Originally they were even supposed to be a boss trio, but Knuth running off to do her own thing throws a wrench into that plan.
- Floating Limbs: His arms don't seem to be connected to his body.
- Meaningful Name: His name is Latin for vanity, and he wants to die a very flashy death.
- Oh, Crap!: Downplayed. Vanitas is displeased when he realizes Knuth just blew the orbital tower to pieces, meaning the Deathdrives have lost their Resurrective Immortality for good. Not so much because that means he'll die permanently, but because now he only has one chance to die the flashy extravagant death he desires.
Pessimism
- Voiced by: Chafurin
- Dual Boss: Him and Vanitas attack together. Knuth was supposed to be part of their attack as well, but she ran off to look for Smith instead.
- The Eeyore: Befitting his name, Pessimism is always in a glum mood, complaining and lamenting the whole time him and Vanitas are fighting Bravern. When he finally dies, he subverts this for a second saying that he's happy - only to then add that that makes him sad because now he can no longer be sad.
- Fog of Doom: His primary method of attack is generating a dense fog that also cuts off communications and makes Titanstriders appear as enemy Deathdrives to each other. He can also shift the fog to form additional arms and tendrils that can restrain and/or throw an opponent.
- Meaningful Name: As his name implies, he doesn't seem to be happy about anything.
- Support Party Member: While his fog does have offensive capabilities he mainly uses it to provide a smokescreen for Vanitas and to sabotage Bravern's attacks. Most of the heavier blows against Bravern are dealt by Vanitas' drones while Pessimism hangs back and only interferes occasionally.
- Third-Person Person: He talks much like a narrator over his own actions.
Segnities
- Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi
- Ambiguous Syntax: After Superbia destroys him, it becomes clear that Segnities' apparent posturing and boasts about his power were actually him telling them that he didn't stand a chance against them.Segnities: The difference between your strength and mine is clear. Behold!
- Cranial Processing Unit: Superbia destroys his body, but his head falls off and remains conscious for the rest of the episode.
- Detachment Combat: He demonstrates the ability to separate and rearrange his arms, legs, and head.
- Killing Intent: As Bravern and Superbia charge in for their first attack, all Segnities does is glare at them. This causes the two of them to fall back, seized by inexplicable fear. Subverted, as Segnities was never under any delusion that he could actually beat them. They just psyched themselves out.
- Meaningful Name: Segnities is the Latin word for sloth. He puts up absolutely no fight.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Superbia knows absolutely nothing about his powers or motivations, and warns Isami that this likely means he's the most dangerous of the surviving Deathdrives.
- Paper Tiger: In reality, his only weapon is intimidation (and even that's because his opponents psyched themselves into believing he was incredibly powerful) — he has no fighting skills whatsoever. As such, Superbia ends up cutting him down instantly once he gathers the nerve to land a blow.
Paupertipum
- Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki
- Planet Eater: Downplayed. His MO is to suck the magma out of planets, but what kind of long-term damage he might do isn't stated.
- The Unfought: It spends all of its time gorging on magma, and dies from absorbing too much energy after Isami and Bravern fuse.
Ira
- Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda
- The Dreaded: Lulu is VERY clearly terrified of him, even before he almost certainly kills Bravern in a single attack and does the same to Superbia.
- Hero Killer: Killed both Bravern and Superbia.
- Meaningful Name: Ira is latin for Wrath, and as Superbia describes him, he is driven by impulsive anger.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: His body is mostly black with red spikes (and some yellow), and he makes his entrance by backstabbing Bravern and picking a fight with Superbia.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: He is the only Deathdrives who isn't featured in the opening, where Superbia is shown in full and the rest are seen in silhouette.
- Tranquil Fury: He declares his namesake anger to Bravern and Superbia right after his sneak attack on Bravern, all while sounding rather monotone.
Verum Vita (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
- Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya
- Broken Faceplate: During her fight with Big Bang Bravern, her mask, which depicts a serene face, is broken; revealing the same kind of monstrous robot face that the other Deathdrives had.
- Death Seeker: Like the Deathdrives, she wants to experience death; unlike the Deathdrives, she doesn't actually want to die. To circumvent this, her goal is to kill everyone else.
- Final Boss: The last and most dangerous antagonist of the series.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: It turns out that when the death wishes of all eight Deathdrives are fulfilled, it will create an almighty being of true life, Verum Vita. Unlike Bravern's creation, this event receives no foreshadowing, nor is it ever explained.
- Light Is Not Good: She looks like an angel, but seeks to kill all of humanity just to satisfy her curiousity. When Bravern breaks her faceplate, her true face shows her as the monster she truly is.
- Meaningful Name: Latin (incorrectly conjugated) for "true life", although what makes her more alive than the Deathdrives is never explained.
- Omnicidal Maniac: In order to best understand death without dying, she seeks the deaths of all 9 billion humans on earth.
