Brigadoon: Marin to Melan

Marin is a typical junior high school girl with a sunny disposition and a loving adoptive family. Her life takes a drastic change when a mysterious mirage is seen in the sky above the entire earth. Killer androids called Monomakia descend to earth from the formation in the sky called Brigadoon and begin to hunt down little Marin. She discovers a blue bottle in a shrine as she seeks escape and from the bottle comes a protector, a sword carrying gun slinging alien called Melan Blue, together they must save the earth and deal with family crisis, school prejudice and the police and come to an understanding of Marins past and Melans unexplained mission, as well as learn to trust each other. Set in 1969 Japan with a colorful cast of friends and enemies.

(Source: ANN)

Blue, Melan Main

Ootsuka, Houchuu Japanese

Asagi, Marin Main

Kawana, Midori Japanese

Lolo Main

Shintani, Mayumi Japanese

Kisaragi, Moe Supporting

Saitou, Ayaka Japanese

Mano, Midori Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Marine Supporting

Kawana, Midori Japanese

Asagi, Moto Supporting

Aikawa, Rikako Japanese

Kurihara, Chiasa Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Lele Supporting

Itou, Kentarou Japanese

Chroma Supporting

Tanonaka, Isamu Japanese

Kouchiyama, Takashi Producer

Kunisaki, Hisanori Producer

Yonetani, Yoshitomo Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Theme Song Lyrics, Planning, Original Creator

Ookuma, Akira Sound Director

Reviews

Sep 14, 2023

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Recommended

Brigadoon combines childish naivety with dark and depressing stories, and it’s easy to misunderstand what it’s going for because of its cartoonish bright colored artstyle. Almost everyone will assume it’s kidstuff and will 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 mesh properly. 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.

Despite its many issues, it’s worth a shot just to witness its creativity. It’s unconventional in many ways, having a wide scope, and likable main characters, and enemies with various types of powers, and a mystery in the background, while mentally torturing everyone. It keeps the stakes high, it is brimming with cool ideas, and it never stays the same for too long. It was made for people who got fed up with typical anime and are about to give up on them. At the same time, it can make people drop anime because of how offending it is with its constant lolicon and yuri overtones, cringy comedy, and crazy amounts of plot armor for the main characters who never die no matter the ridiculous amounts of damage they receive. Yes, it is that eccentric.

It still tries a lot harder to be more than 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, assuming you dig their style, 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 and actual historical events. It feels holistic, since as a whole it is not neglecting something in favor of something else.

It’s the transitions from one genre to another that can be hard to swallow, or the animation not always being 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. It is not generic nonsense with predictable outcomes and it can get very confusing to get what it’s going for. 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 more than 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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 17, 2017

banilaiscu

Recommended

I remember watching this series as an twelve year old. Now I am seventeen. When I watched Brigadoon, I watched it overnight nonstop. I was tough when I was younger to strong theme and violence so watching Brigadoon was no trouble. I can still say the series was excellent today. It really came together in a well paced story with an ending that made me smile and remember so well. It's original and complex, you'd definitely enjoy this show if you like action, mecha, and maybe a twist of romance. I understand the show has it's major flaws, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying ... it so much.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Mar 23, 2023

Galletita

Mixed Feelings

Mecha anime is often known by the majority of anime fans as a visually impressive yet formulaic genre, having little to no variety of settings and plot points among its many related series. Brigadoon, a series made by the quintessential mecha studio Sunrise, breaks nearly every single established rule of the genre.

With a premise similar to shoujo anime (young girl meets a mysterious companion with special powers) and a female protagonist, Brigadoon might seem similar to magical girl anime during the first episodes. This is soon proven wrong, due the unusual post war setting and its high stakes, the protagonist Marin needing robot Melan´s power ... and abilities to protect her city and loved ones from an apparent alien invasion.

The relationship between Marin and Melan is the show´s biggest strength. Marin, a naive young girl and Melan, a fully sentient machine with a serious yet caring personality rapidly establish a beautiful bond that transcend friendship, immersing themselves in the multiple battles and challenges brought by their foes, this being the main point that makes Brigadoon stand out from any other series.

The juxtaposition between the optimistic and innocent personality of Marin and the gruesome battles fought by Melan, often with extremely tragic consequences, is extremely jarring. The show´s tone can be almost bizarre, changing abruptly from the naive Marin attempts at humor to terribly violent fights with death tolls and destruction, the next episode returning to the usual playful tone. Due to her struggles during the series, Marin grows as a character alongside Melan, who progressively learns about human emotions in order to understand Marin´s struggles.

Regarding the overall quality of the show, Brigadoon is decently animated, its visual standout being the mechanical design of Melan Blue and other mecha present later in the series, battles between mecha being the best animated scenes as expected from studio Sunrise. The moe character design for the humans and creatures is forgettable yet does an effective job at presenting the setting as cutesy and cozy in contrast to the struggles faced by the characters.

Brigadoon can only be regarded as a wild ride, an unpredictable series to first time viewers, being a (not so smooth) blend of genres: humor, mahou shoujo, mecha, tragedy, romance... all mixed in a truly weird series. I would only recommend Brigadoon to viewers with an open mind, do not expect a traditional mecha from this anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mecha anime with female protagonists: part 1 (1983 - 2007)

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50 Entries · 5 Restacks

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	Poll: Brigadoon Episode 20 Discussion Mikepower9 - Apr 3, 2012	4 replies	by Selesnija »» Dec 6, 2022 4:37 AM
	Poll: Brigadoon: Marin to Melan Episode 9 Discussion Selesnija - Nov 30, 2022	0 replies	by Selesnija »» Nov 30, 2022 6:56 AM
	Poll: Brigadoon: Marin to Melan Episode 1 Discussion millo - Jan 6, 2012	7 replies	by Cazqui-09 »» Apr 19, 2022 5:33 AM
	Poll: Brigadoon: Marin to Melan Episode 4 Discussion A-Simple-Squire - Dec 13, 2021	0 replies	by A-Simple-Squire »» Dec 13, 2021 3:23 PM
	Poll: Brigadoon: Marin to Melan Episode 3 Discussion zetsu_shoren - Mar 12, 2016	8 replies	by A-Simple-Squire »» Dec 13, 2021 2:48 PM