YMMV / Brave Exkaiser

• Awesome Music:
  • Most of the music in the show, composed by Kohei Tanaka, qualifies, with "Great Kaiser Sword" being a notable standout.
  • For the "Brave Series 20th Anniversary Project Harvest," the show's opening theme, "Gatherway," got a cover performed by FictionJunction. That's right: a collaboration of the Brave Series and Yuki Kajiura. It's as awesome as it sounds.
• Complete Monster: Dino Geist is the universe's most infamous Space Pirate, having ravaged and plundered planets across the universe with his crew, the Geisters. Dino Geist would endanger countless human lives to either gain as much treasure as he can, or simply to spite the Kaisers, to the point of attempting to detonate Mt. Fuji and put the 8 million people in the surrounding area in danger, purely to harm the humans the Kaisers cared so much about. On several occasions, Dino Geist takes hostages, both human or Kaiser, to gain an advantage, then tries to kill them without a second thought once he got his way, in some cases even indulging in torture while waiting. Even his own allies aren't safe from his ruthlessness, as both Trader and his own crew are ultimately abandoned to the Kaisers without a second thought when it suits the pirate's goals. Near the end, Dino Geist attempts to kidnap young hero Kouta and take him off world as a trophy solely to spite Exkaiser for getting in his ways, and when that fails, threatens his life get an advantage over his archenemy. Dino Geist eventually casts himself into the sun, taking his own life to insult Exkaiser's belief that all life is a treasure rather than allowing the Kaiser to arrest him.
• Evil Is Cool: While he is a monstrous bastard, there's no denying that Dino Geist makes for a very cool villain. Jet black gigantic Tyrannosaurus rex form? Check. Very competent in what he does and in terms of fighting? Check. Comes up with super tense plots (and overall makes the series more tense)? Check. Let it be known that Dino Geist set the standards of cool looking evil mechs that exist in the whole Brave Series.
• Fridge Brilliance: Many of the things the Geisters steal make a lot more sense when you remember they're from a species that need machines to possess in order to interact with the physical world, and that has machines capable of turning anything into a monster. On top of the implications they have a connection to an interstellar Black Market, it'd not be surprising that there's a market for nearly anything among their species.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: As TFWiki.net points out, at one point the Geisters (whose models are recycled from the Dinobots) are merged into a single super robot called Mad Geister which ended rather badly. Years later, there would be The Beast and Volcanicon, two Dinobot combiners. Later, the Geisters learned to merge in sets of two with Ptera and Thunder Geists forming Pteder and Horn and Armor Geists forming Hormor. Transformers: Energon's versions of Grimlock and Swoop could Powerlinx into Mega-Dinobot.
• Memetic Mutation: The pose Exkaiser does with his sword while about to perform Thunder Crash is one of the most famous things from the show, being referenced in too many things to count - and not all of them are even mecha shows!
  • Another in recent memory (Albeit originating on Facebook), which began in the 2023 holiday season, was the whole Exkaiser VS Geister Santa fight scene. It must be seen to be believed.
• Moral Event Horizon: Dino Geist's plan in episode 13. Angry that Exkaiser and his team keep ruining his plans, he sends his minions to make Mt. Fuji erupt, potentially endangering a large number of people simply to get back at the Kaisers. And to get whatever treasure's there too (since he did designate that Mt Fuji was a treasure).
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Dino Geist in general is very intimidating and frightening looking. Additionally, he's also terrifying and as ruthless as he comes as a Space Pirate without any time for silly shenanigans, generally coming up with plans that could lead to massive catastrophe if he was not thwarted... which wouldn't be as nightmarish if he wasn't such an unstoppable juggernaut that thwarting his plots when he's around is never a walk in park.
  • The Santa Claus Geister Robo in episode 44. It's just creepy, and the fact it keeps saying "Merry Christmas" in a demonic voice is just plain terrifying.
• Once Original, Now Common: It was the very first installment in the Brave series. Compared to what followed, Exkaiser looks pretty basic, as everything that made it unique has been not only repeated but surpassed.
• Signature Scene:
  • Exkaiser taking an oblique stance holding his Kaiser Sword before using his Thunder Crash with the camera looking up at him, know as the "Obari Pose" or "Brave Perspective", is by far the most well-known part of the show to the point of being mimicked constantly◊.
  • The whole "Exkaiser VS Geister Santa" fight scene, which got recognition since the 2023 holiday season. See the whole fight here!
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The Geister Robo in episode 44, a giant Santa Claus statue. The fact it still looks very human despite clearly being a machine with a creepy grin most of the time is just unnerving.

---