Gearing Up for Battle

May 8, 2024 pop-cooledtured specialist

Giant robot battles. Every man’s- no, every human’s dream. I dream for the day that we are actually able to make this a reality. Until then I’ll just have to take solace in building models and watching robots battle in anime. Fortunately for me, there already exists an anime that showcases what a world like that might look like. And it just so happens to have expanded more on its world by creating a sequel.

Gundam Build Fighters Try is a continuation of its predecessor that takes place a few years after it. Instead of centering around just two characters, we actually follow a team of three highschoolers. Our main protagonist is Kamiki Sekai, a young martial artist who takes an interest in Gunpla, thanks to a member of the Gunpla Battle Club Hoshino Fumina. After helping to protect the club, he ends up acquiring a Gunpla left behind the previous series’s protagonist Lori Sei. With some convincing from Fumina, Sekai decides to work together with her and the young Gunpla builder Kousaka Yuuma to win a team competition to become known as the best Gunpla team.

Build Fighters Try builds off of what its predecessor left behind and even improves on it quite a bit. Now, they no longer have to worry about establishing a world, they are able to delve more into the concept of toys coming to life and what that entails. For example, normally something like creating a Power Rangers like mecha would be impractical and possibly considered stupid. However because this is a show that’s about creativity, they are able to run with this idea and create their own unique mech. Or they could create their own power-up system based on what they’ve seen in the shows.

While Build Fighters was great, I feel like it was restrained by the fact that they were still trying to figure out how to make the concept of toys coming to life work. However, it is because they figured it out that Try was able to shine. So, while I do recommend watching both in order, if you wanted to see what potential has to its fullest I would say you should watch.