Anime review: Brigadoon

Although Sunrise is responsible for the oversaturation of mecha, they did lots of bizarre series over the years, which are as different as they are flawed. Amongst the most known rough jewels were directed by Yonetani Yoshitomo, who likes to combine childish naivety with dark and depressing stories. Brigadoon is one of them and it’s hard to explain why it’s so good while being so bad.

It’s so easy to misunderstand it by the cartoonish bright colored artstyle. Almost everyone will assume it’s kidstuff and not bother with it. The few who will try it out will be confused with what it’s trying to be, since it is full of nudity, mass destruction, and tragedy, while also playing out like a cheesy shojo romance. It’s a great blender of ideas that did not found a way to uniform them properly, like Vision of Escaflowne did. It constantly jumps genres, and does not have a certain age group, meaning it’s not trying to be mainstream and has constant mood whiplashes. The complete lack of mention by retro fans and the mediocre average score are only adding to its obscurity.

So if it has so many issues, why do I make it sound like it’s worth a shot? Aside from how unconventional it is for someone who got fed up with formulaic anime, it also has a wide scope and the main characters are very likable. The stakes are high, it is brimming with creativity, it never stays the same for too long thus becoming stale, and it’s so full of mystery, dementia, and intrigue. This is what people who are fed up with anime and are about to give up on them, watch to have their interest rekindle. At the same time, it can make people drop anime because of how offending it is with its constant lolicon and yuri overtones, which can be very cringy, as well as the high amounts of plot armor for the main characters, who early on let you know they will never die no matter the ridiculous amounts of damage they receive.

Despite all that, it manages to achieve much more in terms of overall presentation. It’s not just loli torture porn ala Elfen Lied, and it’s not random bullshit strategies ala Code Geass. There are robots, and explosions, mass destruction, most of which need tactics instead of raw power. It never feels pretentious in its themes, or begs of you to take it seriously. The cartoony artstyle is giving an extra punch to the jokes, and at the same time nobody is just repeating the exact same joke without offering something more to the plot. There are even many scenes of calm everyday life, with many locations and events being based on actual places of our history. It feels holistic, not neglecting something in favor of another.

But I fully understand the issues many others had with it. The transitions from one thing to another are not done very well, the animation is not always on point, and the creepy fan service could have easily been toned down without damaging the narrative. You need a very specific mindset to get into it, which is something most viewers cannot do. They just want to see generic bullshit with predictable storylines and get easily confused with anything that is different. And I am not trying to sell the show like some sort of underrated avant garde piece of fine art. It’s no Fooli Cooli or Tatami Galaxy. It has lots of issues, yet as a whole it doesn’t feel forgettable as most other series, or that offending as most light novels which are full of deviance yet try to sound serious and deep.

It’s a jewel in the rough, which I will always adore for how different it was, for its mesmerizing opening song, and the broad scope of themes and characters. It’s unpolished, but it’s no train wreck. It’s partially sleazy, but it’s also packed with a lot of creativity. Its characters look cartoony and there is a lot of slapstick comedy, but they are not one dimensional and there is a lot more than simply throwaway jokes. It’s very hard to recommend it to anyone, and it has way too many highs and lows to be considered a great series, but for those who seek something special, this is a fine choice.