After such a great episode, Gundam Build Fighters Try reaches curious lows.
What They Say:
“Upon This Shield”
The Try Fighters have made it into the semifinals as one of the best four teams. A drawing is held to determine the brackets, and they are matched up with Suiryu Academy. Meanwhile, Gyanko’s team from St. Odessa Girls’ School will face last year’s regional champion, the Miyazato Institute. As if from the pressure of fighting the previous champion school, Gyanko comes crying to Sekai before the battle. Out of compassion, Fumina leaves Gyanko alone with Sekai at a fast food restaurant, but it turns out that Gyanko is just playing on Sekai’s sympathy to make him agree to a date. Despite her meek behavior, Gyanko’s strategy fails when Sekai realizes her intentions. Then they suddenly run into Yomi Sakashita and Akira Suga from the Miyazato Institute, and Suga declares that Sekai’s Jigen Haoh school of kenpo won’t work on him. As they go to face their respective semifinals opponents, Gyanko and Sekai promise each other that they’ll meet in the final round…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Gyanko, Gyanko, Gyanko. In all its miraculous focus on one of the best characters of the Build Fighters series, Try has forgotten some glaring consistency issues leftover from last episode. Most notably, Sekai’s gunpla was most certainly missing an arm and part of a face, perhaps damaged beyond repair, but I wouldn’t buy that for a second. In any case, it was damaged quite a bit and not a minute was spent on the damage dealt.
I don’t know if it was still true, but they had the damage level set to B through the first few matches. This seemed to give the satisfying explosions needed for ultimate excitement without damaging the gunpla too much. With an arm missing, however, that point is merely moot. Kousaka has enough skill to make a replacement, but not as good as Sei’s original arm would be. The gunpla, however, seems to move without flaw. I wanted focus to be put squarely on the gunpla’s damage, but alas, none was there.
Unfortunately, that was not my only issue with the episode. Team Try Fighters’ semifinal match—semifinal match!—was a few minutes long. Gyanko’s Song Destiny Vase’s semifinal match was probably longer and definitely more exciting. There’s nothing wrong with this in general, but the episode also spent a few minutes showing Team Leviathan’s very strong gunpla. It can split into three as well as be controlled by all three members. It defeats another team in fairly quick fashion in the episode, but then is defeated in turn. Not enough time is spent to make it a testament to Try Fighters’ own strength because there’s simply not enough detail in the fight to make that determination.
Despite these complaints, the episode did do a few things well. Gyanko’s determination to win and her LOVE for Sekai bleeds through all the issues and warms my Thanksgiving food-filled heart (I’m writing this on Thanksgiving). In particular, I liked her use of fake tears to garner sympathy from Sekai. He was having NONE of it, but it motivated both of them to try and reach the final match together in a way that might not have been possible otherwise.
In Summary:
Given the buildup that Team G-Master has been given, I’m really looking forward to the final match next episode. If it isn’t one of the best gunpla battles in the series thus far, though, I’ll be disappointed. It seems that Team Try Fighters has no more aces in the hole, no more trump cards to pull, and they’re going to have to be innovative to win this match. They’re going to have to use (gasp) teamwork in the real sense to get through it all. I can’t wait to see it in action.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: YouTube
Equipment: PS3, LG 47LB5800 47” 1080p LED TV, LG NB3530A Sound Bar
