#**Episode 1 – [Do Guys From the Sky Have Undies?](https://i.imgur.com/3KhVYAU.png)**
[Index](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1bzau12/back_arrow_official_rewatch_announcement/) | [Next Episode →](https://v.animethemes.moe/BackArrow-ED1.webm)
[MAL](https://myanimelist.net/anime/40964) | [AniList](https://anilist.co/anime/114307/Back-Arrow/) | [ANN](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=22957) | [Kitsu](https://kitsu.io/anime/back-arrow) | [AniDB](https://anidb.net/anime/15341)
[Crunchyroll](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G24H1N3J4/back-arrow)
—–
***Starting today, my name’s “Back Arrow”.***
**Questions of the Day:**
1) What are your first impressions on the setting and characters?
2) What was the *funniest* line out of any of these characters’ mouths today?
**Wallpaper of the Day:**
[Atlee Ariel](https://i.imgur.com/Z3LDaiq.png)
—–
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, ***unless*** you’re doing it underneath [spoiler tags](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/q28ulr/announcing_changes_to_spoiler_tags/). Don’t spoil anything for the first-timers, that’s rude!
by Shimmering-Sky
12 Comments
**BAKAYAROU Rewatch Host, subbed**
[Hi everyone!](#michaelwink)
Back Arrow is a show I absolutely adore ([it was even my 450th completed anime on MAL](https://i.imgur.com/iysVTYn.png)), but it’s unfortunately extremely underwatched and *criminally* underrated on MAL. That’s part of why I wanted to host this rewatch – to get some new eyes on it. I hope the first-timers in here enjoy the wild ride just as much as I did!
Oh, and while some of these comments will be shorter than others, I actually shared my thoughts on Back Arrow as I watched through it for the first time on CDF, so I can link my first-timer reactions for it just like I did for some parts of the Macross rewatch in the past! [Here were my Back Arrow First Impressions:](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/o2blj8/casual_discussion_fridays_week_of_june_18_2021/h2pna5k/)
—
– [Obligatory lizard.](https://i.imgur.com/1INO7jW.png) [](#neat)
– [Best boy!](https://i.imgur.com/GXsMmCK.png) [](#rengehype)
– I think it’s interesting that this show does the “OP/ED swap” in the *first episode*, with this not being the ED’s regular visuals as it’s played as the OP here. [](#rengethink)
– [The Lutoh dude tried to attack mid-transformation, doesn’t he know that’s illegal?](https://i.imgur.com/JSXWk4o.png)
– [That was a close call…](https://i.imgur.com/P1efA53.png)
– [F](https://i.imgur.com/AegmZqF.png) [](#toradorasalute)
– [lol, they sure decided that *real* fast.](https://i.imgur.com/50ktaF3.png) [](#seasonallaugh)
– [Pfffffffffff](https://i.imgur.com/ppqD69B.png)
– [Those kids were ready to *eat a man*.](https://i.imgur.com/qm1wjeY.png) [](#emiliaohdear)
– [It’s cute!](https://i.imgur.com/SWTTxOg.png) [](#uwaa)
– [An anti-theft system in my mecha anime?](https://i.imgur.com/vtLdZZO.png) [](#maxshock)
– [I love the dialogue in this show ahahahaha](https://i.imgur.com/HWzsjS8.png) [](#trololol)
– [Shu Bi, your inner Dr. Ver is showing.](https://i.imgur.com/M2VhHPG.png) [](#calmdown)
– [I guess this is the best way they could translate](https://i.imgur.com/2byBoTf.png) the [“Bakayarou” → “Back Arrow” pun.](https://i.imgur.com/ZsQuOfO.png)
### Idiot Rewatcher
[](#heavydrinker)
Alright, so I watched this in 2022. Blasted. It’s been a while since I’ve had just a “fuggit, here we go” rewatch, so thank you to Sky for hosting something calling me back to my true nature on the sub. HERE WE GO.
– Shu Bi, voiced by Sugita, my love! And Ren! I love you both!
– [I love that the mecha are based on a person’s conviction.](https://i.imgur.com/pEwz8jp.png)
[](#utahapraises)
– [I love these cowboy fucks.](https://i.imgur.com/nCWKtsG.png)
[](#gunfire)
– [Back Arrow maybe]>!I do not love Atlee. I forget why. This is surprising, given that she has a fucking whip in this episode. I think I found her Briheight annoying!<
– [God, I wish that were me.](https://i.imgur.com/Nnunxt3.png)
– I love how the villagers see a thing fall from the sky and go “food!”
[](#azusalaugh)
– [God, I wish that were me.](https://i.imgur.com/IQBHR3Q.png “Giving.”)
– [back](https://i.imgur.com/R19hXze.png) a[rrow](https://i.imgur.com/hLCuRKb.png)
– [WE JUST VIBE OR SOMETHING](https://i.imgur.com/0Ng5bKY.png)
[](#grandhype)
– [I love this dumbass show.](https://i.imgur.com/TK06Cbi.png)
[](#laughter)
– [LET’S GOOOOOOOOO](https://i.imgur.com/dDspquz.png)
[](#dekuhype)
– DON’T WORRY ABOUT HIS CONVICTION. HE’S JUST HERE
[](#grandhype)
God, I love this show. [Back Arrow]>!<
___
QOTD:
1. I love the character interactions and how the main cast is a bunch of goofballs while Shu Bi et al. are launching serious machinations.
2. Back Arrow yelling about how Atlee risked her life to give him underwear.
**First timer, subs**
* [Tomino Lizard! **And so Soon, Too!**](#seasonalneat)
* Wait, is this guy not the villain? But he was coding so hard.
* This is fully a loot drop. Are we sure this isn’t some generational battle royale?
* We seem to being running through a lot here rather quickly.
* The land doesn’t look *that* marginal.
* Imperial China and cowboys? When do the pirates show up?
* These are some *aggressively* stupid kids.
* [Ah, But You See, **He Is a Snack**](#smughaikyuu)
* Aren’t those binders consumable? Why are you going straight to the highest level of escalation.
* Do they mean lose more literally than at face value? Or do people not normally die otherwise? Because that line seems awfully stupid without some kind of twist to it.
* [Glow Boobs](#pointandlaugh)
* [Slime Mecha **Interesting…**](#rengethink)
* I guess this dashes any chance of mecha-mons.
**First-Timer**
**On today’s episode of Back Arrow:** Underwear is truly what brings us all together. It creates friendships and inspires others to reach their full potential.
I know basically nothing about this series, other than what /u/shimmering-sky told me to try and sell me on it. What I have heard is that it is extremely over-the-top, there is some overlap in the creative staff on this show with Gurren Lagann, that the main character is exceptionally stupid even by the standards of dumb anime protagonists, and that the protagonist is so dumb that the name “Back Arrow” comes from him mishearing “Bakayaro.” So, I’m quite curious to see what it is like.
– “Do Guys from the Sky Have Undies?” is one of the most distinctive titles I have encountered in a long time. Episode titles often pass by because they aren’t that particularly memorable, but this one sure is.
– A world with a giant wall around it? Well the laws of fiction dictate that we will definitely be traveling beyond that wall to see what is on the outside at some point.
– Lutoh = smart people and Rekka = brave meatheads if I understand the narrator properly.
– I don’t know if “omens” are something you observe on a computer screen. I always considered omens more low-tech. [](#sakurathink)
– So stuff falling out of the sky is enough of a common occurrence that they deploy regularly to claim them.
– Ah, so that’s what the Bind Warpers do. They let you transform into a giant mecha version of yourself, called a Briheight.
– Based on everything he’s said so far, I think Kai qualifies as a dumb, brave meathead.
– This setting is wild. We went from a place that resembled Imperial China to a place that looks like the Wild West.
– Elsha is immediately giving me Yoko vibes. [](#jibrilaww)
– Atlee knows her way around a whip. [](#healthypasstimes)
– This entire village is full of idiots. They see something fall from the sky and immediately assume it’s food. [](#azusalaugh) I haven’t seen people react this dumbly to something falling from the sky since the 1953 version of War of the Worlds.
– They’re fucking cooking the Rakuho! [](#pointandlaugh)
– The kids immediately tried to eat the guy who popped out of the Rakuho! [](#laughter)
– I suppose the people living in this world would naturally consider the wall to be the absolute limits of existence. As far as they know, there’s literally no way to go beyond it. The possibility of doing so is considered heresy. Which tells me there’s probably an ancient conspiracy of some kind to hide the truth about what is beyond the wall.
– Wow, the whole village immediately sold him out as being inside the Rakuho. [](#kotohoops)
– Oh my god, Atlee ran away to get the mystery man some underwear left behind by her father. [This show is nuts](#laughter)
– It’s rare that I can call a giant mecha cute, but Atlee’s Briheight is definitely cute.
– This anime is yet more evidence that mecha and magical girls are just two halves of the same coin. The Briheights are all based on a person’s innermost conviction, with powers and abilities based on their inner character. Very typical of magical girl shows as well.
– Oh my god, the nude man wants to rescue Atlee to repay her for the underwear. [](#azusalaugh)
– Huh, so he had a Bind Warper but had no idea what it was. [](#harukathink)
– This guy is so stupid he has no self-awareness whatsoever. He doesn’t even know what his own thoughts/convictions are. But it has something that lets him essentially stretch and bounce off any attacks. Is his conviction “I am rubber, you are glue” and that’s what his power is?
– This is a lovely writing choice. We are told the rule that losing in a Briheight results in death, but that is then subverted here with the bandit somehow not dying. So something is unique about the nude man from another world. [](#schemingsaten)
– Oh my god, he heard someone call him a “Bakayaro” and took that as his name, “Back Arrow.” This man is so stupid. I like him already. [](#laughter)
I have to say, I got what I was promised. This show is ridiculous and the characters likewise act ridiculous. But it’s also quite fun to watch so far. The characters being silly and over-the-top immediately tells me what kind of series this is going to be, but it also seems like a fun ride to be a part of.
I do quite like the conceit of having the mecha be literal extensions of their pilot’s personality. This is something that has been common in mecha thematically for a long time, but I like making it the literal basis of the mecha’s powers and abilities. It helps to make the mecha feel even more integral to the characters piloting them. There’s also a lot of fun that can come from analyzing characters based on the mecha they are piloting, if the mecha represent manifestations of their innermost convictions.
I wonder if the people don’t have the ability to fly or if the wall encompasses the sky as well. If people could fly, then it would be easy enough to confirm if there were something beyond the wall. So, my assumption would be that flight isn’t really a thing or that the sky is part of the wall and it’s like a giant dome.
**QOTD**
1) It’s a setting that combines Imperial China with the Wild West. I don’t think I’ve encountered that combo before, so it gets points for creativity. The characters are all ver silly and I enjoy them.
2) Atlee giving Back Arrow her father’s underwear is such an absurd moment. I have to pick it.
**Rewatcher, Subbed Arrow**
[Lizard!](https://i.imgur.com/nk34kCg.jpeg)
[Shu Bi doo bee doo.](https://i.imgur.com/gQsuLXC.jpeg)
[A very Normal episode title.](https://i.imgur.com/hWczVyZ.jpeg)
[Scumbag attacked during a henshin, how rude.](https://i.imgur.com/E4oANIF.jpeg)
[Politicking, in my mecha?](https://i.imgur.com/nIS4GHt.jpeg) It’s more likely than you think.
[What a strange game.](https://i.imgur.com/tPGPR5L.jpeg)
[Atlee rocks.](https://i.imgur.com/6lCAUWZ.jpeg)
[You can just barely see Arrow there.](https://i.imgur.com/fet6YMa.jpeg)
[That’s an odd setting detail.](https://i.imgur.com/5TWT9ny.jpeg) They’re talking about [retort pouches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retort_pouch); if you listen closesly you can hear Elsha say it.
[Someone is embarrassed to see a nearly naked man.](https://i.imgur.com/kbqhgiz.jpeg)
[Priorities.](https://i.imgur.com/ncW3bgP.jpeg)
[Which we already saw](https://i.imgur.com/FMkzcDg.jpeg) [earlier.](https://i.imgur.com/5UqAkAe.jpeg)
[It’s Stands all the way down.](https://i.imgur.com/PU6qblj.jpeg)
[Well, that’s odd.](https://i.imgur.com/GnXPxP0.jpeg)
Rewatcher, Episode 1:
[More than one viewer commented on Kai’s Briheight having Eva-02’s color scheme.](https://i.redd.it/9ptt660tkhyc1.jpg)
[I just realized something.](https://i.redd.it/kwens70tkhyc1.jpg)
[“Rubes?”](https://i.redd.it/q6880a0tkhyc1.jpg)
[That’s what the conveniently-placed dust is for.](https://i.redd.it/bztc9b0tkhyc1.jpg)
[Certainly builds confidence.](https://i.redd.it/8btx9b0tkhyc1.jpg)
[When mecha is just toku or magical girl.](https://i.redd.it/vvi4k70tkhyc1.jpg)
[This feels like a *Strike Witches* episode somehow.](https://i.redd.it/pxu8z90tkhyc1.jpg)
[*Dr. Ver moment*](https://i.redd.it/zmkvl70tkhyc1.jpg)
[**~~BAKAYAROU~~BACK ARROW**](https://i.redd.it/jbexla0tkhyc1.jpg)
[Hidetaka Tenjin doing the mechanical design was was one of the original reasons I was interested in… whatever the hell this was.](https://i.redd.it/vx0a9b0tkhyc1.jpg)
*****
This dates from three years ago? It feels like an eternity has passed.
Yes, I’m a rewatcher. I can’t say I remember entirely why I got into this other than a vaguely-mecha premise (which was immediately put into the other categories by the mechanisms of the first episode) and some of the cast and staff names. Otherwise it was probably rolling the dice on another “Bandai tries to sell model kits” premise.
The first episode does manage to careen wildly from event to event fast enough to stay interesting, and both the world in general and several recurrent gags are efficiently established here.
The “What the hell did I just watch?” factor *is* still fairly strong, though.
*****
QOTD:
1) What are your first impressions on the setting and characters?
It’s quite the mix of styles, given China on the one side and The Wild Wild West (But Dirt Poor) on the other.
And if there’s one thing I’ll say about this series, it’s that everyone knows they’re supposed to ham and cheese it, and they do.
2) What was the funniest line out of any of these characters’ mouths today?
Pretty much anything Bit says to defend himself against… ~~*accusations*~~the truth.
**FIRST TIMER**
[](#heavydrinker)
That was a pretty fun first episode. A naked amnesiac idiot falls out of the sky into the lap of some country bumpkins, and [adopts the misheard version of the derogatory name they’re calling him as his new name.](https://i.imgur.com/z1tE1r8.png) This is anime.
With how incredibly silly that all is, there is some neat stuff going on with the mechs. The mechas being outward manifestations of the strength of each person’s conviction is a pretty neat angle. There’s a lot of standard story set up with warring factions who’re diametrically opposed, and another set of beings out beyond the wall that’ll come into play at some point, but it’s clear this show doesn’t take itself seriously in the slightest, so I think there’ll be some fun to be had if it just continues being committed to being silly and leans in. Varied and colorful character designs are nice as well.
**Quick Hits/Screenshots:**
– [This is a flat-earther’s paradise](https://i.imgur.com/OAQiCEy.png)
– [Land speeders!](https://i.imgur.com/Sxeu4Ob.png) Showing off a lot of different tech to start off, gives flavor to the world.
– [This dude’s kind of a chad. Banger line.](https://i.imgur.com/60gFGZX.png) Also acts as a nice tag line for what seems to be a core theme of the series.
– He’s got a great point. If there isn’t a precedent, it just means you can set one. Opportunity! Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
– [God, I wish that was me](https://i.imgur.com/yPcBIg6.png)
– [tfw you can’t keep the harem happy](https://i.imgur.com/faHKrxs.png)
– I’m not entirely sure why their thought is that this thing has food in it that needs to be cooked ~~though I suppose in a way that could’ve technically been the case~~
– [Elsha’s legwear](https://i.imgur.com/qLJV0bv.png) is clearly taking style inspiration [from Maria in Symphogear](https://i.imgur.com/G7KN7PL.png)
BAKA YARO
[Back Arrow]>!it was [so](https://i.imgur.com/idEf2Qv.png) [obvious](https://i.imgur.com/7bEdctt.png)!<
**Rewatcher, Subbed**
Right off the bat one can probably tell this isn’t going to be the most serious show with that episode title.
That a spaceship capsule? Rakuho they call it.
Much like Attack on Titan a wall is all important.
Instead of crediting the production staff, our OP is crediting the various seiyuu for their characters, only showing those who have actually appeared thus far (merely 3). Interesting.
I was expecting someone to be in that Rakuho, but its just supplies. Bind Warper?
Tokusatsu time! Put those bracelets on and you transform into a giant humanoid mech!
Good thing the hapless Bit has cool cowgirl Elsha to save him.
A game where you smash a stick into your head doesn’t sound too good.
You didn’t get that animal Bit! You lie!
“If I’d been serious” lol, Bit is quite the talker.
No Bit, don’t kick it! You broke it!
A space craft has landed and all they can think about is the yummy food it may contain.
Do they really think banging it with a stick is gonna do any good?
There’s a naked guy inside! An alien!
OMG the kids are trying to eat him!
Bit wants his sheet back? He really wants to see this guy naked, huh?
Looks like Briheights come in non-human forms too.
Oh no, Bit’s house wrecked again!
The best way to stop a big mech? Strip naked and walk right in front of it.
OMG Atlee’s Briheight is so adorable. Reminds me of one of the ones from Darling in the Franxx. That reminds me, doesn’t this show have the same mech designer as Franxx and Star Driver? We should have some cool designs to look forward to. ETA: Research and replies say no! Okay, so I totally misremembered that then.
He’s calling her undies lady? LoL.
She risked her life to get him undies, but he doesn’t even wear them.
His Briheight’s definately got “main mech of the show” look to it.
Our nameless naked hero actually had a pretty good idea here, if the guy’s conviction is no mercy for those who flee, then he’s going to follow you away from the village if you flee.
He did pretty good for his first time. And supposedly had the skill to leave the bandit alive when Briheight pilots typically die?
Yes, the show and its main character is literally based on a misunderstanding of the phrase “Baka yaro” (you idiot)! A great way to cap off a hilarious first episode.
“Back Arrow” spending the first episode naked reminds me much of the horrifically bad anime Garzey’s Wing where our protagonist Chris gets isekai’d to a fantasy world during a big battle but happens to have been sent there completely naked.
**First timer**
– [Flat Earth.](https://imgur.com/a/xmpy1s5)
– The OP is definitely one of the OPs of all time.
– [The smart ones.](https://imgur.com/a/yQw9Tt5)
– [So answer the title card, no, they do not.](https://imgur.com/a/ra5RbJ1)
– So I’ve been wanting to watch this series for a while because it’s the last show that Nakashima worked on that I had not seen. From what I’ve gathered from this first episode, this is probably gonna be a schlocky but fun Tokusatsu show, and I’m all here for it. Let’s see how it turns out.
>QotD
– It’s fine.
– One made me chuckle. I’m not going back and finding out which.
**First Arrow**
Don’t really know anything going into this other than the fact that it’s written by Kazuki Nakashima and directed by Goro Taniguchi, both of which inspire supreme confidence in me that the show will be good.
I will admit, for the first few minutes of the episode, I was a bit afraid this show wouldn’t really hook me. Mostly just that I find the “exposition dump everything about the world at the very beginning of the show” approach to be one which doesn’t always work for me, it often feels like it’s throwing too much stuff at the viewer before they really have the narrative context to give any of those aspects weight, so it’s just throwing way too much at the viewer before they’re ready for that information. And “throwing way too much at the viewer” is *very* much what the start of the episode felt like.
However, it did soon begin to pick up once we switched focus to the cowboy village, and that tied the whole episode together as a whole for me.
While it threw me off at first, I did very soon start to appreciate this episode’s density. It slides you into the world very quickly while giving its character moments and humor *just* enough time to breath and connect with. Atlee is probably the biggest and most obvious example so far, she has just enough range in terms of the moments this episode alone gives her to seem well-rounded, intriguing, and very likable.
Backing up that structure is the fact that the worldbuilding is very intriguing, with the most interesting aspect of that being, of course, Briheights & Bind Warpers. Not only because they’re essentially a perfect mid-point between Mechs and Ultraman-style mega Henshin, but also the idea that it’s fundamentally based on the wielder’s conviction. Essentially, this has the potential to be a decent tool for character exploration if the writers can do the concept justice.
This also then really emphasizes the sheer sense of mystery surrounding our title character ~~BAKAYAROU~~ Back Arrow, both on the narrative level (why can he use a Bind Warper without a proper Conviction?) and on the speculative/character level (as he gains more attachments to and knowledge of this world, he’ll likely develop a true conviction of his own, how will that change his Briheight?). Sufficed to say, I’m fascinated to see where he goes from here.
On a somewhat less positive note, I’m very eh on the visuals and direction so far. I don’t think the show looks bad by any means, it just feels like they aren’t really on the same wavelength as the writing. It looks so conventional and restrained, it kinda holds back the zany energy the screenplay is going for. We’ll see if the show improves in this area over time, but for now it’s absolutely its biggest issue.
Otherwise, though? Good fun and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.
**First Timer, subbed**
I have no idea what I am in for with this show. I watched the OP and signed up without any other info. I am not even really sure what genre it’s gonna be. If nothing else, it’s something to do. I am gonna do subbed, unless you guys have a strong recommendation I switch to the dub.
—
So it looks like the show is going to be a mecha anime where the mechs run on emotions. I don’t know where they plan on taking that but generally that means it’s going to be an unserious show where we are here for the plot armour and the explosions. I can get behind it.
The setting looks interesting. I was a little confused when they said one society treasures intelligence and one treasures valor, but then showed the one that treasures valor having some form of advanced technology. The day will come when I will remember the society’s names, but it is not this day. We also then have the small village which seems unconnected to either of those 2 societies and whatever is outside of the wall.
The simplest and most obvious plotline is the 2 warring factions will fight over the small neutral faction, who will resist both. Then we have an external threat come in from over the wall and those 3 have to work together to repell it.
So far we have what looks like 4 main characters. Back arrow, Atlee, the competent redheaded girl and the incompetent reddishheaded boy. From my first impressions, I think Bit (I had to go back and find the 2 character’s names) is going to be pretty annoying but [gurren laggan]>!is good at digging!<, Elsha [gurren laggan]>!only kisses once!<, Atlee is best girl (I will fight you on this with zero basis) and back arrow [gurren laggan]>!dies in episode 8!<
—
**QOTD**
1. see above
2. I cannot remember unfortunately. The only thing that comes to mind is when the kid fell off the cliff and Atlee says she doesn’t like playing that game, they apologize and Atlee says something along the lines of “Are you actually sorry?”