YMMV / Betray Me Not

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Like most Legendary Biologist's Gungrave works, Brandon's portrayal is a little softer than his anime self. But may be because he is put with his True Companions / Family of Choice instead of strangers.
• Awesome Art: The Hellhound of Billion is illustrated by S0rahana. The cover◊ tells a lot about what to come in the future illustrations. Case in point.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Albert. He has only appeared as a major character in Twisted Death, but most readers love his habit of mothering Brandon and his Bunny-Ears Lawyer tendencies.
• Genius Bonus: The book Brandon reads is Handbook of Thanatology. It's related to death and corpses. Brandon himself is a reanimated corpse. But he doesn't understand what this book is all about.
  • The funnel-like object Dr. William uses to plug the line connected to a blood bag is part of an abbocath.
  • In Worth, the definition of primum non nocere is 'first, do no harm.' It's one of the four principles in bioethics, namely non-maleficence. The one who mentions this is Dr. William, who rejects Brandon's wish to die as humanely as possible to help Millennion and Mika without scaring Mika.
• Harsher in Hindsight: William's anger towards Biscoe's and Norton's cruelty in Betray Me Not parallels Harry's statement regarding Big Daddy's hypocrisy in the anime. Even if Biscoe and Norton let Brandon rest as a compensation, it can't erase the fact that they have mistreated Brandon, as said abuse has caused the remainder of Brandon's lost leg to rot and almost forced William to amputate it and further disable him. Similarly, no matter how hard Big Daddy tries to atone by preaching about harmony etc, he can't erase the fact that he has killed and hurt a lot to reach the top.
  • The Hellhound of Billion has a few, namely Charles' goal of turning into a necrolyzer. The hellhounds are his failed creations that now terrorize the town, and he just wants to get rid of them while unleashing hell on Brandon. His motive behind hunting down his own creation is to protect the innocents, particularly his mother. When the story ends, how does his mother die? Torn to shreds by the hellhounds.
    • This may overlap with Heartwarming in Hindsight, if one brings in Brandon's assumption of how a mother will never abandon her son, no matter what he has become. Sara actually accepts her death with grace, which parallels Brandon's assumption.
    • Another one is Sara telling Brandon and Mika that the next time they come, she'll cook something for Mika (although she also wishes that Brandon can eat). The next time Brandon and Mika visit her house, she's gone.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Mika begging Brandon/Grave not to leave in episode 24 of the anime involves her saying that she won't mind living in poverty if that's what it takes to live with him. In The Beauty of Simplicity, Mika chooses to live in Dr. Tokioka's old trailer instead of enjoying her father's luxury, because this is the only way to keep Brandon healthy.
  • In Worth, Brandon keeps thinking that he is worthless and has to be killed. In The Beauty of Simplicity, Mika gives up the two mansions and one-hundred billion yules she inherits from her father just to make sure that Brandon is hale and hearty. It can be said that Brandon worth more than such wealth.
  • Mika's Platonic Declaration of Love in the anime. She is serious about that. In Decisions, Consequences, and a Second Chance, although it's actually an Adaptation Expansion of part of episode 26 in Biscoe's POV, she will stop at nothing to save Brandon. Never mind Millennion guardsmen; she'll just bite them.
    • Broad Strokes make her way of begging Biscoe to save Brandon even more emotional. She truly loves Brandon.
  • Mika has been living in seclusion throughout the anime until Harry's henchmen turn her world upside down. Then in Lessons from the Streets, Brandon takes her out for a walk, teaching her a lot about the world that she may have otherwise missed without Brandon's presence.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The name of the doctor who replaces Dr. Tokioka's role as Brandon's caretaker is William. Coincidentally, Dr. Tokioka is voiced by William Frederick in the dub.
• Moral Event Horizon: A lot throughout the series.
  • Betray Me Not: Biscoe and Norton forcing Brandon to wear an artificial leg, despite knowing that the stitched wound on his leg takes three weeks to recover. And they want to send him to a mafia operation. It's so terrible that Brandon almost loses the remainder of his leg due to infection and necrosis as his reopened wound is untreated for hours. Bringing Fridge Horror in, Brandon is showing signs of sepsis at the same time. Poor thing.
    • And they override a doctor's statement. Biscoe interrupts William before the doctor finishes talking about what Brandon actually needs as an amputee. And later, they even threatened a doctor.
    • Truth in Television, prosthetic fitting is another process that takes some time and is just as (if not more) important as physical rehabilitation that includes physical therapy and training to balance oneself. If the prosthesis doesn't fit to an amputee's residual limb, it will cause various discomfort. One of them is skin breakdown. This actually happens to Brandon. His stitches grow unsteady as soon as he wears the prosthesis, and they snap just a few moments after Brandon tries walking and then falls. This hints the drawback of neglecting prosthetic fitting. Also, the prosthesis ends up too short for Brandon, further handicapping him.
    • To make it even worse, neither Biscoe nor Norton even knows (or cares about) that Brandon is severely handicapped by chest wall rigidity and has been relying on an oxygen mask to support his respiration. Then he's sent to fight. With a defective artificial leg. Brandon finds himself constantly gasping for breath during the mission.
    • Fortunately, Heel Realization comes calling. Biscoe realizes that he and Norton are very low for doing so.
  • Also from Betray Me Not: Norton chewing out a depressed Brandon. Biscoe even scolds him that he (Norton) isn't better than a convict this way.
  • Another one from Betray Me Not: The guards refusing to help Brandon walk. They knew that Brandon fell, but they only watched as Brandon struggled to get up, who then fell down again. The reason? Brandon is a convict.
  • In Worth, the report from the surveillance room is hinted to tell Biscoe only Brandon's attempt to hurt Brian. Actually, Brandon wants to punch Brian because Brian pesters him. Even before Brandon explodes in rage, William isn't very fond of his attitude already. But then, the surveillance room says nothing about it, which causes Biscoe to slap Brandon and snap at him until William speaks up.
  • Norton's suggestion about Brandon's punishment in Decisions, Consequences, and a Second Chance is a Cold-Blooded Torture. Or rather, an act of flogging an animal, as Biscoe has said. Norton wants to have Brandon shot with Anti-Necrolyze if he ever slacks off. Biscoe disagrees, fortunately, because it'll hurt Brandon very badly.
  • The Hellhound of Billion: Gilbert stomps Brandon's gunshot wounds as the poor necrolyzer lies dying and depressed of the fact that he'll die alone and unloved. Worse yet, those wounds come from anti-necrolyze, which hurts Brandon horribly.
    • And Gilbert steals Brandon's wallet afterwards. All while Brandon is lying there helplessly.
  • Another one from The Hellhound of Billion: Charles is aware of the fact that necrolyzers will decompose painfully to death without a renewal therapy. Then he converts Gilbert into a necrolyzer.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Mika. In the anime, she's a weak non-combat female character who appears to be a clingy girl with Precocious Crush / Bodyguard Crush towards Brandon (except in the last few episodes at least, as she makes her Platonic Declaration of Love towards a weakened Brandon as an attempt to stop him from fighting Harry's Millennion). Here, Mika remains as a non-combat character, but her Mama Bear attitude towards Brandon, which rings true with her Platonic Declaration of Love in the anime, is just appealing.
• Squick: The Hellhound of Billion. The way Brandon dispatches the necrolyzed dog in the alley is just unsettling. He takes a bite out of its brain.
• The Woobie: Poor Brandon is put through a wringer again. One can rarely find a work in this fan series that doesn't put Brandon through a wringer.
  • In Betray Me Not, in physical sense, he has lost An Arm and a Leg the moment Mika finds him at the end of the anime. Biscoe, the new leader of Millennion, grants Mika's wish and provide Brandon medical care, but due to budget constraint and Brandon's betrayal (attacking Millennion's agents to protect his best friend Harry at the end of the anime), Biscoe isn't making his 'life' easy. He and his second-in-command, Norton, think of forcing Brandon to wear an artificial leg and send him to a Mob War on the day right after his residual limbs are patched up. Brandon ends up with sepsis after working, as by skipping prosthetic fitting process, the prosthesis is too short and inflicts skin breakdown. His residual leg is badly infected (and on the risk of getting further amputated) due to the snapped stitches and reopened wound, which is left untreated for hours. And since Brandon isn't allowed to undergo physical rehabilitation, he also lacks the ability to balance himself, falls constantly, and limps all the way in his work.
    • In psychological sense, being a Principles Zealot whose personal code is to never betray, Brandon is very upset at the realization of his betrayal towards Mika and Millennion and develops a Trauma Button, which is triggered by reminding him of his betrayal. Also, he thinks he is irredeemably evil and doesn't deserve kindness, but then, Mika sincerely forgives him, much to his sadness. He gets better when Mika manages to convince that he is actually a kind person, which is why Mika loves him dearly at first hand, but then, Biscoe and Norton come to see whether Brandon's awareness of his betrayal (as claimed by Dr. William) is true or not. Norton rebukes him for his betrayal, which causes him to look down. This makes Norton think that he is not respecting their superiors, who also happen to be the people who have saved his life and paid his medical expense. Norton yells at him and commands him to look up, only to find that he has been crying since Norton pushes his Trauma Button.
    • During the confrontation against the remainder of Harry's Millennion, Harry's goon pushes his Trauma Button again. At first, the goon tries to recruit Brandon to their cause by reminding him of his friendship with Harry. He almost succeeds because Brandon can't really bring himself to betray his best friend, but then, Brandon sees the patch Mika has made for his torn pants, realizing how much Mika loves and needs him. Brandon refuses to join their side, but the goon immediately claims that Brandon betrays Harry and makes fun of his betrayal by dubbing him as a fake friend to Harry. Brandon finally explodes in rage and blasts the goon to Swiss cheese, but he soon collapses as he realizes that he has to betray Harry for Millennion and Mika.
  • Once again in Worth, but Brandon suffers less there. Poor thing thinks Disabled Means Helpless, which gives him suicidal thoughts. And then, many people in Millennion don't like Biscoe's decision of not executing him for his betrayal. This causes many guards to stare at him whenever he is in the lobby, Brian to make fun of him, and the workers in the surveillance room to cause a misunderstanding between Biscoe and Brandon.
    • The misunderstanding issue causes Biscoe to slap Brandon and snap at him.
  • In The Hellhound of Billion, it's revealed that Brandon's parents were shot down when he was six. This explains why he's put in an abusive orphanage. And that's just the beginning of his rough journey in the anime.
  • To some degree, Mika throughout Betray Me Not. She is Forced to Watch how terrible Millennion is towards Brandon, her beloved Parental Substitute. Although she doesn't get to watch Biscoe and Norton snapping at Brandon, she does find a sad Brandon. Cue an angry Mika.
    • And then there's her hearing Biscoe's and Norton's plan to force Brandon to wear an artificial leg on the day right after his residual limb is patched up...
    • Another one is Mika seeing Brandon returning in a not-so-good state after annihilating Harry's goon. Weakened due to sepsis, Brandon constantly falls and fails to get up. But no Millennion guards care. They just leave him there and let him struggle to get up helplessly.
  • Brandon goes through a lot in The Hellhound of Billion. First, there's Biscoe who brought up Brandon's relationship with Mika to prevent him from leaving Millennion Tower and investigate about the hellhounds by himself. This resulted in a crabby Brandon. Then the scouts sent for the investigation went missing. Brandon decided to leave the tower against Biscoe's orders and his promise to Mika and investigate everything...only to find out that everybody was dead from Charles, the mastermind of everything. Then Brandon had his cranium and wrist broken. And Charles shot his legs with anti-necrolyze rounds, effectively paralyzing them, to make sure that Brandon will face the sufferings Charles had once gone through: losing his ability to take care of his family. After that, Brandon realized that he had left the tower and failed everybody, which saddened him very much. As he lay there dying, Gilbert came to harass him: he snapped at Brandon, stomped his gunshot wounds, and robbed him. But Brandon did get better...but maybe only temporarily.
  • Iron Woobie: But instead of holding a grudge against Biscoe and Norton in Betray Me Not, Brandon teaches Mika to respect them. He reminds her that without them, she can't save him too. In addition, by saving Brandon, they have bent Big Daddy's Code of Iron.
    • By the end, it's revealed that Brandon actually allows Biscoe and Norton to mistreat him just so that they can instill fear in their underlings' minds.
    • Similarly, Mika does not stop helping Brandon by becoming really aggressive towards Biscoe and Norton. This includes arguing with them and eventually wanting to head to the office just to scold them. Fortunately, Brandon teaches her to respect them.
    • Lastly, she cares less about Biscoe's attempt to command his guards to help Brandon. She rushes out of the car to help Brandon, without giving a second thought about whether Harry's goons are still around or not.
  • Stoic Woobie: Since Brandon is The Quiet One... Mika knows that he is suffering inside, but she never knows what is the cause of his suffering because he never says anything about it.
• Wheelchair Woobie: Brandon in Retribution (presumably throughout the Fan Verse) relies on a wheelchair for mobility when he needs to retire his artificial leg, which includes removing the prosthesis and washing his residual limb. One arm doesn't affect his ability to be independent though, because the wheelchair is specifically designed for one-handed control. Brandon can rapidly alternate between spinning the wheel and steering the lever with just one hand.