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This 1998 mecha series plays like cross between Evangelion and an early Gundam adventure, but without the better attributes of either. In a post-apocalyptic world, UN forces headquartered on the battle-survival ship Novis Nova are in conflict with the staff of Orphan. An enormous underwater structure that was once an intergalactic ship, Orphan is being prepared for launch, although sending it into space will destroy the remaining life on Earth--and spare its crew. All these machinations hinge on the "organic machines": giant mecha suits that are either "Grand Chers" or "Brain Powereds," although the distinction between the two is never made clear. Both types of suits are somehow born from mysterious spinning plates. When a plate lands in a half-ruined city, Hime Utsumiya forms an instant psychic bond with the newborn machine and begins piloting it. She forms a different sort of bond with Yuu Isami, the son of the founders of Orphan. He defies them, defects, and pursues a standard quarrelsome romance with Hime. Although there are numerous raids, mecha battles, explosions, plots, counterplots, and revelations, the story doesn't really go anywhere. The main characters are essentially in the same place in episode 9 as they were in episode 2. The mecha designs are squat and clunky (the pilots enter through the robot's crotch), the characters uninteresting. Many otaku praise Yoko Kanno's lush, aria-laced score, but it's about all Brain Powered has going for it. Rated 13 Up: Violence, brief nudity, minor profanity, ethnic stereotypes. --Charles Solomon
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