I wasn't expecting much from any follow up of Build Fighters. I had already heard that Try, and the original Divers were failed attempts to recapture the magic of the original. So the next thing I thought to do was skip ahead to the next best thing. Could Re:RISE be the show to stand above its mediocre follow-ups? It certainly does, but it takes far too long for the show to become comfortable telling its own unique story.
I'm sure many are super familiar with the isekai genre as it pertains to MMO's. Sword Art Online started the whole fad in 2012 and plenty of anime are (still) actively attempting to dethrone it, despite it's divided quality. Re: RISE uses this virtual space format to feature Mobile Suits in, but nothing ever feels fully realized in its medium. Sure, Gundams were always a tool for warfare, but when you're given lots of creative freedom to go nuts, why is does Re: RISE to play it so safe with its world-building? It took me a while before I finally was endeared by the anthropomorphic dog people, especially Freddie who I began to adore. My main issue is why have half-cat people like Parviz? The thing that comes to mind is that its to pander to the Otaku crowd, and its a seriously lazy attempt to really expand the number of sci-fi possibilities. Sure it's representative of many Eastern MMOs that have this like Final Fantasy XIV, TERA, AION etc, except I can't help but think about the unexplored potential to come up with something more creative. Hell, even aliens or elves would've sufficed. Besides that, the other huge thing is that many of the usual gamified elements of an MMO are hardly there, say for a few segways that act as transitions to their next mission. This is where SAO does the game thing right by constantly reminding the viewer that they're playing a game through small UI elements like an inventory, XP bar, and the dialogue boxes. When you have a character like Kazami constantly reiterating that they're watching a cutscene, it just detracts from the moment that I was originally invested in. the least the creators could've done is add some letterboxing whenever the NPCs were talking in a dialogue-heavy segment or thrown us a bone with a dialogue box of choice. Having characters establish that they're a game through exposition is just lazy world-building that makes it all the less memorable, and has me question a lot of things. I guess they're driving home that the fact that these NPCs are supposed to feel like real characters for later on though. Ironically the most real part of the show was that it was a VR game without a story that focused mainly around small skirmishes, which is something many Early Access VRMMO titles are dealing with right now. A lot of titles are focusing on perfecting their gameplay base and then gradually rolling out a proper story, and this is one of the things the show does accurately. Sorry for the side tangent, I just had to get that out there. Basically the characters within Build Divers become beta testers for a larger more expansive experience for Gunpla Battle Nexus Online. If there one gaming thing they did get right it's how similar it mimics the current VR landscape of testing a game with very minimal features where it starts to show off its potential later on; which almost seems like a metaphor for this first half. Was I just we just beta viewer watching some filler episodes while the "developers" began writing an actual plot in the background? Just something to think about during your viewing; was it intentional or not?
R.I.P. HAWKEN PC or any chance of VR support
In all seriousness though, there are just too many missed opportunities for the creators to do anything new for the MMO anime genre or even a Gundam spinoff. I'm not a fan of the dragon Mobile Suit piloted by Parviz because it looks so distant from a Mobile Suit, reminding me of a Bakugan toy. It might be a small complaint about aesthetics, but there are other examples like Mobile Doll May that looks like a character from Expelled from Paradise where you could argue against it being a Mobile Suit at all. Even May's design is super uninspired in that regard, and the same could be said for a majority of our main cast. We couldn't have got them dressed in familiar garb donned from familiar characters from the Gundam series? It's weird to me that they limit the fanservice so much where it seems like background dressing instead of a fun jab at the Gundam legacy. It makes me wonder why they didn't give our protagonists more standout garb to wear that's more in sync with something from its own genre, besides looking like Mikazuki Augus from Iron-Blooded Orphans. Given that they're in an MMO I just don't get why they wouldn't have small nods to other series with our main cast. I would've been super-okay if they had modified some of the uniforms of past Gundam pilots. Hell, it doesn't even feel like any of the characters themselves are super-fans of the series either, just gamers and Gunpla-only builders. On the surface, they barely even mention Gundam besides the obvious points that they're Mobile Suits. A lot of the actual Gundam fanservice is underutilized as it seems to just exist without any context besides being absolutely basic, at least compared to the original Build Fighters. I recall Kazami saying in an episode that "this was nothing like Gundam" which made me scoff. I had no clue if that joke was ironic or not, but it did get me thinking. Nothing that appeared on screen really as fanservice had me hyped, a lot of the cool nods felt almost felt like they were checking off a box to include at least one Gundam reference per episode. Many of the fan specific jokes weren't very layered at all nor did they satisfy any itch as a Gundam fan. Many of the cool on-screen jokes are just there to exist for a quick "I saw (reference) from (Gundam series)" before cutting to the main shot.
If you told people this was a Bakugan, they'd probably believe you. In fact, I still can't believe it's not one
The biggest glaring issue during my watch of the first half of Re:RISE was that the characters just weren't compelling from the get-go. However, the biggest surprise to me was that they receive actual development around episode 6 where I was actually starting to give a damn. At first, Hirito seemed like the standard overly cool OP protagonist, who reminded me of Kirito. During Hirito's backstory episode we come to find out why he's changed and acts the way he does now I started to see him as an actual human. Hiroto's personality even differs from the one inside the VRMMO space and his real-life that makes sense thematically. In a way, Hirito almost feels like the anti-Kirito (SAO) because of how flawed he is. As soon as Hirito openly admits that he is incapable of achieving his goals alone to his (online) friends, it threw me for a loop because I wasn't expecting him to be written like that. I found myself relating Hirito quite a bit, more than I'd like to admit, as he exemplified traits that were quite similar to mine. I was finally given a reason to sympathize with the stoic character beyond their power levels, and Hirito is a prime example of this inside and outside the game. This whole idea of flawed characters is something I don't often see in Isekai protagonists as they usually aim to play up the usual power fantasy for nerds. Hirito was a breath of fresh air from the usual mary sues that usually overshadow any meaningful development that I'm accustomed to in many Isekai titles. For as overly loud as Kazami can be, his plot focused episode really stuck with me and I started to really jive with his character after that; his character reminds me of Ryuji from Persona 5. Parviz was the same too, who at first was very shy and timid, but having Hirito confront him about his issues really added to both of their character dynamics. May is the stereotypical cold, calculated female with dark hair, but because of spoilers, I won't go into why I can, somewhat, make an exception to this. I'm just glad we have a mature, human character like Hirito to balance the usual overpowered types that plague MMO anime. In fact the whole cast really begins to show their true colours as you progress further along the series that almost seem like it refutes their cliche archetype presentation.
It's literally just Mikazuki and Atra...but I'm somehow ok with this
The first batch of episodes are easily forgettable side-adventures that don't really amount to much. They feel like wasted time as the show goes on. Despite watching them quite recently, I'm finding it really difficult to remember what happened in them because of how insignificant they were to the overall story. There are some "modern-day" developments with Hirito and Hinata, who I ship fondly, that kept me wanting to back in with each passing episode. Re: RISE manages to balance its two worlds fairly well where it's not jarring to switch between the two like it would be in something like an Assassin's Creed game. There are some very interesting elements to the real-life characters and their virtual counterparts as you come to learn more about each. The character-driven episodes with the backstories were well done and subverted what I was expecting from an anime like this. The show definitely begins hitting its proper strides near the end as it throws you for a loop. Re: RISE had won me over as the plot began to kick into overdrive alongside my interest in the story. I just wish it wasn't so late into the game (pun intended) when many have disregarded the series. As a whole, I'm extremely lukewarm about the first half of Re: RISE where I just found the characters better handled than everything else about the actual show. I just wish it didn't pick up the slack so late because I find that there are plenty of redeemable elements of Re: RISE that shouldn't go unmissed. If there's one thing I can say confidently, it's that the show has me completely on board for what's to come next in the second half, so they're doing something right in keeping my attention.
It ain't Gundam Build Divers, but it's the closest thing we got in VR so far