Note: This review contains small spoilers, including small spoilers about the story and the characters. Also, the designs. (This review also assumes you've seen the first Build Fighters, which you definitely should before watching Try.)
Story: 6/10
Not a good start already, is it? Try takes place seven years after the first season of Build Fighters, with an entirely new cast of main characters, including some cameos from the first season - such as Mr. Ral (or Ramba Ral, really) and Meijin Kawaguchi. The story is practically the same like in the first season, albeit with a few changes.
Sei Iori already left the school years ago, and since then, the Mobile Suit Club deteriorated, and hard, considering one of the main characters, Fumina Hoshino, is it's last member. All of that changes after the arrival of Sekai Kamiki, who at first shows ignorance towards Gunpla, but then shows some form of interest into it. They're then joined by Yuuma Kousaka, China's brother.
What annoys me the most about the story is how there are little changes to the story compared to the original - the goal of the plot is to win the Gunpla Tournament. There's less originality in the plot, and far less drama, and when the drama finally appears, it doesn't last for long - although I got to admit, one of the episodes sets this drama rather well and makes for an amazing fight. Despite all of these setbacks, the story still isn't bad, and it's still fairly good. There's definitely more comedic relief than in the first season, too.
Art: 9/10
Build Fighters is one of the few series where Sunrise fully realized its' potential with artwork and designs, due to the creativity that is the main drive of the series. All of the custom designs look great, and they have effects to boot. I wish I could talk more about the designs, since they all look so great, but I can't say much without spoiling everything. I can say one thing, however, and that's that you'll be surprised by the amount of unique design and performance choices of every Gunpla.
Sound: 9/10
Just like the first season, Try definitely delivers in the terms of sound. A lot of the effects and moves have their own set of sounds to follow them, especially Sekai's fighting style. The music is a bit forgettable, in my opinion, but it's great and fits all of the scenes well. Some of the tracks are also taken from the first season, which doesn't hurt much, considering how good the tracks were. The openings are also good, and the reappearance of the band BACK-ON is welcome.
Characters: 6/10
This is where the series falls a bit again, just not by a huge amount. Sekai feels like a boulder in his character development, and he doesn't develop much, unlike Yuuma or Fumina. His incompetence in certain episodes is either funny or hurts a bit to watch. There's no real villains in the second season, there's only opponents. Some of them are still very well made, but most of them only think about victory. I'd expect most of them to enjoy the fights, and not to be driven by personal gains or vendetta in a tournament with models out of plastic.
Enjoyment: 9/10
Still, that isn't near enough to ruin my enjoyment of the series. All of the fighting scenes are great and show just how much can Sunrise do, given the right situation. I still wish the scenes could be longer though, but that's just a pipe dream.
Overall: 7/10
Overall, the series definitely isn't as good as the first season, but it's still very enjoyable and good. I had a lot of issues thinking about the points I would bring out the most - most of them don't matter if you just want to enjoy the series, which you definitely can.
Would I recommend the series? Yes. Although it's debatable if you enjoy it or not, it's a series I'll remember for a long, long time.
Points:
+Great designs.
+Amazing soundtrack and sound overall.
+Great enjoyment value.
-The story is practically a rehash of the first season.
-Characters tend to be forgettable and their development is mostly small.
(Thanks for reading this review, if you ever got to this point. If you're confused reading this, don't worry, I was as well. I had a hard time trying to make the review understandable and to the point, but in the end, I think I didn't do that well. If you got any recommendations on how to improve the review, message me on my profile or personally, including my twitter handle. -Hab)
