Don't think I've seen someone post the full set of Death Drives references, so here they are!

bravern crack theory

now that things have calmed down a lot for me, the days leading up to new bravern episodes feel like forever so my brain has been running a mile an hour thinking about what could possibly happen next in this show.

okay, okay, y'know how the OP depicts the moment when lewis fuses with knuth to form bravern but not depict it accurately??

what if the scene at the end of the OP of isami helping lewis stand up and the destroyed dual-pilot titanostrider (i forgot it's name ARGH) is in pieces in the background is actually depicting a moment in the final episode where bravern somehow turns back into lewis????

Hang on... haven't we seen Cunus/Knuth before?

Hmmm...

WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!

Sure, some of the proportions are a bit off, but that's definitely her.

I don't think this is the last we've seen of either of them.

Bravern

my Bang Brave Bang Bravern hunger games highlights

Also in case you are wondering

Pessimism somehow won

Btw, did y'all see that Bravern's director had confirmed in a talk show that Cunus (Knuth) was interested in Smith because she sensed his feelings for Isami?

Unfortunately, the line in episode 8 that's referring to, was botched in subs, and it sounded like Cunus had feelings she couldn't share when it was actually that Smith had feelings he couldn't share and Cunus felt those and was like dang, this is interesting. You can see why it turned that way because maybe alien robots would think it weird to be horny for a human too but yeeeeah, that's not what it meant.

I don't know why/how I feel the need to explain that I feel like Cunus' influence is specifically the desire to make inside thoughts outside thoughts and not the thoughts themselves but I got that absolute clarity thing in me

alooo yarin kim ise gidecek

Something, something

with the Bang Bravern music

Or why oftentimes the music is the clue. And why it is high time the staff must release the soundtrack.

A) Lewis’ Theme and Bravern

Concerning the Bravern-Lewis theory. I wasn’t on board on it at first. I was vetting that Bravern would be much more insidious, a robot that has something malicious on his mind ready to wreak havoc after earning the trust of Isami, wooing him until the Japanese pilot said yes. What more evil than betraying the trust of the one, who thought you love him.

We saw the PV for the episode 9 and heard the background music playing while Isami grieved.

On Episode 2 as Bravern recounted the ways he loved Isami, he assured the international community that he fought for justice. (Anyway, Bravern is multilingual. Is Smith multilingual too?)

The moment Lewis realised that he was dead and Cunus was waiting to bond with him, his life began to roll like a film reel.

B) Reincarnation, Knuth/Ku/Cunus’ Indian music theme & uhm, Hinduism/Kali? And Lulu?

It is interesting how the music editor has chosen a Bollywood-sounding music accompaniment when they introduced Lulu and subsequently Knuth/Cunus to the equation. The key words are time travel/transmigration. After Smith fused with Knuth/Cunus, the result was Bravern. A different body with the same soul. Whereas Lulu, attempts to come back to the past in order to correct the future. Another way of being reborn. Hence, their theme’s Indian motif.

C) Superbia

When Superbia first appeared on episode 2, a piece of Gregorian chant was playing. Cementing the fact that his name is indeed from Latin, which means pride.

And once again on episode 11, when Superbia, who warned Bravern not to interfere, challenged Segnities. Anyway, the Gregorian chant only plays when Superbia is winning.

Finally got caught up on that funky Bravern show the other day and omg. It's so much fun. Have some scribblin' More yelling under the cut (and also mild spoiler alert if you haven't seen any of it:)

Loved seeing more of the other Deathdrives, even if they were kinda short-lived on-screen and all (guess that's what happens when a buncha story stuff needs to get compressed into just 12 episodes)

I'm enjoying the hell out of this silly show it's fucking BUCKWILD. I can't remember the last show that made me laugh this much I am just constantly chimpanzee screaming at the screen Wasn't super sure at first because I was a bit "???" about where this was going in the first few eps but oh my god. It's def become a fav now. It's for sure meant to be a parody of itself/commentary on the entire mecha anime genre and all the tropes that it's loaded with but then the story actually gets interesting too. The TWISTS. IDK it just seems like they had so much fun making this Also, sentient robot characters yippee! (That stuff just seems to be super rare, I've always kinda wondered why, but it's like the mecha genre is allergic to the concept unless you go full into Transformers territory (which is its own whole thing at that point.) Like idk maybe I'm the weird one for loving that idea, but I do wish more of that existed outside of the context of parody or "for little kids" or whatever. Anyway I'll take whatever I can get on that front. I'm adopting all of these idiots) Cupiridas is my fav, Extremely Silly Guy. Kunus (Cunus?) is completely off her shits but I actually love that super wingy design. Pessimism has some really cool silhouette nonsense going on, can def approve of straying from the usual humanoid look. I could throw in some sketches of the main mechs (Bravern, Superbia) but they already get most of the fan art, so I wanted to doodle some of the others..

Cunus-style pilot suit what-if

Well, since my "Bravern is the Deathdrive of gluttony" crack theory was proven wrong, it seems I need an even bigger crack theory to replace it. Introducing:

Bravern is transgender

I think it goes without saying, but spoilers ahead!

So first of all: the entire existence of Bravern can be taken as a transgender allegory. The show does something pretty interesting when it banks on you, the viewer, assuming that Lewis is jealous of Isami for being the one chosen by Bravern to help save the world. But if you rewatch the show after the episode 9 twist, you realize hey, wait a second, Lewis actually totally wishes he was that giant robot" (Which is funny, because... He is)

Lewis tries to become Bravern's pilot to get as close to this wish as he believes is possible, and is shown to be haunted by Bravern's rejection. He tries again to become Superbia's pilot, going as far as to say if it goes wrong and he dies, it will be worth it. And even after failing, he continues to hold on to the hope it's still possible until the others are like "no dude, we've got a brand new non-sentient mech for you to pilot, you don't need to do this."

When he dies in the battle against Cunus, the audience gets a flashback to his past where he complains about the limits of the human body before looking up at a Titanostrider in wonder. And when he first gets a chance to pilot one, he gets overexcited, noticeably enough that others tease him for it.

After reincarnating as Bravern, he's very clearly happier! He loves his new body, he's considerably more optimistic than he was as a human, he's much more self-confident, and he's a lot more open about his romantic feelings. The fact that he's keeping his true identity a secret can be considered part of this allegory too - he doesn't want to be seen as his old self anymore. He's Bravern now.

But here's the kicker: the specifics of how Lewis was able to revive himself through sheer force of will aren't completely clear in the show, but the Bravern radio show confirms that Bravern was created by Lewis's mind taking over Cunus's body. And since Cunus is a clearly female-coded robot, this means that Bravern's body used to be female.

Thus, Bravern is not only a transgender allegory, but also literally trans in another sense. I rest my case.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern Prediction

I am making a bet right now that "an extreme desire/passion at the moment of death turns you into a giant robot to come back and do your life over more satisfyingly to you" is going to be repeated again in this show. Smith wanted to be a hero, he wanted to be Brave, so he came back again as Bravern. All the Deathdrives are named after deadly sins/human failings and they're seeking to die in a manner that appropriately suits their name (Cunus/Lust wanted to die in a moment of erotic pleasure, Vanitas wanted to die glamorously, Cupiditas/Greed wanted to die in the biggest explosion possible, and kept coming back until it was big enough). If this show's eventual theme isn't "live passionately enough to fulfill your desires that you don't have to come back and do it again," I'll eat my hat.