Bang Brave Bang Bravern

Watch Bravern be the subject matter for Granblue's April Fools event of 2024.

(I know I'm joking, but that might actually be what makes me get into GBF once and for all...)

Not unfeasible that Bobobo could return like he’s done before either for April Fools. Not sure if GBF can handle Bravern AND Bobobo.

Even the 4koma Gag villain who shows up for April Fools couldn’t handle Bobobo. Couldn’t handle Hello Kitty! Either.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 22nd 2024 at 7:46:03 AM

https://bangbravern.com/special/detail?i=0034

Special image to celebrate the 11th episode.

Oh, that I need to see.

So I'm on episode 10.

I Knew It!. Smith is Bravern! Neat. So now we're seeing Lulu and she's a different kind of time traveler from a... actually seems like a really nice future. The Deathdrives are defeated, they have supertech it seems, and it only cost them Ao and Smith who... well, seemed to be at peace with what they had to do.

I don't... I don't think I would then devote a decade to developing time travel for the sake of undoing that. Like, if it were a Bad Future it would be one thing but it just seems... risky. Like, what if they lose this time around? Sure, Asami and Brave won at the cost of their own lives, so doubling their force should theoretically make victory easier, but this isn't a Super Robot Wars game. You can't just increase your force and there are no other variables in battle.

But yeah. Love this show. It's really fun. And funny. I can't remember the last time I even remotely followed an anime so this is a throwback for me.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand caught up. And I continue to ask: was it really worth it to develop time travel to save two people who already succeeded in saving the planet? The future is fine, why risk it? It's not like Avengers Endgame where they were saving half the population of the universe, or Zac Snyder's Justice League where it's a hail Mary to save the day at the end, or even a situation where they had time travel and used it impulsively. They spent years working on this tech for the sole purpose of saving these two guys, risking everything Bravern and Asami willingly put their lives on the line for.

Eating time with friends was fantastic comedy. Also enjoyed Bravern's love confession which at least gives me enough comfort to assume the show isn't going to fully "No Homo" the Homoerotic Subtext into queerbaiting... even if it goes into Bury Your Gays territory.

And yeah. Loved both fights. The gag fakeout one and the fight between rivals. Both brought me joy.

Smith's third death was really great. I don't expect it to stick but even with that in mind I thought it was beautifully done.

I think it's the mindset that a victory isn't truly a victory if it comes at the cost of the hero not being there to partake in the victory. Lulu going for the going for a Golden Ending with Bravern and Ao alive seems foolish in light of that, but can you blame her?

Final PV:

I'll have to catch up, but I'm hoping it's not rushed.

Damn. Needed a few more episodes but man that ending with Naked dads and their naked alien daughter in front of everyone. RIP Superbia. You died so your Lulu can be happy.

8/10

Definitely the Samurai Flamenco of Mecha shows.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 28th 2024 at 3:51:05 AM

That was exactly as cheesy as I wanted it to be. I was simultaneously laughing my ass off and pumping my fist in the air, that's how you know you got premium ham. Frickin' great when Bravern shot at Veritas in the middle of her introduction.

I'm happy Smith came back. Wouldn't feel right to leave him dead.

Edited by fillerdude on Mar 28th 2024 at 7:06:40 AM

Haven't looked at the spoilers, but I take it the show (or at least the season) ended? I didn't know how many episodes it was going to be.

Yep, it's now over! Feel free to binge it; I know I'm going to! :D

The character designer recently drew Lulu as one of the Horsegirl idols(Umu Musume another series by Cygames). He also said he was thinking of making Isami one lol, but he gets disrespected enough as is.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Apr 1st 2024 at 4:05:27 AM

Come on Isami, becoming a horsegirl idol is hardly a sign of disrespect!

So, yeah. Finished the show. I liked it a lot.

Do feel like the beginning kinda... was undermined by a lot of the rest of the show. Like, I think it was mishandled how much the latter half of the show glossed over the damage the Death Drives caused and it felt really bizarre by the end where it seemed like only the main characters existed in the entire world and by extension were the only thing that mattered. To the point that Lulu jeopardized the peaceful future she built for the sake of saving two lives.

I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and assuming that Verum Vita would have awoken when Superbia eventually died, thus meaning humanity would've been screwed without Bravern. Still doesn't make her decision to develop time travel to save Asami and Bravern any less foolish or selfish, just justified due to plot contrivances.

Ultimately, I also feel like the Ambiguously Gay was handled really well. I think that no one can deny that Bravern had romantic feelings for Asami, but for those who don't care for that can easily "no homo" Smith's feelings due to Knuth's influence on Bravern. I personally just assume that Lulu's now going to have two gay dads who might be younger than her.

Edited by Larkmarn on Apr 22nd 2024 at 11:14:31 AM

Smith was grinding on Isami even before he turned into a robot, ain't nothing ambiguous about it

And Isami was a jealous boyfriend all the time. They are 100% gay!

Also I'd wager that people other than Isami died in Lulu's original timeline? She time traveled for selfish reasons but it doesn't mean her actions didn't end up being better on the whole. Though stuff like this is why I dislike time travel as a trope haha.

Re No Endor Holocaust: Vita Verum does say there's still some nine billion people on Earth, so apparently the Death Drives mostly wiped out militaries.

https://bangbravern.com/special/detail?i=0035

Special art to celebrate the final episode.

https://bangbravern.com/special/detail?i=0036

Special Bravern event being held on August in Tokyo... somewhere.

Ryota Suzuki, Yohei Azakami, Kenichi Suzumura, Saya Aizawa and Tomokazu Sugita are the guests.

Lottery will include a free copy of the Blu-Ray (of the show), first volume.

That did occur to me, but this is the Not So Distant Future so we have no idea how big the population was before that. 9 billion isn't the current Earth population, after all.

Like, Tokyo had been completely razed. The shift in tone to "the main characters survived so it's A-OK!" was still jarring.

Smith was also stripping Lulu and mounting her in his underwear and no one's saying that's a romantic relationship. I don't disagree that Smith is into Asami, but it's still a use of the Ambiguously Gay trope.

Because the creator Obari explicitly makes the point that Lulu is symbolically his child. It’s why AU Art literally spawn of him as a single father made by the official character designer(with input/being asked by Obari).

This is why the scene where he finds her is even depicted with a mother sea turtle laying an egg.

Obari himself refuted any attempt of outside influence in regards to Smiths feelings to Isami by pointing out Bravern is 100% him and Bravern is OPENLY gay for Isami and says Knuth had zero influence on how Bravern acts or feels.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Apr 9th 2024 at 3:46:23 AM

https://bangbravern.com/goods

Bunch of new Bravern merchandise. Has boxers too.

They have the "I <3 Robot" shirt.

Some of the shirts are dope.

I started watching this out of curiosity and my god this is the gayest mecha anime I've ever seen. I was trying to describe this to my gaming buddies (several of whom are some flavor of queer IRL) and went with "Super Robot show suddenly barges into an unrelated Military Science Fiction show like the Spanish Inquisition, and the Super Robot is super gay". And then the end credits video with the very muscular male leads singing shirtless. 🤣

I did really enjoy from the first two episodes that the human cast actually acknowledged that none of this makes a lick of sense and would be bloody terrifying to experience.