Gundam Build Divers

Gunpla Battle Nexus Online (GBN) is a new network game that lets people enjoy a variety of missions using Gunpla in a virtual cyberspace dimension. Middle-school students Riku Mikami and Yukio Hidaka recruit their classmate Momoka Yashiro and dive together into this vast world. Becoming "Divers," or inhabitants of GBN, they meet a mysterious girl named Sarah who has an amazing sensitivity to Gunpla. They begin playing alongside her, but...

There are many other famous Divers, starting with Kyoya Kujo, the champion whom Riku admires. Multiple Divers can join to form a team called a "force." Meanwhile, the game is disrupted by Mass-Divers who use unofficial tools called break decals. Through many encounters and experiences, Riku and his friends will build not only Gunpla, but their own adventures as well!

(Source: Official Website)

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Alternative setting:	Gundam Build Fighters
Prequel:	Gundam Build Divers Prologue
Sequel:	Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu
Japanese

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Staff

Watada, Shinya

Director

Oobari, Masami

Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, In-Between Animation, Assistant Animation Director, Key Animation

Kyougoku, Takahiko

Episode Director, Storyboard

Son, Seung-Hui

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

	1: "Diver's High" by SKY-HI (eps 1-13)
	2: "Infinity" by SWANKY DANK (eps 14-25)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Ashita e" by Iris (eps 1-13)
	2: "Start Dash" by Spira Spica (eps 14-25)

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Nov 14, 2018

TakaCode

Not Recommended

Spoiler

If there was a word to describe the Gundam Build series, it would be disappointing. Ever since the first Season of Build Fighters which is one of my favourite Gundam shows the series had a big massive declined on quality where not only the shows that removed everything that made the original series great but they added stuff that shouldn't be in a Gundam show period.

Gundam Build Fighters Try was one of the most disappointing animes I have ever seen period, as it took everything that was good in the original series, threw it out the window in favour of adding in generic anime stuff ...

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Sep 30, 2018

Pockeyramune919

Mixed Feelings

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 who’s 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 show, it’s not really worth the watch.

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

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Dec 19, 2018

MrLegitimacy

Not Recommended

When Gundam Build Divers began airing, I was excitedly showing my friends the cool custom Gundam designs that it was showcasing. In the second week of it airing, I was telling them about the kickass theme song and how the only character I liked was the gay one. By the third week, I was begging for it to stop. The team at Sunrise missed the mark with Gundam Build Divers so completely, that I can't even be arsed to write a proper thesis or remove the outline headings that I use to structure reviews. My thoughts are as follows:

How does it look?
Soulless, except for rare ... moments when they actually sprinkle a little budget into a mech battle. The character designs are bright and colorful, and almost all of the mech designs are badass, but that's really all I can find to say about the visuals.

How does it sound?
Get HYPE BOI! Because here comes one of the most energetic, exciting opening songs of 2018! Enjoy it while it lasts, because it's all downhill after "Diver's High" ends. That's true in each episode, and the entire series after they switch the theme song to "Infinity" by--no joke--someone named "SWANKY DANK." Both ending songs are forgettable, the soundtrack never once caught my attention, and the Japanese voice work is pretty standard.

What does it present?

Characters:
For how little I care about each and every one of them, I'm actually amazed at how many distinct characters I recall. I think this really is thanks to the character designs, because none of them are very deep at all. The main character Riku is as vanilla as you can get, and the same goes for his nerdy friend that isn't as good as him and his gal friend who is just getting into Gunpla. Note that how I just described them is the entire depth of their characters. They amass a team of fellow Gunpla builders who all have about the same level of personality, and make some bland friends and rivals along the way. It tries really hard to sell you on their friendship so it can reap an emotional payoff at the end when it tries to go full SAO, but for reasons I'll detail in the following sections, it just doesn't work.

I also find it impossible to relate to any of them, despite my own appreciation of Gundam and building Gunpla. The thing is, when I talk to my other friends with the same hobby, we don't talk about how we're going to "perfect our Gunpla" or that we want to "become stronger," we talk about what new models kits we want to build, and the quality of the molds, the articulation, and the color separation. I understand that with the Build Fighters line Bandai is trying to encourage people to customize their Gunpla by making it more accessible, but you can't sell me on the idea with hollow dialogue and shallow characters (Plus I've always wanted to customize Gunpla, and I didn't need a show to convince me).

Story:
In the world of Gundam Build Divers, an almost YuGiOh! level sensation has swept across the world. The Gunpla Battle Network is THE place to go to show off your custom built, real world Gunpla and use them to duke it out against other players online. However, any damage your Mobile Suit takes in the game is reflected in real life! Now this in and of itself is not the worst setup I've ever seen in an anime. Ever since I was a kid I've enjoyed shows like YuGiOh! and Beyblade that try to sell their toy line by making a world wide phenomenon out of it in their universe. The real issue that makes this premise unbelievable for me is that these Japanese school kids go to the Gundam Base in Tokyo to login to the game, and spend what seems like hours a day playing with Gunpla instead of studying. That just wouldn't happen. I can buy the ridiculous technology you would need to make the real world Gunpla interface work, and that the world is obsessed with Gundam models, but that just ruins my suspension of disbelief.

Worse yet is that I never feel any tension from Build Divers, because until very near the end there are almost no stakes. Let's compare it to Beyblade, where the main focus is also a competitive league that you use your customized toys to battle in. All of the Beyblade matches take place in real life, face to face with your opponent. There is palpable tension just eyeing down your enemy, but in Build Divers you may as well be playing an MMO from your bedroom because you will probably never even meet the person you're playing against. How about Mega Man Battle Network, where the battles are all virtual? Even in Battle Network, the outcome of their net battles directly affects the real world. The digital avatars have the capability to interface with almost every piece of technology from the net, and physically endanger people if they're not stopped--MUCH higher stakes than in Divers. Let's even look at Digimon, where (At least early on) there was no interaction with the real world whatsoever. In Digimon, however, they were all fighting for their survival so they could make it BACK to the real world and continue their lives! STAKES. When they finally had to battle to save one of their friends in the Gunpla Battle Network, I had been tuned out for so long that I could not have cared if my life depended on it.

It misses the point of Gundam:
What I think is the most saddening part about Build Divers is that it completely misses the point of Gundam. Yes, from the very first series, Gundam has been driven by toy sales, but it didn't need to dumb itself down to sell those toys. They just made cool stories with cool robots, and the toys practically advertise themselves. Now I'm not against animation produced solely for advertising--In fact such productions can be some of my favorite things to watch--But if one were to infer from the amount of screen time the toys get, the toys are not even close to the main focus. From screen time alone, this show is largely just kids hanging out in an MMO. I would sooner rewatch SAO if I wanted that. The OVA series Build Fighters Battlogue was a great example of putting the focus squarely on the toys even if it did miss the mark sometimes, because it didn't let itself get bogged down with interactions between characters that have no depth to them whatsoever. Instead, Build Divers felt the need to construct this flimsy narrative in hopes of appealing to kids and thereby their parents' wallets. The thing is, Gundam has never needed to dumb down its stories. Gundam has always been a story about war, and a war story that always had appealed to kids enough to make a profit. It doesn't need to strip itself of its identity to be marketable!

Who should watch?
But that's all from me--I mean, so who should watch Gundam Build Divers? Please avoid this series at all costs unless you're a glutton for punishment and a Gundam completionist like myself. The Build Fighters Battlogue OVA is much more worthwhile.

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Poll: Gundam Build Divers Episode 25 Discussion Stark700 - Sep 25, 2018	34 replies	by LeenPhoenixRae »» Jan 21, 10:05 PM
Poll: Gundam Build Divers Episode 24 Discussion Stark700 - Sep 18, 2018	14 replies	by LeenPhoenixRae »» Jan 21, 12:32 AM
Poll: Gundam Build Divers Episode 22 Discussion Stark700 - Sep 4, 2018	11 replies	by LeenPhoenixRae »» Jan 20, 11:54 PM
Poll: Gundam Build Divers Episode 21 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 28, 2018	15 replies	by LeenPhoenixRae »» Jan 20, 11:30 PM
Poll: Gundam Build Divers Episode 20 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 21, 2018	10 replies	by LeenPhoenixRae »» Jan 20, 11:02 PM

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Gundam Build Divers

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Information

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Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Reviews

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