[Music]
Hello and welcome to an all new episode of Anime Bread Freeze. We are your brave,
braver, pappapapapraver's hosts! I am John and I'm C.C. and when there's just too much cool
anime to watch, we've got you covered. Today we will review a slightly different super robot show,
where two friends fight a bunch of evil aliens by joining forces in brave bang braver. And of course,
before we get to that, we have to talk a bit about a couple of premieres we checked out in the
sneak peek. So climb into the cockpit of your monogamous mac, let your soul burn bright to unleash
your bravest bang and definitely don't pause the pot, we'll be right back.
[Music]
All right, yeah, sneak peek time as usual, a bit late, just time around for several reasons because
we were able, we called our season finale with the attack on Titan review a bit late because we had
a guest and also then it turned out a lot of shows just premiered late or took a while to get going,
but at some point we were like, "Ah, maybe we should just start because also vacation coming up
whatever and we're not, we got to, we got to let it June or something until we do our goddamn
mere episodes and it doesn't make sense." So for that reason, as of this recording,
Demon Slayer has still not started, which spoilers were both probably going to watch.
And you know, it's funny, it's funny, I said it to you, I think when we weren't recording,
I'll look at how late Jeff Thu and Kigakar sometimes are there season previews. And of course,
this was the season there that earlier, they've never been screw the boat if you would, we love you both.
I mean, with Demon Slayer, it's probably like, didn't they do like a movie that again,
encompasses like the first three episodes of the next arc or something?
I'm not sure if they did that this time, but I know from looking up that the premiere is supposed to
be an hour long. So yeah, we eventually got to not all the shows that we wanted to maybe talk about
and some only in passing, but we get to show them at least. Yes, not that many this time for me anyway
though, but we still got to still some leftovers from the previous season. There was so I assume
there will be enough to review by the end of this. We're not going to have a packed season this time
around. So we'll see how it turns out next, but yeah, as usual in the sneak peek, we have our
noobs, our maybe's and our keepers for first time listeners, the noobs to show that we took a look at
and we're like, nope, not going to keep on watching that. Then the maybe shows we're not entirely sure
about if we're going to stick with them and keepers shows that we like the lot what we were seeing.
So we're going to keep on watching those probably. So yeah, John, I think you got a noob which I don't
have. So do you want to start us off? Yeah, I just feel like before we get into that real quick that
Ruse Yatsura and Delicious and Dungeon are sort of continuing in the background.
Probably won't talk about Ruse Yatsura, but I'm sure we'll talk about Delicious and Dungeon when
it's wrapped. So they are still ongoing and they deserve mention at least, but yes, my one drop is
high speed at 12. Oh yeah, I think I was like, this could be a show for you because cute,
go doing cute things, also racing, but then I looked at the general reception to the first episode
and I was like, oh, maybe not. Oh my god, okay. Like the racing stuff, like when it was so weird
because the racing stuff in when we talked about an overtake, yeah, that was kind of neat. It was
really cool to see. Yes. And they didn't mean on it too heavily because there were other things going
on. And then in this show, they're leaning on it so heavily and just like it's so boringly presented
and it's not interesting. And the character designs are kind of in the CG.
Okay, it's, I don't want to see through it. It's the clearest CG show I've ever seen, but it's not,
it's not, I mean, it's not hand-shakers. Oh, nothing will ever be hand-shakers.
I mean, this sort of ties into one of my maybe in the regard to CG, but we'll get to that. But
I think I watched two episodes of this and I honestly, I was falling asleep at the end of the second
episode. Like no joke. And I would say usually when I'm tired and I fall asleep watching something,
I'll rewind and try to rewatch and really catch the thing. This one is like, I can't be bothered.
You get out of here. I'm done. That's a show for us. I'm sure if I assign for a nope.
Yeah, so sorry, high-speed. I was actually really interested in you because I had seen before the show
started. This one artist I follow on Pixiv had been posting pieces from, I was like, oh, this looks
pretty cool. Yeah, I thought the promo art that was, you know, on, was a life chart,
and stuff, whatever. Look pretty good. Yeah, and the art designs too. And it was like, okay, this could
be something. And that artist is still continuing to post really cool promo art on their account,
which, you know, that's neat. It's just it didn't come together in the actual show. So it's, I'm
it happens. Yeah. So true. Shall we continue on with the Maybes? Yes, please. Yes. Well, my first
maybe go go loser ranger. No, I'd seen the name thrown around, but I didn't watch it.
So yeah, this is, I don't know what this is yet really. It starts out as like your standard
sentai show in anime forum where it's like, hey, you got your colored ranger team, which I call the
dragon keepers in this. And they're fighting these monsters that came to our world in a giant flying
fortress and have been there apparently for 30 years now. Yeah. And every Sunday or something,
there's like this huge battle in a colosseum where bunch of the minions, you know, in the sentai,
they're always these wall or minions that are easily defeated before the big monster appears.
And these minions then with the monster teleport into the stadium. The minions are called dusters
in this show. And then there's a fight and they get sent back to the fortress and then they come
back the next week. And apparently, like I said, this battle has been going on for 13 years. And as it
turns out later in the episode, the evil fortress was already taken down after one year. And all the
bosses are dead. So since then the dusters, so the the grunts basically have been trying to come
up with new monsters each week. God, that they transform into themselves, but they're also immortal.
So once they get beaten, they just get sent, sent back up. And this is kind of a performance scam.
I think I don't know who initiated it because they are still doing it, not with any hopes of ever
winning because so far, they've fought the rangers, the drag keepers, 998 times and always lost.
So maybe that thousandth time, man. Yeah, maybe, but understandably, even though they are immortal,
the dusters are sick of always losing at this point. One does there, especially the one with the
letter D. So D decides to try something different. He will destroy their enemies from the inside by
becoming one of the rangers himself. So yeah, and that is what how the what how the first episode
wraps up. I haven't watched anything more. It's a fun concept and it's very well animated,
but the comedy hasn't quite hit for me yet. There's some funny bits in there and you know, the whole
idea is funny, something, you know, whoever creates, I assume something from Earth that's behind us
because, you know, of course, this drives a lot of you see in the beginning that all the rangers
have like these advertising contracts and are, you know, selling whatever, like cosmetics and cars
and I don't know and snake oil, I don't know, you know, the the huge and and you know, so there's
probably money involved. So I assume some capable advertising agent got understood us very quickly
when these battles ensued. So now they may make this happen every Sunday because they don't want the
money to go away. They want to write this money train. So it's literally monster of the week. I love it.
Yes. Actually, it is exactly that. So I wonder how this will play out. Of course, you know, we'll see,
so far, there's not really anything to attach myself to in terms of characters. I mean, like the
plight of the make sense, like of course, why would you keep on losing, you know, just being stuck.
It's kind of again, like the zone 100 thing. They're stuck in a shitty job. They kind of can't get out
because, you know, if they don't do this apparently, they can't survive. This is not specified. Like,
who is going to kill them if they don't keep up the charade? Like who is responsible for all of this,
right? Apparently, they are not. So I assume we're going to get filled into that in the coming episodes.
But outside of the concept, there were not any really, really good jokes in the first episode that
totally hit for me. There's one where the monster that is steamed like a tiger then turns into a tiger
car and this is a little weird little transporter, you know, the typical Japanese transporter thing
when it does its final attack and it's like, is this a total refer- what is this? I don't understand.
Is there a car that is named that way or because truck and Torah sound almost the same?
Torah, kutora, maybe. But yes. So I guess that was kind of funny, but outside of that, it's just a concept
itself and, you know, the duster's bickering amongst themselves trying to come up with a new monster
design that is appropriately themed and that they haven't had like seven years ago or something
like that kind of made me feel like be able to relate to them in that regard because that's how I feel
when I'm trying to come up with a new thing that I'm going to call us at the in the interest of our
shows like what kind of hosts we are. It's like, wait, what did we have this already? Did I use this
before? Ah, fuck. Probably did at some point. I'm not going to find it. I'm not keeping track,
but I'm trying to think if, wait, this is, did we do this? Did we do this? So yeah, in that regard,
I feel like this is, this is funny, but I don't know if this is gonna, if this is gonna go somewhere
interesting or if it's just gonna be a standard, I don't know, workplace comedy or something like that.
It all depends on what they do with the characters and if there's anything interesting to the
Rangers and if there's anything interesting happening with the, it would be really funny if this
turns into a super grim dark revenge thing for D-Codd. I can't see that happening, but we'll see.
So yeah, I'm gonna check out a couple more episodes of this, but that's why it's still a maybe,
I don't know if the, if the humor will develop into something that actually or end the characters
that would keep me engaged. But yeah, first episode was fun. John. So I was kind of disappointed.
I talked about the Idol Master Million Live. I remember, yeah. And it was very janky, not great CG.
So along comes the Idol Master shiny colors and the CG is better than I was hoping for.
Okay. I, it's so weird because in Million Live, it felt, I feel like Million Live in High Speed,
that's what it had sort of the same issue where it's like, and I guess this is how 3D works like,
the characters, or we're just moved into position and posed and that's it. Whereas it feels like
in shiny colors, like the motion in the animation is a lot more natural. And I think that's what really
does it for me and makes it feel like there's a lot more, there's a lot more consideration for it.
Yeah. I think that's the right word to you. It feels more deliberate and more plant out and someone
actually was putting some thought into that and it was just, this goes here, whatever.
Yeah, because I was, I said to you, as a little trepidatious going into it because it's being
headed up by polygon pictures. Uh, no, I feel like they're kind of putting in the work and making
the characters look good and animate real naturally. So I was pleasantly surprised to see it continue
on past like the first couple of episodes. So, you know, number one, shock that John is, you know,
watching an idol show. Oh no, who would have thought? But, you know, when the effort is there,
and I'm glad it is that Van Nanamco was like, hey, maybe we'll throw some money at this for once
to remind people of what's good about this franchise. Thank you. Thank you for actually doing that
for once because the last time was, oh my god, the last time was 13 years ago, dude.
But yeah, so this fall is the story of all of, I've got to forget how many girls are. There's a lot.
And it's based off of a mobile slash browser game. I don't master so weird history with mobile games where
Cinderella girls and million live both started off as this like card collecting thing. And then they
sort of spun off into rhythm games. Whereas this is, shiny colors is more of like the actual
original arcade game and older console games. Or it's like, no, it's an actual idol sim where you have to,
you know, you're going out and you're doing dance lessons, you're going to performances, you're trying
to gain the attention of fans. So on the game side, it's, you know, a lot more like what you would expect.
On the anime side, you know, you're seeing the day to day of the girls and then planning out their
performances and their public appearances and this and that and you know, and usually each episode has
a main focus on a different group of girls. But, you know, you see sort of like little blinks of
the other groups in between to sort of like break things up. And it's really well-paced in
regard to that. So I think this just has some potential to be really good. So this along with my other
maybe it's kind of leaning on being a keeper and kind of glad to see that back to hear that. I mean,
especially after the disappointment is what that was the previous show. Yeah, the
I don't think I'll be over the previous show, man. Maybe this one will help you.
There's also something weird with the licensing for the show because
crunchy rolls like, yeah, yeah, we got the show. It's it's coming. Don't worry. And then it didn't show up
for like two or three weeks. And I was like, so is this a case where they said they got the license and
nobody got the message. And then it just showed up like two or three episodes at once. And I was
like, oh, okay. So you actually did do the thing cool, I guess. But yeah, definitely you're going to
watch more of it. So what have you got next? My other maybe is the Grim Variations, which is a show
on Netflix. Six episodes already fully released as they do. I only managed to watch watch the first one
until now. It is an alternate retelling of some of the Brothers Grim Fairy tales done by their
sister, which I'm not sure existed, probably not, or something like that. I don't quite. There's this
short introduction thing where you see the two brothers and her sister then appears and they tell
her about one of the stories and then you get actually pulled into the story. And at first I was
like, oh, this looks really interesting. It's done by Studio Wid. And you know, the the the
small, you know, intro thing with the Brothers and this Grim and the sister Grim, I guess, has like
this unique story book look to it. Oh, this looks, oh, oh, this looks pretty unique. Nice. But that's
only for the, for the interesting things, sadly, it's maybe two. Maybe it would have been too
heavy on the production to do it for the whole show. I don't know how much work went into that.
I just know it looked really unique and I would have for the whole show to look like that. But also
maybe each episode looks a bit different. I'm not sure, but it looks very standard anime.
Once the actual story starts, which in the first episode is a retelling of Cinderella,
set in Japan. Of course, in this case, I don't know if they set all the stories in Japan.
But yeah, then it becomes more standard anime stuff. It looks still looks great because it's
with, but you know, it's not like the first couple of minutes of this show was like, oh, this looks
really different. So I hope they do something maybe different with the coming episodes. I don't know.
This is just like immediately caught my eye and I was like just a bit disappointed when it just
switched over to just being a normal good looking anime. So, but yeah, this spin on this story,
like this particular spin makes Cinderella kind of the bad guy. She's a little scheming monster
that messes with her step-sisters and stepmother for her own amusement.
And there's also more of a horror component to it. You know, the stepsuses are still stuck
up arrogant breaths, but you feel at least a bit sorry for them with this. Like, they're so completely
outmatched by Cinderella or rather Kyoko, which is her name in this. But, you know, roughly the story
follows kind of the same beats as the original one, but you know, then they completely subverted by
the different roles these characters take. And that's a neat concept in itself. I think we had
couple of those in the past anyway from Hollywood and other places. So I'm willing to see what
it does with it. But, you know, there's still some things where like, maybe it won't stay a keeper.
First of all, the format is six episodes. It's one hour episodes and I feel like none of the shows
that did this so far. And this apparent, I think this only happens on Netflix, like where they do
this one hour format instead of the standard 25 minutes format. Or it's not one hour, it's 45 minutes
in this case. But, you know, longer format. And I think they did, right, they did it for Spriggan and
for Pluto. And I feel like for both these shows, it wasn't, first of all, wasn't necessary and also
it didn't work as well. I still love Pluto. I still kind of liked Spriggan, but it was like, okay,
why did you do one hour things? Because Netflix wanted it to be different because he wanted to have more
freedom in terms of, you know, how you told the story and where you had to make the cut, but also you
obviously made the cuts like the, you were adopting a manga. So the manga felt already structured like
it was like preparing for an anime adaptation. It made sense to make cuts at certain places anyway.
So it doesn't make sense to make this one hour format and it doesn't work in certain moments. I
talked about this in more detail in the Pluto review. So I won't go back, go into it again. But
in this, I guess it works a bit better, at least in this first episode because it really feels like
one continuous story from beginning to end. And there's not really any, I feel like, yes, there might be
three extra structure to it, but also it feels more like samey in terms of it, it feels more even,
like they're not like these highs and lows and superstakes and now, now shit is really happening,
now there's the super climax happening. It feels more like a, yeah, I don't know, like it's
petering along a bit. And then it was also something where it's like, oh, it's like, I feel like there
should be more of a bang here at a certain point. And I mean, there is one, there's it when
Cinderella dances with the, with the prince and all the, or Kiyoko, whatever dances with the prince.
And, and you see that all the stuff that happened in this episode were her machinations, but
you already knew this, but it's still framed like this big reveal. It's like, oh, she did all of this
and she did it intentionally. And yes, we knew this. But yeah, that's, I guess that's the biggest,
climax feeling moment of the of this episode. So I wonder if the coming episodes will have a more
interesting, I don't know, structure or do something a bit more interesting with the storytelling
and the stories themselves than just switching the character roles around. Still, you know, the concept
itself is interesting enough. And, you know, it's a short season, I assume it's finished up because it's,
you know, it's a, it's, it's just six, close off stories. Let me see what the coming ones are.
Right. So the next one would be a little red riding hood, then we have Hanson greater,
then we have the elves and the shoemaker, the town musicians of Bremen,
Pied Piper of Hamlin. I know all of these, I like all of these, to varying degrees. So I'm
interested to see where these stories go. I just hope that the, how musicians of Bremen doesn't like
completely subverts and, just subverted and kills off all the animals by the end that would make me
really sad. No. Yeah, I don't want that. It's such a triumphant story. And, yeah, we'll see, we'll see
where this goes. But yeah, I'm interested to check more of it out. I just hope it can keep me engaged,
maybe because it's just one story per episode that will happen because I know something new is always
around the corner, right? So there's always the hope that something might be different and,
you know, production values on the width side of things and everything. So, yes,
bordering on a keeper, maybe, but also, there's still some things where it's like,
ah, you could maybe do something more with that. Maybe picking Cinderella as the first one, as your,
you know, as your showcase thing wasn't the best idea because it's also not that big or super
exciting story to begin with. I would assume little red riding hood or maybe pipe,
piper or the Tom musicians of Bremen would be, would have been the better choice here. But,
if I review it, that will probably the place where I tell which story I would have put,
would have put first. So, let's see. It's interesting enough, but I don't know if it will keep
my interest for its entire runtime. So, we'll see. John, what is your next maybe?
I get to jump back into the gacha of minds. But Blue Archive. All right, yes. You talked about this.
Yeah, a little bit. So, cute girls with guns. Yes, that opening OP gave me whiplash because I wasn't
familiar with anything Blue Archive and then you showed me this because it has incredible production
values. And then it was like, oh, cute girls doing cute things, of course. And then the bitch
just be packing and it was like, what? What is going on here? I will say that more than just the
opening sequence in the show as well that gacha money is paid in for this show. Yes, it looks the
part. Yeah, it looks really good all throughout. So, basically, of course, it's a gacha game with
a million different characters, but the focus of the story is these five girls who are attending
the Abidos High School and they are trying to raise the money to keep the school from being foreclosed
and the debt that they have accrued is unfathomably large. But, you know, there's more than just that
to it. There's also all sorts of students in rival schools and factions and whatnot. And they have
people. Are the schools you say? Yes, reunited by fate. You might even say,
real ones will get that. But a lot of it comes down to it being a turf war. And these girls have to,
you know, fight to fight with guns and grenades and rocket launchers and sniper rifles to keep,
you know, safe. What is theirs? Is that a life? Emoth? Like, I usually live ammo or is that, say,
just, I don't know, nurse shit or I think that's the implication. It's not clear in the show.
People dying. John is what I'm asking. It's an, I'm going to tell you something. I've played the game
for a little bit in the implication is not 100% clear. Maybe so they can bring some girls back because
it's a, it's a gacha thing. Shut up. Don't worry about it. All right. I mean, I thought this would maybe
be a, be an Akaba made war situation, but apparently not. So, yeah, well, you know,
but Abidós is also in this region called Kivotos and there was this big like devastating sandstorm
that just it keeps ripping through and basically burying parts of the city and it's kind of a waste land
and it's not in a good shape. So along comes this teacher that that's you, that's you, the player.
Uh-oh, who is coming along that who is coming along to, you know, help the girls, you know,
for, for guard, depending on what story you're following, do their thing and it seems like again,
this seems like they're focusing on Abidós and this and it's the story of this teacher who's
trying to help these girls out and apparently he taps into the system called King, King,
guess what it's called? King gets it maybe it's called the blue archive.
Ah, to help them out and you know, it kind of goes forward from there and the first
three episodes have been kind of, you know, like silly day to day stuff and from what I had played
of the game, I was like, yeah, I had seen bits of this story, but it's, it's neat to see it animated.
There is a sequence with these girls from this, they're trying to be this clandestine
operation called problem solver 68, I think it's the number. And their leader, Adur, is just, she's
something else because she's, she's trying to put on this tough girl act and it's like, you're not her.
Come on, please get it together. But it makes it kind of goofy and it gives the show some levity
and it's, it's nice to see, you know, these, these characters, so I had only seen in like a live
2D form, you know, be brought to life this way and you know, it's a really pretty show. It's nice to
see these, these gotcha games get good adaptations after, you know, for, for a real long time. Gotcha,
you know, game adaptations and gotcha adaptations were just like, like you just throw it away, but it
seems like a gotcha money is, is working. It seems like it's doing what it should be. I mean,
it's nice. It's not only like landing in the pockets of big corporal, but they're also investing
it into products who might also enjoy down the road, you know, like these anime adaptations.
I'm sorry. Before Princess Connect, I can't remember the last like really good one that I watched
because as your lean was kind of, yeah. And before that, I can't remember. Princess Connect is the only one
I remember as well. I wonder though, is this in terms of the teacher character who is like you
set yourself in sort? Does he get an actual character or is this kind of like a Princess Connect
situation where the, you know, where we get a mute plot device? We listen, leave you key alone.
Yuki is a good boy, but still he's barely a character. That's true. Now, this is the teacher, the
sense they're depending on depending on how you want to refer to him. It seems like he is more than
nothing in come at least compared to like you key. So I'm glad to see that he's there to support the
girls to a point because sometimes the decisions they make at one point like, oh, we've here saw our,
you know, the our payment on this installment of the debt. And you can see this twinkle in their
eyes. What if we just knocked down the armored car and took our money back in the sense of it's like
don't don't don't. What are you doing? Don't do that. So there's like a little moments like. Yeah,
so there's a little moments like that where, you know, he he is on their side, but he's also like, all right,
I have to stand for them. I have to keep on the moral ground for you girls. Rain it in, ladies.
Absolutely. So I like that he's there to at least be the girls moral compass. So I think that's what
really, I think this has potential to be a really good adaptation as well.
Right. I think that's it for the Mabies. Yes. And so we're going to move over to the
keepers where we have a bunch of returning shows. I'm going to just rattle of my two that I have.
And then I have one more. But John, you can intersect before that with your still running shows or
returning shows. So of course, I'm going to check out slam time season four. I haven't done so yet
because I wanted to watch the movie, which I haven't done yet. That is all that is set between season
two and three. So technically, I should have all already watched it. But when I think when season three
started, it wasn't available yet. So I haven't, but it is canon, but apparently is also standalone
enough. So I can watch it now. And I think there was also a special. And yeah, so I watch this. I only
did a quick review of season three might be the same for season four, but also maybe I'll do a
four review if we, if I managed to catch another guest for that, which I'm not sure will happen yet.
But I know a person who also watches slam time still. So maybe we'll have them over and talk about
it a bit more extensively this time around. We'll see. But I will definitely keep on watching this one
because you know, Rimo Roussead Ventures always are a fun time. The other bigger one, of course, is my
hero academia season seven, which I also haven't checked out yet. But that is mostly because it started
off with like, you know, recap episodes. I think it's memories episodes or something.
Yeah, I heard there was a lot. Yes, I think three or four. And only today they released their first
actual episode from the seven season, which I of course wasn't able to watch yet. So let's see. I
don't know if that means that it will be a shorter season or you know, that there will actually not be
as many actual new episodes in this season, probably. But yeah, I'm excited to check it because I think
season six was like an absolute return to form. And I loved it from beginning to end. It was super
exciting. A lot of climactic moments, a lot of story, you know, long build up story threads finally
coming to a conclusion or you know, being actually played out in a way that that they needed to for
it to stay exciting. And after the bit of a letdown that was season five, at least half of it, this was
very welcome return to form. So I am super excited to keep on watching that one. But like I said,
the only just today, the the first actual episode release and I wasn't able to catch it yet. But
that will definitely get at least a quick review. We'll see what happens in the season. But I'm excited
to go back to plus one A or a one one of those. Yes, either or John, what are your, what is your
chunk, your big chunk of returning shows? Idols, did you know they exist? Yes, we already had some in
this sneak peak. Nigeon animation came back for a second season. It's basically like this three minute
short thing every week that's based off of the characters from Love Live, Nige Gisaki and
and you know, it's cute, it's whatever. They're being really mean with this season though because they're
throwing in little teeth. The character designs in the show are just like, you know, not quite
chubby designs, but they may as well be, but they're being real mean because they're throwing in
like these little flashes in between of some of the characters and they're like full designs. And I'm like,
why are you doing this to me? Come on guys, that's not nice. That's what I want. I mean, I don't mind
this, but you know what I actually want. I mean, it will happen eventually, right? I mean, Nige Gisaki had
two seasons already. I don't know. There's a third on the table. I know there's a third on the table
for superstar though. I mean, you like that too. So at least you're going to get some more Love Live
in your life. Love Live is perpetual. It exists in perpetuity. Moving on.
"Ladest, Camp Season 3?" I didn't know they were going to make a season 3 until a few
months ago when I was like, "sign me up." It changed studios. Oh, is that bad? Okay. So the original
studio that did the first season, the second season in the movie, and I feel bad because I haven't
watched the movie yet, but I will endeavor to eventually with the studio C station and it has a
very, it has its own style. You know, it looks nice and neat. Then they handed it off to Ape. And
Ape isn't bad. They do good work, but the character designs have changed a little bit, which doesn't
bother me too much. But Ape does this thing with their backgrounds. I don't know if you've paid attention
to this as some of their other shows. They just look like painted over photographs. Sometimes,
yeah, I mean, they're doing slime time if I'm not mistaken. I get what you're referring to,
but also I guess it maybe fits better into like a fantasy world. Like we have, you know,
is the kind of fantasy thing like we have in slime time that it maybe does in quote unquote
realistic show like "Ladest, Camp." So maybe it's more egregious there. And I mean, it doesn't look
terrible, but there's some scenes when looking at it and I'm just sort of like, I'm sort of side-eying
it a little bit because I'm like, I understand why you're doing this, but that doesn't mean it looks
great 100% of the time. But I've still, but I've been able to press past that because, you know,
it's just there to be a chill time. And you know, with all the girls going on, going on a camp and trip
making some food over a campfire. So it's still as cozy as it ever was in spite of that.
After that, it sound you phoning him three. And guess what? I did actually watch movies for this one.
Hey, can you believe it? So there were two movies and an OVA in between. There was our promise
a brand new day in the ensemble contest arc, which are basically required viewing between season two
and three. They fill out basically the entire second school year for Kumiko and the other. So if
you skip straight from season two to season three, you missed a lot, like a whole lot. I mean,
that has happened more often this time around. I try to remember, I think we recently had something
where like the movie was absolutely integral viewing. I think it's to you to Kai-san. Yes, well,
yes, yes, I feel like yeah, yeah, no, because if we go into the next season, you still haven't watched
the movie and you're wondering who I can't remember the character name, who he is. It's like you gotta
watch them. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, it's it's it's a kind of move. I mean, sometimes with show, show
the jump stuff, which sound euphonium isn't, but with show jump jump jump stuff, a lot of the movies
are just, you know, outside, yeah, fluff. They are kind as they are said in the world and maybe
sometimes they're can, but also they're like, if you it doesn't matter if you don't watch them, like,
no, to bleach, you know, and even my hero academia to an extent, that's the same thing. Like you
can completely ignore these movies and just follow the anime and you will find, but yeah, just to Kai-san,
then you a drag ball movies to an extent, at least a broly and super, yeah, once because they are,
I'm not, they so far they haven't been part of a TV series and I don't know if they're gonna do a
new version of that. I hope they don't because the way they did it for resurrection F and a bad look
just like, "Woo brother!" Yeah, yeah, I don't want to see those movies on a TV show budget. So yeah, it's
just, they should just, you know, if they continue, they should just continue after superhero and,
you know, do their own shit or whatever, but, or ignore them completely if they feel like it, but I get
the feeling until now those work are considered canon, and I don't know if we'll get more of the manga,
so we'll see, but yeah, some of these movies and I just watch, I'm not gonna talk about it here,
I'm gonna talk about it in the quick and then, but I just watch the movie that is also just fluff,
fun fluff, but also non-canon and completely irrelevant to the rest of the show that it's based on.
So, you know, but this one apparently is very integral going, coming back to the actual show that
you were talking about, sorry. Yes, watching the God, what was the name? It's weird. Okay, so in Japanese,
the movie is called the Sworn Finale, but in English is called our Promise, a brand new day.
Those two names have different implications. Yes. So I don't quite understand what's going on
with the localization on that, but whatever, it and the Ensemble contest arc are required viewing
because the end of the Ensemble contest introduces a new character that we see straight away in
season three. So like you gotta watch it, you gotta watch it, but yes, it's, this is Kumiko and
companies last year in high school and they are trying their best to take Kitayuchi to nationals.
So that way, you know, they can show, they can show the nation of Japan. They're best,
they're the best high school band out there. So they got a step closer in the movie than they did in
the first season. So I want to see them take it all the way, go all the way. This has gotta be the
one. They gotta get the good ending. Dang it. And not, not directly related, but I also grabbed a
movie off of my blue ray shelf and opened it and watched it. Oh my god. What a moment of disoccasion.
And that movie was Liz in the Blue Bird, which is sort of a side story from like seasons one and
two that focuses on two of the other characters. And it's sort of framed around this concert piece
called Liz in the Blue Bird and the use that is sort of like the analogy between the two characters.
And you know, it's a lot of teen angst and you know, figuring yourself out, but
man, I love seeing Kyo and he on a movie budget. So it's a really great watch. Come on.
Like what is staring out to love? So in that regard, it was a really, really good watch. And I'm glad I finally
sat down and checked it out. Yes, you finally opened the blue ray. Listen, I may have some 4Ks. I haven't
watched yet. Leave me alone. It's your body. I know. I know. CC, I promise somebody I'll watch Sonic
one and Sonic two. Any who the last of my keepers is Data Live 5. Yeah. Oh boy, things are starting
to pop off because we're coming up on the end of the story. Really? Yes. Because I was looking at, you
know, as I like to do sometimes episode names versus chapter titles in the light novel. And
oh man, this past week's episode explained a whole lot. And I don't want to dive too deep into that.
Maybe I will in the quick and the dead, but the story got this story and its final act is getting
pretty crazy. And I'm like, you know, I was here for it from the beginning, but the studio that
headed up season four Geek Toys is back and they're still doing a bang up job on it. So I'm glad to see
it's still getting the love that it deserves. There's always been a weird ride in some spots from
really glad I'm sticking with it to see the end because it's been all things considered really good.
And I'm really curious to see how we got to where we are in the story is now from what was
from what was just presented to us. So can imagine what I mean, it would be great if this like is
a deserving finale because that's also one of these long running shows. It's like 10, 11 years
since it started in 2013. Yes, 2013. I just looked it up. I mean, it's gonna, season five,
gonna be the last one has that been confirmed or I don't know if it'll be the ending. Like, I don't
know how they're coming up on the ending, looking from the chapter camp, but I don't know if
they'll think maybe they'll do somehow like here's the fifth season and we'll finish out with a movie.
I'm not sure exactly what the plan is yet because we're, oh, God, how many episodes in four or five,
four episodes in. So I mean, maybe they could finish it in eight. We'll see, but you know, if they
go the route with where they're gonna finish it off in a movie, okay, you know, I could see them
doing that as well. But yes, I'm here to see the conclusion to the story because it's been nuts.
But that's it for me. Should you add one more? Yes. One more keeper and that is a new show and
that is Kaiju number eight. You know, Kaiju, giant rampaging monsters. So, you know, Godzilla
bringing a name, a bell, that name recently, a couple of movies, right? Big old lizard guy.
Yeah, and we have a couple of those in this show. Setting is a bit different than your usual Kaiju
stuff. I would say because the Kaiju attacks in this world are so normal that people mostly seem
to be pretty chill about it if they are not in there, you know, directly affected areas at least,
but it's like checking their phones and they're like, oh, who's I wonder who's gonna, and you know,
stop this Kaiju or whatever. And yeah, we got these Kaiju hunters. I forgot what their actual name
is, but they are kind of treated like pop stars by the citizens. And, you know, there's our heroes
and whatever, and they just take the monster, monsters also with giant guns and everything. And
with battle suits, not they don't have actual max or anything to fight the monster. He's just on foot
with special powered suits and then they just go man or a man or with these things. So, that's pretty
cool, but our hero, ostensible hero Kafka isn't one of them. He is with the cleanup crew.
They get rid of Kaiju corpses, clean the buildings, collect samples, and all that comes with
its own problems, acidic Kaiju blood, shit-filled intestines. It's really hard work. And unlike the actual
hunter hunters that cause this mess when they kill the Kaiju, first and foremost, the third division,
and they are not really thankful for it, just, you know, taken for granted and everything.
And yeah, there's also this, you know, personal relationship between Kafka and the main superstar
of the third division. They were childhood friends and both vowed to get rid of Kaiju, but Kafka failed
the test a couple of times and eventually gave up. Couldn't hack it. And meanwhile, his friend Mina,
who actually managed to join the defense force, that's what they're called, the hunter characters,
the defense force. She has now like the standout super captain of the third division and is like,
has like this kick ass tiger that she can command and it can just take a bite out of a Kaiju and
everything and she's super cool. And Kafka is kind of like filled with regret because he, you know,
wanted to also be that and be by our side and fight the Kaiju, but now he's just cleaning their
shit. And literally, and, you know, but he's kind of resigned himself to this position, at least when
we meet him, but then you interned a join his team, Ichikawa. And he also wants to eventually join the
defense force. And in the beginning, he comes across as a bit cold, but he and Kafka hit it off after
a while pretty well and have like this, you know, sandpike relationship. And Ichikawa also tells Kafka
that they increase the age limit for the defense force test to 20 to 32 to the age of 32.
So why not try again? Even if Kafka gave up at some point, but you know, you can always try and
he's 32 now. So this would be his last chance. So maybe he should take it. And yeah, you know,
there if like in the first episode, there's this neat moment where Kafka protects Ichikawa from a
smaller Kaiju and vice versa, but you know, eventually they're both saved by Mina. And then in the hospital,
where they both recuperate, Kafka gets transformed into a Kaiju by a weird mosquito thing. And he and
Ichikawa have to run from the defense force. And the one task to hunt Kafka down is of course Mina.
So yeah, I didn't expect this show to be as much of a comedy as it is. Like Kafka and Ichikawa
are rightfully freaking out about Kafka's transformation is goddamn hilarious. And the hilarity
continues after that. This is kind of a body-cop comedy with the two of them, because from that moment on,
like Kafka, of course, is super strong if he can win, he transforms and he can just punch the shit out
of a Kaiju just evaporated into a mist of blood. But you know, he also maybe shouldn't let other people
know that he's a Kaiju now himself because that would get him killed probably pretty quickly, but he
also still wants to become part of the defense force. So he's a bit of a pickle. And you know, the
the currently the other episodes I watched they're running through the tests of trying to actually
become part of the defense force. But you know, he's 32 and in the anime years, you know, that means he's
already one foot in the grave. So he's like lacking behind of all the other contestants, all the other
recruits. And you know, because he doesn't want to cheat, he is not using his Kaiju powers. And also,
you know, because that would maybe get him killed or whatever, but I assume it eventually they will
find out and use him as a weapon or whatever. But yeah, it's very funny, like especially his
interactions with Ichikawa who's trying to keep a lid on the whole thing and trying to help
a cent pie and you know, keep him on the control because Kafka is, you know, sometimes doesn't really
have a shit to get her. So it's their dynamic is really fun. And I assume eventually Mina is going to
be joining that triangle. And also, you know, a lot of the other recruits are interesting. And I'll
eventually talk about this in the review because I'm definitely going to review this. This is sitting
all the right buttons for me. It looks really good as a production ID show. And yeah, it's super fun.
I didn't expect it like I said to be comedy focused. I would, I kind of just from the way the promo
images looked and everything and the OP looked and all of that, I expect it is to be more of a dark,
you know, attack on Titan thing or chainsaw man or something like this, but no, this is a,
this is an absolute comedy show like a workplace comedy to an extent, but also show an action comedy.
And I was laughing a lot during the first couple of episodes. So wild. Yes, absolutely. And Kafka is
definitely the main star here. He's so funny when he first transforms into the Kaiju and really
doesn't have it on the control. So fucking freaky. But he's also super good guy like everyone, that's
also one of the things that immediately got me into this is all these characters are super sympathetic.
You might some of them are played as assholes like especially among the recruits because you know,
you want an arc for them and everything, but all of them are interesting at least and are two main
characters like Ichikawa and Kafka are super, super fun and super relatable and entertaining and
good guys and you immediately root for them and they're, you know, they're body dynamic and everything.
So yeah, this show has a lot going for it and I hope it keeps that dynamic up or that rhythm up and
yeah, keeps on delivering good, good, funny shit, which is, it has been doing consistently for the
first couple of episodes. So I'm looking forward to checking out more and eventually probably
review it. Also, yes, the guy's name is Kafka and he gets transformed into a Kaiju by a bug a bit
on the nose. I get it. Fun show definitely, I recommend you all check out Kaiju number eight,
but I think that's it for the keepers for now. So I guess it's time now to bang bravely.
[Music]
Yes, bang brave, bang brave, bang, bang, in a world, where he annoyed armored weapons on his
titano striders are used in warfare, troops from various countries converge on the island of
Oahu, Hawaii, including Ao Esami of the Japan Ground Self Defense Force and Lewis Smith of the
United States Marine Corps. Esami and Smith cross paths during battle, but suddenly there are teams
that are attacked by an unknown enemy, scattering soldiers and sending their forces into disarray.
In order to save their friends and survive on the deadly battlefield, they must fight with every
as a courage and pride that they can muster. Esami also involved gigantic robots that are
I'll tell you say 10 stories, five stories maybe? Yes, probably. I mean,
conservatively, I think five stories, tall works, considering the size of the titano striders.
I'm trying to think of a scene where a braver stands next to a building that makes that measurable. Like he's
always watching or checking in with the commanding part of the army and you know, that for some reason
they don't repair their their their their building and he's always like, but he's always kneeling down
when he talks to them and you know, to that open demolished space. I'm not quite sure. Yeah, my
five might be a bit more. Yeah, I'd say five is probably good concern. Yes. Yeah, but yes, braver.
Big big big giant make a do thing action show a different flavor though. Like at least a different
flavor than like most of the first episode makes it out to be. I mean, we talked about this a bit in
in the sneak peak, but yeah, different flavor. We get to that. Do you want to talk a bit about the
production side of thing first? Yeah, so this was set it up by the crew at Sy Games Pictures who
recently they've had their hand in a little bit of everything, but more chiefly that we've talked
of directly talked about on the show is as you might expect Princess Connect to re-dive. It's
funny to think that the haven't had a direct hand in any adaptation of Grand Blue in spite of it
being a Sy Games property. That is really weird. Grand Blue has changed studios a couple of times,
not even back to their own hands. So I shrug big shrug. If it hadn't changed studios, like if it was I
won all the time, I would say, oh, they're hogging it because it's a money maker, but apparently not,
so weird. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be some weird rights curve fuffle because I would imagine
that Sy Games would eventually want to produce that themselves. We need Strange. Yeah, because
they've done, okay, I guess they did some work on a Blade Runner ONA, Blackout 2022. Yeah,
yeah, that was the one that was released together with the with the news, a Blade Runner,
all you know. That I didn't know. Another movie on my shelf I haven't watched.
They've done a little bit of item master Cinderella girls, Mysteria Friends,
also aka Monariya Friends, which that is another one of their properties because that ties in
with Shadowverse, I think. But at this point, at this point, Shadowverse and Grand Blue are the
convergence points for the Sy Games cinematic universe. Okay, no, they did a little bit of their
own work on Uma Musume. Hey, how about that? It's the continued seasons, right? Not the first couple,
but the movie and the third one or something. Two of the movies in one of the ONAs. Oh no, the ONA,
one of the ONAs is just like in a reformatting of one of the movies. So yes.
It's so strange to see them having done only a few of their own things, but that's okay. It is
what it is. This show was directed by someone whose name might be slightly familiar, and that is
Masami O'Bari. Yes, a legend for good and bad reasons. Maybe he's definitely a very iconic person
in the anime's game. Like you have, like, and he's been around for a long time. I don't know what my
first contact with his stuff was as a director, probably the Fatal Fury movie. That's a great
artwork on that. I think he's not only known as a director, but he's also his character design is also
like very iconic in a way. Occasionally very lured, I would say. Like, a lot of bouncy flying tits,
that Masami O'Bari can do that very well. And I guess that also is part of the Fury movie when you
think about my scenes, but yeah, he's there's also a little bit of that in this show. Yeah, technically,
but it's not as over-pronounced as one of in some of his earlier stuff, I would say.
Yeah, that's true. But he has been around like a long time. I mean, Fatal Fury movie is very old at
this point, and he has done even older stuff and lots of super robot stuff. Oh, apparently he did
care, resign on King of Fighters 15. Yes, I mean, he's been involved with that to
an extent anyway, due to his Fatal Fury involvement. But yeah, I guess it makes sense after the
Fatal Fury movies, but I didn't know he had a direct involvement in any other games. Yeah, I mean,
and he had an involvement in a lot of the max shows, not necessarily as a director,
that we, but that we talked about in the past like Gundam build divers, Gundam build fighters. He was
a part of, he worked on MOBA's Gundam Iron Blooded Orphan sometimes as an animation director,
sometimes on the storyboard, sometimes he was responsible for key animation, sometimes in some shows,
he was just delivering a responsible for the character designs, you know, he worked on some,
on some old piece on some EDs, I think. So he's, he's keep it his work up, but he was always like,
I think his heyday was in the, in the older times, like on some of the super robot stuff,
their way he was very involved with, you know, he also worked on the key animation of Gunbuster,
which is of course a big, big, important show at that time. So he, he worked on MD Guised, some
of the really old, or at this point really old stuff anyway. And you some of the stuff that he does,
some of the key animation that he does is very recognizable, you know, there's this typical Masami
O'Bari punch, I would say, that you see in a lot of his show, and that is also in the OP of this one,
where, you know, in the, when you see, right before the logo appears, I think when Braver
flies into the screen and punches the screen, that's, that's a Masami O'Bari punch. There is,
I mean, there is also the pose. Yes, yes, absolutely. No pose. Yeah. So he's been around,
and he's been doing a lot of stuff, and you probably have come across some stuff he was involved
with for one reason or another at some point. I would admit, especially if you've been an anime fan
for a longer time. So yeah, very iconic director. And again, I feel like some of the stuff that he's
known for is like treated as more of a comedic thing, like maybe, oh, that's a funny thing. Oh,
yeah, that guy, right? And I wouldn't necessarily say that Braver is breaking the mold here,
because this is a kind of a, this is a very funny and goofy and very dumb show.
At least to an extent, it will get to that, in my opinion, anyway. But, uh, yeah, that's not how this
starts out. This is kind of, it starts off with kind of a red herring episode, and I, you know,
mentioned that before, like the first episode feels, and if you don't know that Masami O'Bari
isn't both, and you haven't seen the OP of the show at that point, and I think the first episode
does a cold open anyway, and only shows you the OP at the end of the episode. Yeah. So if you go into it,
not knowing anything about this, maybe the title gives you pause, but this feels in the beginning
like a real-ish robot show, something more in the way of maybe, oh, I don't know, a recent example. 86,
not as dark, of course, but, you know, in the vein of that, and maybe coat gears, because the robots
we see the tenor striders in the beginning, some of them actually move around like coat gears,
they have like these, these roller skate feet where they can just, you know, skate around on the
battlefield. Um, and yeah, and they're also smaller the way nightmare frames kind of are. Yes,
exactly. They actually, this feels like a real robot show, not like a super robot show in the
beginning. It's really, it fits ground, you have like this army training session in the beginning,
you don't even know that it is a training session. It feels like a norm, a D landing on normal D
situation from world war two or whatever, really just they land on the beach and then there's
enemies they have to fight and it definitely feels like a real battle situation and, you know, there's
the different squats and everything that they're trying to take out like this big tank or whatever,
multiple legs, could be out of ghost in the shell or whatever. And it feels, you know, it's a bit more
colorful. There is a bit light harder banter between the characters and stuff like that. So it's got
a slightly different tone that your grim dark super realistic military shit, but it still feels like,
oh, okay, this is going for more realistic tone. And then we have like after this, after we learned
that this is a training exercise, we have some good natured conversations between some of the
characters Smith and, um, and isami, you know, the American and Japanese side of things, respectively,
the two hot shots or ostensible main characters, um, you know, at a bar and, uh, Isami's
colleague, hebeke, is her name, I think, is with him. Yeah, so that all of that feels still pretty
grounded, like it feels not, feels not absolutely ludicrous or anything with this kind of a genius thing
in this episode. And it is not the only time that the show is fucking with us in regards to certain
things, but it's not even really viewing into full metal panic, territory or anything, you know,
yes, there are a couple of humorous scenes, humorous scenes with, you know, Isami's mechanic,
Mu and Smith being very American. Yeah, but most of the, it seems rather down to earth and things seem
to get really grim, therefore, moment when then and the second half of the show, the aliens attack
out of nowhere. Uh, the death drives that we later learned they're called such a good name. Yes,
it actually makes sense, uh, into what, what their actual mission is, but, uh, you know, it's just,
just like in the beginning of Independence Day, the earth's forces are completely outmatched and,
you know, the reggae have really intense battle with the, with cool moments and like I said, there's
like this cool scene where you get, uh, where you use, where they zoom out from outside of the
Titanostridor through the window of the Titanostridor into the cockpit, which is something I haven't
seen before, I think. Uh, and that's done like multiple times and then you have, um, this cool moment,
what was, what do they say? Um, they were going hard and, you know, from the command, uh, that's the,
that's what they get a, um, the command they're getting and then they say, uh, the American people in
the American, uh, in the Titanostridors also say going hot and then they attack the aliens at once
and the way the cameras were around the Titanostridors at this moment, uh, also really cool, like,
really cool, uh, well stage battles and I, uh, battles and I think that continues to the,
throughout the show, like it gets of course, you two reasons a bit more ludicrous, but there are some
cool battles in this, like some of them are over pretty quickly for reasons, but, but it's
general. It's, uh, I feel like even though the Max and this are all CG, some of the fights in this
look really, really cool. Would you agree? Yeah, for sure. And I was looking at apparently, uh, orange
cooperated on some of the CG. So yeah, that makes sense. Uh, that absolutely makes sense. Not at all of
this. Like, yeah, it definitely had to have a bunch more basic shots in this and, uh, you know,
minimal shots where it's like, okay, they didn't do. There was that much going on here, but you have,
like, towards the, like in the beginning, of course, like I said, there are like some really,
really cool, uh, intense moments, but all in the kind of penultimate episodes, like there's a
duel between two characters, uh, that is really, really cool and really intense and, uh, then some,
you know, of course, the finale of the show and everything. So in generally, this is a good looking
show. It's not like, side games best looking thing that is still, I mean, the only other thing I
checked out is, you know, it's princess connect, but that, that definitely looks a lot better than this,
but it's still like, it's very solid. Like the characters designs are pretty cool. And, you know,
for what it actually turns out to be, and if we get to that in a second, this, I feel like they went
over the top, so to speak with what they actually had to do. So I was very happy with that. Would
you agree, John? Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's probably, I wouldn't call this one of the best looking
shows in the world or that they've worked on, but you could definitely tell that they made a really
good effort to, you know, convey what they are trying to do with big dumb giant robot show. And I
definitely, I'm sure you do as well. I definitely appreciate that, you know, they just went for it and,
you know, it worked out and it looks as good as it does. Yes, agreed. And yeah, so we have this kind
of realistic approach for most of the runtime of the first episode. And then when everything
seems to be lost, a super robot appears. Brave-Earn. He explodes on the scene, comes out of nowhere and
asks one of our main characters, Isami, to enter his cockpit, enter him. I don't know how he phrases it.
Exactly. You have to ride me, Sammy. And yeah, then they take down the first pillar tower, whatever,
I think they're eight that get shot down to earth. And that's the first one they take on, on Hawaii,
where they are stationed at this moment in a while, what is called. And then for some reason,
the theme of the show, the theme, a musical theme, the background music, which is apparently also
playing in the cockpit of Brave-Earn, which Isami comments on. It's like, what is this music? It's
such a good throwaway thing because you hear the music playing in the background while you're watching
show. Oh, yeah, that's good. And then Isami comments, and it's like, oh, no, it's actually playing. Wait,
what? Yes. I feel like another show did this before. And I can't remember which one, but
I think the one that Springs Mine was within super robot was one of the big running jokes. So it's
the Austin Sighter theme, Tronbe, it would start playing and it would override every other song in the
game due to some coding error. And they kind of just kept that moving forward until in one of the games,
one of the enemy battleships has giant speakers strapped to it so it can go over that song.
Oh no, it's so stupid shot up. It's great, but that's also not to show up thinking about because I
haven't really watched that much super robot. It's something else, but it's super fun. I mean,
we also talked about that in the sneak peek, but yeah, it's great. And it's like, oh, no, okay,
this is what the show is. I guess this is the tone. This is the tone. And it gets even more ludicrous
in its second episode because holy holy crap, like there is... And that like at the first episode,
you think, oh, okay, this is just just gonna... The show tricked me. It made me think it was a super...
It was a real robot show now. It's a super robot show. So it's gonna be fun. Bodycoff thing with Smith
and everything and isami and braver and braver and braver is just like this loud, truly robot. So that's
it's gonna be fun time. We're gonna take out this monster's. But actually, the title of the show
might have been just a giant gay joke because this is the gayest robot show I've ever seen.
It's a gay song. Yes. It's turbo gay. But you know, I saw some people saying, hey,
which remarkery was Yuri Mecca? So now we have Yahweh Mecca. Yes. I mean, it absolutely is that
on several fronts, right? It's like, you have this stuff with braver, of course. And we have this great
scene in the second episode where he explains to the military staff, like they just want to know who he
is, right? Because this is giant alien. He's talking... Alien robot. He's talking. He helped them for
some reason. They don't know why. The only other robots they encountered, Alien robots they encountered,
just wanted to kill them. So they're like, okay, they're a bit anxious, of course, and still, you know,
have their guns on braver in the beginning. They don't trust him immediately. Okay, what are you
doing here? Instead of answering them, really, he just starts explaining how he fell in love with
Isami, kind of like when he piloted him the first time, how he grabbed his control stick tightly
and jerked it up and down and how it stirred up emotions in braver and he couldn't lift any more
without Isami. It's like, oh, okay. Oh, it's like this. So it's like this show, you're really going
there. And, you know, to an extent, the show is going even harder into that direction later on. And
it's really confirming that thing, like to an extent, like you have a... I don't want to give that
away, but they're really like, no, no, no, this is actually what the show is going for. It's not just
making like these, these illusions here. It's not all just alluding to that. It's actually,
no, this is what we're doing. This is not just wordplay or anything. And it's like a fun comedy bit,
huh? No, no, we are actually a gay human, robot, human, human show. They committed to it. They
commit super hard, not entirely the way through because I feel like it never or almost never gets
as ridiculous as it gets in that part of the second episode. I don't know about that. There's an
episode later on. Yeah, I mean, there is one episode later on. There's some episodes where it
springs it in between, but just this rapid fire joke or this amount of rapid fire jokes that just
cater to this particular topic is just in this is in the second episode. And after that, I feel like
it dials it down a bit. It always sprinkles in some of that in between in every episode, but it's
never going like full hog like it does in that particular moment. And that not criticizing that.
It's just like that's how it is. I mean, if the abundance of gay jokes in the second episodes is too
much for you, like I said, maybe don't worry. They dialed it down the intensity a bit. If that
humor is for you, though, and you got to get kicked out of that and you think it's good nature and fun.
And I feel like the show is never like mean about it or just being super dismissive about it or like
mean spirited. No, it doesn't ever feel that way. No, absolutely not. It doesn't feel like, yes,
it's making that a bit of a, it's making that a joke, but it's also like, no, this is a good thing,
right? So it's not like, oh, no, this is, this is bad because he's behaving that way. And it could have
gone that way if Braver and felt more predatory towards Isami, which I had a worry in the beginning
that that would be the case because he's I mean, absolutely in the beginning doesn't want to deal with
this shit. Like he doesn't want to write Braver and for several reasons. And in that exposition scene,
the second episode is actually like, in displace with him getting water-barded by this bald CIA guy.
Jesus Christ. Which gives you super whiplash, but also believe it or not, that shit with the water-bording
is dark and horrible as it is in the beginning. And it really is like, it feels really like super dark
and switching between those scenes and the stuff with Braver. And it's just peak hilarity. It just
gives you multiple like gives you multiple instances of whiplash. But also that water-bodding shit
is brought back several times and it gets funnier and funnier every time. It really does. And it peaks
in the perfect, like perfect joke, I gotta say. So I didn't expect that. I thought it would be one off.
So even that they managed to make funny in a good way. So it feels like the jokes they make about this
and you know, all the gay jokes they're packing. It's still good natured fun. It's not mean-spirited. And
it feels like it's a very positive thing. And you know, that could have gone different way. Like if they
had shown scenes where Braven just pulls Esami out of someone and just jammed him into his cockpit or
something, that would have maybe felt bad at a point, especially if Esami would have resisted it the
entire way through. But also there are different reasons why he is resisting it, not because he doesn't
like the way Braven is in itself, like how he is super enamored with him. It's more like the whole
situation itself in the beginning. And that is also an interesting thing where not only the general
setting and tone of the show is getting subverted, but also Esami as a character because he looks
and feels like your standard Stern cardboard Japanese army guy who is the protagonist archetype of
so many of the serious mecha or other power fantasy shows. Think out no as zero or 86 or even other
genre like Sword Art in its first season or the million Isakai or light novel stuff out there.
We have like this one black-haired protagonist who could be you if you are Japanese, right?
And but you're super cool and you're Stern and you got your shit together. And that's how Esami is
portrayed in the beginning as the super skilled unshakable pilot in the training exercise. And he
is better than Smith and he's super fast and he takes out the tank by himself and he has the super
old titanous rider, but he it's like he can control it perfectly so he's faster than everyone else.
It's like oh I know this person. And then very abruptly or I guess a bit progressively like with the
aliens attack you you see some some dance in his armor and he gets kind of flustered and a bit shaken
up and everything. And then very abruptly once the braver shit happens he gets turned into this
quivering pathetic mess and but of the joke who wants to not have anything to do with whatever is
happening here. And that kind of stays that way throughout the show. I mean he gets better. He gets
more comfortable with piloting braver and Smith has a lot of to do with that like making him comfortable
with that situation and giving him support although they also have you know that problematic face
because another character is introduced and Esami is not okay with that and by the end of the show
you know why he was not okay with that because there's also definitely a lot of relationship going on
between Esami and Smith which you can guess at the beginning and once you realize that this is a gay
show you know oh okay this is not a body thing between the two. There is actually a romantic thing
happening and of course that's the reason why Esami when another character is introduced and he feels
like his maybe feelings are not his feelings are not returned or not taken into consideration then maybe
he gets then he gets angry with Smith and you know that gets continued a while and then they have a
boxing match where they sort that shit out in front of everyone else of course and braver and has
microphone into that that blast their conversation to everyone on the fucking ship it's great it's
fucking great like this like this this this show what it does with its characters and where it's
taking them is is magic our magical places and or is magical but still from beginning to end Esami is
kind of this kind of scared person who doesn't want to be part of this and really needs the support
of other characters to make shit happen he can't do it on his own he thinks at some point he has to
do it but it becomes very clear very very very I promise that was not intentional it becomes very
clear very quickly that he really really needs the support of other characters in his life and
especially of Smith and braver of course to actually be able to fight these fights and in the
moments where he doesn't have that support he's very prone to falling back into his old oh I can't
do this shit I didn't I never wanted to actually do this I just basically stumbled into this which
you know is also the case he's the complete opposite to Smith and that regard because Smith
immediately from the get go we learn he always wanted to be a superhero he's a big tukusatsu show
fan he's a big superhero fan he always wanted to be that so he went and quickly determined for
himself he wanted to be a Kamatitanos Strider pilot and once braver and enters the scene he is like
actually no I want to be the one who pilots does he so fucking cool but that doesn't happen because
braver is dead so don't eat some eat for a specific reason a reason we can reveal here because that's
something that gets very important becomes a very important reveal later on but yes because we
before we get into that at least to next 10 because I can't we can't talk too much about it because
it's a big spoiler but I just love the general sense of humor in this show I thought it was funny
there was some there was some edge to it with the waterboarding scenes and everything there is this
tendency of braver not to let people finish their sentences yes like in general he's a big fan of
yelling stuff like either his name or a super move of or when he transforms or really for anything
that he feels like his necessity is necessary to be emphasized with a big ol yell but he also uses
that as a tool like when he maybe doesn't want to explain shit to people or when an enemy arrives and
the enemy has his what enemies do what giant enemy robots opponents do in shown and show they
start monologuing shit and maybe explaining their plans or doing a bit of
ha now you're facing me what we'll see how this battle turns out blah blah blah and then it's just
interrupted by you fucking and then just suddenly a sword through their chest yes shots sort through
that chest yes and braveness not the only one who does that like all the characters do this in this
show this is just a general thing this show does it's like a character starts to monologue about
something and it's just interrupted by some shit it's sometimes swords sometimes guns it's such a
breath of fresh air honestly yes it's it's really good and it's it never stop being funny to me
the way it was presented and how and the show never takes itself too seriously there are some moments
where it delivers some legit drama later on especially but mostly it's like no we're just
satirizing their shit out of mecha shows out of tocusatsu shows out shown in shows everything
that you can really think of and then we also have you know this gay component to it and it's
having so much fun with this that that is infectious because you know every time you think oh you
got to show figured out no no there's something you funny happening with the characters or with the
you know with the with the enemies and everything and what they do and what they say and one of my
favorites bit is business in the penultimate episode when there's a fight that really isn't the fight
even the final fight is like not much yeah that's true I feel like I mean there is like an almost
final boss that is of course of course voiced by Kenji Ruzura as he was always destined to be
but see it that is a bit more intense but uh yeah there are also so many boss fights in this show
that are just like more vehicles to a joke to a punchline than anything else and the punch line is
always kind of different for each of these characters in a way and yeah that's really good and
I mean of course I was being like oh yeah I wouldn't have minded to get some actual more real
battles out of this but since we got some of those anyway I like that with the rest of you know
their opponents they actually do some creative shit where it comes to you know making fun of the tropes
of the stereotypes and everything and the genre the genre is their parody and kind of also it's
a love letter to a lot of those genres it's not only making jokes about it's not making mean
spirited jokes about them just like it doesn't in my opinion make mean spirited jokes about
the creators or anything it's just like hey we love this and this can also be funny and you know if
we look at some of the genres that we're portraying here and that we're paying homage to
some of that shit is just so super goofy and we're highlighting why it is so goofy and why some of that
shit just kind of shouldn't work yeah so and that's great that's fantastic and on top of that we
have a bunch of fun characters uh John what do you want to go into some of them aside from you know
Isami and Smith who do we have that maybe deserves a bit of a highlight so is Isami Smith in
braver yes of course braver I mean we have a kibiki who is a pilot alongside Isami and you know she's
very sort of enthusiastic to you know she's she really looks up to Isami like oh you're
you're such a cool guy isami and there's like other characters to do that as well there is one of the
his operator even the one of the operators I can't remember her name with Honoka
okay it was Honoka yeah she also has big stars in her eyes for Isami even even when he's acting
super cowardly and it's like are you lady are you sure really okay all right okay
I mean a lot of people like don't see past and that's part of his arc right like a lot of people
don't see past his pretend outside demeanor in certain scenes like even seem to ignore when he
really acts like a coward in certain parts uh they a lot of people only see that you know the
the stereotype that the show is actually satirizing they see the stern Japanese army guy who kicks ass
but also you know it actually doesn't want to be here that they don't see that part and they just
say oh he's our hero and uh you know lieutenant oh he's the best and and meanwhile Isami is like
a god fuck I don't need this in my life just go man oh oh oh oh there's also me you
the nerd and she's no the mechanic girl she's kind of nerdy at the first sight of anything
yow he related oh boy oh yeah she loves that shit she's just like mm mm mm yeah go go on
and he's do for the team yes she's I guess for some of the audience she's the self insert character
oh for sure yes there were a couple of other side characters as well and they're on the uh
Japan ground for side there was a Ryuji and Isau you know they were kind of one's a pilot who's
there alongside everyone else in the other was you know sort of a commanding officer yes we have
we have the also the commander on the American side of things like because this is also something
elective show this has this uh this show has a very international feel to it yeah because like you
have these joint forces and you have have a lot of English in this show uh or English and uh also
japanoich germanese that's one way of referring to it something like that because there's a lot
of people yelling shy say in this show uh yeah there's a couple of item I've come up come some
mind there's a couple of uh german cast members in here I think we might have one Russian lady as well
the dog yeah I think so but yeah this show has a very international feel to it and
it's it's fun and I feel like the commander of a goddess name is also like his best scenes are being
like the a straight guy to uh to braver and nonsense how how that was to name how do you know yeah
like uh it's just it's so fun like the scene where braver like explains his love to Isami to them for
the first time and everyone in the in the room is just just tired and staring this long uh staring
to the long distance some of them hide him or he has her has her head on her arms on the desk yeah and
hell it hell is just sitting there with this kind of gando uh ecarry thing with his hands like in front
of his face and just staring to the i don't know if it's to the roof or to the table and just waiting
patiently for braver to finish his story because he's a professional and there's just a lot of great
back and forth scenes between some of these characters just being foils for each other and especially
for braver and nonsense and it's great yeah I just missed opportunity in here to have
how be a captain instead of a general because then he could have been captain king he could have made
all of the halo jokes maybe msami or barri is not familiar with halo i don't know i mean but his name
is also how yes that's king so so yeah maybe and yeah we have another very important side characters
that comes into the story at the end of the second episode which is Lulu and she seems to be i mean
the show doesn't really hide that like it becomes clear very quickly that she was part of a robot
they fight in the second episode that has humanoid frame just like braver is one of the main boss
death drives and his name is superb yeah and apparently when he gets destroyed uh Lulu or the part
that she is in gets ejected from his body and uh yeah then she gets washed up on the beach and
smith literally stumbled over her and then takes her with him and she becomes kind of his surrogate
daughter in a way and uh yeah that also leads to misunderstanding because of course she's naked at some
point and they're in the whole room and there's some you know had a fight and then braver falls into
that building in isami system naked and whatever and gets angry because of course he has the hot
smith and you know all of that but that also gets kind of resolved pretty quickly which is I was
very grateful for like yeah because oh you say direct to that out would have been like yeah in general
I feel like the show does not dwell on on things too much like yeah once they get boring or
or you know tried or annoying it's like nope they're switching it up and also some of the stuff we
just resolve super quickly and explain super quickly and I could they could have dragged out smith trying
to hide that Lulu is an alien or something for I don't know an extended amount of time and
that no that shit gets resolved like super quickly after the hotel scene is like no she apparently is
an alien she has an underdeveloped body for some reason which is why she can't eat normal food she
tries to anyway but that black fires she doesn't speak properly like she learns very quickly by watching
TV shows of course with smith together took us at the shows but you know she's kind of in of course in
infantilized girl character trop but also they do some interesting with her her later on something
very interesting which I didn't see coming and make her character super important and interesting
not just the side comedic mascot thing which a lot of the shows my other shows that this show is
you know satirizing and pingo marsh to might have done with her character because she speaks like a
goddamn Pokemon so I mean I'm really glad they did more than nothing with her because otherwise
the prior would have been like and there's some characters and is that definitely get the short
end of the steak like some of some of some smith teammates are just here there to be teammates
and there's not really any character development to that or they don't really get that much screen time
out of the battles or whatever or to look on each to see more of a cure and Nina man yes absolutely
the those are the two that I'm thinking of like they get introduced the third fourth I don't know
half the third or fourth one yeah yeah and they're in the battles regularly but aside from that
they're just here to hey more girl characters which is great of course but aside from that there's
not much to them but I was really happy with what they did with Lulu and where they went because
that also you know that kind of trope can feel really icky you know if they lean too hard into it and try
to put make too much of a you know try to force a kind of romantic relationship with one of the
characters into it with one of the main characters into it which I don't feel they're doing like yes
there's this naked bit thing and of course that feels a bit weird but most of the time it feels like
she is legit like a daughter to Smith like that's the character she is and then from that she
evolves to something as a battle partner and whatever and especially in the last stretch of the show
she the show kind of also becomes about her so that's that was really cool I was like oh oh okay
that's what you're doing interesting yeah it's pretty cool to see her the arc become hers yes exactly
and she becomes kind of like did you have like this isami and smith become her two dads in a way
right and she becomes she becomes their daughter in through the course of the story and that also
relates to what her actual role later in the story is and what her mission actually is why she is
in this and what what she is the catalyst for and everything so I feel all of that was constructed
pretty well and even surprising but it wasn't the biggest surprise to me so the show sets up for me
anyway an intriguing mystery like who's braverin how is braverin why is braverin and where does he know
isami from isami's favorite child to tie come to lie for some reason like or did he witness isami
watching his favorite TV show from space as a kid and like gotten them it with him and whatever and
braverin plays very coy with information you always get the feeling that he knows a lot more about
what is going on but intentionally keeps a lot of shit to himself for some reason like when someone
asks him a very prodigal or a question the viewers also maybe would like an answer to he that ignores
it or interrupts them with a loud yell or sees the discussion into a completely different direction
and certain scenes is almost feels like he's doing a fourth wall break wings at the audience and
this like sorry can't reveal that yet because we need this for some climax later in the show
and oh my god for some reason I did not see the reveal of what or who braverin really is coming
yeah dude that was like mm-hmm even though the show telegraphed it super hard like in high
side I mean there is a character that literally tells us to our faces who braverin is but because
of the way the show sets up that character you just ignore it and that's fucking ingenious in my
opinion and usually I'm good at this kind of stuff you know this show I always throw out weird
weird ideas and assumptions about who is where a show might go with certain characters and what
might be a plot with that is coming down the row and I'm like 50/50 on though sometimes I'm right
sometimes I'm wrong but I generally make good guesses I think the last good guess I made was in
which from Mercury was like oh I think this is what is going on with Suleta and with her
Gundam and whatever in her mind yeah you were I can't believe how on you were with that so
color me absolutely baffled that I did not see this shit coming like
the truth for some reason this time the truth completely eluded me up to the point where it was
revealed to us or like two seconds before it was revealed to us I was like oh my god is braverin
and then of course and it was probably because even though it was telegraphed super hard it was
count by all the shenanigans and but when that plot was hit I was fucking elated I was cheering I
was making my forehead in disbelief how could I have been so blind it's astonishing and incredible
and delivered with all the fanfare and paythos you'd wanted to have in this kind of show like this is
a smart show that very effectively hides its smartness behind also being a really dumb show at the same
time it plays entirely with open cards from the get go but distracts you with so much nonsense
including efficiently employing and satirizing genre tropes that you just can't see the forest for
the trees at least I couldn't it's an incredible slide of hand magic trick the show is pulling off
here in my opinion I love when a show fucks with me in that way I like to be positively surprised
did you feel the same way dude when they hit me with that I was like I didn't I was beside myself
I was like what do you mean that's what this is how did I in the looking back to one of the earlier episodes
I was like of course of course of course it was right there it was in front of our faces the entire
time and I looked at the you know some discussions about this and the forums and whatever and a lot of
people definitely got that like a lot of people like immediately made that connection for some reason
I couldn't for some reason I didn't I just I was so focused on all the the satire and the nonsense
and the show setting itself up to be so just ludicrous and having so much out of left field shit that
just kind of couldn't be in this show and felt so forth wall breaking in everything so I was just like
oh yeah this is just how just way the show is and probably I was going farther than this with my
assumption it's like braverness probably just a character that knows that this is a TV show and they
probably not even gonna explain this at some point or braverness is just no don't worry about it this is
TV show and you're the characters and I'm just here because I need to be in whatever it felt so meta
all the time that I just didn't expect there to be an actual plot reason inside of the fucking show
itself for braver to be who is who who who what he turns out to be and it's like oh wow you tricked me
show and I loved that you were able to trick me so I don't know it it played my my own weapons of
deduction against me I don't something like that and the reveal came at the perfect time too like
just when the show was starting to lose me a bit because it had dialed a nonsense down a couple of
steps it hits me with this and it also gives this this show incredible rewatch value because now I
want to count all the moments where it was rubbing the truth in my face without me the most oblivious
idiot apparently not noticing any of it so fantastic I just love the reveal of why braverness
in the show what he's doing who he is and I felt like this was really full of really well it was
staged perfectly it came at the perfect time it wasn't a really well done emotional climax it was
just incredible I just I just at that point I was enjoying the show I was like oh this is super fun
and this is good nature tumor and yeah I'm having a fun with satirizing the genre having fun with
the gay jokes and everything but that moment I was like oh no I love this this is absolutely this
is absolutely where I wanted I didn't know that I wanted to show to go there but it did and I was
like yes of course of course this is what it has to be it also it also cements some of the stuff that
you know was pretty evident in the show in the beginning in terms of character relations and everything
and make that makes that make absolute sense and even after that it goes into that more heavily
and it's like no this is this is what we actually wanted to do with this and this was not just like
a side joke or whatever and it's like oh okay and we can only talk about yeah I don't want to give
this away and I'm afraid we already might have given away too much because now people will look for
certain things in this show that maybe would have slipped past them if they just watched it but
maybe try to just have fun with it for a while and not think about it too hard but yeah oh my god
I love this the plot twist or reveal or whatever in the in the last stretch of the show so much and
yes fantastic man and yeah I don't know how much more we can say about this without giving stuff
away or too much stuff away because you know otherwise it's if we talk more about some of the stuff
also some of the stuff I found funny and some of the stuff that it's just feels like in the beginning
it's thrown in here just for for satirizing certain stuff and then later it turns out no this is
actually there was intent behind this so I feel like I can't talk about these things without
giving you more and more ideas about why or what braver is and whatever so yeah I feel like
John do we have anything we want to mention in regards to this amazing show I mean if you just want a
crazy fun mecha show with with a little wrinkle in there yeah it's great but you know I don't think
we can really say much more than you know hey there's a poke you in the face by like hey there's
a thing that happens hey you should do you think you can figure it out beforehand hey hey
but you know I can't go much deeper than that I don't think without ruining it I mean knowing that
there is a plot with this already giving people so much information or too much information to
an extent but I needed to talk about this because it was one of the things that just really really
was a highlight in the show for me and you know I could not just ignore that and just talk
completely around it so you know that I wasn't aware there would be one right I mean I expect
it to be to be a reveal about braver and eventually but I expected it to be much more meta and
much more dumb and ludicrous I didn't expect it to have a good commo maybe a good emotional component
like if he had turned out to be like this child real toy or whatever that came to life and wanted
and if they did that maybe that could have been good too but you know what they did with it what
makes more sense and especially how the show is set up and everything so I liked it I loved the way
it wrapped up I thought the ending was great and fun and made me very happy and that's also great
because it feels like they could maybe do something more with it the way the show is structured but
also they absolutely don't need to because it's like this well told little story 12th episode anime
that you can breeze through and it's entertaining from beginning to end for several reasons
and it's a finished story and it's this great one off so just super fun show but John why can people
watch this you can watch it on crunchy roll and then it looks like if you are some territories is
also available in an applause but chiefly on crunchy roll great and I absolutely as you do this I
love this show feels like seems like John did to oh yeah this show is great from beginning to end
yes really fun it's wrapped up in really fun wrapped up little super robot show that doesn't take
itself seriously whatsoever only in a few couple of moments where it needs to it's not fireworks
from beginning to end especially not animation wise but when those moments hit they hit I at least
recommend it to anyone who is looking for something slightly or even very different when it comes to
robot on robot action that's one way of wording it because I'm pretty sure if you open your
heart to it you will have a great time I know we did
and that is a wrap on the 156th episode of anime brinthries how the music in this podcast is from
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what's good take care everybody next time on anime greenfreeze a match made in heaven or hell
and a magical adventure spanning across several decades
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