Monday, July 24, 2023

Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise Part 4 Episodes 14-17

The Build Divers are rocked by the revelation that Eldora and her population are real and that they’ve been fighting on a planet far across the stars.  Accepting these truths, Hiroto, May, Kazami and Parviz return to Eldora, knowing theyre stepping into a different kind of battle.  But the digital entity on Eldora’s Moon, Alus, is ready for them and has added copied and upgraded Gunpla to his army.  With fighting force cut in half, the Build Divers must reunite with their Eldoran allies and find a way to get back into the fight.  But this isn’t a game anymore.  Will any of them survive?

Since I’ve started watching Re:Rise, I’ve been sharing what I’ve learned from the plot with friends of mine.  The same answer came from those well versed in Gundam and those who know very little about it: that’s just weird.  Heck, I’m a lifelong Gundam fan and even I don’t know what to make of Re:Rise anymore.  We’ve gone from playing Gunpla with friends online to players being zapped to another planet to protect its population from an evil AI who’s on a genocidal rampage for no reason other than he might just be a tad racist?  Oh and there’s a Dragon that looks like a Pokemon who used to fight in space alongside this AI and wow…I feel like I’m jotting down notes on someones randomized fan fiction.  If it isn’t clear by now, I’m still not onboard with this plot or most of the characters.  This has become a slough but at the very least it’s half done. 
 
Even in a show as unorthodox as Re:Rise, no series is immune to the need for a Clip Show to bring viewers up to speed.  This time though, it acted as a prelude to both halves of the series, focusing on Freddie discovering the Sacred Site that he used to bring the Build Divers to Eldora in the first place.  I’ll be honest, while I strongly dislike much of Re:Rise’s cast, I’ve actually warmed up to Freddie a bit.  Sure he’s basically the teams unofficial mascot but as far as likeable Eldoran’s go, he’s ok.  He and Par actually had a lot of good moments together and demonstrated their equal character growth as they confronted the Mystic Dragon, Caudron, and urged him to get on board with letting the Build Divers continue to operate on Eldora.  But again, Freddie might be fine but he’s still a character who belongs in another Anime about Mecha brought from Earth to Space to fight Alien Machines who copy Mecha from Earth because…ugh for real though, I’m not letting go of my “this was meant to be another Anime before it was changed last minute into a Gundam series” theory.
 
In meeting Caudron, the Dragon who looks like the final evolution of a Pokemon, we got a little more backstory about the evil AI who used to be his ally.  And the more we got into details, the more I raise an eyebrow and groan a little.  You’re telling me that an AI meant to defend the populace of Eldora got shut down for a while and woke up to discover the current Eldorans now living on the planet…and suddenly decided that because theyre Furries it was time to wipe them all out?  The enemy AI, aka Alus…is racist?  Maybe that’s a step too far but needing to wipe out an entire species just because it doesn’t fit the definition of what you perceive as right, you tell me.  We also got to see our Char Clone, Masaki, fighting alongside Caudron and even having his Gunpla ride him.  A Gundam riding a Dragon…I’ve wanted to see this for like forever and the quick sight of it…just reminds me that this show is a gigantic mess and it doesn’t warrant such awesome imagery.
 
We did spend more time with the Build Divers adjusting to this new status quo and how theyre going to approach battles from now on.  Again, Par is the stand out being the one to broker an agreement between them and Caudron with Freddie’s help.  We also got to see Par’s backstory and man it’s tough.  Turns out his fear of flying comes from a disastrous crash landing in a glider that resulted in him getting paralyzed, that’s harsh.  But, thanks to a welcome cameo from Shayar, Par found GBN and found his love of flying again.  And resolutions like that are the reason why Par fits better into the Build Divers universe and everyone else doesn’t.  This goes double for Kazami, who actually confesses to Maiya it’s his fault Seguri got wiped off the face of Eldora.  She does have a mini break down but she’s way to quick to just forgive Kazami and move on.  If this were a true Gundam series, Maiya would rip Kazami the new one he deserves…but no.  If anything her forgiving Kazami is another step in the direction of a possible romance between the two and…yeah no.  And to be clear…it’s because Maiya can do better than Kazami, ANYONE can do better than Kazami.  Not much to say about Hiroto and May.  Hiroto’s still sorting out his own complexities and May’s still devoid of any real character.  As much as I hate Kazami, at least he emotes and doesn’t just look like he’s standing around waiting for a Day One Patch to finish uploading.
 
Any other odds and ends?  A lot of this set was getting things kicked off again and also providing some much needed explanations, ridiculous as they might’ve been.  Magic Sand is a key element on Eldora that is responsible for bringing Build Divers and their Gunpla to their planet and the team had to find a massive stock of it since the temple they had been using got destroyed by Alus’ attack.  Speaking of, seeking out four temples to find a key magical item?  That’s a general JRPG quest but I also cant help but think of The Legend of Zelda.  It feels as unoriginal as calling the original inhabitants of Eldora “The Ancients” (and they even look like they have the same outfits as the Atlanteans from The Vision of Escaflowne).  There is one thing I’m a little worried about.  If the tech or magic or whatever you want to call if from Eldora can reach across space and bring people to it, there’s a chance it can work in reverse and…oh man I’m really hoping that were not about to get a retcon of the origin of El Divers…that might make me give this show a 0/10 out of spite. 
 
Yeah, still not sold on this new all out Isekai direction Build Divers Re:Rise has gone in and I definitely don’t think that 3 out of the 4 chosen Build Divers are right for the job of saving an entire planet when they’ve consistently gotten their butts kicked by Alus and his copycat Gunpla.  My only hope is that the brief return of Sharyar, coupled with the previous cameos we got of Koichi and Nanamie, means that the original cast will be making an appearance soon and maybe even show the B Team how you’re supposed to save the world.  Whatever the case, we’re speeding through the last bit of this through Wednesday.  Check back tomorrow for the penultimate chapter of Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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