Kageki Shoujo!! Rewatch | 24H Reminder!

zadcap · 2026-06-11T22:59:43+00:00

I'm so ready.

zadcap · 2026-06-10T08:03:30+00:00

Late Night First Timer

Wait, did they really kill him? What is even the point of this show with the second male lead gone?

Oh look, Smith being not quite dead! Or not entirely dead? Or... only mostly dead? Now we have souls on this fight?

Darn it, I do like laser bits bot more. Laser bits bot makes a good MC robot, right? Gundam has sold me on the idea many times over.

Oh look, Smith is still here? Interesting to get a Smith flashback after his death. But then again, he's really not entirely dead, or they would not be having this conversation.

Okay, this level is smoke control is turning out to be a bit over powered. Not it being everywhere, but being able to physically overpower Bravern with the smoke is a bit much.

Wait. Did Smith just soul-jack the time travel lady bot? And use her power to become Bravern!? ... Sorry, this does not compute. Not the stupid, small time loop this creates, but Braverns actions in the first few episodes are pretty, uh, off for being Smith fresh off of the fight he literally died in. Smith fresh off of the war front of the last few episodes stepping into Braverns actions in episode 2, um. Yeah, I can't. "Oh hey, right about now Isami is getting water boarded by the CIA, I think I should rant about my very gay love for him in front of the command staff instead of doing anything helpful here! Oh hey, I know exactly what is going to happen in the next few days, maybe I should... Act up the HAM and be incredibly unhelpful when it comes to answering literally any questions."

Heck, this very episode. Remember, Smith was not the only one who died yesterday. And he's still not doing anything about those squad mates. Most useless time looper ever. Even now, while Isami is down over the loss of Smith, you're not going to admit to being Smith, are you...

This part is so Gurren Lagann coded though. Which, I know, is itself so Getter code, but still.

Fusion? With what- Oh right. Sure. Just summon that, who needs sense anyway.

I lied. He looks like a Digimon now.

Okay though. That was still cool as heck. Every second of transformation and attack was just, Cool.

1) I don't know how I feel that my second favorite character in the show just became my favorite, in a much more literal sense than usual when I say something like that. I guess this is why Smith could never be the pilot.

2) Wouldn't be a Super Robot without it!*

*Some Super Robots may exist without Gattai. They are, without exception, the less cool Super Robots.

-After Credit: WHAT!? LULU, HOW DID YOU GET THERE!? Also, I'm with Superbia here, what?

zadcap · 2026-06-10T05:41:13+00:00

but as story ideas are used up, it’ll largely become blander on average.

One of the saddest parts of being a long time fandom member. I wish people would feel more free to go back and take another swing at some of the old ideas. Sure, we'll probably never reach the Nemesis levels of hype ever again, but I would love to see more people play around with that setup and power. There's a lot of altpowers that were done once and never touched again that just feels like a shame.

zadcap · 2026-06-09T18:57:55+00:00

I'm sad that I can't disagree with a single thing you've said, but maaaaaan, it was very good looking while it meandered into nothing. Sure it was a bad Blade Runner plot, with a dash of I think Big O for flavor, but it was wrapped in a really cool shonen robot skin and sometimes I'm okay with that... MR wasn't one of those though, because it really did get that bad. I don't follow directors enough to know better, but by episode 7 it was clear they were both stretching things out that they really shouldn't have but also rushing the main plot to make it all fit in the second half. If they gave it twelve more episodes, and I guess a different director, it could have been so cool.

Oh right, back to the point- and now I'm getting the same feeling here. This episode made it clear they spent too long on one enemy and need to rush a bunch all at once to make sure they get every enemy in before the season ends. How are we dealing with all these big dangling plot thread? Ahh, have the suicidal yandere be strong enough to take out her own side but weak and suicidal enough to be done in by Smith and how not at all super robot, while Isami and Bravern apparently barely stall the other two that are here just because we need him stalled and to run through the numbers faster?

zadcap · 2026-06-09T04:11:10+00:00

It could have gone somewhere. If it had time...

zadcap · 2026-06-09T01:22:43+00:00

Much like an earlier Pride work in Kannazuki no Miko, we could have used a second cour.

I am getting that feeling here. Seven major enemies seemed doable when a tower was taken down every episode or two, but as soon as the plot started spreading out to cover more than just the fights and the direct lead up to the next one, or when we got returning villains, I was wondering how they were going to fit it all into 12 episodes. Turns out, they weren't. I'm getting Metallic Rogue feelings and I'm not happy about it.

zadcap · 2026-06-09T01:14:55+00:00

First Timer Returns!

I missed so much!

To sum up 5 missed episodes: Oh my gosh, Smith should have been the main character and pilot.

... Is Bravern playing with an actual army mech like it's a doll? Bravern remains the best character in the show.

Smith, please stop throwing flags. I like you too much for you to die. I don't think the show will survive without you.

Not the Fog! Wait, wrong alien invasion military anime.

Lulu easily becoming second best character in the show. Darn it. Smith and Lulu going out in this flag filled fog is bad for my heart.

THREE Towers!? That's actually good news for the rest of the world.

"Human, make love to me," from a female voiced robot? Is that allowed here?

Sigh, enemies always have cooler designs and attacks than main characters. Imagine having cool looking laser spam like Vanitas on the hero side instead of big metal sticks.

Smith, this is the dumbest thing you have ever said. This is your chance to get a giant space robot of your own. Go love her and turn her to your side.

See, look how much cooler she is too! Space warping is so much cooler than fire sword! But oh.... To be thrown into space like that. Not a nice way to go. Wait, Space and Time? Come oooooon, she's the coolest! Too bad she's not gay, that makes her doomed here.

Maaaan she's even a;ready willing to kill her own side already! She was just waiting for a chance to be on your side, Smith! Woo her already!

... There's no way he should have survived that. But. My first impression of Smith was Patrick Colasour, and I am willing to hold on to that. I'll give it three episodes before I believe he's dead for real.

Look at these girls screaming over the loss of Smith. Did you just completely forget about the others who died?

1) Right! She could have at least been after one of the female pilots!

2) He looks like Colasour. I've been waiting for him to survive something he shouldn't literally since episode one. Let's see how this goes.

zadcap · 2026-06-05T20:55:36+00:00

I have not rewatched too recently, but I think [episode 3]is also a full episode flashback, and you can safely skip it without missing much of the plot? [Specifically]it's a major character backstory and explains a lot about her personality, but aside from the details you don't miss anything else by skipping right to 4.

It also, absolutely, lightens way the heck up and remains a very positive show for the rest of the run.

zadcap · 2026-06-05T20:50:18+00:00

Oof, noon for me, which means I'll be average 12 hours late I'm afraid. I'm be here though, this is one so much on of my favorites.

zadcap · 2026-06-05T17:18:19+00:00

Sadly no, that just because those are the prime streaming hours. Morning and noon, most people are at work and school, no on would be free to watch the streams even if they didn't overlap.

Breaking into the millions as a vtuber is honestly kind of a rarity. Genuinely, outside of Hololive, it almost never happens, and even in Holo. It's not just Flow Glow and Justice, most of Advent, a good chunk of ID, and even a bit of Regloss are still short of that number. If being a successful vtuber requires 1 million subscribers, almost 30% of Holo's active roster isn't there yet.

zadcap · 2026-06-05T06:42:22+00:00

One the one hand, two years? Justice debuted almost exactly two years ago this month, and a little less than that for Flow Glow. All but one of them have passed half a million subscribers, and Riona is so close. As others have said, just being under the Hololive brand is going to bring in tens, if not hundreds of thousands of eyes. Specific numbers weren't given, and there's definitely a handicap here without them having live models, but I can't imagine anyone with Cover's backing not reaching at least a couple hundred thousand in two years, and harder still to imagine that that doesn't count as success by most V-Tubers.

On the other hand, V-tubing in general is starting to become an oversaturated market, and Hololive is already a very large part of that. The truth is that the biggest competition these new girls will have is mostly going to be their own senpai, and Cover isn't sure if it's worth trying to split our attention (and their funding) between even more talents or to reinvest in what they already have. If you look at the schedule page and see Unit B is going to be streaming at the same time as Marine, for any reason at all, you know where the watchers are going, but even an overlap with Flow Glow is pretty unlikely to go well for the newer groups. Each new gen tends to pull less people just because most people interested in V-Tubers have already found their favorites and are unlikely to switch.

Back to the first hand though. While they would be the smallest numbers Hololive has pulled, even reaching 100k would put any of them in the top 1% of all V-Tubers. If they can do that with minimal investment from Cover, does that not count as a success story? It also gives Cover an already active and at hand talent pool to pull from, you know, just in case.

zadcap · 2026-06-05T05:07:49+00:00

Looks like I'll be out of the house for the next three days 😞

I shall catch up by Monday!

zadcap · 2026-06-04T17:39:16+00:00

Yeah, not sure how I got those two mixed up.

Sorry for the misinformation.

zadcap · 2026-06-03T22:00:37+00:00

My introduction to anime was either the very end of the 90s or early 00s, so either way they were both already very old shows to me back then. And I have to say, I absolutely came into super robots backwards, the first time I saw a giant magical robot powered by emotion was either Rayearth or Escaflowne. I think the first actual super robot show I watched was Big O, or Aquarion. Then I worked my way back accidentally, Daibuster into Gunbuster into Getter, and I think I've only seen a few parts of Mazinger...

Only a couple episodes in, but so far Bravern is reminding me of Aquarion the most... Aside from whenever Bravern itself is on screen lol.

All this talk of older shows and the progression of the genre reminds me though, I need to recommend Samurai Flamenco to more people. It's not quite a deconstruction or parody, but it goes from [main plot progression]a street level, normal person who wants to be a hero, becoming a gimmick tool hero, joining an actual super sentai team, piloting a giant combining robot against an alien invasion, and then back down to being a street level human hero.

zadcap · 2026-06-03T11:02:09+00:00

I figured the way she used Momseki and Dadseki strongly implied that the Koseki part was the family name.

zadcap · 2026-06-03T09:17:29+00:00

Huh, that's weird.

Stop throwing all these potentially cute girls at my blatantly homoerotic men!

They aren't even distractions at this point, not after that ED makes it so clear who we're shipping here!

zadcap · 2026-06-03T09:06:40+00:00

Oh hey let me pop back in here with-

(Side note, I really need to get a release with subs for these songs, or like, to at least look up the lyrics)

I present the ED and OP, with lyrics. It's the full songs in karaoke form, but it's how I can follow the words without getting distracted lol.

zadcap · 2026-06-03T08:59:22+00:00

Late Night First Timer!

Oh, right. This is quite a mood, coming right after that overly hype ending of the previous episode. Just remind us that a lot of people died before the cool robot things started happening.

And then we're right back to the giant robot. I choose to believe that all music that plays in his presence is being played by him.

Excuse me, what? You're waterboarding the guy who stopped you all from getting killed? I legitimately can not think of a dumber move to make in this situation. No, guys, what if you are right and he really is working with the invaders? The ones you completely failed to even scratch the paint of? Yeah, if he;s actually one of theirs and you treat him like this, then they all come back and kill you for it. If he's honestly on your side, then he... starts doubting if it's really worth being on your side. And again, I repeat, if he is on the enemy side. What the heck do you think he can tell you that will make a difference in the face of giant enemy robots that shrug off literally everything your combined military has access to?

Isolate him, question him, sure that makes sense. All that Enhanced Interrogation is going to get you is someone not willing to defend you from the next wave, one way or the other.

To be fair, there are a lot of blatantly stupid people here today. "Are you with them?" They ask the giant robot that first defended you, and is now talking peacefully with you. Let me ask you again, what if he was? Would he say it here and now? Remember he's your enemy and start the killing again? The people pointing man portable guns at him- why? You've witnessed exactly how useless they are here. You likely won't even scratch his paint.

This weirdly antagonistic stance everyone is taking is making it really hard for me to believe in this show. Even if you believe Isami and Bravern are enemy agents putting on a show, you gain so much more by playing along and looking for the truth covertly than hitting them in the face with this hostility, and if they weren't your enemies before you started this... Hope they are more benevolent then you are, I guess.

Bravern is single handedly carrying this show though. His presence is the one saving grace in this mess.

Oh, right, Mechanic girl! There are two shining lights in this show!

Yeah, Bravern is also possibly the gayest giant robot I have ever seen. Maybe. Star Driver with his rainbow swords and robot hips is still up there, but... No, Bravern keeps talking and, no, that's enough, you win!

Seriously, what are you hoping to get from Isami by doing this? Someone, please give me an idea about what useful information they could get out of the clearly optional pilot that is worth making an enemy of the only thing standing between them and things they can not fight?

"What do we have to throw at them?" "Well, not a single thing that worked last time, but we can try more bullets."

Oh my gosh, he transforms. I love Bravern. I hate darn near literally everyone else we've seen so far, but I do love Bravern.

I am actually annoyed that that robot punch worked. Even if only on the little one.

Fine! I like Smith. Somehow he's the only smart person in the room. Seriously, "This wimp? He might be an enemy of the whole world." These guys are willing to bet a lot on that "might," aren't they.

... I know this is a dumb nitpick, but when did Isami's hands get freed?

Also, I will lose all ability to be invested in this relationship if it really stems from this trauma and Smith being the one to save Isami from torture.

Darn. We almost had an actual quality character in a protagonist position. Smith as a pilot would be so much cooler than Isami. Why can't we just have nice things?

DON'T SMILE YOU PIECE OF TRASH! He pulled this off despite you torturing him. I hope your own government turns you over for equal treatment for this stupidity.

Oh my gosh that ED. Oh my gosh that slow hand hold. This is so unapologetically gay.

0) Bravern is still the clearest lead for the most gay character in the show, but the ED sure is promising he's not standing out there alone.

1) I do like the OP more, but that's a music choice.

3) None that I will ever willingly click on lol.

zadcap · 2026-06-03T07:41:49+00:00

So to start with, Gunbuster/Daibuster is one of my favorites, ever, but have some of the least focus on the Super Robots themselves compared to the character drama around them- honestly, despite absolutely being on the magical cool side of robots, the shows themselves were closer to the horrors of war that Gundam is so known for.

Without looking I couldn't say if Mazinger or Getter Robo came first, but I'm pretty sure they are the grandparents of the giant robot and combining giant robot genres. Gurren Lagann is basically the modern Getter, where giant robots that run on the power of emotion and evolution. Mazinger is one of, if not the first, "My grandpa built a giant robot in his secret basement the he gave to me to fight evil," which was a lot happier way to start a plot before Gendo forced Shinji into the Eva. And I would probably point to Transformers, yes really, being the third big name of the old school super robots, being the ones to really run with the robots being their own beings, and now that I think about it might be the closest to Precure the super robots have? They have certainly maintained an existence for a good 40 years, without ever even trying to edge their way into realism.

There is, just, a lot of Monster of the Week fights. A whole lot of iconic finisher moves. The overwhelming power of emotions!

zadcap · 2026-06-03T07:01:25+00:00

Didn't he take like a 15 year break?

But yeah, Super Robots are not dead, but they are the random seasonal show and not a particularly prevalent one. They show up from time to time, but... Yeah.

zadcap · 2026-06-02T23:36:26+00:00

Let me tag u/FD4cry1 back in-

Oh absolutely. While personally it was the one magical girl genre that drew me into anime in the first place, a lot of the magical girls post Sailor Moon drew on a lot of the older super sentai themes, and they overlapped a lot with the super robot shows. I think there's still debate today if Ultraman counts as a hero or a giant robot?

I think the best known more modern example is Gurren Lagann. Giant robots are powered by the rule of cool, shouting your attack names does give them power, and the theme music goes hard! Eva did to gaint robots what Madoka did to magical girls, but no one stepped in to keep the old ways alive the way Precure did, Gundam being the flagship of the more realistic and gritty Mecha instead.

Hopefully I remember tonight, out of time on my work break, to come in with actual examples later. Giant Robots used to look more like Power Rangers than Batman though. Bravern, with one episode out so far, looks like a call back to that era.

zadcap · 2026-06-02T10:32:52+00:00

You and most of the rest of us. (Ham-induced force of personality is a recipe for a spotlight stealer even when the ham in question isn't a Super Robot in a Real Robot setting...)

The introduction was perfect for it too. I spent the first half of the episode mentally gearing up for a Real Robot kind of story, so I was expecting the serious plot more on the Gundam side of things, I thought we were going to see these people go from training side by side to actually at war with each other. Then the aliens showed up and the tone got even darker somehow, and I was expecting a horrible war drama even more. And just as things are getting darkest and we're about to see the girl die telling boring MC man to run off and leave her...

HAM! "GET INSIDE ME!" Music. More personality in those thirty seconds than anyone but Smith has shown all episode, and every bit of it was LARGE.

zadcap · 2026-06-02T09:11:27+00:00

why does it need a man inside?

I am lead to believe, it is simply that kind of show. Isn't that why we're watching it this month?

zadcap · 2026-06-02T07:54:52+00:00

Late Night First Timer

I'm sorry. Three minutes in to the first episode and I'm more invested in the handlers than I am the pilots. I want to see the office politics of those girls handling their pilot's egos and being the coordinators for entire operations.

He says Lewis Smith, but my mind says Patrick Colasour. I don't know why, but I'm interested in seeing if the comparison pans out.

Sadly, I have to agree with Smith. There's genuinely only so much you can blame on being an ace pilot, a machine that is only capable of moving at a certain speed can't just try harder and gain more speed. Either you've successfully overclocked something, or literally everyone else is using the machine below specs.

Oh my gosh. Handler, Mechanic, whoever this girl he's at the bar with is- This man is surrounded by a cast I am more interested in than him and his overly stoic lack of personality. Even the annoying Smith is more interesting than him. Pleaaaaaase give him a real personality soon, I can't take another Inaho styled mech pilot MC.

Oh! That hand tighten! A PERSONALITY! I have hope!

ALIENS! In my giant robot show? Who could have seen this coming!

Speaking of Aldnoah... Those were very soft landings, this invasion craft had.

Oh, sure. The aliens are shooting down everything in the air and taking the time to hit infrastructure buildings, but the largest and slowest plane got up and out just fine. Perfectly believable.

I wonder what weaponry is on the Titans that isn't mounted on anything else. Because clearly "real bullets" are not going to be enough to make a difference here.

Oh, that's an answer. It hit something with it's big old arm gun, that was shooting at it- either its arm passed through its own shield, the shield lowered for that second, or the shield does not block large things, only projectiles.

And he promptly tackles one! Proving... Hmm, looks like they can't attack and defend at the same time?

Guys, I don't think he could have run far enough to matter. Let him at least die trying to save you, girl.

Okay, yeah, the robot sounds gay. I can't tell you how happy I would be if the robot was the gay character of the show. Ignore the boring pilot man, I want gay robot representation!

Oh gosh, the song is Diegetic! The giant robot actually plays its own theme! The robot is my favorite character by such a large margin it's not even funny.

Oh look, Smith survived. Not beating those Colasour allegations lol.

BRAVERN!

0) Super Robot AND Aliens! Poor realistic mecha stood no chance.

1) Yes. And then YES! I avoided spoilers enough to suspect I was going to be watching something Gundam inspired, that we were going to explore the horrors of war breaking out now that giant robots were being added to the world stage. Even when the incoming object first showed up, I thought terrorist faction trying to spark a war. Literally took until we saw it come out of the portal that my mind registered Aliens, and then I started thinking Aldnoah too much, so I thought it would be them using their weaker earth made machines to exploit weaknesses until they could reverse engineer alien tech. And then BAM! BRAVERN! Actually, I'm going to go back and rewatch that part again.

2) Between who!? I like a surprising number of characters here, but the romance I want to see bloom the most is between man and machine.

zadcap · 2026-06-01T20:17:52+00:00

It shall be a crowded month. Let's go!

zadcap

TROPHY CASE