One of the most bizarre anime by Yoshiyuki Tomino, Brain Powerd takes place in a future Earth ravaged by earthquakes and flood, all of which are the result of the activity of a mysterious sentient alien spacecraft called Orphan, buried in the depths of the Pacific Ocean and home to a group of scientists and researchers known to the world as Reclaimers. Orphan's true objective is to eventually rise from the ocean and start a new journey into space... which, however, would cause The End of the World as We Know It, since Orphan needs to feed on the organic energy of all living beings to sustain itself in its journey. The Reclaimers do not seem to care much, though, and are willing to go through with Orphan's plans, seeing themselves as Orphan's chosen ones that will become the seeds of a new humanity. To fulfill their plans, Reclaimers make use of Empathic Weapons, living organic mechas known as Antibodies or Gran Chers, and endlessly search for the Plates from which they originate, in order to swell their numbers. However, not all is lost, for the Novice Noah, a group of Antibody pilots using the Brain Powerd, infant forms of Gran Cher, intend to stop the Reclaimers' plans.
The series mostly follows the adventures of Yuu Isami, a renegade Reclaimer seeking freedom from Orphan's oppressive environment and his family's aloofness, and Hime Utsumiya, an orphaned girl who accidentally stumbles upon a Plate under Revival process and finds her own Brain Powerd, which she almost immediately makes friends with. After their first encounter results in a battle, the two teenagers find themselves reunited when Yuu escapes Orphan and a group of Reclaimers gunning for his blood; this is only the start of an adventure rife with surprising reveals, well-developed characters and government conspiracies, which will allow Yuu and Hime to understand more about themselves, the world around them and the complexities of human feelings and mutual relationships.
Brain Powerd focuses quite a bit more on Character Development than Humongous Mecha action compared to many other anime of this genre.
The series is also notable for being Yoshiyuki Tomino & Mamoru Nagano's first completed collaboration in over a decade.
The show is basically Tomino's take on Neon Genesis Evangelion.
This series provides examples of:
- Aloof Big Brother: Played straight and subverted: Quincy is an Aloof Big Sister (to Yuu) when she's the fanatical leader of the Antibody attack squads, but a warm and caring individual when showing her true personality.
- Anti-Villain: The Reclaimers aren't really bad guys, with the exception of Igor. They're mostly people with a tragic past who were drawn to Orphan in an attempt to find a place where they could belong and ease their suffering. Come to think of it, Orphan itself is very much an Anti-Villain.
- Broken Bird: Sheila. With three younger sibling who died horribly before her eyes, while she was unable to do anything about it, it is quite understandable why she turned out like this.
- Combat Tentacles: The Baronzs' shoulders can grow into tentacles with blades on the ends.
- Deadly Upgrade: The Baronz, an evolved form of Antibody who results from the revival of a Gran Cher. Both Jonathan and Quincy obtain it. Moreover, Yuu's Brain gets upgraded about halfway through the series, through a Heroic Sacrifice on Nelly's part.
- Eagleland: The United States at one point attempts to claim Orphan for themselves, going so far as to call it their "51st State." It doesn't go too well.
- Everybody Lives: The death count for this show, apart from backstories, is pretty much nil. Shocking considering that Tomino worked on it.
- Improbable Age: Kant is a world authority of Organic energy and the Vital Net... and he's only 10 years old!
- Wig, Dress, Accent: Taken to an extreme with Baron Maximillian. Remember that Captain that fell off the boat some dozen episodes ago? Yeah. Same person. Between the mask, the extremely buff figure and voice synthesizer, it really does a good job at throwing the viewers off.
