Brave Series

The Brave Series (勇者シリーズ Yūsha shirīzu) toy and animation franchise began after the toy company Takara ended the animated "Generation One" storyline of Transformers in Japan. Following a decline in the series' popularity that led to the cancellation of the OVA series Transformers: Zone, Takara struck a cooperative deal with the animation studio Sunrise (known for its mecha series, most notably Gundam) to develop a new franchise and set of toy lines, which became the Brave series. This franchise would help reintroduce the Super Robot genre to the Japanese mainstream in the 1990s.

List of Media

Brave Series Animated Works

Year Aired	English Name	Japanese Name	Romanized Name	Type of Media	Number of Episodes
1990-1991	The Brave Fighter Exkizer	勇者エクスカイザー	Yūsha Ekusukaizā	TV Series	48
1991-1992	The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird	太陽の勇者ファイバード	Taiyō no Yūsha Faibādo	TV Series	48
1992-1993	The Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn	伝説の勇者ダ・ガーン	Densetsu no Yūsha Da-Gān	TV Series	46
1993-1994	The Brave Express Might Gaine	勇者特急マイトガイン	Yūsha Toukyū Maitogain	TV Series	47
1994-1995	The Brave Police J-Decker	勇者警察ジェイデッカー	Yūsha Keisatsu Jeidekkā	TV Series	48
1995-1996	The Brave of Gold Goldran	黄金勇者ゴルドラン	Ōgon Yūsha Gorudoran	TV Series	48
1996-1997	The Brave Command Dagwon	勇者指令ダグオン	Yūsha Shirei Daguon	TV Series	48
1997	The Brave Command Dagwon - The Boy with Crystal Eyes	勇者指令ダグオン 水晶の瞳の少年	Yūsha Shirei Daguon - Suishō no Hitomi no Shōnen	OVA	2
1997-1998	The King of Braves GaoGaiGar	勇者王ガオガイガー	Yūsha Ō GaoGaiGā	TV Series	49
2000-2003	The King of Braves GaoGaiGar FINAL	勇者王ガオガイガーFINAL	Yūsha Ō GaoGaiGā Fainaru	OVA	8
2005	The King of Braves GaoGaiGar FINAL - Grand Glorious Gathering	勇者王ガオガイガーFINAL GRAND GLORIOUS GATHERING	Yūsha Ō GaoGaiGā Fainaru Gurando Guroriasu Gyazāringu	TV recut of OVA	12

The Saint of Braves Baan Gaan

Japanese: 勇者聖戦バーンガーン (Yūsha Seisen Bān Gān). The 9th Brave Series, which is a game-exclusive one that was originally planned to be made into an anime, but due to the Brave Series' decline in viewers after GaoGaiGar, the anime was scrapped and the series was incorporated into the Brave Saga video games instead. Despite that, a full-fledged anime opening and the transformation/combination scenes for Baan Gaan, Mach Sperion and Great Baan Gaan has also been animated and incorporated into the games.

Other Media

• Brave Saga (video game, 1998).
• Brave Saga 2 (video game, 2000).
• Brave Saga New Chapter - Astaria (video game, 2001).
• New Century Brave Wars (video game, 2005).

Although being the main series in the 2005 video game New Century Brave Wars, Quantum Leap Layzelber (量子跳躍レイゼルバー - Ryōshi Chōyaku Reizerubā) is not counted among the Brave Series on the official website.

The anime Betterman can be considered as a spinoff/sequel for The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, which took place between the TV series and the OVA. In 2016, a crossover/sequel novel for GaoGaiGar Final and Betterman was released under the name King of Destruction - GaoGaiGar vs Betterman (破壊王　ガオガイガー対ベッターマン).

External Links

• Official Website
• The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Fandom Wikia.

Trivia

• All 8 shows feature a drill-tank in one way or another.
  • Exkizer: Drill Max
  • Sun Fighbird: Drill Baron
  • Da-Garn: Drill Lander
  • Might Gaine: Drill Diver
  • J-Decker: Drill Boy
  • Goldran: Drill Silver
  • Dagwon: Dag Drill
  • GaoGaiGar: Drill Gao
• During the respective series' Great Combination (aside from GaoGaiGar), Great Exkizer, Great Fighbird and Great Da-Garn GX use a completely new head, different from their original smaller units while from Great Might Gaine onwards, all robots have their original unit's head combined with various parts from their combining partners.
• All feature a 3-piece mecha and (excluding Exkizer) an additional unit for enhancement. GaoGaiGar is the sole exception to the pattern.
• All the main primary robots have enhancement units that usually when combined, look completely different from their original form. Once again, GaoGaiGar is the sole exception, as the titular mecha remains unaltered from the enhancement, say for the right arm. It did, however, gain successor mecha of similar design.
• With the exception of Fighbird and GaoGaiGar, all of the shows features designs and concepts borrowed from Transformers.
• Goldran was the final series to have it's main theme song sung by a woman. The last entries would have their themes sung by men. Da-Garn's TV-sized opening was solely performed by a female singer, while a distinctly male voice can be heard in the full size version. Another full version, however, contains only female voices.
• The J-Decker Build Team is the only sub-group in which the members' names are solely based on their most distinguishing features rather than a common naming method.
• Exkizer and Fighbird are the only series to have newly molded villain toys. The others with toys of the villains (Da-Garn, Might Gaine and Goldran) have recolored Transformers toys as villains.

• If all of the Brave Series took place in a single universe, then Da-Garn would be the first series to take place chronologically (1992), with Exkizer taking place in 2001, GaoGaiGar and GaoGaiGar Final in 2005 and 2007 respectively, Fighbird in 2010 and J-Decker in 2020. Might Gaine would be the series that takes place the furthest into the future, in the 124th to 125th Showa year (2050 - 2051).