Gundam Build Fighters Episode 16
What They Say:
This is a moment of relaxation, but Sei is focused on improving the Star Build Strike. When Sei refuses to let him help with the work, Reiji heads into town to prove that he too can build Gunpla. As Reiji picks through the Gunpla in a hobby store, a man greets him. The man also drags in Aila, who happens to be passing by, and forcibly subjects them to a Gunpla lecture. Though his teaching methods are Spartan, the Gunpla they build following his advice is better than anyone would have expected. Reiji promptly takes his assembled Gunpla into battle, but the Gunpla that appears as his opponent looks just like a customized Gunpla that previously attacked him and Sei!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Gundam Build Fighters worked a pretty solid action episode the last time around as the events really got tense and tight for Sei and Reiji as one might expect as we get down to the key moments of the World Tournament. It worked really well since a lot of it was focused on a race battle more than just outright fighting, and that definitely made it engaging in a different way. Because of that heavy focus, now there’s a bit of down time to get things in order before the next round is up with the tournament finals in a few days. While Sei is struggling with dreams of his father returning, he has to put his kit back together and repair it so that it’s ready for the next round. Which is actually made a bit worse by the way Reiji manhandles it, making it into worse shape.
The first half deals with all of this well, though it left me wanting to get more about Reiji and his past that has been skirted around in teasing ways. We do get some time with just Reiji as he heads out into town to the local Gunpla store where he wants to get a kit himself to show Sei that he can be just as good at it as he is. Amusingly, there’s such a wide selection that he doesn’t have a clue where to start, which is pretty much what you’d expect considering he’s more about the battle than the technical side of it. It doesn’t help that the guy at the store is a total Gunplay otaku who is just going over the top in winning them over, from picking out their kits for them and working with them to get them built. While it starts with just Reiji, poor Aila gets caught up in it as well since she was watching off from the side and before she knows it, she’s sounding off just like Reiji as the guy begins his lecture and instruction.
While we get a couple of cute little nods for Sei and what he’s doing in between working on his Gunpla, the episode focuses largely on Reiji and Aila. Since neither have actually built anything before, it’s fun to watch them go through the process of putting one together and doing a mock battle in the in-store unit that they have. It’s fairly straightforward stuff, but it gets more serious as the match gets underway and the unit that he gets to go up against is a heavily customized one that definitely looks impressive in its classic design. It’s a solid learning experience for Reiji as the fight goes on and he starts to realize what Sei was going through, which is the main point of it. But there’s also the intrigue of how this particular model made it into the system like it is. It’s also just fun to see Reiji and Aila together for awhile since they get caught up in it and you can see some softening of the hardness in both of them.
In Summary:
Predictable episode is predictable, but nicely executed and well polished in order to achieve its goals. With Sei and Reiji not quite understanding each other for a number of reasons, this works towards getting Reiji to grasp Sei’s feelings for a bit while also exploring what’s involved in actually building the Gunplay kits. Which should serve as a reminder for some of the fans to get out of the house a bit and buy some new kits for themselves. There’s not a lot in the way of larger teases and material here for the bigger storyline, but it’s some decent character reinforcement and a bit of needed down time between the bigger matches.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Official Gundam YouTube Channel
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.