What? I SOMEHOW like Gundam Build Divers Re: Rise?

 

Oh damn. Damn, damn, damn. I didn't mean for this happen. I suppose it was inevitable that I would try Gundam anime again. And eventually find one I like. I just wasn't expecting it to be this one. I mean, I recently gave Iron-Blooded Orphans a go, and decided it wasn't for me. Why this one? Why? Is it just that its good?

Anyways. Build Divers Re: Rise is the latest in the "Build" subfranchise of Gundam. Here, Bandai drops all pretense, and makes the merchandise the main thing. Gunpla, the models, and building them is the entire point. It's honest in a late-capitalism sort of way. Re: Rise is the most recent installment, where the action has moved into a highly immersive online game. Microtransactions may be involved. But, you know? It's free on youtube, and it's better than the news. And before we go further, this is not a review. This is a stream of consciousness where I try to process why I like my first actually new anime in a decade. If it was a review, trust me, I'd have a few more critical things to say.

 Characters, left to right: Hiroto, Kazumi, May, and Parviz.

So, I went in with no expectations beyond a servicable-if-highly-derivative distraction, but ended up really enjoying it. For the most part, Re:Rise is concerned mainly with the dynamic of forming a team from social misfits whom were just LFG, rather than obviously fixating on the Gunpla. The Mecha bits are fun, don't get me wrong. But as a social recluse even before 2020, I'll admit I recognised myself in one or two of the characters. Main character Hiroto was traumatised by a still unclear tragedy involving a girl, making him disinterested in others as he searches for her. Kazumi is an enthusiastic Leeroy Jenkins whom talks a good game, but can't back it up. Parviz is a painfully shy newbie, with fox ears, whom sadly can't get out much. And May is distant-if-mature, but she's lying by omission about some important things. Its an odd mix on the surface. Hiroto is the closest thing to a leader by right of being protagonist, but managing people is not something he really does. Kazumi meanwhile acts like he's leader but thinks in cliches, if he thinks at all, Parviz is passive due to a lack of confidence/experience, while May matches Hiroto in the area of not communicating. They are individuals, casual new acquaintances, a D&D group that answered an ad. They aren't hostile to each other, but they aren't a team. By the time they begin to be one, something terrible happens.

Now entering spoiler zone.

If you kinda see a plot development coming, and are still affected by it, that's good drama, right? You recognised foreshadowing, maybe half-remembered something you read somewhere, and its still a punch in the gut? That at least says you've invested in a series, doesn't it? At first, Re: Rise does not appear to have any stakes at all, just character growth. But it drops hints something is going off from episode 1, with the Missions they play seemingly being new and somewhat non-standard. Then, we are reminded that the game is so complex it has its own life. Also, the game world inside the Missions is persistent. And then Hiroto receives an injury that he takes home with him. And then the confrontation with the "final boss" goes badly wrong. They don't win this time. And it's not a game either.

The “Missions” the players complete in Re: Rise actually take place on an alien world, and Hirato's little group have fucked up so bad an entire city of actual living creatures is now a crater.

Episode 13 has no combat, the same event having knocked down the world's communication networks and thus the game, instead seeing the characters meet in the flesh, as it were. It gets spelled out for the Kazumis in the room. Yes, the World of Eldora is real. Somehow, details remain unclear. Its possible to be trapped there. If you go there you may not come back. Death is seemingly an actual possibility, you've been in mortal danger the whole time. You wanted high stakes? THERE THEY ARE. The group has a mixed response to this revelation, but here's what made the series for me. They go back anyway. They are still a team, and one way or another, they will stop the conflict. Each with their own reason, but with a common cause. Nicely done, Re:Rise. You are a model advert, but you made me care.

When it becomes available, I hope season 2 lives up to my new expectations. But that's tomorrow, apparently. Not long to wait.