Brave Bang Braven! – Episode 12

Brave Bang Braven! Episode 12 closed an excellent season with an epic ending as expected.

So if you've ever watched a show about super robots, you can probably predict 80% of what happens in this episode. Mind you, that's not a bad thing, but if you're looking for a lot of curves you probably won't find them (though of course if you're looking for a different shade…). Part of what makes a genre fun and relatable is knowing exactly what you're going to see and loving every second of it. There are tearful goodbyes, shocking transformations, glowing golden alt modes, unexplained powers, ferocious punches, mechs that turn into swords, and exploding final boss gods everywhere. If you're thinking to yourself, “Gee, I wonder if Smith and Isami would pack a punch with the power of a shining spirit bomb borrowed from—among other things—an AWAC pilot,” then you're right because they I got that and more. A Masami Ōbari work with Brave twice in the title would better end with dynamite punches, otherwise I'd be very sad.

There's also a pretty solid emotional reconciliation here. Isami explains his deal, never quite understanding why he can't connect with the idea of being a hero like other kids. All it takes is someone who cares about him enough to time travel and make love to him through machine fusion to make him realize that he really wants to be a hero. This is great, because it also means we get a clear shot of Ultraman jumping towards the screen with his fists, and again, that's everything I want in my media. Smith, Isami, and Lulu end up naked, crying, happy, and embracing each other, in what is by far the least sexual scene of the entire series. It's a moment you can cheer for, and it's fun when everyone survives to boot.

The only fault other than the numbers is that there aren't more episodes to watch. I would have loved to have seen a dozen more entries to at least fill out the rest of the cast, but alas. Hopefully we'll get more of the same in the future.

Rating:

Grant is a cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and the Super Senpai Podcast.. p>

Brave Bang Braven! currently streaming on Crunchyroll.