GundamReviews

Gundam Build Fighters Try: Island Wars

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Summary

On an island, Yajima Trading conducts an experiment to disperse a new type of Plavsky particle. The test Gunpla Scramble Gundam flies through a space level, but the experiment goes out of control and the Gunpla smashes out of the confines of the game system and crashes into the control room. On the mainland, Try Fighters members Sekai Kamiki, Fumina Hoshino and Yuuma Kousaka compete in the Gunpla Battle Japanese Under-19 Championship against Kaoruko Sazaki’s Team Song Dynasty Vase on Axis. Yuuma’s Lightning Gundam Strider opens fire on a pair of Impulse GMs piloted by Keiko Sano and Mahiru Shigure. Fumina’s Star Winning Gundam forces them to disperse, but she’s then attacked by Kaoruko’s Gyancelot. Yuuma and Fumina fire a combined shot that is blocked by Kaoruko’s shield. Keiko and Mahiru perform a team attack that’s blocked by the late arrival of Sekai’s Kamiki Burning Gundam. The opposing team charges in, and Sekai uses his new trump card to defeat them in a blinding flash. After the battle, Fumina calls Yuuma to tell him that Yajima Trading wants to give them an all expenses paid trip to an island to serve as test pilots for a new battle system. Yuuma turns her down because he wants to upgrade their Gunpla, but he’s actually working on the beach for a photoshoot with Sekai’s older sister Mirai. Fumina is about to cancel the invitation, but her mother Marika calls Sekai, who agrees to come along. Fumina blushes during the flight when she thinks about her mother telling her she can be alone with Sekai on the beach. Nils Yajima gets a call about another system failure and decides that he can’t risk test pilots on the new battle system. Fumina and Sekai arrive at the Yajima building and are told they can’t use the new system until it’s adjusted. They check out their beachside lodging, and Sekai accidentally ends up on top of Fumina when she falls out of a hammock. Kaoruko, Shia Kijima and Minato Sakai show up and ask what they’re doing. The three were invited by Yajima to serve as test pilots, and the girls argue with Fumina about their intentions for Sekai. Sakai shows off his new Super Fumina Ver. Titans Maid, which creeps Fumina out.

Nils arrives at the facility and tells a staff member that he wants to figure out what’s wrong, which he thinks is an external factor. An employee runs over to inform Nils that the problem is happening again. Elsewhere, Sekai practices on the beach and is surprised when the Kamiki Burning Gundam Gunpla suddenly moves on its on and floats past him. He chases after the Gunpla and is able to reclaim it, and a young girl comes over to ask him about it. Yuuma puts the finishing touches on a Gunpla for the photoshoot, and Mirai spots Sekai nearby. Fumina, Kaoruko and Shia find Sekai on the beach and are upset about him talking to the mysterious girl. Yuuma tries to sneak away and ends up running into Sakai. The entire group returns to the lodging area, where Fumina confronts Yuuma about lying over what he was doing. Kaoruko and Shia accusingly ask Sekai if he likes young girls. At the lab, a crystal goes out of control again, reminding Nils of the incident eight years earlier at the world tournament. The power goes out across the island, and Sekai performs a Seiken-Zuki when a bunch of Hi-Mock Gunpla suddenly attack the lodge. Sekai recalls the incident on the beach, and Fumina gets a call from the lab warning them to stay away for their own safety. However, another eruption causes them to run to the lab, which has been consumed by a large Plavsky crystal. Sakai and Yuuma recognize it as being the same as eight years ago, so Fumina realizes they have to do the same thing as Sei Iori and his friends did. Sakai spots a nearby battle system, so everyone pulls out their Gunpla, while Mirai drafts her friend Satomi Funaki to help. Because the area is flooded with Plavsky particles, all the Gunpla are able to move beyond the confines of the battle system. The lab’s out of control battle system causes random levels to load and Gunpla to attack, so Sakai unleashes a large beam blast with his new ZZII. Kaoruko’s Gyancelot slices apart multiple enemies, and the Gundam 00 Shia Qan[T] deploys its sword bits. Yuuma destroys multiple suits as Fumina sinks ships and Sekai fights an SD unit. Sakai, Shia and Kaoruko unleash special attacks against a large swath of enemy units, but even more arrive to attack. Satomi struggles to fight a Barzam, while Mirai’s Beargguy-P teams up with Fumina.

Sekai attacks the new enemy wave with the Houou Haoh-Ken, cutting a wide path of destruction. A Psycho Gundam and Psycho Gundam Mk-II appear, but Sakai and Mirai attack them. Fumina transforms the Star Winning Gundam to real mode to fire the Winning Beam, and Yuuma performs a Full Burst attack, followed by Sekai’s winning attack. With the obstacles cleared, the group heads deeper into the lab and finds the Scramble Gundam. Nils calls the group and tells them that the Scramble Gundam is a new Gunpla designed to make use of the new particle, so they’re no match for it. Nobody wants to back down, and the Scramble Gundam opens fire on them. The Scramble Gundam responds defensively and offensively by manipulating crystals. It then loads game levels to summon heavy attacks from the Celestial Being, the Diva‘s Photon Ring Ray and a colony laser. The massive attack is barely withstood, so Sekai tells Fumina they should use their new special move for the Nationals. The game level changes to the Operation British colony drop, so Sekai, Fumina and Yuuma combine their attacks to destroy the incoming colony. Everyone else passes through the Plavsky Power Gate to combine all their powers and form the Superior Kaiser, which punches hard enough to destroy the crystals and the Scramble Gundam, thus ending the crisis. Fumina wonders why the particles went out of control, and Sekai sees a light outside, which flies to the mysterious girl and turns into the Scramble Gundam. Sekai follows the light and tells Fumina that he knows the girl wanted her own Gunpla. Fumina tells the girl that the Scramble Gundam doesn’t belong to her and that she needs to build her own. The dejected girl says she doesn’t know how, so Fumina offers to show her. Nils decides to keep this incident secret since nobody was hurt. Fumina helps the girl build a Beargguy, and after spending time with the group she vanishes in front of their eyes. The girl returns to the world of Arian and shows the Gunpla to her mother, Aila Jyrkiäinen. Aila comments that it’s because of Gunpla that she met Reiji, and she places her daughter’s Gunpla next to her Command Gundam and Reiji’s Beginning Gundam.

Commentary

This special picks up a year after the TV series, and we find the Try Fighters competing once again for the Japanese nationals. At the same time, Nils is experimenting with new Gunpla and a new Plavsky crystal, but it all goes out of control and creates a situation similar to the incident eight years earlier in the original Build Fighters. If you’ve sat through both series, you know exactly what to expect here – lots of mobile suit cameos, with some being rather obscure. The most obscure is probably Satomi’s Petit’GGuy pulling out the Gundam Barbatos’ mace, marking the first reference in this series to Iron-Blooded Orphans. There’s nothing new going on here, and unfortunately some old elements make an unwelcome return, namely the harem stuff. Yes, Sekai is as dense as ever, but more importantly, I always felt that the harem elements hurt Fumina and made her lesser as a character. She’s always getting into it with Kaoruko now, and Shia is just there as a troll/spoiler. It’s at the point where even her mom is pushing this relationship, much like Sei’s mom did in the original series. In the end, the mysterious girl who pops up turns out to be Reiji and Aila’s daughter from Arian. If she can go back and forth between worlds, does that mean Reiji can come back to Earth and visit Sei? It’s a question we may never get the answer to, but I hope this isn’t the end for the Build Fighters universe.

Overall Rating
3/5

Island Wars 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

Character Designer:
Kenichi Ohnuki

Musical Composer(s):
Yuuki Hayashi
Asami Tachibana

Format:
1 episode

Airdates:
Japan 10.08.2014 – 04.01.2015
Streaming 10.08.2014 – 04.01.2015

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