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Apr 11, 2017
[SPOILER WARNING]
The Spring of 2013 or 2013 was a year when anime got MORE awesome! We got hit after hit, and it was a brilliant year for Mecha. The three spring anime of 2013 was Gargantia, Valvrave and of course Majestic Prince. Those three mecha anime became classics to me each one giving a different synopsis for the Mecha Genre. Now a days it has been almost 4 years later since the writing of this review and I finally realized that after the Spring of 2014, Mecha has been dying. It seems to me that we are getting an increase of Highschool slices of life
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here and there and the very common all girl casts anime with subtle lesbian undertones for ridiculous amounts of pandering. This is because as times change there becomes a new ground rule of 'what anime to make' in the market. It is a business after all. I will admit, those slices of life do have a lot of charm! But what if I told you that the Spring Mecha anime of 2013 had a lot of charm too with a more interesting plot? Well I would have to tell you that we are living in a dark age of anime and anime like Majestic Prince has to exist to save the industry from becoming complete trash and further ruining the reputation of anime itself.
Story: 7
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince is about 5/6 teenaged genetically modified kids assigned the most interesting of mechs called ASHMB units. These units can only be piloted by them due to their assigned DNA and they are somewhat sentient on Fly or Fight mentality. Pretty cool huh? So they use these units to combat the Wulgaru who are trying to kill off humanity to recover lost genes to keep themselves alive. Trust me, it makes more sense in context. The movie takes place after the final episode of the show. Everyone is freaking out because Izuru almost died and a brand new Walgaru threat has revealed itself. A terrifying enemy that is possibly even stronger than Jiart. It's up to Team Rabbits, Faun and Fox to saaaaave the day! It's a simple story. Nothing wrong but still full of emotional ties that are required to give a crap about the plot. Honestly a story can be broken down to the basic bullet notes and can be seen as boring. A GOOD story is about presentation, not good writing. You can have the most boring premise in the world and still make it interesting and emotional. On the other hand you can have an intense situation and make it boring as hell. Majestic Prince avoids this by adding something I like to call 'narm charm'. All in all the story is basic and full of interesting premises to keep you in tact. And in stories like this that is ALL what you need. However, the main point of THIS story is about Asagi figuring out what HE wants to do. So the story focuses a bit more on him.
Art: 10
People might disagree with me but I admire Hisashi Hirai's character designs. Though one can make the argument that every character looks the same besides eye color and hair color, Hisashi Hirai's art has a VERY strong power. Emotions. The guy isn't afraid to cram in as many emotions into his character designs as possible. There is a reason why Hiashi reuses the same face: It works. The face can express so many emotions, rage face, super happy, embarrassed and my personal favorite "-_-". His character designs have something else that modern day developers struggle with today, and identity. Everywhere you look modern day anime continues to look the same with character designs because of the unfortunate reality that one design sells like hot cakes. I'm talking about that damn A-1 face that was perfected. There aren't a lot of anime anymore that has a unique and distinguishable art design. Yes a select few exist, but noticed how anime continues to really on the same art direction? It's a BREATH of fresh air to see Hisashi Hirai's character designs after seeing constant and constant anime character designs that come out of a factory. His designs have so much charm in them and I wish people can appreciate his designs more.
And the BEAUTIFUL mecha animation! Yes the humans get a bit stiff when they walk, but to be honest I feel like those cuts were made to create the bread and butter of Mecha anime. Relying on Hisashi's character designs to be as expressive as possible to pull up the lack of animation, the mecha animation and choreography is just as good if not better than the actual show. Gargantia's appeal was the unique premise, Valvrave's appeal was it's ridiculous over the top concept flashing so many cliff hangers, Majestic Prince's strengths are its charms and MECHA FIGHTING ANIMATION. You thought CGi mecha animation was slow, THINK AGAIN. The action in Majestic Prince follows a simple formula of Camera panning when the time is RIGHT. Not constant camera panning to the point it distracts you from the animation, but angling it just right to make the animation even more crisp. You see it all, every slash, missile and laser making an intense impact with some extreme weight involved. Indeed the animation is good, but just because it has great animation you need to make sure if it was put into good use. The lighting of the attacks are just too damn perfect. I can HEAVILY agree on the idea that the choreography is so damn good it blew my god damn ball sack to the moon. And now I need to get it back. However, fighting alone isn't enough to make a 'fight' scene interesting. It needs something else involved...
Sound: 9
It needs sound. You need to hear every impact, every point of strike with the noise to understand the intensity of the fights. The music in Majestic Prince isn't the best, but it sparks an emotion to use the theme songs including the new one for this movie! I like it! Let's talk about voice acting for a second here. Voice acting in anime is hard to criticize. Despite watching subbed anime for so many years I only came across a few sub voices in my life that I wish never existed. Japanese Goku, the asshole dark knight from Grimgar and EVERY high pitched anime girl that is trying too hard to sound like they are 10 when they are clearly over 20. I know that in Japan their females have some squeaky voices but let's be real here! If you ever heard an actual japanese woman talks, their voices are soft and high pitched but not to the point of being SQUEAKY. As if they are trying to sound too HARD to be cute. Tamaki's voice strikes a nice balance for this. She doesn't constantly scream all the time, she has more snarky -_- moments to adjust her voice to avoid sounding too much like a child. Tamaki is a good example on how to use a high pitched voice without coming off as too screamy and squeaky to the point of being cringy. Asagi's voice actor does his role of being a not so confident teen who constantly questions why people keep entering his god damn room. Izuru sounds like a dork, Ange's shounen kid voice with constant vulgar voices is freaking amazing to listen to, Kei is soft spoken and Ateru is cocky with his voice. Exactly what you would expect from these characters. Once again I gone off a tangent here, but when it comes to voice acting in subs you don't care about inflections due to not clearly understanding the japanese language. Instead it all comes down to voice range and avoiding a point of coming across as forced and just overall annoying.
Character: 10
Some people argue that Story and Character are basically the same thing, I disagree. Story is the situation they are in and how the twists and turns along with the slopes and downward spirals entertain someone. Characters are they people that grant LIFE into the world they live in. Team Rabbits along with the other characters are VERY 2D. But that's the point. They grew up in a military academy and only had ONE interest to grant them life. Meaning they focus on that interest to grant them character. The characters bicker and support each other, even take shots at one another. Small subtle things in anime helps bring so much life into them. Izuru wanting to be a cheesy hero and looking up to Asagi as his new found brother...to Asagi's embarrassment of course, Asagi's anxiety of being cool or being a leader bringing him down, Ateru's nerdgasms, Ange's VULGAR language, Kei's deadly cooking that somehow has the amazing ability to bring Izuru back to the way he is and Tamaki being a cheerful ditz that wishes to love. These are basic 2d traits that are endearing when planted together. Imagine if Power Rangers had more freedom to be charming with their characters, you get the Majestic Prince cast. You don't need 3D characters to have them be interesting or fun. 2d characters have strengths too! They are easy to understand and their quirks can easily sway you. Like going into Asagi's god damn room. What I'm trying to say is that Team Rabbit's appeal comes from small gentle emotions and teen friendly bickering that is very fun to watch. I also find it very touching where Tamaki tells Patricia thank you because she couldn't say it to Patrick. Though I will admit Patricia RUINED the moment by asking to grope Tamaki after all of this is done, but I'm glad that Tamaki's reaction completely reflected my own. -_- Meaning it was intentional. And I will never forget the moment where the entire crew came to Izuru's healing pod to write down get well messages on the glass. THIS is what I mean by CHARM and EMOTIONS. It might be silly but it works. Even having call backs with the Otakus to inspire Izuru to DRAW FREAKEN BETTER. Damn it! He better get better with his crappy manga. Anyways! Characters are charming and easily likable! It's easy to sympathize with Asagi...and...let's FOCUS on him for a moment.
Asagi is no doubt about it the main character for the movie. While Izuru is out of commission Asagi has been appointed for the leader despite his hesitation. He isn't confident, he is scared and most importantly he probably thinks he can't live up to be a hero like Izuru despite what he says. However, he learns to be a hero for his little brother. Asagi unlike the rest of his crew doesn't really have a quirk of 'interest'. Instead Asagi's role in the series is more of an emotional connection with his little sister like figure, his tech crew being a family, and most importantly finding a cause. Asagi is the deepest character in Majestic Prince and I would argue he might actually be 3D. I GET this guy. He learns about Izuru being his little brother and decides to take action. He needs to protect his little brother! And when he gets shot down after his BEAUTIFUL display of Blue 1, I was heart broken that he was robbed before taking up White 0. He learns to be his own kind of hero. A big brother, a family man like his tech crew, to be a true big brother. That is Asagi's character.
Enjoyment: 10
I had never had so much fun watching an anime before. It's been VERY long. Too long perhaps. Majestic Prince reminds me why I love anime so much. Mecha, action and of course charming characters that I will never forget. The final moment of Team Rabbits defeating the alien vulgar as shit lady is EXACTLY what I love about anime like this. The theme of team work and not just SHOUTING OUT to the main character to win with the power of friendship is how you DO IT RIGHT. Team Rabbits as a WHOLE defeated her. Kei awakens her unit to help Asagi pilot White 0. Izuru is still recovering so he isn't at 100 percent to rob the show's finale(Which I feared what would happen), Ateru takes the final shot while Tamaki injects power into Gold 4. And finally Ange gets the LAST vulgar line despite Black 6 being completely out of commission. THEY ALL DID IT. That is when I went bonkers. I want that...I want more of those moments in my anime. It's so...sad that these don't appear more often, but you know what they still exist. Vulgar alien language on Vulgar alien language people. You must see it to believe it.
Overall: 9
Charm, action, expressions, laughs, emotions...this is what I call anime that still tries. This is an anime that needs to be watched by not only mecha lovers but also others who wish to explore the regions of Hisashi Hirai art and the wondrous properties of charm in anime. Let it not die, please continue to make anime like this. And why are you people in Asagi's room?
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 4, 2017
Gundam is a war drama. A drama being exactly what you expect it to be, a drama. Characters are put into very dramatic situations while feeling the pressure of adult hood and tragedy weighing them down to the point of breaking. People don't watch drama to have fun, they watch it for an interesting story full of twists and turns that shatter your expectations. Mix with war and you have some heavy drama coming your way. That is exactly what the most recent Gundam Franchise is all about.
As a great fan of the Gundam Franchise I can safely say that IBO as a whole
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is a fantastic war drama along with having some better spins on the franchise itself to keep it fresh. IBO is VERY different from other Gundam Series, but alas the core theme is still present. As long as Sunrise continues to experiment with the Gundam Franchise then perhaps the infinite possibilities that inhabit the core concept of Gundam can finally be discovered. In this case IBO shows plenty.
Story: 8
No matter how good a story is, presentation is key. The most boring of concepts within a story can be made interesting if presented JUST right. The same can happen the other way around where the most interesting of concepts can be made boring if the presentation is off. No matter how perfect someone's writing is people will find some sort of fault in it. The key of a good story is to present the premise, give tension, give reasons, give life and have a good time on that roller coaster ride. And a roller coaster ride best describes the story of IBO. Things keep happening and lead to another incident and you wanna know what happens next. If you have that "I wanna know what happens next" mentality for your target Audience to have, then you nailed presentation.
Iron Blooded Orphans is about a mercenary group known as Tekkadan trying to survive the bat crazy world of Mars/Earth government finding their footing. People fight, people cheat, people murder just to get by. Tekkadan is no different. They are mercenaries after all. They aren't supposed to be good guys, but people we can relate to. That spark of humanity is all what we need to follow a character. However, inhuman concepts that harbor within Mika are also important within dramas. With many characters with different points of the story you can see what they go through. It might be brief but all what you need is brief. It's a war drama after all. ANYONE can die.
As things go on, Tekkadan gets pushed and pushed until they struck a deal that they will soon regret. Watching their spiral into failure is indeed depressing, but that is Gundam at its finest. The ending itself is more unique than the other Gundam series' endings but it is at least bitter sweet. The theme for IBO is Family and the cold heart truth of reality that you can't change who you are or even how things are unless you become the very thing you set out to destroy.
Art: 9
Looking gooood again eh Sunrise? I never bought any Build Fighters or G Rec models, but I have bought several of IBO because of how amazing they are. The MS Designs are AWESOME! Getting some unique ones here and there and the Barbatos is a very cooold Gundam! COOL COOL COOL! What else must I say? Animation is saved for the action which makes total sense, and the color pallets work just fine. In the future I wanna get myself a Tekkadan jacket for obvious reasons. AHEM! Enough of me fan boying. I'm not the best on art analysis, but if Gundam's visuals rely on rule of cool then I was say they did a splendid job.
Sound: ALL of the openings are amazing! The Tekkadan theme is off the hook! And you know once that theme is playing you just wanna root for them! Take my word for it, listen to it with the Unicorn theme when you can.
Character: 8
I can say with great confidence that IBO knows what it's doing with its characters. With the theme of Family you can see Tekkadan giving themselves a shoulder to cry on and give each other support. Akihiro wanting to be more family orientated, Takaki leaving to get away from the fighting, Orga struggling and making poor choices, Atra opening up more and even Gaelio with McGillis are great wonderful characters to follow. Mika is...strange. I would say he is crazier than Heero and Setsuna. He is with out a doubt a sociopath that only cares about Orga. Though I feel like he has way too many Kira Yamato perfect moments, he is still touchable. Presentation is key here. When Mika is being perfect he looks GOOD being perfect, and when he struggles he REALLY does struggle and push his body and mobile suit to the absolute limit. That kid isn't afraid of death. Mika is far from realistic but characters like this exist because of how awkward they are. He certainly a wild card in IBO and I'm glad to get a shot to experience his flavor. McGillis is a what if Char failed from the beginning, though McGillis struck me as a small disappointment. It's not because he failed or how he failed, his failure makes sense to show how idealism on a single note can't accomplish everything. Even becoming the very thing you sought out to destroy. My disappointment lies within his interactions with Mika.
Have you ever noticed when McGillis had a flash back his young self has the EXACT same expression as Mika when he was younger? I always felt that IBO was setting up Mika and McGillis to have a clear rivalry or friendship. McGillis growing up closed his heart from people, planned ahead and did ruthless things for himself. Mika on the other hand did ruthless things for Orga, someone he CARES about, his heart is closed but not entirely. Basically a Good Sociopath and a 'Bad' Sociopath. But over time it is hinted out that McGillis TRULY is a good man who got corrupted by his own ideals. Making him closer to Mika than mirroring him. It felt like wasted potential that they would seem to hint that McGillis and Mika are very similar yet very different at the same time. Oh well, guess my expectations were subverted. But it still irks me...which leads to
Enjoyment: 9
Perhaps what I see the most in IBO threads here on anime list is the anger meter. People get ANGRY when characters die in a way they don't see fit. People get ANGRY when certain characters DON'T die. Die die die. He must die, no he must live. It's all the same. Things happen because the route is set for people's demise. It's satisfying when Iok dies, it's sad when Laughter Dies. The deaths fulfill their purposes. It fills you with emotions that you will never forget which is mission accomplish for a war drama. And honestly I feel like people here forget about that. I enjoyed it for what it was and had my own sort of way for fun. The show is a roller coaster and I love that aspect.
Overall: IBO gets an 8. Some disappointments but the good outweigh the bad. I had a great time with this show and I can't wait for the next franchise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 24, 2017
As a fan of Gunvolt I hate to admit it but I'm quite disappointed. When I heard Gunvolt was getting an anime I was hyped! The magnificently designed characters by Yoshitaka Hatakeyama being brought to life in animation! Though the key animator had no choice but to slightly edit the designs a bit to make the animating process smoother. When you see the Megaman Zero comercials you have to wonder...what if Megaman Zero got an anime? Why? Because you wanna see more of that while still using Toru Nakayama's (Megaman Zero's Character Designer) designs. Still, the work would be tremendous! So they had to settle
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with easier to draw designs which I completely understand. But enough of my hype, let's talk about how they messed it all up.
Story: 4
Gunvolt isn't about the story, it's about the world. Megaman games are the same thing. The story isn't all that important. All you need to know is that robots are attacking and it's up to the robotic heroes to save the day. Simple. But concepts stack onto that base to expand the world of Megaman. That's the appeal of it. More robot masters and reploids, how the world evolves through each game, the idea of reploids and humans can coexist and all of the fun memories of friendship along with the hardships of evil. Gunvolt is essentially Megaman but replace robots/reploids with adepts. Since the anime is about the beginning where things left off, and because of how short the first mission in Gunvolt is, SURELY they can go for the best option by having the first ten minutes be about how Gunvolt starts his days in QUILL. Instead we get a poorly paced drawn out first mission plagued by badly placed flash backs and ridiculous pacing. One moment Gunvolt is on the train, next moment we are back to Jewel. One moment we are seeing Gunvolt infiltrate a random building then we cut to a flash back when he was saved by Asimov. While other things are happening Joule's Septima keeps interrupting the flow as well. If they wanted to shoe horn her septima to sing, why not just use her RIGHT when Gunvolt is about to fight Merak and have her dance around with decent animation like how she is used in the game?These choices are so jarring even I kept being sucked away from this anime. Honestly if this was the direction they were going they could have at least had Gunvolt's flash back be the start and work their way up to the moment he saves Joule and leaves QUILL. Over all the story in Gunvolt isn't an issue, the matter is how the anime presents it is very slashed into pieces and arranged in a way that would make it confusing and jarring to even watch. And don't forget that shoe horned fight scene...I will talk about that later.
Art: 5
The art style is fine! They put in some nice moments to show off how awesome Gunvolt and how beautiful Joule's Septima can be at times! He makes some nice moves here and there but the problem starts to fall when it comes to other aspects of the show. Art in anime isn't about how flashy it can be, it should be about how they can spread their budget to the right areas and like most anime that have action in it they save the best for the good stuff. But that also means making cuts. Gunvolt's flash back were multiple still frames, his talk with Asimov is on a desk side shot for side shot with bland colors, sometimes the other animation bits can be choppy when they don't want to be. I don't blame them for this animation! Gunvolt only solid like 150 K units! You can't expect someone like Inti Creates to make a pretty anime! They just had to work with what they had. Still, it's no excuse for this choppy animation when they could have used previous bits of animation in favor of something different. They don't have to make a 21 OVA by stretching out animation and pacing, they could have compressed the best scenes without unnecessary ones to make it as pretty and short as possible. After watching Planetarium I realized you don't need 21 minutes to describe some plot in that frame of time. All you need is enough, and because of how simple the story is in Gunvolt it could have been so much better if they made a smarter move for quality and not quantity.
Sound: 3
Joule's song is...well...meh. Compared to her other songs I'm surprised they didn't just put in Reincarnation when Gunvolt was powered up. That song is a staple in the series and they didn't even use it. I watched the dub and sub and...Was Gunvolt's voice actor making Gunvolt trying to sound like a complete idiot? I don't know, Merik and Gunvolt's voices in this anime are awful. Joule's and the others were fine at times though. The Sub is way better, and I think what happened here was that the dub was rushed. You can tell with the cut and paste translation. Dubbing is pretty difficult. You have to make sure your lines match the lips of your character while also conveying the same message. Meaning there is syllable management. There are times where Gunvolt finishes his lines and his mouth keeps moving up and down, including Marik's at the end. Though some of the line's are delivered to the point it would make the dubbing of Megaman X4 blush. When a character's face is conveying so much emotion but their delivery is VERY off, it results in cringe and hilarity. Look no further than Marik's 'Just freeze already!' line while he is making a rage face. It makes me wonder if this was intentional or not because of how far voice acting as gone. Even the most inexperienced of voice actors can be whipped into shape with multiple cuts until they get it just right. If that isn't the case then the voice acting was most likely rush to finally get Gunvolt published for the media. Watch the Sub if you wanna take it more seriously...or the dub if you wanna have a laugh. Don't forget Gunvolt's "SHEEEE HAAAS NEEEEDS TOOO."
Character: While most characters are portrayed accurately, Gunvolt and Marik's is very off. Gunvolt now sounds like your generic anime protagonist with a sense of justice. Yes, he is that but Gunvolt's appeal comes from how much of a snarky bastard he can be. He loves thinking about how messed up people are with a silly one liner, he loves to show off how cocky he can be with his ability fry your jitt up. They did not convey this side of his character very well in the anime even when he was fighting Marik. Instead he talks about Joule's dream to sing with her own power, why Marik works for Sumeragi and how wrong it is and such. Gunvolt in the game is like this, but was this really the right time to talk about it? Where are his lines of sass? What does he say when the torture pedophile was scared out of his mind? "Good intel, creepy electro whip guy." What...WHAT!!?!? That...that's his sassy insult?!?! What happened to his "Ding ding thanks for the whipping. I needed a good recharge." or "I -AM- LIGHTNING" line? And then there is Marik. How did they mess him up? Well for starters WHY is Marik here? He isn't in the Anthem opening mission in Gunvolt. He felt shoe horned in because he is the most popular Seven Glaive users/bosses in the first Gunvolt game because the audience can easily relate to a gamer boy who has no drive whatsoever. Marik is constantly annoyed, he finds everything else to be a chore and wants to go and play vidja games. Honestly they draw him with a cocky smile rather than a dull expression. His lines at times are fine and make sense for his character, but honestly he serves no point here. He should be complaining why Gunvolt is here or why can't he just die already. Oh well. Way to ruin two characters at the same time, OVA.
Enjoyment: 7
Though despite low numbers I am still a Gunvolt fan and I will gladly support the series by giving some of my money to watch this OVA. The problem is they could have done so much better and added more lore in the Gunvolt universe. It isn't about the story, it's about the world they are in with silly and awesome one liners filled with wacky people with pretty j pop playing. They can't fit all of that in 21 minutes, but instead of trying a different route they took a path that had to be drawn out. I enjoyed the flashy stuff, I enjoyed the pretty designed, I enjoyed the horrible voice acting, but I did not enjoy the overall performance which severely hurts this OVA. If this anime was made for a Gunvolt fan then it's alright. I can't expect much from Inticreates. But if I wasn't a gunvolt fan and watched this then I would NOT be interested in playing the series. Regardless, good try Inticreates! Better luck next time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 22, 2016
After the winning the tournament, we return to the buildfighters to see them in their glory by continuing to explode my senses of 'What happened?'
I will give them credit for allowing us to see the characters and side characters in action to warm up within the lime light, but I believe Build Fighters Try along with this special are completely missing the point when comparing it to the first Build Fighters. There are two main problems with Build Fighters Try.
The first being the fights themselves. Don't get me wrong, we get some over the top action in Build Fighters Try and its special, but it's
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how they present those action scenes that miss the bar by a long shot. That meaning that the direction of how the fights are done in general. In the beginning of try, the first few episodes that introduce the characters and side characters used fluid like animation to have their little plastic mechs move around and trade decent blows. But as the series went on, it all came down to 'Who has the best magical powers.' That being said, the jist of it all comes down to hyper beam spamming and throwing. Despite Sekai being a fist fighter, he fires more lasers then moving his mech around to actually use those fists for the sake of...you know...FIGHTING. Most of the action we see in the special is exactly that but on a grander scale. Almost all...no, ALL of the mechs use High Mega Cannons and that blow everything in sight. Don't get me wrong, giant death beams are awesome, but you can't spam them because standing still and firing death lasers gets VERY boring after awhile. It's another reason why people dislike SEED and SEED Destiny's choreography due to the reliance of beam spamming. You need to have a good balance of close quarters combat and long range combat to really get the most out of shounen. When all the characters are basically using the same moves and aren't doing much in close combat, the uniqueness of characters and their mechs diminish when the only difference are just visuals. The original Try had the same problem with a few great exceptions. I see this due to animating close combat takes time and more money than just standing there and firing death lasers.
The second has to be with the characters. Though Try did a bad job in characterizing their rivals and side characters due to having too many characters in the span of over 20 episodes, the special highlights on the other problem. The women in Try are terribly one noted. When I mean one noted, I mean the problems of most crappy harems have. The women are ONLY focused on one thing, the main character's attention. This results in the women fighting over who gets to ride the 13 year old dick who clearly doesn't show any signs of female interest and would rather train to get stronger. What the hell do women see in a guy who is too focused on one thing and clearly shows no interest in them? These dense harem leaders, if written well, can be hilarious. But dense main characters have become such a cliche in harems that it's starting to get really annoying. Just because your main character is dense doesn't mean the women within the show could just STRAIGHT UP TELL THE MAIN LEAD THEY HAVE FEELINGS FOR HIM...but no. That would only end the harem once the main character picks a female. If the guy is dense, THROW EVERYTHING AT HIM. TELL HIM HOW YOU FEEL.
Fumina in the beginning of Try didn't show so much interest in Sekai. In fact, when Gyanko lost, Fumina did a really cute move. She got Sekai to take Gyanko on a date because she is well aware that Gyanko has feelings for Sekai...and then all of the sudden she starts forming her own interests out of blue for no reason at all. Then she starts fighting over Sekai? This characterization and change of Fumina made her quite unlikable once you remember the idea she did something nice and completely undermines it by trying to take Gyanko's man. Then Fumina devolves into the annoying type 2 tsundere. The kind that constantly switches from tsun to dere because she won't admit to Sekai how she feels. Though her characterization for the winning road was a decent idea so she can fight with her own power, it's a shame that the special continues to push Fumina into this awful and old as steam stereotype.
Update on the above: I got my facts wrong. Fumina didn't suggest Gyanko and Sekai to date. Guess I remembered it wrong, but regardless, Fumina is still a flat character. The show and even this special continues to suggest that Fumina only exists for Sekai's oblivious harem instead of being the team leader and glue of the Try Fighters.
Gyanko has a similar problem, but you gotta give her credit for being a bit forward to Sekai. The same thing goes for miss mary sue herself, Shia, to ride in on the success. Gyanko and Shia's existence in this OVA has only one purpose, to have the entire female cast besides Sekai's sister(Thank god) to fight and berate the dense fighter when he does nothing wrong. Even when all three see Sekai hang out with a small girl, they QUICKLY give him death glares and don't even think logically that "Nah, Sekai is too dense for that shit anyways." This characterization just makes the females in Build Fighter shallow and only exist to be unlikable bitches who only exist to fight over Sekai. Though they might form friendships, it's completely undermined.
Kousaka and Sakai are undermined here too. Instead of fleshing out their rivalry a bit more, all they do is exchange some dialogue and completely left them to just skip to it and starting blowing stuff up...*Sigh*...what happened to their rivalry? Maybe if the focus wasn't on the harem aspect of the show that we all know for sure won't go anywhere, their characters just seem like a one note.
And we saw it coming, everyone. We know the girl in the end was obviously Aina and Raiji's daughter...I mean look at her. She feels so shoe horned and basically almost murdered EVERYONE just so she can have a PLASTIC MODEL... So apparently she can make the crystals hostile...wait. If she can control them all, why didn't she just control that orange gunpla to fly out of there instead of just standing there and wa- Nope. Thinking too logically. Gotta have our heroes destroy endless canon fodder by endless boring death lasers... She feels so shoe horned and the way she gets away with almost killing everyone in the way because she wanted a plastic toy feels so disappointing. If she wanted a gunpla on her own, why didn't she just ask? Don't say she is Shy, because she is CLEARLY capable to walking over to Sekai and greet him.
The plot itself is a mess. You know? The power goes out but CONVENIENTLY the only gunpla controller station that has power is conveniently next to the building. Didn't they say they ran out of power? Why that one spot? Does it have a back up generator? Well??? It was so obvious that it actually felt like the show was insulting my own intelligence. Nils isn't gonna report because no one got hurt? YOUR ENTIRE FACILITY IS DESTROYED. That is gonna cost A LOT of money! So how are you gonna explain that to your funders? "Uuuuh the entire thing blew up. Lol nothing suspicious here." I never thought that they would brush it under the rug like that.
And then the ultimate nail that gets hammered into your skull comes at the bitter end. Aina and Reiji's daughter gets the cool orange gunpla...and Fumina says that she can't have it because the girl needs to make her own gunpla...Did...did they actually shoe horned in this message? And they put another BEAR GUY together, because females in gundam MUST have cute gunpla and SDs, not actually legit gundams that aren't feminine at all((At least Shia and Fumina can pull off actual gundams and still make them feminine))...and all done...just...
This entire special is just awful. I'm giving it a six because at least it's short and has some flashy lights and all...but...I'm giving it way too much credit because the story really is bad. But I'm giving it a bit more because the potential for Build Fighters using technology to use Gunpla outside of the base gives off SO many ideas. Especially for Try to take their story into a serious direction. But going dark and edgy and messing it all up is a recipe for disaster.
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Update: Decided to change the score to a 5. I honestly feel like giving it a six is too generous. I should be more honest with how I score shows, especially shows like this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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