OP2 Sequence

OP2: 「GO!グランブレイバー!」 (GO! Grand Braver!) by 福山芳樹 (Fukuyama Yoshiki)
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「迷い猫、乗った」 (Mayoi Neko, Notta)
“Stray Cat, Rode In”

Unlike Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou this week, Mayoi Neko makes it clear they’re straying from the norm with a Grand Braver super robot episode. If the gigantic robots weren’t indicative enough, then the screams of “Gattai!” should help stress that notion. While this was undoubtedly more random than the previous episode with the Stray Cats Association’s promotional video, I enjoyed it to death simply because it was an impeccable portrayal of a lot of super robot stereotypes. This of course includes your gigantic combining robots, your trademark professor and sidekick in their little support aircraft, alien invaders looking to take over the Earth, and the enemy character turned unsuspecting ally whose alien robot somehow combines with our heroes’. It was clearly intended as a comedic take on the super robot genre, but the fact that they did it in a fairly serious tone made it so cool. There was actually no joking around within the Grand Braver episode itself, so it was actually pretty cool when the Grand Fusion combination was upgraded to the Great Grand Fusion.

At the same time, it was pretty awesome to hear the “GO! Grand Braver” theme song bust out at that point. This may be a parody episode, but AIC really spared no expense in terms of animation quality and the new opening and ending sequences (shounen-like karaoke and all). To top it off, they also got JAM Project’s Fukuyama Yoshiki singing the opening song, who’s well-known for all his Nekki Basara performances in Macross 7 and is no stranger to singing super robot theme songs. In short, this was a super robot parody done right and was actually so good and quirky that I wanted to see the next episode following the defeat of the Machine Duke (Utsumi Kenji) and the appearance of the Machine Emperor. If you’re a fan of the older super robot series such as Getter Robo, Gaiking, Reideen, Combattler V, Voltes V, Dancouga, or GaoGaiGar, then you should immediately feel at home here. Seeing as it brought out all the nuances that the super robot mecha genre has established over the years, I found it all pretty nostalgic too.

Studio aside, seiyuus never fail to impress me with the way they can instantly switch into a completely different role and make their performances totally believable, much like they did here. They even had the guys doubling up as both the robot protagonists and the ultimate enemies at the end. As the enemy character hesitantly turned ally, Tamura Yukari’s performance as Hazuki turned out to be the one I enjoyed the most. In addition to being the source of the extra character development that gave the whole parody a plot to work around, she ended up being the one to turn the tides by bringing her Big Battler around with sheer willpower alone. So yeah, not only did this delivery in the mecha fan-service department, but it also featured a faithful mecha story to boot. Great stuff. Overall, this episode was loads of fun to watch, primarily because it was a parody yet did everything so damn well. As a fan of older super robot series, I really loved this episode even though it had nothing to do with the actual story in the series.

 

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「奏でて星歌」 (Kanadete Hoshi Uta) by 三重野瞳 (Mieno Hitomi)
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Preview

46 Comments

  1. at first glance of the screen shots, i thought i click on the wrong link lol. I wonder if there is a contest between studios to see who can make the most random episode…

    ufo
  2. As a Brave fan, I feel pretty obliged to watch this homage to the Brave series I love so much. Just skimming the intro, I’m seeing references to Exkaiser, Fighbird, Might Gaine, Dagwon and Baan Gaan (and possibly the PS2 Brave War game – the shot of the villains scrolling up is definitely either from the PS2 one or the original PS1 game). Pretty awesome for a show to do a full-out tribute to those great 90’s mecha shows.

    Sol Fury
  3. If there’s one thing that this anime is doing right, it’s the previews for the next episode. I can totally see the future of the anime industry in there: using 3D models for characters with the faces just drawn and “painted” on. A lot of companies can save a heck lot of money with that technique!

    DK
  4. This anime started out promising.

    But last episode wasn’t good, and now this dumb giant robot parody gets crammed in. I want the harem comedy with sentimental bits back! I don’t want this trash! 🙁

    Did the morons at AIC run out of source material or something?

    Ninja Penguin
  5. Enough with ur shitting,if u dont like it then stop watching.
    This ep is totally hillarious with the parody of super robot series, oh i miss them so much.
    Those not enjoying it clearly haven’t watch any of this classic series…

    AF12
  6. I wouldnt call it hilarious or lame but it would have been better if it was 2 ep to know the characters more on how they are in this mecha world and to introduce the badguys but overall a decent ending.

    amado
  7. This episode was amazing I started laughing as soon as the #26 episode title screen appeared .How they did it seriously without joking is what makes it really funny.I can’t wait for season 2 lol with the new bad guys introduced at the end. Great Grand Fusion was hilarious.Every damn phrase in this episode was said already in animes of this genre the one which surprised me the most was the professor “aah I wanted to study its technology” at the end, complete with bridge bunny support.And how the OP kicked in, this is how real heroes kick asses :with their theme song in the back.Maaan they should do this more often last one like that was in Slayers Revolution/Evolution-R.
    (Sayaka–>Mazinger Z,Chizuru–>Combattler V,and for sinobu–>Dancougar? there’s another Shinobu I forgot about right?Cuz Yaaaaaateyaruze!!! is a guy)

    Rockmanshii
  8. omg 🙁 I feel like the black sheep. Not sure if I have said this before but I hate mecha. Any mecha I despise them so going into this for me it was FAIL!!! Did I mention I hate mecha? This thing didn’t have anything to do with the series. I can suck up a filler episode here and there but from a quasi harem to spin into a mecha ?!? I hate mecha, I don’t watch mecha I feel violated by the producers by doing this. Finally I hate mecha 🙁

    Island Esper
  9. Moefags got trolled hard.

    Oh, and this episode is hilarious. It’s also the only episode of this series I’ll watch, ever. Unless they do another parody episode.

    Anonymous
  10. haven’t care for giant robots since gundam wing and Megas XLR.I fell asleep during this episode till a friend called me up. I then proceeded to tell him how I don’t like this show anymore.

    Odeus
  11. i only managed to watch the first 3 minutes but wow…it wasnt bad it was just such a shock i cant watch it till i type something about it XD

    people who say this is pointless filler and trash, may be right about the pointless part, but filler and trash this is not. well filler maybe, it depends how you define filler, some people regard it as filling time and space due to lack of story, and some regard it as spending less money on actual animation and what not. For the later this is clearly untrue. And how can you call a parody/tribute to the history of mecha anime trash?!

    bottom line if you dont like it why are you wasting time posting about it? MECHA ANIME IS AWESOME!

    BOD

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