Brain Powerd

I got the complete series from last Christmas. From my grandma who doesn't have a clue on what anime is, but actually did a good job in finding a series I didn't own yet.

When watching the opening, I presume it'll be cool because it showed a lot of hot girls in it. But I soon discover that it's more complicated than it looks.

Brain Powered is about an alternate time period in which the Earth has been infected by an organic alien vessel called "Orphan" which has been resting in the depths of the ocean for centuries. When humans uncovered this alien source. They encounter the anti-bodies, organic robots created by the plates made by Orphan. These things are able to be controlled by certain people and can react to people's emotions and feelings.

Soon there came an outbreak of war, as 2 different anti-body organizations: Brain Powereds and Grand Shards, fight each other for the future of humanity. The whole series is viewed from the eyes of a Japanese red head named Hime Utsumiya. Who encounters a brain powered and becomes it's user. She soon finds herself involved in the middle of a war and family matters between Orphan and Novis Noah. As the story progresses we learn more about Hime and the characters surrounding her. As well as the mystery about these anti-bodies.

The first half of this anime was slightly hard to get into. As the plot, acting, and explaining wasn't easy to follow. But I automatically got some idea on what is going on when it's half way over. And got less confused than before.

The cool thing about it is it's done by Sunrise,the same dudes who made "Escaflowne" and "Cowboy Bebop". Only trouble is it fails to balance out character development and technology on the anti-bodies. Which I think is why this series isn't highly well known to many Anime fans.

It's not for everyone, as I think "Escaflowne" and "Cowboy Bebop" had a better understanding on character development and technology talk. The heroines and music is pretty much one of the few things I enjoyed out of watching this series.

Overall highly average for a 26 episode series.

Overall, "Brain Powerd" is an okay animated series with some strange turns of plot (it seems a matter of course that mecha appear in the series - though it doesn't make too much sense :P). It certianly isn't a Macross or Gundam ripoff, but it isn't entirely successful in shaking off the "giant robot wars" so common in anime.

The real draw here, IMHO, is the utterly fantastic soundtrack by none other than the famed Yoko Kanno. Kanno really hits another one out of the park with this one, and it's worth watching the series if only for the music.