GundamReviews

Gundam Build Fighters Try Ep. 8: Upon This Shield

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Summary

Sakai has a dream that he Meijin Cup Gunpla building contest. Yuuma professes how amazing Sakai is while Fumina fawns over him. Sakai then wakes up to check the results of the Tokyo qualifiers and is annoyed that Yuuma didn’t lose. At the G-Master club room, Yomi Sakashita looks up Akira and sees that he was part of last year’s national team. Sudou thinks Akira can help them win the Tokyo qualifiers, but Akira is aiming higher for the nationals. Akira examines the Mega-Shiki and can immediately tell it’s from the Gunpla Shingyo school in Osaka. He then starts hitting on Yomi, and Sudou wonders who their opponent will be in the final four bracket. At the tournament site, round four begins with an all-girl team piloting a supersized Xamel against a Doggorla. Team Leviathan’s Doggorla wins, and Yuuma explains to Sekai that it’s from Victory Gundam. The four remaining teams show up to randomly draw their bracket assignments, and Sudou is annoyed that Yomi and Akira are late. When the selections end, the computer pits the Try Fighters against Leviathan and Song Dynasty Vase against G-Master. Sudou tries to introduce himself to Kaoruko, but she dismisses him and vows to win. Sudou expects great things since her older brother Susumu placed in the best 16 of the 10th world championship, and he mentions having fought against him when he was in middle school. Ral tells the Try Fighters to get some rest, and both Yuuma and Fumina vow not to repeat their mistake from last time. Kaoruko then runs over to Sekai crying about having to fight G-Master. Sekai takes Kaoruko to get a juice and tells her to cheer up. He quotes his master, who said you need a fighting spirit to win even if the opponent is tough. She then asks him if he’ll go on a date with her should she win. Sekai mentions having to go on a date again, which upsets Kaoruko. She then drops the mopey routine and vows to win both the battle and Sekai’s heart. Yomi walks by and notes that Kaoruko must take G-Master lightly if she’s flirting with a boy. Kaoruko points out that Yomi is with Akira, but Yomi insists that he’s just buying dinner as payment for making them late.

The four sit down at the same table, with Kaoruko’s teammates watching nearby. Kaoruko and Yomi both think that each isn’t taking the other seriously, and Yomi dismisses Kaoruko’s team as being no challenge. Sekai tells Yomi not to underestimate Kaoruko because she’s serious about Gunpla Battle. Sekai gets up to leave and tells Kaoruko that he wants to see her next time in battle, so she vows upon her shield to win. Akira then tells Sekai that he watched a video of him and that Jigen Haoh won’t work on him. Sekai walks home after dark and finds Fumina waiting outside his house. She asks him what he and Kaoruko talked about, and he explains that Kaoruko faked her depression. The next day, the Try Fighters face off against Leviathan in a space battle. Fumina reminds everyone that the Doggorla can separate. Sekai has the Build Burning jump off the Lightning Gundam‘s back, and Fumina ejects parts from the Winning Gundam. With the Doggorla separated, they destroy the segments until Sekai uses the Winning Knuckle and Shippu-Zuki to take out the main body. The battle between Song Dynasty Vase and G-Master then starts in a space level. Yuuma sees the Mega-Shiki and immediately recognizes as being built by Sakai. Sudou fires his cannon and takes down Mahiru’s Nobell Gundam in one shot. Yomi’s Amethyst Victory Gundam then attacks Kaoruko’s R-GyaGya with a sword. Akira’s G-Bomber deploys hidden arms and uses them to damage Keiko’s Rising Gundam before blasting it. Sekai sees that Akira used martial arts and remembers what he said earlier. As the last standing member, Kaoruko immediately comes under attack from everyone. Sudou uses his beam saber to breach her shields and is able to avoid her missiles. He then kicks the R-GyaGya away and slices it in half, thus ending the match. Sekai and Fumina are shocked by Kaoruko’s loss. Allan Adams watches the video of the battle and meets with his nephew, Wilfrid Kijima.

Commentary

While this episode is supposed to be focused on Kaoruko and her fight, it really comes across as just an afterthought. This episode mainly consists of two short fights with Leviathan, Kaoruko trying to win over Sekai and then arguing with Yomi, plus the fight with G-Master. In the end, there’s too much going on in this episode to give the final fight any adequate time. The whole point of the fight is to hype G-Master as a threat since obviously they’ll be facing the Try Fighters in the next episode. Akira surprises everyone by sticking arms in his G-Bomber for martial arts. He also knows about Jigen Haoh, but all that’s left as a mystery. Interestingly, we learn that Susumu stuck with Gunpla Battle and made it to the best 16 in the 10th world tournament, which is a big turnaround from the loser he was in the original series. The episode closes by bringing back Allan and introducing his nephew, who is cloaked with yet more mystery. Overall, this episode needed some tightening to keep its focus on Kaoruko, which is where it ideally should’ve been.

Overall Rating
3/5

Build Fighters Try Info

Director:
Shinya Watada

Writer:
Yousuke Kuroda

Mechanical Designer(s):
Kunio Okawara
Kanetake Ebikawa
Junya Ishigaki
Junichi Akutsu
Kenji Teraoka
Shinya Terashima
Susumu Imaishi
NAOKI
Fumikane Shimada

Character Designer:
Kenichi Ohnuki

Musical Composer(s):
Yuuki Hayashi
Asami Tachibana

Format:
25 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 10.08.2014 – 04.01.2015
Streaming 10.08.2014 – 04.01.2015

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