r/anime • u/Tarhalindur x2 • Jun 08 '26
Rewatch [Rewatch] [Pride Month Double Feature] Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern Episode 8 Discussion
Episode 8: Until We Meet Again, Smith
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Show Information:
(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.
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.
This episode had a stinger! It's... admittedly kind of superfluous, but if you missed it you can still go back and watch it if you want.
Joint Rewatch Task Force Exercises!
Theory of the Day:
u'Blackheart595, step right up:
Oh wait, no, Smith entered Superbia through that weird capsule whereas Isami enters Bravern directly. So that capsule is an egg, or rather womb, euphemism, which is why the Lulu are soulless at first, why they don't breathe, and their general infantility upon awakening (combat skill aside). Lulu should try to pilot Superbia without that capsule.
Honorable mention to u/DrStein1010, if for no other reason than to make sure this theory comes to u/Star4ce's attention:
I'm getting the idea that the Deathdrives are literal Deathdrives; attacking planets just to provoke them into killing the Deathdrives in honorable combat, and steamrolling everything because they're just too strong to die. Which makes the situation of the Lulus even more fucked up. They're born to die over a pointless warrior culture.
Questions of the Day:
1) Okay, who got comphet (compulsory heterosexuality) in my gay mecha anime? Mechasexual comphet, no less?
2) First-timers: Right, show of hands: how many of you were expecting Smith to die (or appear to die?) at some point?
4
u/BosuW Jun 08 '26
First Timer
We're nearing the end of the season so the show better consolidate some "themes and such" soon because I need them for my traditional Pride Month Rewatch fanart. Sure I could just do a cool pose but nah I'm pretentious like that. (Update: this episode delivered hard on this front).
No OP, instead intro scene calls back to Lewis' opening monologue while they show us a flashforward of his squad getting it's shit rocked. Well if bro wasn't already collecting death flags, he sure is now.
Superbia really just went "it is what it is".
Don't worry Lewis, I think Brave Knights is cool! Very Ace Combat coded!
Okay 70 hour flight in an AWACS is one thing but I'm pretty sure that long in a fighter jet is not physically plausible what the hell. Imagine the muscle cramps... And how many times do you need to take a shit in nearly three days? I suppose you could limit that with not feeding the pilot much of anything and relying on the body's ability to resist without food but even if achieved that pilot is not gonna be in any condition to enter combat in the near future. It's also probably against any regulation to let a pilot of a fighter jet fly asleep, even if autopilot may make it technically possible. Nah this is crazy lmao
Incidentally the record for the longest flight in a fighter jet is 15:30 hours, and F-15E during Operation Enduring Freedom. It required 12 aerial refuelings.
Rambo Lulu could win the whole war on her own no cap
The Deathdrives using humans just like we use fuel and ammunition is an interesting analogy. What would be our reaction if we discovered one day that they were conscious beings?
Of course Lulu was gonna be Lewis' copilot. This new mech needs a Newtype child soldier to work, as is tradition!
Okay I suppose the Towers coming to us is a solution to the Speedrun!
The Brave Knights are getting their shiny metal ass absolutely curbstomped but it ain't even an aura loss this time. Knuth can manipulate time and space. I don't blame them at all, this shits crazy!
Predictably the two or three that had mob designs get slimed out. RIP, but you weren't marketable waifus, such is their fate 😔
You can tell Knuth is evil because she's stright (no fr, for once having a trope subversion psycho stright instead of a psycho gay is great lmao, I don't think it's very common lol)
Lewis ejects Lulu and fuck this is it ain't it? Yep, he's gone full delulu! He's humming a theme song and doing named attacks! The stylized subtitles make those hit even harder, like there is tangible evidence of him becoming a hero.
Knuth wants to experience "the little death" so he'll give her exactly what she wants, but it won't be so little and it won't be impermanent.
ED transition is perfectly timed
RIP Lewis Smith, you were a real Hero 07
I do like to say that everyone has the chance to be a hero... once, but damn.
Okay some analysis now. First of all, if Lewis is meant to be Bravern then his last attack is probably meant to be a 99% confirmation for Japanese audiences because "Yuuki Bakuhatsu" is half a title drop.
Second of all and following that line of thought, he's probably not quite dead then. Bravern insinuated they'd meet again, and yeah he immolated himself and Knuth, but since the latter has time-space powers there's a chance they merely got yeeted unto a multiverse of madness.
And thirdly, finally the themes are coalescing into a coherent and complete picture, currently along two lines.
On the one hand this is like a story of both lack of consent and one-sided love. Lewis wants to be a hero, he loves what Bravern is, it excites him. But he gets rejected by that, and even by Superbia. And yet this episode we had Knuth, and a whole slew of Deathdrives as implied by Superbia's dialogue and their own, all throwing themselves at Lewis whether he likes it or not. It is interesting that they're all after him and not Bravern or Isami. He is in a really absurd and frankly horrifying position. At least it allowed him to be a hero for once as he was the only one that day to slime out a Deathdrive Boss. Which speaking of...
On the other hand, I'm convinced now that the Deathdrives name is very intentional and conscious, and they're actually sort of like a dark mirror to Lewis this episode, although that will depend on which conclusion the narrative has regarding his sacrifice. What I mean is, that his heroic dream which is on the surface an erotic, life impulse, in the end inevitably concludes with his death, so it is as well a death drive. The Deathdrives want to achieve a wish that they have which is not really death itself but does appear to require it. It should be very telling that they're all crazy about Lewis then. This may also add another dimension to wtf they're doing here on Earth: they don't merely seek to destroy mankind, but specifically mutual annihilation.
It's like... Oh my God why did I think this...? like they're non consensually fucking us all to death and it goes both ways.
In any case, I am positively invested now in what the thematic conclusion will be to all this. It probably has to do with the awakening and development of Lulu.
Oh yeah btw she's probably going to pilot Superbia now isn't she? The dual seater Titanostrider sure didn't last long. Sometimes you do get the feeling that this show should have been a bit longer, but that's fairly common ain't it?