Gundam Build Fighters Episode 24
What They Say:
The Gunpla Battle Championship World Tournament finals have begun at last, but the arena is shrouded in a solemn atmosphere. The Gundam Amazing Exia, the Gunpla that Meijin Kawaguchi is using against Sei’s and Reiji’s Star Build Strike, has been painted black. And that’s not all. Like the colors of his machine, Kawaguchi’s fighting style is also as grim and merciless as pitch-black darkness. Sei is bewildered—what has become of the promise he and Yuuki made to make this a great battle? What has happened to Yuuki? As the Star Build Strike finds itself in peril, PPSE’s Chairman Mashita watches and laughs, and his gemstone gives off an ominous light.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Gundam Build Fighters did progress things a little bit in the previous episode, but it was also one that was a bit more formulaic and routine than I would have cared for. Though it had some fun with the cast early on, a lot of it was just a matter of relatively uninteresting fights that served little more than just getting us to the finals themselves. The little teases and hints we’ve gotten along the way have definitely been interesting and that was probably the highlight for me. But the show is still in that kind of awkward phase where, as we get in the prologue here, we get some interesting bits with the adults, but nowhere near enough to really put us in the right frame of mind with them. But it is intriguing as we see the Embody mask being brought out and the kind of potential it has as Meijin finds himself being forced into it.
With Meijin in this form and his Gunpla all built up in a new way, we get to see that there are the sharp eyed members of the audience that realize something is very different about him, that he’s exuding a different kind of pressure. Of course, Reiji and Sei also realize this but they just take it in stride in order to get on with the match itself and the fun that they intend to have with their Star Strike unit. The match is one that definitely gets off in a strong way since Sei and Reiji get taken down hard and fast, giving them clue of just how intense Meijin intends to play, which is made clearer since he’s aiming specifically for the joints in order to get a faster takedown. With his Exia against the Star Strike, the match also takes some interesting turns along the way as the setting changes a couple of times, keeping both players on their toes with the environment which can be as much of a player in the match as the two of them.
The match has some really good moments to it as both sides go at it and some of the truth comes out with how Meijin is being manipulated. But in the end, while others want to help since they sense unfair play at work, it comes down to Sei and Reiji really having to stand tall on their own and fight through, hoping to reach the Meijin they know and hoping that he can break free of what has affected him. Predictable? Utterly. Well executed? Definitely, which makes it fun and engaging to watch as they go through the motions. What’s also welcome is that the finals are not spread over multiple episodes and like previous matches, everything is wrapped up in the (expected) way here with the World Tournament, and the kind of young men that both Sei and Reiji really are being made clear. Of course, this isn’t the end of things as it all starts to go even bigger, which makes sense when you consider what’s under the competition dome that will give us the series finale in the next episode.
In Summary:
While predictable, Gundam Build Fighters delivers a strong episode this time around as we get the final for the World Tournament aspect of the Gunpla battle. The match is all nicely resolved and we get the tease for what’s to come – especially in the post-credits sequence that’s worth sticking around for – and we get some decent character material along the way. While it’s easy to expect everything to be nicely wrapped up in the next episode, it’s been a lot of fun watching this unfold and there’s potential for a few little twists ahead amid the massive expected team fight that will go against the new big, bad and ultimate enemy.
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.