Gundam Build Divers
Short Synopsis: Some kids buy some Gunpla figures to play with in a virtual reality game
Aidan’s review
Once upon a time there was a show called Gundam which was made with the intent to sell toys but the animators decided to make a serious story about war, hence kickstarting it’s legacy. Now in the future, a Gundam show takes that legacy and uses it to sell toys. We have gone full circle here people. Anyway as for the show itself it’s basically one big advertisement for Gunpla models that happens to have some rather well animated mecha battle scenes. Storywise though this is about a bunch of kids taking a virtual reality game way too damn seriously. No stakes and it looks like it’s just gonna be about this kid becoming the best Gunpla pilot, like no one ever was.
Potential: 0%
Mario’s review
Words can’t even describe how little I care about this Gunpla universe. This first episode plays like some promotional material for Gunpla, as a consequence there’s little to no identity regarding the show itself. Characters have little personality besides “Gundam models are A-mazing” and the only real story this show has so far involve the mysterious amnesiac girl that somehow I thought she was muted (despite have some talking lines now that I recall it), just to show how forgettable all those characters are. It’s a kiddie show so I’m not going to be harsh on it, but it still remains a forgettable kiddie show at best.
Potential: 0%
3D Kanojo Real Girl
Short Synopsis: An otaku boy falls for a girl after they clean a pool together.
Aidan’s review
Yeah, this really isn’t for me. The developments are just contrived and the romance is forced as best. Boy isn’t it romantic when the guy you ask out rejects you in front of the class and then proceeds to stalk you after school? We had several situations that broke suspension of disbelief completely for the sole purpose of making one of them look good in front of the other in order to sell that their relationship was “Real” Thing is that examining all there intereacts I don’t see these two having anything in common or a drop of chemistry. I can’t even imagine what these two would talk about when the relationship drama dies down. But of course it won’t die down because this is shoujo and here someone will always have something to get their knickers in a twist over. Some may get something out of this but honestly a better romance anime is coming.
Potential: 0%
Mario’s review
This is a story of a boy meets girl and through many trials and tests they come to like each other. Happy ending. Except that this show wanted to be a realistic portrayal of nerdy otaku who find love in real life and boy, “realistic” is never in its DNA. First, the boy is a pitiful mess, not because he’s a nerd with weird hobby, but because he holes up into his shell and blames others for making him feel that way. The show, in its defense, understands that but it overplays that insecurity too many times within this first episode. They make it worse by making side characters act like true asshole to bring up that point. A boy physically abuses Iroha at school because he thinks she’s a slut? An ex-classmate meets the main character after many years and her first reaction was: “You’re still gross!”. Or later the event at the bookstore when Iroha reacts to the shoplift accusation by… undressing herself. It’s a ham-fisted way of storytelling that I just feel every development is so contrived. The main leads at the end have some good bonding (hence the 10%) but even with the girl, I don’t find her character that much appealing so there’s little in this show that makes me want to watch more here.
Potential: 10%
Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai
Short Synopsis: A teenage boy continually runs into a pretty foreign girl around town, and eventually brings her to his family’s coffee shop.
Wooper’s review
This is another romcom from the same studio and director that did Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun in 2014. While that show was more focused on the “com” part of the genre, though, Tada-kun will probably be heading deeper into “rom” territory – at least, that’s the route I’d take, since I don’t find it the least bit funny. The humor in this show mostly comes from its characters acting wacky, like the craaazy gaijin girl who’s constantly getting lost, or the flamboyant best friend who thinks he’s God’s gift to women. That would be fine, except that there’s nothing comical about the situations depicted in the show, which are just a series of coincidental meetups between the two leads. Think back to the premise of Nozaki-kun: a girl tries to confess her love for a boy (who is secretly a shoujo manga artist), but he mistakes her confession as an offer to work as his assistant. Even if you think that’s the dumbest idea on earth, there is at least a potential for comedy there. In Tada-kun, there’s nothing of the sort, unless you count the hints that Teresa is of royal descent. Even that idea would be more appropriate in a romance than a comedy, though, so let’s hope the show gets there eventually.
Potential: 30%
Mario’s review
An original anime from the team behind Nozaki-kun should tell us a bit on what to expect about this show. As it turns out, Tada-kun’s premiere has its fair shares of ups and downs. On the good side, the blonde lead girl – which might or might not be a princess of little unknown Europe country which is “Larsenburg” (my sub), and I really hope the show trolls us there – comes off as quirky charming (chief among them is her passion about a Japanese TV drama: Rainbow Shogun, which brings me many good laugh) and she sure brightens the screen with her presence here. She and the male lead also share some moderate chemistry and I can see the romance between them has some potential to grow. I also enjoy the visual timing of Tada-kun, in addition. My favorite visual gags from this show, for example, is how Terasa miraculously appears on the male lead’s camera multiple times. The titular male lead, on the opposite side of good, is rather bland and feel much like an self-insert type protagonist. It could benefit the show if they spend some times instead fleshing out him before he met Teresa. Moreover, I have a mixed feeling regarding the supporting cast. His male friend, Mitsuyoshi with his over the top antics was so off-putting that he could be a make-or-break point for me. The same can be said for that Nyanko Big cat (geez, he’s annoying) and the plot so far is generic and fairly routine (the leads happen to run into each other too many times, they happen to live close together, she happens to be a transfer student who study on the same class. NO). I will continue watching it as the parts I enjoyed, I did really enjoy, so I hope the show just tone down all the unnecessary and tonal-whiplash antics from certain supporting cast.
Potential: 50%
It appears expecting even half of what older Gunpla’s did was way too much. Just more of the same Sunrise, just more of the same – you had that one job! I didn’t expect them to make the characters even younger, remove any trace of the awesome music of S1 and S2 and turn this into isekai. Oh Sunrise… They should stick with Build Try OVAs featuring Gundam character’s AI battles. Like the one with Char vs Ribbons and Amuro.
Btw, there is ep0 out there and it is actually decent, unlike ep1 and most probably rest of the series. Even I probably won’t follow.