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Gundam Build Fighters Try
Episode 21

by Lauren Orsini,

“The fight needs no commentary,” Meijin Kawaguchi says immediately before the semifinal in this episode of Gundam Build Fighters Try. He's absolutely right. This strongly choreographed battle between the Gunpla Academy and European champ Lucas Nemesis requires no input from nonparticipants—the mobile suits tell the story well enough on their own.

At the beginning of the episode, the four remaining teams draw lots for the semifinals. We're informed that this is the 10th day of the Under 19 Championship. Just how many people were participating? Matches have a strict 15 minute time limit, so imagine how many battles you could fit into a day if the participants didn't spend so much time trash-talking one another after lots are drawn.

This is the first time we've witnessed Lucas Nemesis' true power. Everything else has been a preview as he left a trail of mangled Gunpla in his Crossbone Full Cloth's wake. I didn't want to spoil it last time, but now we can talk about how cool his backstory is—turns out he's the grandson of the chairman who was paying Aila to win the tournament and give him a show. “If you want to win at Gunpla Battle, play it yourself,” she tells tiny Lucas, something he repeats word for word in this episode. He's wearing a small purple flower pendant that looks markedly similar to Aila's hat flower decoration, so it's clear her words had quite an effect on him.

The grand showdown takes place in Field 8: Sky, which looks just like the Zeal Kingdom from Chrono Trigger, not that it matters. What does matter is Lucas Nemesis' ability to use the field to his advantage so that he can zip around it quickly and take on all three of the Gunpla Academy suits at once. With Lucas' teammates acting as support, it's really a three-on-one battle, but it never feels like Gunpla Academy is going to earn an easy win.

Gundam Build Fighters Try can be deep sometimes. Diehard fans may notice that many of the tactics battlers use in this episode are throwbacks to earlier shows in the franchise. When Shia (of team Celestial Being) repairs crippling damage to her machine with tiny Haro-piloted assistant robots, those are actually Haro bots, which paramilitary group Celestial Being uses for repairs in Gundam 00. When Lucas Nemesis uses assistant suits to recharge his particle emission, he's actually mimicking the Hyaku Shiki suit's combat tactics in Gundam ZZ. These are just two examples out of many!

Like Meijin Kawaguchi said, this fight truly needed no commentary. The Gunpla Academy and Lucas are masters of their craft, and their match elevated battling to an art. You have to watch the stunning finishing move for yourself, because my input would only take away from it.

Rating: A

Gundam Build Fighters Try is currently streaming on Gundam.info.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.


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