Scum of the Brave 1×03 and 1×04 Review: “A Teacher For Braves” and “A Brave’s Errands”

Scum of the Brave anime season 1 episode 3 ‘A Teacher For Braves’ and episode 4 ‘A Brave’s Errands’ had Yashiro reluctantly teaching his new students while also trying to uncover the mystery tied to the Demon Lord Thorn.

TRIGGER WARNING: This review of Scum of the Brave season one episodes 3 and 4 mentions forced drug use involving minors.

After witnessing Lord Demon Thorn regenerate his hand during the battle in the previous episode, it made sense for Yashiro to wonder what made such an impressive healing ability possible. Turns out, even though using E3 allowed people to quickly recover from injuries, the drug was unable to regenerate a sliced-off limb or any appendage that required blood flow. That’s why Yashiro’s weapon of choice was a sword. However, Lord Thorn demonstrating the ability to regrow the arm that Jogamine sliced off insinuated that a new type of surgery had made its way into the black market.

Even though Yashiro wasn’t totally interested in seeking out the truth, it’s clear he was going to be placed in situations linked to the possible surgery and even the existence of E4. And where Yashiro went, the three girls wanting to be his students were going to follow.

I liked how the narrative decided to have Yashiro spend time individually with two members of the young trio. ‘A Teacher For Braves’ had the reluctant mentor have Indo tag along. It was a nice way to learn more about Indo. She didn’t have a bubbly personality like Jogamine, but she was still an eager student wanting to become a powerful Brave. Not only that, but Indo’s quite rich. At this point, I’m assuming that every student at the Brave Academy came from wealth, and most of them were learning to become Braves because of some weird notion about equating being a Brave to being a Hero.

I’m still waiting for more information about how the Braves operated inside such a society. While the students were excited about defeating bad people linked to the Demon Lords, Yashiro continued to find no value in operating as a Brave. To him, only the lowest of the low were asked to become Braves. They were essentially mercenaries or assassins who were expected to follow orders to earn a living. But as I said, students like Indo and Sara already had money. Heck! Sara’s revealed to be the daughter of Arthur Pendragon, the Director at the Brave Academy and a well-known hero associated with the Round Table Foundation. So, yeah, where’s Yashiro’s disdain for the title of Brave coming from?

Being followed by Indo while looking for a place to eat dinner, Yashiro realized they were being followed by a masked figure named Twin Pincers. Turns out, certain Demon Lords had been trying to recruit Yashiro. Due to his constant refusal, their methods had now escalated to kidnapping.

Yashiro commenting on the unfairness of bringing a whole group of thugs to attack him made me laugh. But as Twin Pincers put it, the Demon Lord he worked for really wanted Yashiro for some reason. That’s why the number of minions was likely going to grow until Yashiro was captured.

I liked the fight with Yashiro and Indo vs Twin Pincers and his minions. Indo’s able to hold her own against a handful of minions. But Yashiro still needed to step in to defend her from surprise attacks. Indo’s got the potential to become a formidable Brave. Yashiro even allowed her to directly attack Twin Pincers as long as she waited for him to give her the signal to do so. Indo performed well, but she still required a lot of battle experience, especially when it came to defending herself from unexpected attacks. I think due to her teleport ability, Indo’s more used to landing surprise attacks on foes instead of defending against them.

Episode 4, ‘A Brave’s Errands’, was about Yashiro spending time with Jogamine on a mission (on Ishino’s request) to collect information about the possible existence of E4. The two went undercover to a shady club to meet with an E3 dealer and have Jogamine read his mind when asked about E4.

The scenes at the club made me feel a bit uneasy. But said scenes did play a role in fleshing out this particular part of the city as unlawful and dangerous. While the drug dealer in question didn’t cause any trouble, Jogamine couldn’t ignore the situation involving three dudes trying to coerce two underage girls into getting drunk. Apparently, even though E3 was injected by Braves for a stat boost, the substance was highly addictive, leading to most people simply using it for the buzz. Even the Braves needed to use it responsibly, but still, allowing young students to use E3 without any supervision, I can kind of see why Yashiro’s not a fan of how the Brave Academy operated.

With Jogamine wanting to help the two girls, it was expected of Yashiro to aid her. However, I wasn’t expecting the situation to be handled via a one-on-one fight between Yashiro and a guy capable of using an invisible sword. I was hoping for a full-on brawl inside close quarters, with the escalating situation forcing Jogamine to struggle with her no-killing rule.

As for the drug dealing, the supply’s linked to a woman named Verdigris Quarter who was employed by Lord Coffin Count. Also, Lord Coffin Count has been on the hunt for Yashiro. I’m looking forward to seeing more characters who share a past with Yashiro because Lord Thorn felt like a filler villain.

Having rescued the two girls, Yashiro asked Jogamine why she was interested in becoming a Brave. It’s revealed that her father was a Brave who died when she was young. Jogamine wanted to continue her father’s legacy. Ishino did try to tell Yashiro who Jogamine’s father was, but our reluctant protagonist wasn’t into listening to the details.

I’m not a fan of storytelling where information is kept from the audience due to certain characters not being interested or something interfering with the information-sharing session. It feels like a poorly written way to keep certain mysteries going. That’s why I have my fingers crossed that the identity of Jogamine’s dad isn’t dragged out because of Yashiro’s continuing to be aloof about having certain conversations.

Did you watch Scum of the Brave anime episodes 3 and 4? 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.

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