Brave 10

Written by Little_Wolf-18 on May 23, 2013 at 8:07 PM

There’s shows that are original, created from scratch; there’s those that are game adaptions; there’s the manga adaptions; and then there are anime that feel like a prologue to their respective manga. “Brave 10” belongs to the last category. Its twelve episodes may do a nice job setting up what could be a concept with huge potential; yet when it feels like they got the rubble rollin’, the anime ends on a short note, leaving plot holes, unanswered questions, and probably a few bummed viewers. Or at least I’m not hyped.

I’m a fan of historical anime. “Brave 10” might have had quite a clichéd start-off (ninja and samurai; a priestess with a mysterious kind of power; a feudal lord gathering a bunch of warriors for a reason still unknown; a couple mysteries; friendship and betrayal...), but typical start-offs can work, after all. And with the Sengoku Era as background setting, I thought that it would work--throw in some political intrigue, shadow wars, feudal lords pitted against each other...

“Brave 10” is thin on its background, though, both historical and story-wise. If you don’t know about the era, the entire thing could well be a fantasy universe--a very Japanese-flavoured fantasy universe, that’s a given; but practically none of the political and social chaos from the era is referenced, despite the fact that a lot of its celebrities show up, and none too subtly.

The background of the story itself fares little better. About three quarters of the anime’s time is spent on building a setup. As such, there’s very little time left for the actual story, and the background a.k.a. why those ten warriors are gathered remains not all too clear. It looks like the biggest trouble along with the biggest revelations have yet to come after those twelve episodes; but the anime ended, after all, and it feels like all the time spent on the setup was wasted.

The pacing doesn’t exactly help the story. Most of the time is spent on sidetracks; gathering those so-called Braves, engaging in the fight of the week, etc. It remains uneven all the way through to the end, distracting more than contributing even to those little weekly sub-plots.

That’s not to say “Brave 10” doesn’t have its merits. The story is quite straightforward, and the mixture of genres and themes (action, comedy, bits of romance, the friendship/drama aspect, small mysteries) are probable to entertain a good part of the viewership out there. And I can’t complain about the action or the comedy for that matter. However, I’m out for story mostly; and that part is just... meh. There was potential, huge potential, but “Brave 10” simply took too long to get to the point and then fell flat on its nose in its last couple episodes. It’s entertaining enough for its action and comedy, but story-wise, I find it forgettable. It lacks both depth and closure, its pacing doesn’t help, and the characters...

Granted, those characters add at least a little flavour to the story. They’re easy to distinguish, and the mix is quire amusing. Also, their relationships are quite interesting, and the powers do have some originality. Sadly, that’s it for the characters, too. There’s practically no time to delve into backgrounds or develop any of those characters further than their basic and rather generic personality traits. I personally found myself unable to relate to any of them. They’re entertaining for their individual powers and the comedy they can provide, but there’s not much more to them. And don’t get me started on those cardboard-cut-out villains.

The dialogue is rather so-so. The script itself is rather repetitive, with quite a few lines too much. On the contrary, though, a lot of famous seiyuu (Ono Daisuke, Okiayu Ryotaro, Sakurai Takahiro, and a couple more) were involved in its production, and the voice acting is absolutely awesome.

I can’t complain about the technical merits, either. The animation’s up there; the art, though not always too realistic (I’m surprised some of those guys and gals don’t fall right out of their costumes when fighting ^^"), is colourful and vibrant. The action is fast, flashy, supernatural, and quite entertaining. The music sounds a bit odd (neither really traditional nor really modern), but it’s the least of distractions.

The action is fast, flashy, entertaining; and if you’re in for that mostly, then by all means, “Brave 10” isn’t a bad show. There’s a good dose of comedy, too--a bit stupid here or there, a little repetitive, but nothing that won’t get a laugh or two from most viewers out there. And after all, the show isn’t so long that a joke could get overused along its run.

If you’re in for the nonstop ninja action, for warriors with flashy elemental powers, for colourful art, and for comedy; then by all means, go ahead; “Brave 10” isn’t a bad show in this regard. Me however, I dig story, plot, and character development, and those just don’t deliver. I for myself can’t call “Brave 10” a good show. I don’t find it awful, either; it’s just very much typical. Due to the lacking closure, there’s far too many questions left unanswered; and what is there in setup and characters feels far too generic.

I can understand why people dig it, though. It’s fast, it’s furious, it has its comedic moments, it may be relaxing overall, and if you’re in for mostly that, have fun. If you do care about plot though, and more about plot than about action and comedy, there’s better Sengoku-era shows out there to pick. For me personally, “Brave 10” simply doesn’t do it. Had it spent more time on actual plot or on character development than on the trouble of the week, I might have liked it. As it is, though, I find myself simply not caring about it.


Oh. As a mere FYI, since I’ve been seeing comments on that all over the place; there’s a couple parallels to other shows if you look closely enough (Bleach, Naruto, Rurouni Kenshin, Sengoku Basara, Basilisk, Samurai 7, and probably a few more), and those parallels may be a bit more numerous and more eye-catching than with your usual show, but this is not a ripoff of anything else, as might already be obvious from the mix. ^^"


Cheers.~