Yuusha Tokkyuu Might Gaine

Brave Express Might Gaine is the first of the 7 brave/yuusha shows i ever saw back in early 2018 and one of my main gateways into the world of Super robot anime. Going into this based on clips i saw way back, i was expecting a very fun and exicting thrillride of an anime, and i can safely say that it mostly delivered on that, while also becoming one of my all time favourite mecha anime. (WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS) Story: 6 The story follows Senpuuji Maito, a rich young man who is the CEO of his deceased father's company and on mission to rid his home City(and the world i guess) from evil, as part of a final request from his father before he and Maito's Mother were killed in a supossed accident. To do this, he'll need the super robot Might Gaine and the rest of the Brave Express team to thwart the ambitions of evil with help from his best friend Hamada kun. Might Gaine follows the monster (or rather villian) of the week formula, with a new foe every ep from each of the 4 reccuring antagonists, always defeated in the same way. Things do get a little more interseting once the rival character 'Ace no Joe' arrives after 10+ eps, posing a greater challenge to the main protagonist and raising the stakes of each battle. There's also a reccuring plot to do with Ace no Joe trying to discover his Father's Murderer The main Villian of the show the 'lord of Darkness' to me was pretty disapointing. Only fully revealed around the last few eps, we find out it's actually an evil God, and is responsible for the death of Maito's parents and Ace no Joe's Father. It's motives for such were pretty vague, to do with being part of a Game and outright stating that he created humans just to be apart of it. Whilst i found the Villian quite lackluster, the final encounter with it and it's minions resulted in a very intense and exicting climatic battle, all wrapped up by a very Happy and somewhat questionable ending. Overall the weakest element of the show for me. Art and Animation/Sound: 7 I really like the art design for the main characters of Maito and Sally, although i think it's a little inconsistent. I presume the main Art/character designer for the show was also responsible for the designs of 'Magical Knight Rayearth, with very sharply drawn faces and very detailed eyes, i'd say this is the prefered look for me. However, some episode will have the characters look like they came out one of the previous yuusha shows like Fighbird or Exaizer, with more rounded faces and less detailed smaller eyes. This wasn't really a big problem for me tho, as it's something i only really noticed later on. The actual animation (outside the Final attacks and combination scenes) is okay at best and nothing to write home about. I really love the music for Might Gaine, whilst I think the OP is ok, Might Gaine's Gattai/Combination theme sounds awesome, very upbeat and gets me exicted to watch the mecha fight begin. The Great Might Gaine theme was is also pretty epic. The 2 EDs are pretty good too, with ED 2 being my favourite. Most of the background music reminds me of old Noir flims, which i really think sets the mood for the show. Can't really say to much in terms of sound design, so i'll say it's Ok. Characters: 7 Whilst not the most complex, i enjoyed majority of the characters whenever they were on screen, even the villians. I thought Shogun Mifune was pretty funny, with him being one of the 4 reccuring Bad Guys, his goal was to revive the fedual era of japan, resulting in some pretty wacky moments and funny dialouge. Another Villian 'Catherine Vuitton', i thought more of the opposite of, finding her voice and character very annoying i didn't enjoy alot of episodes with her in it (except maybe the Natto episode) My favourite Character however, had to be Maito. One of my favourite mecha anime pilots, whilst a pretty basic character with a pretty basic motivation, his views about nature and taking care of the world was a suprising trait. Along with cool design and a Hot blooded, powerful voice from legendary Seiyuu 'Hiyama Nobuyuki', he was a joy to watch. Other characters like his butler and best friend Hamada kun were good and fit into their roles fine, i will say tho that Sally chan is pretty cute and Maito's grandfather had a pretty funny episode about 'Natto'. Mecha: 8 Might Gaine has in my opinion, some of the best the designs in the Yuusha series, Might Gaine and Might Kaiser were my favourites and the auxiliary ones like Battle Bomber and Guard Diver looking pretty cool aswell. With outstanding designs from Shoji Kawamori and smooth animation from Masami Obari (parricularly in the OP) might gaine's mecha did not disappoint. The combination scenes also looked very crisp, fluid and full of that sweet mechanical detail, truly a treat for the eyes. Overall: 8 I think Might Gaine was a pretty fun experience, not doing anything new or suprising in the genre but still managing to be engaging with it's great music and lovable goofy characters, it mostly kept me entertained. Fairely underrated in my opinion, this is definetly worth checking out for super robot lovers, anyone curious about 90s mecha and earlier yuusha shows before Gaogaigar. For anyone else....try it hopefuly you'll enjoy