Gundam Build Fighters

I get why Ogre sought out Riku to fight him. What I don't get is why Riku cares about fighting Ogre. He has a million things on his mind that are more important than some oni cosplayer's desire to have a fight. Why would he even bother giving him the time of day?

Granted, Ogre did force him into a fight there, but he started actually getting into it after a while. Like he felt he had something to prove to Ogre, like he wanted to prove something to Ogre.

I guess when it comes down to it, I don't get why Ogre is a rival. Ogre's interested in Riku, so he wants to fight him. Fine. But why does Riku give a damn about Ogre? Riku didn't decide to make Ogre his rival. Riku has no reason to be rivals with Ogre. He's got a bunch of other people that would make better rivals. So... why do the writers think anyone, in-universe or out, cares about Ogre and his meaningless pride?

Uhhh, because Ogre indirectly insulted Sarah, by implying that Sarah is nothing more than a crutch for Riku to rely on?

That's one reason I can think of.

Edited by G2BattleConvoy on Aug 29th 2018 at 3:27:23 PM

Orge also called his gunpla a fake which would probably trigger anyone that spent a lot of time and hard work putting together.

I guess I would just have a different reaction. If someone called something I'd spent time and effort building a fake I'd respond "And I should care about your opinion because...?"

But that doesn't fit with Riku's character I suppose.

Because Ogre was the original impetus for Riku's character growth. Waaaay back at the beginning of the series when Riku couldn't use the Trans-AM because his skills weren't up to snuff Ogre is the one who pushed him into getting stronger.

That's why he gives a damn about Ogre.

Edited by Silentedge89 on Aug 29th 2018 at 6:18:22 AM

Riku doesn't really give a damn about Ogre. But he was angry and frustrated and tired and scared because of the situation with Sarah, and this jerk shows up and gets in his way and accuses him and Sarah of cheating, and it all boiled over and turned into a serious fight.

Or, tldr, Riku has no chill.

Having a hot blooded wolfman mentor probably had an effect on his lack of chill also.

Riku cares about Ogre because GBD tried to capture the Meijin lightning in a bottle by doing the exact same thing, making the newbie prodigy lose early on to a world-class player and that driving them to try to improve and become better.

They just... half-assed it. They definitely were trying for the same thing, but were also trying to cram in everything else so Ogre was grossly underdeveloped. Meijin had whole episodes to himself. GBD is afraid to leave Riku for a second.

And boring. Lord, is he boring. We get it, you like to fight. And talk about eating. No one gives a shit.

If it weren't for Sarah, he'd probably be my least favorite character. Dig his new GP 02, though.

If Ogre is seriously supposed to fill the same role as Meijin, that's a writing failure of AGE proportions.

Meijin was hilarious, likable, and developed as a character.

There's nothing likable about Ogre.

Edited by DarkHunter on Aug 30th 2018 at 10:35:24 AM

Orge seems more like a rival attempt that got pushed aside until now. Honestly Tigerwolf makes more sense as the Meijin type.

My point is that he fulfilled the exact same story beats as Meijin to the point that it's blatant that they're cribbing the character (the second episode introduces a world-level character in a red suit who serves as a superior to someone they just earlier trounced. Said character wins handily enough to cause the main character, thus far coasting on natural skill to really buckle down and train, and reaffirming their goal of To Be a Master).

He's straight up "Meijin, but without charisma or follow up."

Team Hyakki isn’t a total writeoff, though. Rose was great in her focus episode. Hell, just cut out Ogre and give her his role and you’ve got a perfectly good rival character who makes an entertaining foil for the main team - they’re rookies who are more interested in GBN as a game then as part of the franchise, while she’s an experienced, tough-as-nails badass who keeps getting amusingly derailed by her obsessive love for all things Gundam, whether they’re useful in-game or not.

Edited by Iaculus on Aug 30th 2018 at 2:06:40 PM

What natural skill ogre showed up in the second episode If I am not mistaken so Riku really didn't have long to show his pre training ability.

Honestly Tigerwolf still sounds like a Meijin type since he seems to be one of the top players with Ogre being more high mid tier.

The race episode did a pretty good job of giving focus to both Rose and Emilia.

Edited by Darthwyn on Aug 30th 2018 at 12:41:00 PM

... oh yeah, my thoughts about episodes.

Episode 20:

• what a twist. Seriously, the hints about Sarah not being a human is very blatant (since it has been way past 10 posts now, I can spoil it). For one, she is the only Build Divers member to not shown outside of the game. Also, special powers.
• Now I'm going unfairly compare Sarah to Reiji from GBF. While Reiji is presented with a mysterious background, we do know a lot about Reiji even before the revelation, and he serves as one of the driving force for the series (the other being Mr.Ral). Sarah, on the other hand, is just a kawaii desu character who likes kawaii desu. Her purpose is merely just activating a few of plot points much later.
• Actually, even after the revelation, I still don't know anything about Sarah!
• Not much else to say about the episode other than I was wrong about thinking the character turned out to be the mother of Sarah. I was also expecting that character to be a digital being as well, so...

Episode 21:

• You could just simply have the reason for Ogre assaulting Riku being "WHY DID YOU WITHDRAWN FROM TOURNAMENT? I'M HUNGRY! I WANT SNICKERS!", remove a bunch of pointless reasons, and it would flow better.
• Why is Do-ji better than Ogre now?
• Personally, I don't think the fight is all that good. The animation's great and all, I just couldn't care about the battle itself.
• Hold on, I lost track at the end of the episode. So after Rommel convinced that Kyoya to give Sarah in so that they can reform a council or something like that, which Sarah gives in by herself. Did I get that right?

I believe it's best for me to leave my thoughts about the series after the finale.

I believe they decided to make a compromise to seek an alternate solution while the patch updates regarding Sarah.

Rommel's compromise was this: Rommel does intend to sacrifice Sarah so that GBN can continue existing... but it'll take about a week for the admins to create their patch in any case. In the meantime, Kyoya (and others) can search for an alternative solution, and if he finds one, then great, everybody's happy.

The reformed Coalition will take custody of Sarah during that time to ensure that A) she doesn't escape and B) nobody else tries to do her additional harm.

Am I the only one who noticed that this series has a heavy SD Gundam presence because SD Gundam is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year?

You know, normally "calm before the final battle" Gundam episodes reflect on how far the protagonists have come since the series started. But since Ayame is the only one to receive character development, this episode is just a slog.

• Does Kyoya not realize that the GM is just going to ban the Build Divers and delete Sarah even if the Build Divers win the battle?
• Looks like next episode is a duel between two characters that I don't give a crap about.

Yeah, not much to say about this one. I hope that Patrick becomes an Ascended Extra in the handful of episodes that are left.

A slog is right. I'm still stuck on "Your Feelings" because the scene where Sarah keeps trying to send Mol away seems like it lasts 20 minutes. I keep stopping it and doing something else because it may be the least engaging scene I've seen in Gundam.

I have a feeling that this is going to come down to Tori vs the Admin in a race to who can implement their solution faster. The Admin strikes me as exactly the kind of slime who'll ignore what's going on and just try to delete Sarah.

I'll laugh when Tsukasa breaks into that to delay the Admin just because he enjoys being a dick to GBN and its administration. "Yes I'm helping save GBN, but it pisses you off so it's well worth it. Now suck Astray, you undersized SD"

I am kinda interested in the tiger wolf fight since overall he has been a cool character. A lot better than hungry ogre.

Kinda amazed that they don't apparently have a backup for the server or the fact that they created an AI by complete accident and they want to delete it to save an online game. I feel like they would want to figure how they pulled that off and go win some awards for such an achievement.

Also I would really want to know what social media looks like in that world since I imagine this situation would create a lot of conversations regarding the deletion of an AI or the fact that said AI has probably gotten a bit famous after the race event.

Is it wrong that I want that guy to crash GBN as he extracts Sarah as one final act to screw over the system.

No. In fact I suspect that Tsukasa will attempt to crash GBN and Sarah will pull a heroic sacrifice to stop him...

...only for a reveal that some of her data did get transferred into the doll so she'll start over as a blank slate.

Because this shit practically writes itself in its clicheness.

The thing is, even if Kyoya could be banned, I'd imagine there'd be backlash against GBN's administration, especially since Kyoya is a highly respected individual, especially if he decided to speak openly on social media about why he was banned.

And yes, obviously, Kyoya's Batman Gambit to let Riku take on the entire Coalition is very clearly telegraphed, but at the same time, I get the feeling that he knows Riku might win despite the massive odds against the Build Divers Alliance.

Pet the Dog meets Dare to Be Badass?

Gradually sort of slogging through the latest episodes. They're really... yeah.

Part of the problem is no one is acting like a human being. Everyone's cavalier attitude towards a freaking fully functioning AI springing into existence is frankly bizarre. Is this society so advanced that they can make AI on a whim or something? Even Tori isn't particularly interested in the ramifications of the advancement, just the fact it's inhumane to delete a person.

Or the fact that no one has pointed out "you know, if GBN is destroyed, what do you think happens to this EL-Diver who, you know, only lives in GBN?"

Also... man, Rommel is probably a turboloser in real life, huh?