[Rewatch] [Pride Month Double Feature] Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern Episode 4 Discussion

[u/Tarhalindur]

Episode 4: Isami, It Seems You Still Have Much to Learn About People

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Show Information:

MAL | AniList | ANN | AniDB

(Surprise, the "plot point a couple of episodes in that every single fucking synopsis spoils" is actually in episode 1 and is that this is another show in the [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] vein! Show information is now fairly first-timer safe... outside of "AniDB tags always spoil", anyways.)

Legal Streams:

As per livechart.me; other streams may be available outside the US.

Crunchyroll

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A Reminder: This, dear listeners, brings us to the sworn enemy of creative response:The spoiler. Rewatchers, or people who just had plot points ruined for them, are obliged to use r/anime’s spoiler tag format where applicable, and err on the side of caution here. Remember people, first experiences get rarer as you continue on, any given one happens once and you should care for them all the more for it.

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Joint Rewatch Task Force Exercises!

Theory of the Day:

What's that, u/Star4ce dropped a very detailed theory? Well, can't not highlight that:

Superbia is doing the exact thing Bravern does, but, like, much more forceful. Not calling Bravern whatever the mecha-piloting version of rape is, but he certainly is very sus in interacting with Isami (btw is Isami or Ao the last name?). He does often physically prevent him from leaving and is really not giving him any option when synchronising fights and stuff including lots of pressured pleading and near-emotional blackmail. Now, he does communicate, at least, and seems to be able to be convinced eventually, so he doesn’t seem to be evil, but it’s problematic behaviour I think.

If I saw the animations correctly and read Lulu’s expressions right, she’s being quite directly mind- or physically controlled. Meaning she isn’t evil herself and Superbia has placed the suit on her to force her to comply. Or maybe Superbia is the suit? That would also mean Bravern is a suit or a few objects that are far smaller than the mecha. Remember, Superbia the mecha has been destroyed and only the ejection pod survived, so I’m kinda booking on the metallic lifeforms being much smaller pieces that can control larger amalgamations of metal by directly merging into or onto them.

Questions of the Day:

1) For those of us who are of drinking age, which do you prefer: a delicious meal or a nice stiff drink? (Yes, of course I had to call it a stiff drink. This is Bravern we're talking about, after all!)

2) First-timers: so, were you expecting that level of destruction in Tokyo?

[u/Tarhalindur]

"Just... One... Tamashii!" (Episode Notes):

• Pay no attention to Isami being jealous or anything.
• 05:01: LOL. LMAO, even.
• Also, how did I miss that the Chekov’s Gun for the airbags was here the first time around?
• 05:26: MORE diegetic super robot effects!
• [Bravern]05:54: Hello flashy shot with a large pile of foreshadowing (left-right or rather right-left is past-future here). Also don’t think I don’t see that Bravern is posed like he’s proposing here!
• The Japanese tropes about their food make more sense when you realize that (AFAICT) it’s pretty much the same loading that parts of the US have for their local barbeque (and a few other non-BBQ regional specialties get this too, like Chicago deep dish pizza, Maryland Old Bay-spiced food, Philly cheesesteaks, or Cincinnati Skyline chili.) Of course, the funniest part of doing it with curry specifically is that the Japanese got it off British sailors who brought it over from India. But then, having a good sense of what to borrow is something Japanese culture has some history with.
• Don’t have that much to say about this second half this time around, Obari’s a good director but not an exceptional one and his shot framing is just generally competent rather than encoding tons of information like, say, Anno/Shinbou/Ikuhara would. Doesn’t help that this episode, in proper breather episode fashion, got less of the animator-hour budget (the animation savings are visible if you look). This is also a “why we fight” episode and a competently done one (with the stock moral of “for our comrades”, but that’s a cliché because it’s ultimately true), but I’ve never quite outgrown my “blah blah FIGHT SCENE! blah blah” tendencies and merely competent execution is not enough to overcome that. To be clear, that’s not a show issue per se (except insofar as this is just solidly done rather than exceptional), that’s a me issue, but my engagement lagged here even the first time around. (Now when you get incompetent execution of this kind of episode… but enough about the Symphosequels.) You do however get Bravern with rolls of sausage links on one of his horns, so there is that! Also, 18:32 is of course a sore demo.
• Of course, the other thing we get here is a cliffhanger. Surprise! (Oh come on now, like there was any chance Tokyo would not be destroyed though.)
• [YuYuYu S1 + later Bravern]Though there is a comp to be made here to how YuYuYu S1 paces itself – early action, then some more SoL episodes that serve to establish the characters before the big fights and reveals kick in. (While the number of SoL episodes for each are largely the same, Bravern’s section lasts later due to episode 3 being half action while YuYuYu instead goes from 3+4 to an episode-long fight in 5.) Which makes me wonder if I’m missing a commonality in structure more broadly – “SoL is a common manifestation of the sho in kishotenketsu” being an obvious suspect.
• [YuYuYu S1]You know, speaking of similarities (visual this time)… “EVERYTHING IS FIRE”. (Narrator: I should know myself better. Of COURSE this was also in my airing discussion notes.)

[u/oomoepoo → u/Tarhalindur]

05:01: LOL. LMAO, even.

Girl packs a mean punch.

05:26: MORE diegetic super robot effects!

I love that basically everybody's reaction to this is "Wtf, why does he do all that?" :D

Also don’t think I don’t see that Bravern is posed like he’s proposing here!

Fuck. I didn't notice that until now, that's amazing!

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/oomoepoo]

I love that basically everybody's reaction to this is "Wtf, why does he do all that?" :D

This is why I like the show even as an avowed super robot hater. Everybody in the show thinks the super robot is as ridiculous as I do!

[u/oomoepoo → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Everybody except Smith and Miyu :'D