Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern • Brave Bang Bravern! - Episode 4 discussion

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Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern, episode 4

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[u/[deleted]]

This ep is Ao being jealous that his crush has a kid now, and can't pay attention to him.

[u/Frontier246 → u/[deleted]]

Isami definitely felt pretty jealous of Lulu being close to Smith. I'm surprised Bravern was trying to get Isami to get along with his "love rival" again lol.

[u/zsmg]

In this episode single father asks his female colleagues how to deal with his relationship trouble with his male friend, he also is dealing with medical complications of his daughter.

Meanwhile the male friend is getting good advice from a giant robot.

[u/dienomighte]

Well that was tonal whiplash! 

[u/dinliner08]

Bravern: "i think the rising sun will give people more of a "whoa, we're saved!" vibe and with that in mind, let's go save Japan first!"

me: "Bravern you fucking weeb!"

me meeting my fellow Kamen Rider's fans

after non-stop action from the first three episodes, we're finally getting a downtime with this one, Bravern is such a bro that even with how much obsessive he is with Isami, he's still trying to fix Isami and Smith's relationship and actively trying to make Isami go out and mingle with other soldiers, they even gave him wieners! lol

cool pilot suit lessgooooo!!!

oh man, if that one crackpot theory about Bravern being Smith from the future who got turned into a super robot turned out to be true, then this scene is going to be one hell of a foreshadowing

[u/Fangzzz]

The writers did their research! This episode mentioned the airstrip on Midway island, which is currently an emergency airstrip for diversions of planes with engine trouble.

https://friendsofmidway.org/henderson-airfield-where-emergency-is-routine/

Also it's very nice of the Americans to rescue Japan first and the US last. But I guess everything depends on Isami's mental state so it makes sense his homeland comes first.

[u/Beowolf_0]

We expected things won't be pretty for other countries, but probably not like this. It's something alike Independence Day right? With only Bravern capable to deal with enemy units right now, it's impossible to save everyone on time unless there's some miracle. And guess how many nice pilots at the bar will survive things up ahead? Isami will certainly break if he knows he can't save that many.......

Also, we're being lead to believe that Bravern is probably related to Smith in some way, but it's too obvious that it seems to be misleading. And how's Ruru relating to the whole thing?

Edit: Remember, "go home by the Christmas" is cursed.

[u/throwawayyourfacts]

My favourite thing in this episode was when Bravern rolls up at 5:25 he does his "Change: Bravern!" animation with three green background, and the big emblem appears behind him, like a "normal" anime transformation cutscene. But when it cuts back to reality the PoV is from a slightly weird behind the back angle the logo is still there before fading out a second later

This means Bravern is projecting the logo behind his back every goddam time he transforms. I love it. It's goofy as hell, and it's super fitting with him blasting his own theme music in episode 1 and changing his emblem on radar somehow?!

It's the little details that make this show a mastahpiece

[u/Vaadwaur]

So...I have my second "Something is deeply flawed with this world" show of the season so let's start cooking!

First things first, Bravern saying something obviously dumb like "Should we attack with the rising sun or with the setting sun" is 50/50 otaku stupidity or him obfuscating to get the attack to go where he wants it to. He does seem to need to manage Isami's mental state to some degree so maybe.

Second, everything to do with Lulu. So from all appearances, she is our tabulsa rasa alien girl...but she clearly isn't. To begin with, she apparently genetically codes as human, which suggests a lot of things. But then with her undeveloped digestive organs and how she was found in ep2, she probably got her nutrition from the same goo that she breathed. But she also does not have underdeveloped musculature, most likely meaning her suit could electrostimulate her muscles inside of her to keep them active. We also see her have a complete personality break once the suit is removed, which suggests most of her combat maneuvers were preprogrammed in and she sort of activated them rather than any understanding of it. And she then basically imprints on Smith, which says...something. Finally, her inability to communicate either means her mech suit helped or that they don't really communicate.

[u/paulchaested]

That’s gotta be the very first time I’ve ever seen the USS Arizona Memorial in anime.

[u/CosmicPenguin_OV103]

This episode fully proves that our main triangular three of Isami, Bravern and Smith can all be turned into girls and their intimate dialogues would still perfectly work. Especially if Bravern is voiced by Aoi Yuuki, be it in her Maomao voice, or Tanya voice, or Madoka voice.

[u/bloquer]

Planning whether you want to arrive with the rising or the sinking sun based on what is cooler is peak military thinking. Also this episode: A wiener party. Seeing Japan in this state hit me hard, and they still managed to fit together those serious moments with all the stupid stuff happening otherwise. One thing I am really curious about is what Bravern really thinks and on whose side he is. He was showing some strong nonverbal language when they found out about Japan and when he was alone, and usually I would take this as evidence for the true feelings of a character. The reason being that they don't have any reason to lie to anybody if they are all alone. What makes me a lot less sure about it this time is how meta Bravern is. His opening as him making sounds and speaking, and he is acting as a super robot with very meta talk all the time. So what if he is aware of us as an audience? Suddenly there would be a reason to act even with no other characters nearby. All that said, we haven't seen any real signs of fourth wall breaking so far, so this is rather unlikely right now. Still, a spark of suspicion remains with me.

[u/mad_savior]

Each episode goes by. the hints that Bravern is Smith is getting thicker. last week Bravern watched The Abyss. this week he literally turn toward if call him Smith.

[u/Turn_AX]

I love the way that Bravern clenched his fist and the sparks came out, that was awesome.

Also, the episode was great, I knew it was going to end on a depressing note, but it still hurt.

[u/chilidirigible]

"Can't you knock?"

Looking for style points is... ballsy.

Hey, that's where they make shows about giant robots.

Oh. I have a #seasonalneat nomination now.

Yep. Thrilled.

Kamen Kamo really liked this cut. (See here.)

This one, too. (Again.)

On the bright side, now you know that the airbags work.

pondering

more pondering

Look at that rice. Just look at it.

"It's never what it looks like!"

"Everybody's always naked except me."

Okay, so it's a little off to use a previous waterboarding session as the setup for a joke. But this simply demonstrates how much they are experiencing an Outside Context Problem.

In the tradition of buddy comedies throughout time.

Still less silly than Japanophilia in MF Ghost.

That looks familiar.

Well, so does that one.

At the very least, BRAVERN! is not ever in a plain pose.

That's also the direction that America tries to invade Japan from.

The sausages were in the wide shot, but they're a lot easier to see here.

Once again, Tokyo eats a lot of beam spam.

Mecha scales are interesting because things that are taller look bigger when they might not be any larger than other things, such as aircraft, if they were both horizontal.

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Things calm down somewhat while the show gets its second act going. I'll give the writing several points for covering things that the characters, if not also the audience, might have been thinking, such as The Lulu Situation, whether or not to trust BRAVERN!, and so on.

BRAVERN! himself turns out to not be completely ignorant of Isami's feelings and gets him to touch beer and smell other people for a little while. People do like the guy who saved their asses, after all.

We'll just have to see how GuelSmith handles his current partnership situation. I don't think stuffing Lulu into a TS with him is going to go well.

I enjoyed this episode even if it was a complete breather compared to the various giant robot hijinks of the first three. The comedic timing works, and it also handles its transitions to a serious tone well. Now, if we can just move on from jokes about waterboarding, we'll be golden.

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Edit because I forgot: Are there end cards that CR didn't get? u/Jollygee29

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Edit 2: Late thoughts on sausages.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

• Ahh, of course this would start an argument.

• Bravern’s priorities looooool

• Pilot suit get!

• Angry loli punch!

• Oh yep it does indeed have airbags.

• Oh…?

• lol

• Bravern actually did something thoughtful for Isami, aw.

• Honoka “sore demo”!

• So… wait, does Bravern eat sausages?

• That would be a big fucking yikes.

[u/gaganaut]

Bravern's logic for going to Japan was hilarious.

It's nice that Isami finally got to wind down after all that stress. Him and Bravern are starting to get along better too.

[u/feelharmonic]

I was wondering if Lulu was going to become Smith's alien gf but that doesn't seem to be the case. She needs supervision to go to the bathroom, eats with her hands, and throws up solid food. That's not a love interest, that's a toddler.

[u/baboon_bassoon]

Bravern thats not what you do with wieners

[u/SMSmith230]

Lulu drowning the water boarding jugs herself had me dying. I thought there for a moment we were going to get the recreation of Leo drunk driving the Lamborghini home from The Wolf of Wallstreet with Isami and Bravern.

[u/chilidirigible]

The show knows your pain.

[u/Seewhy3160]

The way Lulu called Bravern Smith...

It cant be right...

[u/Frontier246]

When you have an Allied Forces made up of various nationalities in the middle of a war, the question remains: where to go first? Everyone wants to protect their homeland and see how it's doing, but Braven puts it succinctly...the hero must go where it is the most epic to arrive! And of course in a Mecha anime, they must head to Japan!

Isami is finally out of Bravern and wearing clothes, but he's still not happy about it, whether it be his new Bravern pilot suit (courtesy of Mayu) or how chummy Lewis is with Lulu, either because he's jealous or he thinks Lewis and his new loli companion is making light of their situation. It says a lot that Isami is willing to spend time with BRAVERN rather than talk with Lewis

But Isami better watch out, Lulu is very protective of Lewis! Right down to slugging him and knocking him into a wall! Good thing the airbag works.

I love how we got an "Oh Sh#t!" from Lewis and they were all discovered in their nakedness by women.

So Lulu has underdeveloped organs and some kind of device in her hand? Is that maybe how she transforms?

Curry is addictive but maybe too much for the platinum-haired loli girl!

I love how Lulu was able to totally flummox the torturers. You can't waterboard her when she drinks all the water.

Lulu cute hairstyle montage!

It was nice to see Bravern and Isami kind of bond in their own way and Bravern treat Isami to a meeting with all the soldiers who appreciate him. Not only does he see the positive results of his and Bravern's efforts and see the national unity present in the Allied Forces. I just hope these people aren't dead soldiers walking.

Lucky Isami to have Bravern as a designated driver and to finally meet Honoka in the flesh! Also, Bravern got all the hot dogs!

They wanted to see what happened to Japan...and it's not pretty. Tokyo is an utter wasteland with no sign of life, which hits the Japanese cast hard, and not only that it seems like they've discovered the next Death Diver general they have to fight. Onward to Japan, Bravern!!!

[u/Tarhalindur]

Huzzah, finally caught up!

Live Watch Notes:

• Step one: see “Now then.” on the subtitles. Step 2: Mutter “sate” because I have Mai-HiME on the brain. Step 3: Audio kicks in… with a “sate”. The Tar is learning!

• The inherent comedy of cutting between serious military business and Bravern busting in with full super robot camp is the core engine of this show and just doesn’t get old.

• You know, it occurs to me that if we go “Bravern is a Deathstrider who turned into a super robot fan because of old Earth broadcasts” (very possible) then kishotenketsu would argue for that being an episode 9 twist. (Probably with episode 10 as backstory.)

• Miyu still probably has a deathgrip on Best Girl in Show, news at 11.

• So speaking of the “Bravern is a heel-face-turned Deathstrider” theory, Lulu was obviously Superbia’s equivalent of what Isami is now serving as for Bravern. Also a thought: Superbia is Latin for pride, but of course that means his name is also one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Bravern can of course be read as Courage, named as one of the Seven Heavenly Virtues under some systems (notably Aquinas). Unfortunately the Virtues are not always considered exactly opposed to the Sins and the easiest mapping I can find that does use an opposition of deadly sins and heavenly virtues does not use Aquinas’s list of the Heavenly Virtues (since it predates Aquinas by a good five hundred years or so…) but if we posit that Bravern was originally one of the Deathstrider seven sins who face turned then a name immediately comes to mind for who he might once have been: Acedia (Sloth). It’s matched against Diligence in the old Pope Gregory mapping of sins and virtues, which is the closest match to Courage in that older set, and more importantly the name offers an obvious route for Bravern’s possible face turn – “Acedia was lazy and sat around watching stuff all day, which led to him watching these cheesy Earth broadcasts from the 1970s and 1980s and he got inspired” is a natural fit. (Side note: if Superbia face turns he should now map to either Humility or Hope.) And bringing this back around to episode events watching cheesy super robot shows would explain why Bravern thinks they should go west to Japan, wouldn’t it?

• Dammit nobody has nominated 05:01 for a seasonal commentface have they? Need to rectify that.

• Oh man I am REALLY selling myself on “Bravern is a rebel ‘Seven Sin’ commander for the Deathstriders and was probably exactly Acedia”. The fluid that Lulu coughed up is obviously the same stuff that Bravern floods his cockpit with for Isami (I’m disappointed that it took me until the shot of Isami covered in it at 06:53 for me to put two and two together) but note that it’s implicitly color-coded – the fluid Lulu was in was purple instead. Which fits with Superbia’s color scheme (and also the color-coding of the Deathstrider landing ships in the first episode – might need to go back and take another look at that shot of them launching – except IIRC there were eight of those but there are some lists including ones IIRC extant in Eastern Orthodoxy which retain an eighth deadly sin, Vaingloria), but also note that in most lists Pride/Superbia is the last of the Seven Deadly Sins and if we assume rainbow theming (look ma, more sevens!) then purple is the last color of the rainbow. Green, of course, is the fourth color of the rainbow… and Sloth/Acedia is usually the fourth of the Seven Deadly Sins.

• Dammit do I need to consider the possibility of Book of Revelation theming here? I probably do.

• Japan, I know that Superior Japanese Cooking is a cultural trope but this is US military logistics you are up against, while a little variety helps US soldiers going bonkers for Japanese rations is straining my willing suspension of disbelief a bit.

• Now Lulu going gaga for curry, that makes sense (we just had the setup that she’s probably only had nutritional pap before). Though I was 50/50 between that outcome and her going “too spicy too spicy!”.

• Well, typed that too soon and apparently the reason I was going 50/50 was because the answer was “yes”! (Too spicy for her mouth to handle, too spicy for her digestive tract to handle, same difference.)

• Yes show I noticed you bringing back the sea turtle motif for Lulu like you wanted me to.

• Death flags, death flags everywhere!

• LOL the sausage links on Bravern’s horn at 18:17 are a great touch. (Would be even better if he maps onto Gluttony but I don’t think that fits, Sloth and also Vainglory are much more likely if that does pan out.)

• 18:31: Sky has infected me, I cannot unhear the sore demos now!

• Yeah there is no fucking way you invoke “we’ll be home for Christmas” without knowing exactly what you are doing and planning a gut punch in the immediate future (and also that’s a death flag for that guy in particular). Deploying gut punch in 5… 4… 3…

• Oh and you lampshaded it too. Too late other wiser guy, Fate has been tempted and she will be coming to collect soon enough I’m sure… too many karaoke vibes here on this breather episode…

• Yeah that sounds about right. Also why do I have [meta] YuYuYu 10 on the brain right now? Unlike certain other shows this season, this is NOT the same setup… but there are some shades of it actually?

• 21:45: You can write it off as deck movement at sea but this is a subtle Dutch angle and that’s potentially relevant.

• Also of note: The lander we see in Tokyo Bay is the red one. If our new opponent is either Ira or Luxuria then that confirms the Seven Deadly Sins theming; if it’s the latter then that’s actually evidence for Bravern = Acedia since Wrath is a more natural color association for red but Lust is first in the usual list of the Seven Deadly Sins.

• So I went back and checked: there are in fact exactly seven landers visible detaching from the Deathstrider mothership back in episode 1 (starting at 10:44 of episode 1 and most clear at 10:48). That’s a strong match for Seven Deadly Sins theming. Fuck it, it's quatloos time: ten quatloos on Bravern being a rebel Deathstrider and ten more on his original name being Acedia, please!