DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionGundam Build Fighters
ONA ActionGundam Build Divers Prologue
ONA ActionGundam Build Divers Re:RISE
ONA ActionGUNDAM BUILD METAVERSE

REVIEWS

• 

  Pockeyramune919

  54/100
  A Gundam show that can't build character nor excitement, thus takes a dive.

  Anyone who even has a passing knowledge of Gundam can tell you that it is a big series. While it can seem daunting, people who want to get into it can take solace in the fact that given the number of entries, there’s a show for everyone. If you’re like me and enjoy dark and gritty stories, you can watch Zeta Gundam, Victory Gundam, or Iron-Blooded Orphans. If you want something more lighthearted, you may be inclined to watch something such as ZZ or Build Fighters.

  Gundam Build Divers is definitely more on the lighthearted spectrum. As someone whose favorite Gundam shows are the three aforementioned “dark” entries, you might be inclined to believe that I’d write off this show without giving it a chance. While it’s true that this type of Gundam show is somewhat alien to me, I was willing to give it a chance, and if it had many merits, I’d love it, lighthearted or no.

  Gundam Build Divers is centered around Gundam Build Nexus - an MMORPG based around Gunpla. The main characters frequent the real-life Odaiba Gundam Base (most notable for its Gundam Unicorn Statue). This was by far my biggest draw to the show. As a big Gundam fan, the concept of a Gundam MMO proved fun to think about. The possibilities are endless. Gundam Build Divers’ cameos were great as well. If you’re a fan of Gundam, you’ll be sure to see a reference to series you love. They even paid tribute to the box art for the Linkin Park Gundam!

  

  So, besides fanservice, what does Gundam Build Divers bring to the table?

  Not much, unfortunately.

  The very thing I praised the show for, its setting, is one of the biggest things that annoyed me. Maybe Recovery of an MMO Junkie spoiled me, but GBN often doesn’t feel like a game. While it can be forgiven in that it’s a VR game, it’s still ridiculous for characters to act hurt or hungry, only to remember that they’re in a video game (multiple times).

  GBN murders any tension the show tries to foster. Because GBN is a game, there aren’t any _real _stakes, so it was hard for me to get invested. Game concepts aren’t brought up nearly enough, and thus, while more than an afterthought, it felt like GBN was deemed not worthy of exploring.

  What does Build Divers deem worthy of exploring, you ask? The characters. Unfortunately, they’re still "explored" about as well as other galaxies. The story primarily follows Riku, the blandest Gundam protagonist I’ve had the displeasure of following. He’s pretty much your generic middle-school shounen protagonist who converts friendship into the energy needed to tear through each and every obstacle that has the misfortune of being in his way. The shrivel of tension that exists in the show is brutalized by Riku, who, past the intro episodes, becomes a nigh-unstoppable force, making the show quite boring. It’s a bad sign that, more often than not, I was rooting for Riku to get his just-desserts. I came to roll my eyes whenever a character spoke of a low success rate, because I knew Riku would pull through all the same. It was extremely unrealistic to see Riku, a total newbie, absolutely brutalize most of his competition.

  And if you thought Riku was too bland, Build Divers has you covered with Sarah - a mysterious girl whose sole purpose in this anime is to stand around looking cute. The less I talk about Sarah, the better.

  The other characters don’t add much, though a lot of them do end up being more enjoyable than the main bunch. Though I must say, as far as the main group go, Ayame is a saving grace.

  Again, battles aren’t that important in Gundam Build Divers. Sure, characters like to do battle, but nothing is really at stake with losing. While some of the Gunpla look quite cool, a lot of the battles lacked a certain “umph,” for a lack of a better term. My favorite challenges were actually the capture the flag events, probably because they added something new to the mix. The ending of the show has a really nice one, but it’s too little too late.

  I wanted to like this show, especially since I began it with a friend, yet it didn’t do anything for me. It was hard to drag myself to watch another episode, and it felt like a chore. I didn’t really find the show funny, I didn’t find the action exciting, the characters were boring, and the story was anything but gripping. The only saving grace was - due to being a glorified commercial - the copious amount of fanservice, but even if you’re a Gundam fan, it’s not really worth the watch.

  5.4/10

  Suffice to say, while I’m wary about calling the show terrible, it was quite mediocre.

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• 

  Cadesius

  50/100
  The height of mediocrity for Gundam shows, which in this case only comes as a disappointment...

  Gundam Build Divers Review

  Y'know I'm sure Build Divers wasn't all that bad, but I found myself seriously disappointed in it for a few reasons...

  The biggest and most glaring issue (with the show itself anyway) for me was one that might initially seem fairly nitpicking, but that seriously got on my nerves over the course of the show, with that being the characters' obsession with retrospection. Let me explain. Around the half way mark, it started to feel like the characters were spending more time looking back on their previous experiences and explaining for the hundredth time how much they meant to them, rather than actually progressing the story. I feel like they could have got twice as much done in the time they spent just thinking about what they had already done. And yes, this may be a petty grievance to most, but I found it really annoying for whatever reason.

  I also found the characters to be largely two dimensional and boring to watch, leading to a definite lack of engagement with their struggles. On top of that, the show lacked a solid end goal for its characters to work towards, so the whole thing started to feel pointless anyway. And instead of having one or two characters fill the role of mentor for our young protagonists, half the cast is dedicated to teaching them new stuff, with those characters receiving very little in the way of character development. Or any characters for that matter.

  As far as mech designs go (fairly important for a mecha show), I didn't find any of them particularly impressive or eye catching. First impressions were the the colours were too kid-appeal like, which could have been avoided with more care taken to the colour design of each mech (see Gundam 00, IBO, or hell even Evangelion for examples of how to do this well). The only design that still stands out to me is the Iron Blooded Orphans inspired Galbaldy Rebake, which actually looks pretty cool. That's not to say most of the designs are bad or anything, they just didn't really catch my eye.

  Oh yeah it has furries in it as well, but they're not all that bad, so it could have at least been worse there.

  On a positive note, there were some really well done action scenes, and the animation overall was pretty decent, with good effects and all that jazz. Well that and the soundtrack was actually nice as well, at least to the degree where I'll listen to it outside of the show's confines.

  Now the biggest flaw of this show isn't actually to do with the show itself, but rather the two that came before it, especially the original Build Fighters. Whilst this show probably would have been acceptable in its mediocrity had it been the first 'build series' show, its release after BF and BFT could only be described as immensely disappointing. Those were both shows with great characters who actually underwent development over the course of their respective shows, as well as having great mecha design all around, and a push forwards story styled like many shounen anime, that kept me engaged until the very last episode. So Sunrise's decision to abandon their already fleshed out cast of characters for a set of new, considerable more lifeless ones is beyond me. It also leaves questions that go back to the original Build Fighters unanswered, most agonisingly the fates of Sei and Reiji are still somewhat a mystery. (Although it is worth noting that I didn't really enjoy Island Wars either, so perhaps it's a good thing that they left it where they did...

  In summary, what would have otherwise been a completely mediocre anime, with bland characters and mech designs (but some good action), has been made considerably worse by the mere existence of its far superior predecessors, resulting only in disappointment in my opinion. I have yet to watch Re:RISE, but its another new cast of characters, so it looks like they haven't learnt their lesson yet, so I'm not holding out hope.

  Thanks for reading!

  
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