Brain Power'd

I bought this series on a whim mainly because I collect Kanno series, and because they released it on DVD at a decent price. I’ve heard a lot of negative press on BP, of how it tries to be an Evangelion-killer, but falls flat on its face.

Let me first say that it’s no Evangelion. Aside from having mechs that are in themselves, alive, I see no connection whatsoever. Whereas Eva uses the Kaballah teachings as a backdrop to tell their story, Brain Power’d has its own universe and own logic. And whereas Eva is very interested in the psychological battle waging inside of its individual characters, Brain Power’d focuses more on the family unit.

Let’s get the presentation out of the way: While the art in BP isn’t too bad, the animation is horrible. It’s far too obvious that it’s a low budget show with very little movement in characters and mechs. The direction is quite sloppy with quick scene-cuts that are more jarring than anything else. This crude editing also has its way in splicing up the background music in the show. But oh what incredible music it is. Kanno goes back to a mainly orchestral style after Bebop with this score. The music is a blend of celtic and organic for the most part, with several standard orchestral pieces sounding like it was influenced from Jurassic Park. It’s a great mix, and one of my favorite Kanno scores. So yeah, visually it’s pretty poor but it’s got a pretty soundtrack.

The story is too convoluted for its own good. Everything might make sense within the confines of the BP universe, but as a viewer, you can only nod in agreement to what plot points are revealed. Nothing really registers, because the connection between Brain Power’ds, GrandChers, vital globe networks, B-Plates and whatnot are all nonsense. Despite their attempts at explaining, all you really know is that GrandChers are collecting B-Plates for their spaceship Orphen. BrainPowereds and the Novis Noah crew try to stop them, because if Orphen surfaces, the impact would destroy the world. It kinda makes sense when you simplify it like that, but it’s in the details that make you end up with a blank stare. It might have even been better if they didn’t try explaining anything at all. In the end, I simply had no opinion of the show due to its gibberish. I had no idea what was going on, and why people did what they did.

But I would say what the creators were trying to portray was the family unit. Every aspect of the show comes down to that. The characters have deep family issues... some have had siblings die on them. Others have had parents that betrayed them. Many have suffered due to a lack of affection from their parents. Even the Brain Powerds and GrandChers themselves have “family issues” in a sense. And all this adds up to the main players being totally messed up. I wouldn’t necessarily say that BP is a commentary on the family unit, but it is definitely a recurring motif throughout the universe.

Maybe if the entire show didn’t execute everything so poorly, the plot and family portrayal would be more than enough to carry the show. But generally everything is quite sub-par. A ridiculous story that’s implausible, much less understandable told in a low-budget kind of way. If there’s any positives, it’s that Utsumiya Hime is quite cute. She’s totally a tomboy which plays to my own preferences. Otherwise, Brain Power’d did little other than to meet my curiosity.