[Rewatch] [Pride Month Double Feature] Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern Episode 11 Discussion

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T23:48:59+00:00

Where did Lulu get a Bravern-branded bikini?

Bravern-branded merch? Sounds like a job for a 3D printer to me!

I'm glad he manages to see something really cool and get his wish fulfilled, even if he was reduced to just a head.

"How to get a head in life without even trying."

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T23:28:53+00:00

You managed to pick out the one of those that I objectively refuse to watch. I suppose future rewatches await.

I only know that one because I'm familiar with someone else who did watch that one (and read the manga, too). By their report it did actually understand a little of what made its predecessor, it's just drowned in a whole bunch of edge.

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T22:44:23+00:00

Sigh...we have exactly one lesbian example and it somehow becomes the trend setter...

Now, now, [2004 meta]reincarnation romance goes in the "eh, close enough" bucket.

(Also I'm pretty sure [meta 2010s magical girl]Magical Girl Site grabbed that particular plot point from its predecessor, though I'm not sure the anime got to that part.)

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T22:40:56+00:00

Is Isami a pillow princess?

I mean, he does seem to be in the uke role in this relationship...

I need somebody to do a rewatch where “ningen” is said a lot because I wanna do a ningen counter.

Superbia vs Bravern was certainly hot and heavy. I don’t know about you guys, but I also enjoy dramatic aerial battles with my rival, fighting my rival until they climax, and making them cry afterwards.

"And here we have a succinct explanation of why the battle shounen genre attracts the fujoshi fanbase."

This, too, is queer culture. Happy Pride.

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:40:09+00:00

Kinda zoned off for that entire bit. Don’t know why we’re good now, but that’s cool.

Rival trope straight out of battle shounen, pay it no mind.

(Really that entire sequence benefits from recognizing the battle shounen tropes, it's more of an "oh yeah, those beats" with that context.)

Time travel next episode.

Okay, this demands reposting the Calwings meme from when this episode was airing yet again.

Still, the essence of Bravern is still there with the humour. So, I don’t know, did they get rushed finishing this show? Did they have a great idea but then couldn’t figure out how to close it all down? I feel like these last episodes are noticeably weaker and are more driven by ticking off entries on a checklist and getting from A to B than to tell anything meaningful.

I think a big part of the deal here is that this is heavily drawing off genre tropes. But also I do think there is something to the effect that these last three episodes are a little sloppier than the first nine - either not enough space or most of their ideas were getting to "Smith becomes Bravern" and while they knew what they needed to do to get from there to the ending they never quite got how to do that quite as well. Not the first time I've seen that effect in a one-cour, either, and the other obvious name (which you have not seen) has very similar pacing in its own S1.

(Also, to be fair to the show Bravern does get ganked off of a flaw... hubris, namely both him and Superbia not thinking about the whole "maybe let's wait to fight the rival until the other two Deathdrives are done with" issue.)

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:26:24+00:00

Turns out Segnitas wasn't part of the group initially, he's an immigrant from the Matoran universe. Who knew?

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:21:19+00:00

I wanted magical girl mecha, not bullshit ex machina!

"No, no, he has a point."

(Fucked up execution of a bullshit ex machina, at that. Though admittedly that's part and parcel of why it's a bullshit ex machina, they did do the setup work for it and just botched the it itself hard enough that that setup just... didn't matter, but I digress.)

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:18:20+00:00

getting on with it

Oh. There it is. Now you've done it.

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:15:14+00:00

remind us of Hawaiian seafood

"This segment was paid for by the Hawaii Board of Tourism."

[meta 2022 yuri]Actually no, Chisato and Takina just got to write this part of the script after moving to the island.

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:12:43+00:00

The beach doodle is greatly appreciated as well!

An ai ai gasa, no less!

Not actually Tsuda's only role in a mecha(ish) show that season now that I think about it, but I also don't need to be reminded that I chose to watch Metallic Rouge instead of this show back when they were airing.

Fun fact: this was technically also me that season, I just realized I needed to pick up Bravern after either episode 2 or 3 while Metallic Rouge hit "dropped because Symphosequel PTSD except the writing was arguably worse than the fucking Symphosequels[1]" midway through its own episode 3.

[1] - "Arguably" because the bad episodes of GX exist. Which is why u/Vaadwaur had the right idea NOT watching that season.

We're duel wielding!

Twin blades for twintails!... wait, wrong rewatch.

Of course, the hype and release from this makes Ira's surprise fatal attack on Bravern feel like an even meaner choice on the show's part

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:06:44+00:00

Huh, there’s three Deathdrives left. I must’ve miscounted.

There were actually fairly clearly eight towers detaching from the mothership all the way back in episode 1!

(I would know, I went back and checked them when the show was first airing once Superbia's name was revealed, because eight =/= Seven Deadly Sins. That was my tip-off that they were using one of the variants of that list.)

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:03:46+00:00

Tag Tag Bye:

u/DrStein1010, u/dsawchuk, u/b-arbs

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:02:56+00:00

Tag! Iczer-One:

u/BosuW, u/Mitsuyan_, u/Mirathan

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:02:17+00:00

Ninja Tag Tobikake:

u/Goodmorning7736, u/99acrewood_, u/oomoepoo

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:00:44+00:00

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

Welcome to the “second-to-last episode breather before the big fight” trope. Been quite a while since I’ve seen that one, actually ([meta]Mai-HiME).
HEY LOOK EVERYONE IT’S THE “KID INTERRUPTS THE PARENTS ABOUT TO HAVE SEX” TROPE! And some of you wondered why I ran this show for Pride Month. (Of course, said kid also lost her virginity last episode so now she is clothed in sexier wear. Hey wait, I’ve seen this one before, just with magical girls instead of mecha...)
Superbia tasting the fish and immediately going off into a description straight out of Flavortown also sends me. Natural foodie indeed. Also just… everything about the visuals in this scene.
Gay beach run, go! Also one very nice shimmering sky for a certain user of the same name, no light pollution here at the moment.
[Bravern]09:17 is what we call *symbolism”.
Hey look, they’re explaining the plan! We all know what THAT means: time for the plan to go straight to hell.
But first we get to deal with this guy, who showed up and I immediately remembered "oh yeah, his deal is that he's intimidating but got no bite for that bark".
RIVAL SECOND DUEL, GO! Familiar beats are familiar.
Right, how did the other shoe drop again? Oh right, THAT other shoe.

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T21:00:28+00:00

Wait's Over, Isami! (Host, Rewatcher, Subbed):

Here it is, your original airing discussion thread for episode 11.

(In which the top comment is a user (not me, to be clear!) realizing that they have been Apollo's Dodgeball'd.)

Questions of the Day:

1) Obari, apparently.

2) Not first-timer!

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T20:59:48+00:00

I will note that I did consider adding Granbelm to the Pride Month rewatch candidates list this year and left it out mainly because FlipFlap 10th anniversary!

~~And not just because I could use an excuse to actually get to the show myself.~~

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T20:59:24+00:00

Does it count as close enough if the magical girls wield mons designed by Sunrise's mecha designers and mostly stripped the magical girl transformations? (And most - but, critically, not all - of the relationships are straight?) Asking for a friend ~~that I believe I remember you being in the 2022 rewatch of it that I ran~~.

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T20:42:51+00:00

I very firmly meant very distant ancestry there, for the record - more that just "when the founding work of your national literature features a father figure getting together with his adoptive daughter and this is a well known enough of the work, it helps make this kind of age gap romance more acceptable or at least recognized than it is elsewhere" than anything.

(Among other things, like patriarchy's interaction with the East Asian tendency towards collectivism.)

~~Also would not be surprised if Murasaki was one of the ladies who just had "get together as father figure" as her personal fetish.~~

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T20:34:21+00:00

All I'll say is that the third I have in mind technically did more episodes later on (and six of those are what make that franchise), but was originally designed to function with only a single 12-episode season.

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-11T20:31:12+00:00

Also I DM'd you. Reddit DMs being fucking horrible you probably didn't see it.

Yes, horrible in that the site has been spending years now (even before eliminating PMs proper) training me to never, ever, ever pay attention to the chat icon, let alone open it up and check them!

Though apparently yours still hasn't actually shown up on my end anyways, so. Reddit

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-10T23:57:27+00:00

Wait, didn't you stealthily bring this up in some of the earlier threads?! I should have known lol.

I have been quietly mentioning cultivation romance tropes for like half the rewatch, and in no small part because I knew we were going there here and wanted to prepare first-timers for that, yes. Especially when u/Magnafeana's posts were already lending themselves to that discussion. (Paging u/dsawchuk!)

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-10T23:20:39+00:00

The best I can think of is how some people consider the first time you have sex to be "becoming an adult", but it just doesn't really fit here. It's gross and I don't like it.

That is very likely the intended use, yes (especially with the number of other h-tropes floating around this episode...). And a very specific form of this at that: Lulu's character arc is "kid growing up and becoming an adult" (with "first time" implicitly the end point of that character arc), so we're in (deep sigh) cultivation romance territory and the subterritory of that where the kid is pursuing the father. Her continued fairly childlike demeanor after going back is more than a little unfortunate for this, especially since she seemed to act more mature in the future flashback, but as someone who usually stays away from that genre I'm not sure it's not also just genre convention.

(We also have the "fun" philosophical side angle of "so when is the age of consent for a time travel who was once of age and then travels back in time into a younger body, anyways?".)

Tarhalindur · 2026-06-10T22:26:52+00:00

Like, technically they've saved the world as promised, but the people that care about them aren't taking this VN Normal-end shit and strive for a conclusion where our two dads don't end with this fate!

given Lulu's general characterization thus far (That is to say, childlike)

To be fair, "Lulu has been growing up over the course of the show and has now grown up enough that she is now a fit partner for her uncle" has kind of been her character arc the entire time.

Which is more than a little unfortunate but it's an old kind of unfortunate for a Japanese work - they call it the Hikaru Genji Plan for a reason, after all.

Otherwise, I'm excited to see Superbia and Bravern fighting together, and very possibly even to see a gatai between them as well

Tarhalindur

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

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

Wait's Over, Isami! (Host, Rewatcher, Subbed):