Bang Brave Bang Braven ep.11 Review: Side quests completion before the final boss

“Bravern, Superbia, Isami and Lulu, head towards the final battle…or maybe not?” is the idea covering the entire episode 11. Although episode 10 ends with the heroic departure of Bravern and his comrades, Bang Brave Bang Bravern continues to enjoy its biggest fetish, which is to completely subvert viewers’ expectations.
As mentioned above, although the end of episode 10 makes viewers expect an explosive battle, and the preview of episode 11 also reveals dramatic scenes, the beginning of episode 11 is a “chill out” evening. The segment itself is quite relaxing and humorous, with a reference to the famous scene between Lalah and Amuro in Mobile Suit Gundam (1979). The segment also plays an important role in the development of the Isami – Bravern/Smith relationship, as the episode has Bravern explosively confesses his true feelings to Isami.

After the preparations for the big battle, viewers would surely think that now is the time for the heroes to enter the decisive battle, but no, Bang Brave Bang Bravern continues its penchant for satirizing anime tropes. The encounter with Segnitis makes fun of the “Villain Who Hides His Cards” motif – the real enemy of the protagonists is their overthinking because they think that Segnitis is a formidable enemy, but in reality, this Deathdrive is just pretending to be strong and is actually very weak. Yet this pretence made Superbia – Deathdrive representing the Sin of Pride, eager to conquer the powerful enemy. As a result, Segnitis was one shot by Superbia at full strength. This entire segment is funny on its own, but like the Bonfire operation, subverting expectations like this kills the mood.

To make up for the above two mood-killers, the episode brings the first serious battle, Bravern – Isami vs Superbia – Lulu, a battle that had to come sooner or later. Even though the opening seems serious, the first half of this duel feels like a parody because it’s just Superbia and Bravern shouting random move names and not even appearing in the frame. The match only really becomes serious after Bravern tells Superbia to live on a very smooth sword fight cut between Bravern and Superbia and ends with a scene of “cross-counter flying out of a white explosion,” taking inspiration from SSSS.Gridman.

After the earthshaking battle, viewers arrive at Bravern’s sacrifice scene, which is supposed to make us feel sad. However, the episode’s pacing issue made it hard for me to feel that way—it jumped from a relaxing segment to a humorous segment to a hot-blooded battle and finally ended on a tragic scene. The rushing of the movie’s plot points only makes Bravern’s farewell scene feel rushed and emotionless.
Episode 11 is an episode for the anime to rush through important details before entering the actual final battle – a fair price to pay for the carefree pace of the previous episodes. This, along with the constant parodies of Super Robot anime tropes that are becoming more and more boring, makes me hope that the final episode of Bang Bravern will be serious.

//Getter Andy//

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