The first episode of Bang Bravern aired last night in Japan, and it wasn’t what any of us expected.
Back when Bang Bravern was announced, it looked to be a new military mecha anime directed by Masami Obari. The fact that Obari was involved in a real robot show that also used CG was surprising, as he normally animates 2D super robot anime.
However, while the first episode of Bang Bravern opened up as a military mecha anime in a very Gungriffon-esque manner, it all changed towards the end when powerful aliens invade and the regular military mecha are seemingly useless.
It’s here when the shoe dropped and a friendly alien super robot shows up. Asks one of the military pilots to jump in its cockpit, and show these nasty aliens the business end of a giant sword.
Put simply, the whole setup and prior promotion was a ruse; Bang Bravern is actually a new super robot show and one that looks quite fun and interesting with it.
The CG animation was also handled well and it’s clear Obari is having fun taking a hybrid approach to the mecha combat, something he is known and rightly revered for.
In addition, it seems that the military mecha will be actually assisting the new super robot, which is called Bravern in case you are wondering. This really reminds me of the setup in Tekkaman Blade, or Teknoman as it was known when it came Westward.
In that, friendly alien mecha helps humanity against an alien invasion alongside other human made military mecha. Not to mention that Obari worked on that show too.
Anyway, I thought the super robot reveal was excellent and having the theme tune play in the cockpit was also inspired comedic genius. Here’s hoping Obari and his team can keep this up, as Bang Bravern could turn out to be rather special indeed.
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