Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE

Episode 1-2-3-4

Forty years after the original Mobile Suit Gundam first hit the airwaves in 1979 comes the first Gundam show of the Reiwa era. Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE is a sequel to 2018's lackluster Gundam Build Divers, a chance for director Shinya Watada to try once more to bring the "Gundam as MMORPG" concept to life. If you don't recall the first series, I don't blame you: it got such a slow start that readers didn't pick it as a review title in the ANN weekly streaming poll. This new series is already showing more promise in that respect! It's a virtual reality wish fulfillment with bland but likable characters, but let's be honest: if it weren't for the Gundam connection, it'd be just another drop in the isekai pond.

You may be wondering: do you need to have seen Gundam Build Divers first in order to enjoy Re:RISE? Not necessarily, but I'd argue that any Gundam literacy aids in this aggressively derivative project. Re:RISE was first announced as part of the Gundam 40th Anniversary Project, and it takes its role as a part of this canon seriously. For example, the in-show cafe features food and skits based on other Gundam series, and these are just the most obvious references. Pardon the plug, but on my site I've got Gundam expert Tom Aznable pointing out the show's deepest cuts to the far corner of the Gundam multiverse each week, many of which even I haven't caught. I'll be sure to include the most clever and significant of these in my reviews moving forward. But at its core, Re:RISE is an original story about an unlikely team of four gamers caught up in an unusual new mission in their favorite online role-playing game. The central figure, former lone wolf Hiroto, is our bridge between the virtual and real worlds as we follow him back and forth from the game to an imagining of modern-day Yokohama turned playground for Gundam otaku. (His frequent visits to the Gundam-branded store and cafe remind us of Re:RISE's true raison d'etre: to sell Gundam plastic models, also called Gunpla, based on the show.)

By episode four, every viewer has figured out what our four protagonists have not: this mysterious mission isn't an intentional feature of the game, but an organic development brought forth by NPDs (nonplayable divers) gone rogue. It's an overt return to Gundam Build Divers' Sara, a digital lifeform born out of players' love for and dedication to the game. (Aww.) The show ended with Sara getting downloaded into a Gunpla model-like chassis in the real world, but clearly the production team thought there was more to explore (or more money to be made), leading to this series set two years later. This is a second chance for the story to correct what I consider to be Gundam Build Divers' biggest narrative mistake: in the first show, gamers wanted to erase the organic lifeform in order to preserve the MMORPG, which feels entirely unrealistic. If World of Warcraft spontaneously generated an artificial intelligence, that would be the most exciting and preservation-worthy development in any scientific field! Now the sequel is returning to the same concept, and on a much grander scale with whole villages of furry AIs to befriend. There's also a clear indication that Hiroto's mystery girl is an AI herself, one who looks uncannily like Sara. With such basic building blocks of plot depending on characters' obtuseness, I'm not sure this show understands that its success will depend not on the myriad winks it makes toward established fans with ever more elaborate Easter Eggs, but what happens to the core characters once they finally figure out what is going on. (And shouldn't they consider the possibility of rogue AIs soon, having knowledge of the Sara situation just two years prior?) For now, it's a passable, at times even fun, visit to a low-stakes Gundam-derivative world. But as it pokes at the edges of this narrative's seams, we'll see just how well it holds up on its own.

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Lauren helps Gundam fans build their own model kits at Gunpla 101.

Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.