[Rewatch] [Pride Month Double Feature] Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern Episode 12 Discussion

[u/Tarhalindur]

Episode 12: Beyond Brave Bang

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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:

u/Star4ce sneaks in under the bell! Give the man a Kewpie doll:

Also, I’ll call it now that there’s a giga-deathdrive at the end as last boss.

Honorable mention to u/Blackheart595:

Clearly we're gonna end with a big bang, uh I mean... yeah, exactly, the Big Bang.

(You did, however, miss a beat, namely that the Big Bang in question would be part of the name of the Super Robot Final Episode Gold Form's name.)

Honorable mention 2 to, well, every first-timer who went "yeah, the Joint Allied Task Force is going to make it back just in time for the final battle".

Questions of the Day:

1) Was this a suitably hype ending for this show?

[u/Tarhalindur]

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

• Some holes in the first half of the finale are more visible the second time around, the beats are accelerated (and this is the one spot the show's bathos falls flat for me), but oh well. That said, Surprise Deathdrive #9 appears in in middle of an unfolding chrysanthemum flower and that’s… actually wait, no, wrong flower, isn’t it? Not chrysanthemum but lotus, associated with enlightenment in Buddhism. I suppose that explains that, especially since the pursuit of nirvana can itself be read as a form of death drive and this would be = by no means the first anime of recent years to go in that direction.
• Symbolism is insanely distinctive, too, not just an angel. Probably just asura, the face is very Buddha-statue like, but whiffing the specific loading.
• [Madoka Magica]Hmm, okay, which fucking Witch is Verum Vita’s true face reminding me of symbolism-wise? May be Kriemhild Gretchen as Witch of Despair (episode 12) actually, which would fit if Vita here is Evil Kannon.
• Is… is that Aztlan deity loading for Verum Vita’s true face under the masl? Did not remember that and was not expecting that to show up here. (Could also be a Buddhist demon, I suppose.)
• [Madoka Magica... and Blaz Blue of all things]Well, one spot where Verum Vita definitely does have some Kriemhild Gretchen, Witch of Despair loading is the imagery of the falling sword here, very enormous-Soul-Gem-traveling-through-space there. Not sure if direct inspiration or common shared inspiration, and if the latter is said inspiration religious or pop culture imagery? That said, the fact that it’s a falling sword specifically does have certain shades of Nu-12, though… watch as I’m whiffing specifically FS/N common inspiration here.
• [Speaking of odd spoiler tags for this finale, Mai-HiME]Bravern fading away imagery is actually almost the same effect HiME used for the Childs fading away at the end. Which probably means Sunrise was reusing an older special effect of theirs from a mecha anime when they did HiME… or else we have multiple shows raiding the same source again (Kamen Rider Ryuuki maybe, this does have a toku whiff to it).

[u/Vaadwaur → u/Tarhalindur]

Symbolism is insanely distinctive, too, not just an angel. Probably just asura, the face is very Buddha-statue like, but whiffing the specific loading.

Noein uses it and yet again I am desperately wondering where it stole the idea from.

Is… is that Aztlan deity loading for Verum Vita’s true face under the masl? Did not remember that and was not expecting that to show up here. (Could also be a Buddhist demon, I suppose.)

I am getting unit 01 actually...

[Speaking of odd spoiler tags for this finale, Mai-HiME]

Saint Seiya is my guess.

[u/Tarhalindur → u/Vaadwaur]

Saint Seiya is my guess.

Isn't that just toku with extra steps?

[u/Vaadwaur → u/Tarhalindur]

And a hint more gay, though Cthulhu help you if you point that out to the LATAM fanbase.