Alright, I just watched the first two episodes of this show tonight and it is wild. The tonal shifts that we go through as viewers are insane. On the one hand, we have the Saturday morning cartoon character of Bravern that insists on shouting out his move names and literally plays his own theme song when he fights. On the other hand, we have the extinction of humanity, the horrors of war, an on-screen depiction of waterboarding, and the trauma associated with it that our MC has to bury deep down in order to “Get in the robot, Isami.”
I am blown away by the balancing act this show has done so far to not completely fly off the rails in just the first two episodes. This show is simultaneously a love letter to the super robot shows of old, and a parody of the entire genre. I am looking forward to seeing where it goes from here, but that will have to wait for another night.
Alright, I just watched the first two episodes of this show tonight and it is wild. The tonal shifts that we go through as viewers are insane. On the one hand, we have the Saturday morning cartoon character of Bravern that insists on shouting out his move names and literally plays his own theme song when he fights. On the other hand, we have the extinction of humanity, the horrors of war, an on-screen depiction of waterboarding, and the trauma associated with it that our MC has to bury deep down in order to “Get in the robot, Isami.”
I am blown away by the balancing act this show has done so far to not completely fly off the rails in just the first two episodes. This show is simultaneously a love letter to the super robot shows of old, and a parody of the entire genre. I am looking forward to seeing where it goes from here, but that will have to wait for another night.
There seem to be at least 3 shows doing that same type of meta-writing this season: Bravern, Sokushi Cheat, and Sasaki to Pii-chan.
They all have different takes and goals though.
Sokushi Cheat is the simplest, being a straightforward parody.
Bravern is the most limited in concept so far, balancing between a 90s super robot show and a modern grim n gritty realism.
I’m not even sure where Pii-chan is going yet.