Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern

Absolute trash... and I loved it!

Think of a parody of Gurren Lagann, bunch of jokes mixed in with action and a WHOLE lot of over the top nonsense.

But surprisingly the jokes are funny, the over the topness in the serious moments make you laugh, and nice payoff at the end even though nothing makes sense.

There are a couple of interesting plot twists even if everything else goes the way you would expect it, and the characters are decent enough. What I also like about this is the fact that there are tons of characters but you see them interact with different cliques at different ... times

Turn you brain off and you'll enjoy the ride

This is what happens when you mix a traditional, serious mecha show, a cheesy tokusatsu (e.g. Power Rangers) show and Top Gun.

If this description made you curious then it might be for you. I can't really recommend it easily because the show is definitely not for everyone. If you can't take the cheesyness then you will probably dislike it, if you don't want self-aware comedy in your mecha anime then you will probably dislike it and if the "bromance" is too much for you to handle then you might also... Dislike it. Yet for people who look at the ingredients and think they have to ... try the dish, well, it might just be exactly what you never knew you wanted.

The show looks good but, unfortunately, the times of complex, hand-drawn, mechanical operations are gone. Still, I think the CG used here is pretty good. Also, it's a complete story. Sound design is pretty good and is fitting for both the tokusatsu part of the show and the mecha one. There are certainly some problems but a lot of them can be attributed to the meld of genres. As far as writing goes, Bravern doesn't explain a lot of things and sometimes future events give you satisfying answers but sometimes things are just left unexpalined or they don't really need an explanation. Like, do you really need some exposition about how a sentient alien robot can eat human food? No. You really don't. I think that some thigs can be left like that but there are definitely people who would need to know exactly how the food is consumed, digested, what happens to leftovers if there are any and so on.

At the end of the day, the first 3 episodes will give you a very good idea if the show is for you or not. If the premise sounds like your kinda thing or at least interests you - give it a shot.

Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern is the kind of show that tries to be too many things at the same time.

It takes real talent to be able to write a story that can balance the drama of war with (often situational) comedy and gaudy mechs, talent that you won't find here, where all of these elements are thrown in together without much regard as to how they interact, leading to some serious tonal whiplash, usually to the detriment of the drama, and sometimes the fighting and humor. The humor, by the way, relies mostly on homoerotic jokes, so if you don't think gay men = funny, ... there might not be much in there for you. Personally, I did laugh at some of the double entendres (lots of uses of the word "ride"), although, now that the shows is over, I feel mostly foolish and disappointed in what amounts to lots of queerbaiting.

In terms of story and characters, there's some good to be found in the relationships of the main trio (no one else matters at all, if we're being honest) and how they interact and care for each other. Other than that, the narrative is pretty bare bones.

As for the animation, it's slick and pleasing to the eye. The fights are colorful, which gives you some level of distraction from the fact that you don't really care about what happens to the people in it. The character design feels fresh and modern, but with a retro, late 90s/early 00s, vibe.

All in all, I do not recommend you watch Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern. In my opinion, the few laughs and above average visuals do not make up for the banal, below average writing. Were I not a completist, I wouldn't have kept up with it until the end.