The Official Gundam Build Fighters Try Anime Thread Mk-V

[YokozunaBulldozer]

So while surfing around the Premium Bandai site, I noticed a model kit called Uma Lightning(pronounced Yuuma, not Ooh-ma like Thurman) custom Zaku II. And I could not help but think maybe the Yuuma we know from BFT is a slight homage at least name-wise.
If I was to squeeze out a similarity is that they both have blue as a primary color for their suit's color scheme(Uma's suits are a lighter hue than Yuuma's Lightning but regardless).

[AmuroNT1]

No, "Uma Lightning" is the name used by the man who seems to be Johnny Ridden in the MSV-R spinoff manga, which predates Try by a few years. Deacon explained that the name is a reference to something, but I can't recall what at this point.

[YokozunaBulldozer]

No, "Uma Lightning" is the name used by the man who seems to be Johnny Ridden in the MSV-R spinoff manga, which predates Try by a few years. Deacon explained that the name is a reference to something, but I can't recall what at this point.

What I meant to say was that maybe the creators decided to take very trivial aspects of Uma Lightning and apply it to Kousaka Yuuma when creating him for TRY as an obscure easter egg(such as similar sounding name and similar primary color for mobile suit, etc) or an inside joke of sorts.
Of course, I do not think he is a direct homage/reference to Uma Lightning like Matsunaga Kensho who is a much obvious homage of Zeon ace pilot Shin Matsunaga.
But considering how much the show is chock full of easter eggs, I thought it would be some funny obscure trivia if that was the case.
It's just that the name Uma, the word Lightning, and the color blue just kinda clicked that way.

[Chris]

No, "Uma Lightning" is the name used by the man who seems to be Johnny Ridden in the MSV-R spinoff manga, which predates Try by a few years. Deacon explained that the name is a reference to something, but I can't recall what at this point.

What I meant to say was that maybe the creators decided to take very trivial aspects of Uma Lightning and apply it to Kousaka Yuuma when creating him for TRY as an obscure easter egg(such as similar sounding name and similar primary color for mobile suit, etc) or an inside joke of sorts.
Of course, I do not think he is a direct homage/reference to Uma Lightning like Matsunaga Kensho who is a much obvious homage of Zeon ace pilot Shin Matsunaga.
But considering how much the show is chock full of easter eggs, I thought it would be some funny obscure trivia if that was the case.
It's just that the name Uma, the word Lightning, and the color blue just kinda clicked that way.

This sounds far too obscure and requires too much thinking to work as an Easter egg. I would pretty much lean towards this idea not being the case.

[gunform1010]

...no OVAs for Box 2? Much sad.

[toysdream]

For the secret origin of the name "Uma Lighting", see this thread.

-- Mark

[Blazer-X]

Pseudo mecha and manga based question: With regards to Cathedral Gundam, who is this pilot that the Second Meijin leave it with? Because according to the Wiki, the Second Meijin does not end up piloting this Gundam.

[Kuruni]

A Parts Hunter called Shouki Someya.

[Dark Duel]

Parts Hunter? Never heard of that before. Of course I'm not able to follow the manga myself, but do we know anything significant about this guy?

[Kuruni]

According to JA Wikipedia, he's a player who taking part from defeated opponent. That sound like typical ante duel, except he does it without oppnent's consensus.

[zerogradius]

Okay, I know I am late to the party but I have finally seen Gundam Build Fighters. I avoided it because I thought it was going to be something like SD Gundam, which I don't particularly care for, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually really liked this show. Sei and Reiji worked off each other pretty well, and Sei's relationship with Kousaka was handled surprisingly realistically for kids their age. Ramba Ral was also used brilliantly. I have to say that I was worried about the show taking itself too seriously like Yu-Gi-Oh, but thankfully that was not the case. For example, I loved the expressions on Sei and Reiji's faces when Ral was talking about the Gunpla mafia. The battles looked great and entertaining for the most part, though predictable, which should be expected for a tournament anime. The best one for me was Kaempfer Amazing vs the Gundam Sniper K9.

My only gripes about it were that I felt Reiji's backstory and origins were paper thin and really wasn't even necessary. Also, I thought there was quite a bit of sexism throughout. They keep saying that Gunpla Battle is for everyone yet had Kousaka ask Sei for a Gunpla for girls. He then gave her that teddy bear customized version of the Acguy that I really hate because it just looks stupid and is just an eyesore compared with everything else. Then there was the tournament for girls, which makes no sense. Why would girls need a separate tournament in a game that has no physical requirement? And the level of competition in that tournament was just terrible. I also wondered why every female character save for one used a teddy bear MS, an SD Gundam or a MS that was piloted by a female in the Gundam proper series. Why couldn't a girl pilot the ZZ Gundam, for example. That just seemed silly to me.

Other than that it was a very entertaining show, a lot more than Gundam Age was, which I never thought I would say about a spin off series compared to a main one.

I decided to watch Gundam Build Fighters Try right afterwards, expecting it to be just as good. I think the word Try was indicative of this series, because they tried many things, but it just was not as good as the original. They had three on three battles, so I expected a greater level of strategy, but most battles just ended with Sekai screaming and using a Jigen Haoh technique. Also, for 3 on 3 battles, I found it surprising that Team Try Fighters won almost all of their fights with all 3 machines intact. Their adversaries this time around also were not as interesting or well developed as the first season. That team that used the Zakus, for example, got way too much screen time for how weak they were. They also too often kept telling us how great a team was just before said team got annihilated easily, just to build up the victor.

As for the main characters, I found Hoshino to be refreshing, and probably the best female character in the series, except perhaps for Aila. Yuuma was handled well enough, but I found Sekai to be lacking. His purpose for being in Team Try Fighters is even more paper thin than Reiji's, and I also thought he looked and sounded way too much like him. I thought there was a link between them, but that was never explored. A really big sin was how they handled Ramba Ral. He barely did anything except give exposition. The first season he was a veritable badass taking on Gunpla Mafia ans led his own group of underground Gunpla fighters. This time around, he was just...meh. Giving Sekai a harem was also pretty stupid as it went absolutely nowhere, wasted lots of time, and degraded Hoshino, as I thought she was being developed quite well until they decided to make her love her junior for no reason whatsoever. It's like she just woke up one morning and decided she was in love him.

The sexism was handled better though, with SD Gundams being used by everyone. I was really worried early on when Hoshino traded her GM Powered for the Winning Gundam, but it proved to be far superior to it in every way, so I could live with that. I didn't like, however, the whole Lady Kawaguchi thing. I thought at first she was his successor, but instead she is just his...second, I guess. It is never really made clear. And why is Wilfred in the running to be the successor and not her?

Yet even with all those problems, I would still give it a rewatch because it has enough there to be entertaining. More so than Age, at least, which if I am not mistaken, did not have a single one of their Gundams in the anime at all. Oh well.

And on a side note, I'd like to ask Chris or anyone else who can answer this question whether or not it would be possible for you guys to do an episode by episode review of Angelic Layer, since it has pretty much the exact same plot and premise.

[battletech]

Where are the OVAs?

[Kuruni]

And on a side note, I'd like to ask Chris or anyone else who can answer this question whether or not it would be possible for you guys to do an episode by episode review of Angelic Layer, since it has pretty much the exact same plot and premise.

Overall, I think GBF is closer to older show Plawres Sanshiro (aside from how it feature actual evil organization that take the toy battle seriously, but then it fit with hammy wrestling angle better). And at least the toy from Plawres Sanshiro look like mecha.

[Destiny_Gundam]

And on a side note, I'd like to ask Chris or anyone else who can answer this question whether or not it would be possible for you guys to do an episode by episode review of Angelic Layer, since it has pretty much the exact same plot and premise.

When I approached Chris to review Rayearth our exchange went like this:

Me: how would you feel about CLAMPin up the site a bit?

Chris: only if it's Rayearth

So yeah, no Angelic Layer. Premise might be similar but there isn't much mechanical about the dolls.

[E08]

... I didn't like, however, the whole Lady Kawaguchi thing. I thought at first she was his successor, but instead she is just his...second, I guess. It is never really made clear. And why is Wilfred in the running to be the successor and not her?

Lady Kawaguchi is just the female counterpart of Meijin Kawaguchi.

[zerogradius]

Premise might be similar but there isn't much mechanical about the dolls.

The dolls are 100% mechanical and are no different from the Hoshino gunpla at the end of Gundam Build Fighters Try.

... I didn't like, however, the whole Lady Kawaguchi thing. I thought at first she was his successor, but instead she is just his...second, I guess. It is never really made clear. And why is Wilfred in the running to be the successor and not her?

Lady Kawaguchi is just the female counterpart of Meijin Kawaguchi.

My point is why couldn't she be the successor to Mejin Kawaguchi instead of just being the female equivalent to him.

[Kuruni]

The dolls are 100% mechanical and are no different from the Hoshino gunpla at the end of Gundam Build Fighters Try.

I'm pretty sure none of Layer has HG gunpla released by Bannam.

Also you're trying to use exception as rule here. Super Fumina is only one gunpla out of whole set and GBF-T is Gundam show. Heck, if Gundam Sousei is animated then Chris will give it slot in review page. As cool as it might be, I won't hold my breath for Chris to start review Super Sentai just becuase G-Saviour is live action show.

My point is why couldn't she be the successor to Mejin Kawaguchi instead of just being the female equivalent to him.

Remember that Yuki become Meijin after Meijin the 2nd was bedridden? Likely the title is lifetime award and you can't just knock the previous holder to take it like it's wrestling belt (and given that Meijin the 3rd isn't even in his 30 yet...). Now we really don't have info how she become Lady Kawaguchi the 1st, but I guess she's probaly good enough that Meijin the 3rd think she's worth the title and equal to him.

Well, I think Meijin the 1st know it. Does he ever say anything?

[YokozunaBulldozer]

And on a side note, I'd like to ask Chris or anyone else who can answer this question whether or not it would be possible for you guys to do an episode by episode review of Angelic Layer, since it has pretty much the exact same plot and premise.

Overall, I think GBF is closer to older show Plawres Sanshiro (aside from how it feature actual evil organization that take the toy battle seriously, but then it fit with hammy wrestling angle better). And at least the toy from Plawres Sanshiro look like mecha.

Wow, brings back memories.
I remember that show.
Sanshiro was on point for its time mixing pro wrestling and model kits.
But let's not forget, there is also the OG of Gunpla battles Plamo Kyoshiro which gifted us with Perfect Gundam and other incarnations such as the Musha Gundam and the original Red Warrior.
Looking back now, I would have liked to see Kyoda Shiro the protagonist for Plamo Kyoshiro in the show like how they did Ramba Ral.

[BrentD15]

Well, this topic suddenly became popular again.

[M-308 Gunner]

zerogradius, I agree with your points re: sexism, although I wouldn't discount the Beargguy III simply for being adorable. My wife and I loved both GBF shows (well before any cute mecha showed up), and Beargguy was a perfect gateway into gunpla - we built that kit as well as the Petitgguys together.

Like I said, I agree - there's no reason why a female character shouldn't pilot the ZZ Gundam or whatever else, but there's also a place for the cute stuff too, especially if it has the power to bring in new fans. It's not an "eyesore."