Scum of the Brave 1×16 and 1×17 Review: “The Darkness of Braves” and “Return of the Braves”

Scum of the Brave anime season 1 episode 16, titled ‘The Darkness of Braves’, and episode 17, titled ‘Return of the Braves’, shared quite a lot about what Yashiro’s ex-Master Kiyoto might have been up to in the shadows.

With Demon Lord Veil left alone to defend against Yashiro and the girls in the previous episode, ‘The Darkness of Braves’, opened with their fight continuing. Lord Veil knew that he could take care of the girls, especially because they were still recovering from their injuries. Yashiro was the major threat, especially because he could sense Lord Veil’s movements even with the lights turned off.

The battle between Yashiro and Lord Veil concluded as expected. Yashiro demonstrated a technique taught by Kiyoto that allowed a “weaker” person to gain the upper hand against a “stronger” opponent during a swordfight by planting their feet to the ground and using that energy to press their sword against the opponent’s neck. I knew Lord Veil wasn’t going to survive against Yashiro, but I have to say that compared to the rest of the Demon Lords we have seen, Lord Veil was quite weak. Considering his base was being used for illegal E4 testing, I assumed Lord Veil had administered the drug on himself as a trump card during life-and-death battles. But then again, I understand the narrative wanting to progress the E4 storyline as soon as possible. And to accomplish that, Lord Veil had to be taken off the board.

With Lord Veil recognizing Kiyoto’s technique, his familiarity with Yashiro’s ex-Master was further fleshed out by revealing how Kiyoto was an executive of Half Dragon.

Dun! Dun! Dunnn!

I wasn’t expecting said reveal at all. Of course, Yashiro was confused about his ex-Master’s shadowy operations. ‘The Braves Return’ provided some much-needed context to Kiyoto’s goals. And I’ll talk about those in a bit.

Before he could ponder further about Kiyoto, Yashiro had some choice words for his young students. All three girls underperformed during their latest mission. And frankly, if I were in Yashiro’s shoes, I would be mad, too, especially because the world of Scum of the Brave meant that a single mistake could lead to death.

Initially, Yashiro thought that simply stating the weaknesses of his students would encourage them to improve their skills to cover their weak spots. However, the events of ‘The Darkness of Braves’ made Yashiro realize that the limitations of his students were accompanied by emotional baggage.

Sara’s father, Arthur, was so against her becoming a Brave that even though he trained her, he trained her in a manner that ended up making her a coward. It’s an emotionally abusive way to prevent Sara from picking up a fight. Sara decided on her weapon of choice, a katana, because her father used it. However, I think that Sara needed to select a weapon she actually felt connected to and figure out a different battle style that felt true to her. Sara needed to step out of her father’s shadow.

Also, Sara’s Ether Ability to detect someone’s power levels didn’t help the matter. Her cowardice triumphed whenever she sensed a foe stronger than herself.

As for Indo, she relied too heavily on using the same attack pattern. Her Ether Ability to teleport short distances had made her predictable because she always attacked foes from behind. Indo also focused too much on protecting her friends in a manner that made her vulnerable to fatal attacks. Yashiro wanted her to be better at providing support instead of rushing into battle. Indo also needed to properly address her past trauma related to Nephilim and her desire not to see any of her friends being injured.

Coming to Jogamine, Yashiro was so over her disposition of becoming a Brave who refused to kill. Yashiro had also learned a lot more about Jogamine’s past after discovering the research Kiyoto was conducting. Which, again, I will talk about shortly.

Bottom line, none of his three students were cut out to become Braves. But of course, Yashiro was stuck with them because that’s just how the story’s supposed to go.

I did enjoy how Yashiro’s dynamic with the three girls continued to be handled. The girls seeking attention and praise from Yashiro delivered on comedy without making their stubbornness feel creepy, especially because Yashiro hasn’t been shown to have any weird thoughts toward his students, even under the guise of comedy.

Yashiro stated their weaknesses while the three girls took a bath and Yashiro stood watch. Jogamine did try to gain Yashiro’s attention for some student-teacher bonding time, but Yashiro, understandably, wasn’t entertaining the idea. He’s so done with the trio’s shenanigans. I love it!

”Return of the Braves’, as the title says, was about Yashiro and the girls returning to Tokyo. It also shared more details about Jogamine’s past and her unusual healing ability.

It’s revealed that Half Dragon had been working with Lord Veil to find test subjects that could easily use E4 without risking mutation. Apparantly, Kiyoto had played an integral role in the creation of E4, much to Yashiro’s confusion.

From what I could understand, Jogamine had died when she was only 10 years old during some turf war. Her body was found resistant to the side effects of E4, leading Kiyoto to experiment on her dead daughter’s body to bring her back to life via exceptional regenerative properties.

While dark, I can understand Kiyoto being all in with working with Half Dragon to find a way to resurrect Jogamine. Parents can go to great lengths to save their children. However, whether or not Kiyoto (before his death) also wished to fulfill Half Dragon’s goal of causing political uproar amongst the Demon Lords remains to be seen.

In my opinion, the narrative didn’t spend enough time on Yashiro trying to connect the version of Master Kiyoto from his past with the secretive Kiyoto who teamed up with Half Dragon to create E4 and “save” Jogamine. Hopefully, we will get to see more of Yashiro’s inner thoughts in the upcoming episodes. He still hasn’t told Jogamine about what happened to her when she was only 10 years old. The experiments could explain Jogamine’s childish nature.

Upon their return, not only were Yashiro and the trio forced to deal with an intense war between the Demon Lords, but they soon realized that they were being followed by the same minions who deserted Lord Veil back in Hokkaido.

I’m looking forward to seeing how their battle with Seki, Tomoe, and Drit will play out during a car-chase scene while operating on a limited supply of E3.

As for the political stuff, Yashiro suspected that Lord Coffin Count was responsible for allowing the rest of the Demon Lords to fight amongst themselves to expand their territories. Apparantly, she was linked to Half Dragon, too.

I’m still unsure about Half Dragon’s true goal. So, hopefully, we will get answers soon.

Did you watch Scum of the Brave anime season 1 episodes 16 and 17? What did you think of them?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

Twitter

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary