“Dive”
What They Say:
A boy named Rio is enjoying Gunpla Battle in the new Internet service known as the Gundam Metaverse Project. After installing a login set in his room at home, he dives into the Metaverse, together with the Lah Gundam he created with this day in mind.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With it being something like a decade now of Gundam Build anime properties, it’s been interesting to watch how they’ve grown and changed from that first series. I do find them fun in a kind of basic way and part of me just enjoys the way that I don’t have to get caught up in the complexities of an actual war series. This just lets it be something fun and a mash-up of things that the die-hard fans enjoy the strangeness of the situations. It’s big Superman Versus Wolverine kind of concept playing out as you get mobile suits from different eras and series being able to go up against each other and with a variety of situations. This new one is a three-episode net series whose next two episodes will come in a couple of weeks at once. The main focus here is initially in highlighting the blurring of the lines between the online and real world, hence the whole Metaverse thing.
Which is awkwardly named considering how the Metaverse thing Facebook operates is pretty empty in general and people are not flocking to it. Would a killer app like Gundam Build Fighters do the trick? The premise here introduces us to Rio as he’s enjoying the Metaverse service that he now has access to that he’s been waiting on for some time. Taking place in Hawaii gives it a particular feel with its look and designs and seeing Rio go through his day at the start and how it feels like a flavor of the original series in a different perspective is fun. Watching as he works through building his model and seeing the virtual application of it, and seeing other younger kids coming into the place to do the same is some good community-building stuff. It’s the kind of model hobby thing you want to see and reminds me of a lot of how tabletop gaming for me was back in the 90s. It highlights the dedication of all involved and the fun of it, as well as providing time for one of the store employees, Seria, to help provide dialogue about the basics.
Rio bringing his Gundam Lah into the Metaverse world is what it’s all about and he’s got a lot of excitement for that as that side of the show gets underway. The exploration of the Metaverse is pretty basic as we get a look at Main Street, some other Gundams there, and even Rio getting to meet some more well-known players from previous works showing up. That creates an opening for Rio to be able to play as well and show what he can do with his Gundam Lah. It’s visually great and pretty much what you’d want from a net project like this in execution and quality while also capturing the absolute joy of someone being able to partake in this environment like he’s wanted to for some time. It’s certainly aimed at a younger audience in that regard but it doesn’t make it childish. Rather, it makes it authentic and Rio’s enthusiasm can be fairly infectious here as we get into the match itself.
In Summary:
With a property of this nature, the opening episode basically delivered what I expected and it did it well. I generally like the Gundam Build world and what it does for Gunpla and getting people into model building and all that it entails. It makes me wish I had the time and skill for it like I did in my youth. Getting this virtual version but still tied to the real world aspect of it is a great way to encourage both and blend things well. The Metaverse phrasing is just unfortunate at this point and you’d think they would have come up with their own flavor of a name for it rather than what a big social media company is trying to claim as the home of it. Regardless, there’s a lot to like here even there there isn’t a lot of meat on the bone. It’s light and fun, delivering some good action stuff and some easily accessible material with good animation. I’m curious to see how they’ll round it out with two more episodes for the run.
Grade: B
Streamed By: GundamInfo via YouTube
