Anime / The Brave of Gold Goldran

Now that's some serious bling.

The Brave of Gold: Goldran is a Japanese anime television series that aired in 1995 through 1996, created by Sunrise. The sixth in the Brave Series, Goldran follows the adventures of three young boys, Takuya, Dai, and Kazuki, who are tasked with finding 8 robot fighters, or Braves, that are sleeping in the form of large gems called Power Stones. Their enemy is the flamboyant and thoroughly incompetent Prince Walter Walzac and his henchmen, and later, Serious Walzac, Walter's younger brother.

The show focuses more on comedy than plot, particularly in the beginning, and gradually works its way up towards drama starting with the introduction of Walter's younger brother Serious... then pretty much immediately goes back to cranking up the funny whenever it doesn't get in the way of the adventuring storyline.

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These are the following tropes:

• Action Girl: Sharanra is more than capable of keeping up with Walter's plans and/or capturing him herself.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: They bump into one named Mac in episode 19. While he's a dead ringer for the man himself, it's abundantly clear that he's done all the necessary homework to safely navigate the trap-filled temple they're in and has no use for the Indy Ploy.
• Affably Evil: Most of the villains. We also find out that Walter's the diplomatic representative of the Walzac Empire to at least their consulate in Japan.
• Aliens Speaking Japanese: A throwaway line from Dai implies that this is the standard, and the trio sees nothing wrong with it. (They have a short discussion about it while ignoring an increasingly frustrated alien threatening them with a gun, who goes from calmly telling them to reach for the sky to screaming "putyerhandsup putyerhandsup putyerhandsup~!" whilst firing wildly to demonstrate that he means business.)
  • The same episode offers up a bit of Bilingual Dialogue as well, since the Japanese-speaking robot locals trade with the aliens.
• All Asians Know Martial Arts: Referenced when, thanks to some convoluted circumstances, the boys' teacher is forced to fight on their behalf in a foreign martial arts tournament. The queen running the tournament assumes that she'll be fine because she thinks all Japanese people know karate and that, as a teacher, she must naturally be a black belt. The protagonists' attempts to protest this misconception go unheard.
• An Adventurer Is You: Takuya and his gang go on adventures. Despite being 12 years old.
• And the Adventure Continues: The finale of the show doesn't end on Legendra. Takuya, Kazuki, Dai, The Walzac brothers, Sharanra, Walter's butler and the 9 Braves continue the quest beyond Legendra after they refuse to be the Successors of the universe.
• Berserk Button: Try to kidnap and brainwash Dran's precious golden Godzilla-esque parter Golgon, and he'll literally claw his way out of the depths of hell to kick your ass and retrieve Golgon back.
• BFG: Advenger's "Galactica Buster".
• Bigger on the Inside: Captain Shark is apparently big enough inside that his passengers can have lunch in a dining room without noticing that there's a battle going on outside - when he's in robot form.
  • Averted with Advenger. He's somewhat bigger than a normal steam engine (at least big enough that Dran can park inside) but only has a single room inside that appears to disappear when he transforms.
• Bling-Bling-BANG!: Goldran himself is pretty much this. So are Leonkaiser, Sorakage (also gold) and the Silver Knights (silver, duh). Advenger and Captain Shark avert this by having gold mostly in the form of trimming.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Great Goldran has the Great Archery in addition to plain ol' (Sky) Goldran's Super Dragonfang Sword.
• Captain Ersatz: One episode had the gang go to a place where clay figure beings live (The place is called Sodra), and the Big Bad of the episode has clay versions of the Goldran mechs. The difference however, are the faces.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The show takes on a darker tone after Serious/Sirius Walzac becomes the new Big Bad.
• Character Development: Walter gets far more of this than you'd expect, particularly around the time Serious shows up.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Sharanra Sheethul, Walter's self-described fiancee. (In truth, she's much more 'clingy' than 'jealous', and Walter will run from her due to her overbearing nature.)
• Combination Attack: Captain Shark and Advenger's "Hyper Galactica Buster", where Advenger changes back to his train form and replaces Captain Shark's shoulder-mounted "Spiral Launcher" for an overpowered "Galactica Buster" shot. The 9 Legendra Braves can also connect to fire off the "Miracle Galactica Buster", by grabbing onto Captain Shark in "Hyper Galactica Buster" mode.
• Combining Mecha: Goldran, formed from the swordsrobot Dran and the golden dinosaur Golgon. Also with Leonkaiser and Silverion. Goldran, Leonkaiser and Sorakage all combine to form Great Goldran, who still holds the record for most components in a Bravecombiner (a total of five).
• Cool Car: Dran's vehicle mode is a three-seater with the steering column in the middle.
• Cool Old Guy: Colonel Sangross. (Incidentally, 'Colonel' is his name, not his rank.)
• Cool Plane: Leon, a three-seater like Dran in jet form. (Jet Silver as well, but they never use him as a mode of transportation.)
• Cool Train: Advenger. They tried using Dran, but something like an undersea drive halfway around the world taxes his stamina and affects his performance in battle, so after the second episode they switch to Advenger's train mode as their primary form of transportation.
• The Determinator: You can blast Advenger with laser beams, nearly cut him in two, infect him with the Yuusha alternative of Cosmic Rust, but you still won't be able to keep him down for long. Also, Dran.
• Denser and Wackier: When compared to the relatively dark Da Garn, Might Gaine and Dagwon, the lighthearted but very emotional JDecker and the Hot-Blooded GaoGaiGar, Goldran really sticks out like a sore thumb with its' heavy focus on humor and comedy. It turned out to be the last hurrah of success for the Brave franchise, as the succeeding Dagwon and GaoGaiGar underperformed massively with the 6-to-12 boys who were the main target audience for the Brave Series. For the same reasons it was so successful in Japan, Goldran was really hated amongst non-Japanese super robot fans who came for the courage-driven action. In the more recent days, thanks to the completion of a fan translation by /m/ subs, the hate managed to calm down somewhat, with most people appreciating the show as a decently funny action-comedy that more than makes up for the unusual lack of hot-blood when compared to the rest of the franchise.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Golgon represents "The Dragon" in the background of Goldran.
• Diplomatic Impunity: Generally averted. Walter will flout international treaties with impudence, but seems to consider the search for the Power Stones as separate from his political duties and usually won't even identify himself as Walter Walzack in public unless he has to.
• The Ditz: Sharanra is introduced this way. At least part of the reason Walter dislikes her is how dangerous this sometimes makes her.
• Energy Bow: Great Goldran's 'Great Archery' is a physical weapon with an energy string that is visible during use.
• Equippable Ally: Golgon, Kaiser, Sorakage, Advenger, Fire Silver.
• Expy: The 'Custom Gear' robots are basically Zakus. The purpose-specific Walter-use variations thereof hew closer to GM-style customizations, and overall are gradually supplanted with Mobile Armor-style robots that stand more of a chance against the Legendra Yuushas.
• Eye Catch: They tend to be group shots going out, and Goldran coming in. (Leonkaiser took over for Goldran, for those three episodes where the other Braves were stuck in their Power Stone forms.) In later episodes the group shots would be Advenger in train mode with the others riding on its cars (The Silver Knights on a special car in vehicle modes, with Golgon and Kaiser on open cars) on going to commercial and a group shot of their final combined forms (Excluding Advenger who's in robot mode and Captain Shark in ship mode) for going back to the show. The last few episodes just suddenly show the show's logo on the bottom.
• Eyepatch of Power: Captain Shark. He does have an eye underneath it, though.
  • Captain Eater Ezack does as well, and he's clearly just wearing it for show.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Walter genuinely loves his younger brother Serious.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's a card-carrying Bad Guy, but Walter has a few lines he won't cross. No unnecessary collateral damage or violence toward civilians (that aren't directly opposing him), a... somewhat honorable approach to adventuring and battle, and is as much of a Benevolent Boss as his present circumstances will allow. This all serves to heighten the Wham Episode, where he is forced to throw all these aside out of desperation, and makes his later Heel–Face Turn believable.
  • On the flip side, Serious has exactly none of these standards, and is all the more dangerous for it.
• Fartillery: Ultra Potatoes from the planet 'Ausa-2' are highly digestible and thus become gas very easily. Very easily. Very, very easily. Takuya, Kazuki, and Dai use this to fly to the other side of the planet and back only stopping when the, er, other aspect of eating a lot of highly digestible food makes an unplanned appearance.
  • Naturally, they make sure Wal- er, Eater, gets several baskets worth of Ultra Potatoes at the end...
• Freudian Trio: Takuya (Id), Dai (Ego), and Kazuki (Superego).
• Gag Series: For the most part, anyway. It has its share of serious moments, and the plot does gradually move forward, but for the most part it's 'comedy, then plot'.
• Genius Loci: The planet Miradise (apparently a portmanteau of 'mirror' and 'paradise') appears to show those who land on it their heart's desire. It's not clear why it does this, and Serious is the only one to land on it. Then he blows it up with his ship's Planet Buster, apparently reading some kind of malice in its intentions.
• Genre Savvy: Surprisingly, and for all his foibles, Walter actually is. On more than a few occasions, he comes very close to actually winning as a bad guy.
• Gotta Catch Them All: The first half of the series deals with Takuya, Dai, and Kazuki competing with Walter to get the Power Stones.
• Heel–Face Turn: Walter Walzac, the moment the new main villain came in the picture. He is quite a bit more effective afterwards than you'd normally expect from the trope, graduating to full Sixth Ranger levels of awesome.
  • Also, Serious after his jerkass daddy tries to blow the whole universe to pieces with a planet-sized missile.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: A rare protagonist example. In Serious Walzac's second episode the bad guys take control of Golgon through fusion with Waldran, an Evil Twin of sorts to Dran, to form Dark Goldran. Dark Goldran then proceeds to cleave Dran from shoulder to hip with his own BFS.
• Jidaigeki: Japonesia in episode six is a mix of this and modern technology. It's by far the most violent place they visit on Earth.
• Kid Heroes: Takuya and friends.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Underplayed, but they still do some... somewhat questionable things to acquire the Power Stones.
• Knights In Silver Armor: The Silver Knights.
• Large Ham: Walter.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Something about being sealed away in their Power Stone forms means that the Legendra Braves typically remember their identities and how to fight upon being revived, but that's about it. They don't remember any past masters at the start of the show, and don't seem to remember the trio upon being revived by Walter - until he orders them to.
• Laughably Evil: Walter again. It's established on several occasions that he could just do a smash-and-grab for the Power Stones... but he'd rather compete for them.
• Lighter and Softer: To Denser and Wackier levels.
• Lightning Bruiser: Captain Shark. Whereas the other Legendra Braves specialize in certain tactics and have some sort of Finishing Move, Captain Shark doesn't - his regular attacks are so powerful that he doesn't need style or finesse.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Silver Knights all have shields (though Fire Silver's is more like a barrier), which carries over to (God) Silverion.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Captain Shark's Spiral Launcher works like this. As with him, it's just plain and simple missiles on top of missiles on top of missiles.
• Made of Indestructium: The Power Stones are explicitly indestructible. Applies to the Legendra Braves to some extent, as even if they are completely destroyed, they'll revert back to their Power Stone forms.
• Magical Girl: Sharanra's character design is built around this trope, though she cannot perform any magic. Comes to a head in episode 22, where she imagines herself as an actual Magical Girl complete with items, pet, and broom.
• Meaningful Name: "Serious/Sirius" Walzac.
• Mecha Expansion Pack: Sorakage can become a flight pack for Goldran or Leonkaizer. Fire Silver is an armor add-on for Silverion, making God Silverion. Advenger's 'Koutetsu Busou' ('Steel Equip') mode works like this. And of course, the Great Goldran combination, in addition to Sorakage being Goldran's jetpack, gives Goldran side horns for its head, a Lion head chest, a new armor skirt and new footwear.
• Mecha-Mooks: Serious's soldiers. Might also apply to Walter's.
• More Dakka: At first, it seems like Advenger is just the Big Guy of the 8 Legendra Braves. Then it turns out that he has missile launchers on his legs and left shoulder, a cannon on his right shoulder, a smart gun and Gatling gun attached to his arms, a handheld rifle, and the Galactica Buster in his chest.
• Ninja: Sorakage...
  • Highly-Visible Ninja: ...who is a golden ninja.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Captain Shark is a pirate shark battleship tank robot.
• No "Arc" in "Archery": Great Goldran's Great Archery can be used to fire the Golden Arrow, which does not arc as it is clearly an energy/mystical weapon. In fact, it seems to grow in size on its way to its target - to roughly five times Great Goldran's height on its first use!
• Panthera Awesome: Kaiser.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Walter does very little besides put on a pirate-y costume and eyepatch to be Eater Ezack, and it fools almost no one (though he thinks it does). The one person it does fool is Sharanra though, so it's a success! Or at least until he finally reveals that to Sharanra though.
• Part-Time Hero: What the three heroes basically do. They're busy with school during the week, so they do their adventuring during the weekend (when the show itself aired...). Then they leave Earth.
• Pirate: Captain Shark and Eater Eezack. Also, the pirates from episode 9.
• Punny Name: Well, a pun involved in the name, at any rate. Colonel Sangross' name is based on (who else?) Colonel Sanders, and the 'ders' there is pronounced 'dahs' in Japanese. 'Dahs' sounds like the word for 'dozen' = 12, and 12 x 12 = 144 or one gross. Geddit?
• Ridiculously Human Robots: Not only are the Braves sentient, they can also get sick and impregnate female robots. They technically aren't robots per se, but the realized forms of their Power Stones (plus the Golden Beasts Golgon and Kaiser), so they're actually about halfway in between. They even heal wounds between battles!
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Walter is actually a pretty good example of a Warrior Prince - if you watch closely, you realize that he always strives to lead from the front and never delegates blame for a failed plan. Serious is more of an Evil Prince due to his upbringing.
• Samurai: Dran is a straight-up example. Leon is more of a 'Shogun' in the Jidaigeki style.
• Sealed Badass in a Can: How the Power Stones work. The idea is that they will be revived by good masters and used for the forces of good, but they can just as easily be made to work for a bad guy.
• Shout-Out: The pirate captain in episode 9 (and later, Eater Ezack) seems to have jacked his dress sense from Captain Harlock.
  • In the "Fake Braves" episode, when they're on their way to Legendra but it actually the planet of Sodra, it suspiciously looks like the Universal Studios logo.
  • Walter's Monster of the Week mecha in episode 21 is an evil train called Hell Thomas.
  • The witch in episode 22 is pretty clearly based on Moguro Fukuzou from Laughing Salesman. (Amusingly, the episode pretty much goes the exact opposite of how things would in that show - the witch even recovers a bit of long-lost idealism thanks to Sharanra.)
  • The circus in episode 38 is being led by a green blob of a ringmaster voiced by Kōzō Shioya. (The pink blob, apparently a dancer, is unfortunately not voiced by Yumi Touma though.)
  • There appears to be a VF-19 Fire Valkyrie model hanging from Gratche's castle room in episode 40.
• Sixth Ranger: After his Heel–Face Turn, Walter Wal- I mean, 'Eater Ezack', who appears out of nowhere to save the day with Captain Shark. The idea is that there really were just 8 Legendra Braves on Earth - Captain, the 9th Brave, was on the moon as insurance against the other 8 becoming evil. Read that carefully - He exists just in case the need ever arose to revert 8 evil Braves back to their Power Stones at once.
• Spanner in the Works: Sharanra. Both the three heroes and Walter acknowledge that she will do something they really couldn't have predicted. In addition to suddenly appearing and turning out to be a spirited competitor on her own she saves them all once without realizing it, then later takes steps to keep Walter alive and relatively safe from his brother's treachery.
• Spell My Name With An S: It's very subtle to western ears (enough so that subtitlers can easily miss it) but the trio and their allies typically pronounce Walter's name as 'Waruta' (essentially meaning 'bad boy') with no lengthened vowel at the end. (Takuya misheard it in the first episode, and the joke stuck.)
  • ...we have no Silverion-damn idea how to actually spell Sharanra's name.
• Spirited Competitor: Walter gradually becomes this, finding more enjoyment in the chase than the possibility of Yuusha-assisted world domination, until Leon is able to ask him if he's even a bad guy anymore.

• Terrible Trio: The thief Tiramisu Beauty and her two henchmen from episode 8.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: While under a heavy electric field, Goldran does this to force Walter's robot - covered in a rubber coating so it can function in the same field - to feel the pain.
  • Walter tries it on the newly-awakened Sorakage, who just catches it and tosses it back to Goldran.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Averted - transformations and combinations appear to happen in real-time. Goldran's most vulnerable moment is Dran's summoning of Golgon and subsequent combination, and Walter thinks to interrupt this on a few occasions.
• Underground City: The trio arrive on a deserted planet with a wrecked city, and then learn that there was a war sometime in the past... while they are under arrest. (For a bit of really subtle humor, they are then rescued from their cell via a sewer.)
• Upper-Class Twit: Sharanra has her moments - she's usually more of a ditzy Ojou-sama, but her single-mindedness turns her into this one.
• Wham Episode: Episode 27. An uncharacteristically bloodthirsty Walter coming very close to winning, and only loses to a minor miracle Dran and Golgon managed to pull off. A line from him implies that he's desperate and can't afford to hold back as much as he normally does.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Them?: Addressed. Colonel brings this up in episode 3 - they already know everything they need to about the three heroes, and they even know where they're hiding Dran and Advenger, so why not just kill the kids and question the robots? Walter instead declares that the search for the Power Stones is a game of wits, and that they'll simply follow them to the next one. (Though why he doesn't just point out that only the kids seem to know where the next Power Stones are is a question for the ages...)
• Yandere: Sharlanla is this towards Walter, though it gets downplayed as the show goes on.
• You Have Failed Me: Serious prefers this sort of management style (though his subordinates are all robots, so the impact is lessened somewhat).

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