YMMV / Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Given the reveal in the finale,is May a literal reincarnation of Eve shaped by Hiroto's feelings or is she a new character altogether born from both Eve and Hiroto? The show is rather ambiguous on that point and the Ship-to-Ship Combat involved didn't help.
  • Just how much control did Alus have over his actions, especially when he walked into the ambush? Was he truly an over confident idiot that severely underestimated his opposition, or was he just following his programming now that he recognized the Eldorans as the planet's true heirs and was trying to protect them from invaders?
• Awesome Music: This series, like every other Build series before it, never fails to impress.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • When episode 19 aired, one viewer took notice that Eve’s earring bears a green gem that resembles the one on Mol-chan, Sarah’s pet. With what was revealed, some are suggesting that Mol-chan was a part of Eve or is Eve reborn. Effectively Jossed by the next episode, as Eve's Suicide by Cop couldn't have happened before Sarah bought Mol-chan, given the latter was already owned by Sarah when the bugs represented by the dark Sarahs started showing up. However, instead of Mol-chan, Eve was reincarnated...as May
  • The sidestory manga Gundam Build Diver Rize introduces a person (who later shows up in episode 26 of the main series) named Mr. MS, who looks a lot like Minato Sakai, and likewise pilots the Tryon 3 and has interactions with the characters and/or story of both Rize and the main anime shows - thus leading to questions on where exactly the line is drawn between Fighters and Divers as separate universes. Not helping matters is that the "MS" in his username could stand for either "mobile suit" or, following the username conventions for GBN players, "Minato Sakai."
• Fanfic Fuel: What if Freddie watched footage from other Gundam series instead of Build Divers and asked for help? The possibilities are a gold mine.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Hiroto was called "Build Mikazuki" starting from Episode 1, due to his appearance and general demeanor.
  • By way of analogy to the above entry, and due to its slightly diminutive size (even for HG 1/144 standards,) Core Gundam is aptly called the "Manlet Gundam".
  • May in a dark green Meido dress was (inevitably) named "Hand Maid May" or "MayDo."
  • The sombrero-wearing One-Eye at the end of Episode 26 has been well-received by fans; some have began to refer to it as "Tequilus"^note A portmanteau of "Tequila Gundam" and "Alus".
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Episode 12 ends up vindicating Game Master's old worldview, as a rampant AI ended up crashing not only GBN but the whole world, Pluto's Kiss style. Only this wasn't a human-made AI.
  • Related to the above, the collapse of telecommunications forces the team to meet in person, which is particularly harsh now that the 2019-2020 COVID19 pandemic is having the exact opposite effect on society.
  • Kazami's complaining about the struggles of the Resistance, saying that the developers made the story too complex, becomes much harder to swallow after The Reveal that Eldora is Real After All. He may be following Play the Game, Skip the Story, but he's being apathetic towards the struggles of living people!
  • Hiroto's violent reactions to Alus's taunts when he starts a sniper duel with the Alus Earthree Gundam that copies the Planets System becomes even more painful after the revelations of just what happened in his past in episode 20; Alus's taunts about 'perfecting his style' by making the Alus Core Gundam a dark copy of the Core Gundam take on an even more malicious edge when episode 20 reveals the emotional trauma Hiroto endured back then.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Sunrise not only put all the same resources from the highly popular Build Divers dub into Re:RISE, but released it online just as the COVID19 pandemic was forcing people worldwide into self-imposed lockdown - it was originally timed to release right before the second season, basically helping the fans through the whole period for a bit longer.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One of the countless rumors that sprang up during the run of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny claimed that Athrun's upgraded Gundam would be named "Knight Justice" as an Homage to director Mitsuo Fukuda's previous series Future GPX Cyber Formula; naturally these turned out to be false, and the Gundam was actually named Infinite Justice. Over a decade later, Re:RISE comes along with an Infinite Justice Gundam modified to look like a Knight.
  • Apparently Kamen Rider Zero-One predicted a Robot Girl in black, white and green.
  • The Core Gundam was supposedly based on the original RX-78-2 despite having very little in common outside of color schemes - fast forward to the 40th anniversary Milestone Celebration, and the new Gundam G40 is designed with downward-mounted beam saber handles that aren't seen a lot apart from on the Core Gundam.
  • Episode 20 comes just after the Disney+ release of Hamilton, revealing that our hero also threw away his shot.
  • By the end of the series there's still a noticeable absence of a Pluto-Nine armor - the Premium Bandai online shop announced an exclusive HG model from Mobile Suit Gundam 00, the Gundam Plutone, which is from one of the 00 sidestories but just so happens to fit the naming scheme of the Planets Gundams.
  • After being the butt end of the Fan Nickname "Build Mikazuki", Hiroto is seen in Build Divers Battlogue piloting the Barbatos Lupus Rex against Kyoya's Strike Freedom Gundam. And it is a beautiful sight to behold.
  • Kazami’s old Force, Mu Dish, has a Journey to the West motif to them, with one of their members (Yuri) even looking like a Monkey King Lite, and they also pilot Gunpla of Cosmic Era mechs. Then years later, SD Gundam World Heroes would have its own Monkey King Lite as its main protagonist...and even better, he’s ALSO based off of a Cosmic Era mech! (The Impulse Gundam, in his case)
  • Alus, the Eldoran supercomputer, had been observing our heroes in action for a long time, before generating its own version of the Earthree Gundam, which mostly resembled the original in silhouette but with unrecognizable detail. This was some years before AI generated artwork, particularly of Gundam in general, became a thing.
• Memetic Mutation: Here we go...
• Memetic Psychopath: After Captain Zeon's first appearance had him perform a Colony Drop to stop three Divers and destroy an entire city in the process, fans did not waste time in portraying him as a Sociopathic Hero who stops petty crimes by destroying giant regions of land to enforce Disproportionate Retribution onto wrongdoers.
• Moe: Freddie due to his cute behavior and appearance which quickly caught attention with the furry fandom.
• Moral Event Horizon: Alus is an Obliviously Evil Tragic Villain, but the horrors he's responsible for put him well beyond conventional redemption. There's two main candidates for when he crosses the line, revealed within a couple of episodes of each other:
  • The pilot of the Seltsam, Masaki Shido, turns out to be an innocent teenager who fought to protect Eldora just like the Build Divers. Alus captured him, had him Reforged into a Minion, and forced him to massacre the people he'd tried to defend while he was still dimly conscious of what he was doing and was trying to make it stop.
  • When he learns of the Eldoran capital, Seguri, (and has had the chance to meet an Eldoran and learn that they are sapient) Alus immediately obliterates it with a blast so massive that it ravages the entire planet, killing an untold number of people.
• Narm Charm: The Re:Rising Gundam. It looks ridiculous with giant front skirts mixed with an undersized chest and most of the Wodom Pod sticking on its butt, but its scene from Episode 25 is still one of the most awesome moments in the show.
• One-Scene Wonder: Both of Hiroto's new armors that debut in Episode 25 only appear there. The Nepteight Gundam is teased by the opening to be trump card that Hiroto will use in the final space battle, only to be used for nothing more than to propel the team into space, after which he jettisons it and switches to the Jupitive Gundam for actual combat. Likewise, the Re:Rising Gundam, despite being the most powerful thing in team BUILD DiVERS' arsenal, only appears to punch a Psycho Daughtress to pieces and blast apart Alus' moon base with it's Grand Cross Cannon. Nepteight is justified as Hiroto explains in Episode 25 that the armor was only designed for interstellar travel, and not for use under gravity. Re:Rising might have been an option, but Alus hijacking the Earthree armor made it too risky. That and Re:Rising's sheer power might've done more harm than what Alus was already inflicting.
• Popular with Furries: Both in Japan and outside of it, the show's character designs have attracted viewers in the Furry Fandom. Freddie in particular is popular in the Japanese and Taiwanese furry fandoms due to his cute appearance and behavior.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Sarah was a rather divisive character in the first season, but was more positively received for her taking a more active role in the plot, piloting her own Gunpla, and for her connection to fellow El-diver May.
• Shocking Moments: Episodes 12 and 13 reveal the series' true colors in ways not even the most seasoned Gundam fans could have expected, especially from a Build spinoff. The Reveal that Edlora was Real After All and Alus obliterating the Resistance's base and killing countless lives with his Kill Sat, in particular, caught many viewers off-guard.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: Hiroto/May fans and Hiroto/Hinata fans have taken up arms against each other after the events of Episode 20.
• Spell My Name With An S: Is it Lord Astray Double Rebake, or Load Astray Double Rebake? Upon hearing the name of Koichi and Tsukasa's new mobile suit, there was some brief confusion in regards to its actual name, partially due to the words "Lord" and "Load" being pronounced the same way in Japanese. The official box for the Gunpla kit put the debate to rest by going with the latter of the two names... though the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray: Princess of the Sky manga where the mobile suit it is based on appears makes it clear in context that "Lord" is the actual English word "Load Astray" is based on (though it also does serve as a pun for the "Lord's Road" its pilot plans to walk), making this another case of Recursive Translation weirdness like the WoDom being based on the English name "Walking Dome".
• Spiritual Adaptation: For some veteran furry fans outside Japan, this show is probably the closest thing to an animated adaptation, let alone a Japanese-made one, from Albedo: Erma Felna EDF (with some elements from Katmandu thrown into it, culture-wise), at least in its basic premise: An AI created by humans controlling a world populated with anthropomorphic animals involved in a planet-wide war. The main difference here is the fact in Albedo, the whole war is much bigger, as involve many solar systems, and its respective AI, the Net, is much benevolent than the one from this show. This especially funny because the creator of Albedo, Steve Gallacci, took some inspiration from many Japanese media for the comic, Gundam included, and he also expressed his interest to adapt Albedo into animation, especially to an Anime format, rather than Western Animation.
  • Re:RISE can also be seen as an anime adaption of Galaxy Quest.
• Stoic Woobie: Hiroto, Hiroto, Hiroto. Basically, he met a new friend in GBN and bonded with her...and then one day she starts acting up very badly thanks to trying to absorb some bugs left by Sarah, because both are EL-Divers. This forces Hiroto to Mercy Kill her and it's made evident that he did not like doing it at all. When the Second Coalition of Volunteers gathered to fight the Build Divers, he was there and was about to shoot Riku until he remembered his last promise to Eve and redirected his shot into the ground...except it didn't make him feel any better and instead made him believe he failed to keep his promise. Still, for two years, he bottled his emotions and became a quiet, emotionless youth of few words...until episode 20 where he finally breaks down and cries in May's arms. Guy really needs a hug or two, having been done dirty really badly.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Re:RISE not only rectifies some of Gundam Build Divers issues, but it also thrusts the Build subseries into uncharted territory in terms of stakes, tone and character development.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Among the Gunpla of the main cast, there's two; May's Gunpla, the WoDom Pod, is a smaller version of the WaDom, a Mobile Armor that's one of many mechs from its home series to not get an actual Gunpla. Meanwhile the SD Gundam rep for this series, Parviz's Valkylander, is based on the Gundlander series, which even among SD Gundam fans is highly obscure. And even further with the Valkylander, its Gundam form is based on the Gundam Astraea Type F, which has no proper representation in Gundlander since it ended long before 00 first aired^note The closest thing Gundlander has to new characters in recent years are Kurgan Graze and Barbatolander, both from SD Gundam The Last World and both based off of mechs from Iron-Blooded Orphans., and even without taking that into account just seems like a random choice.
  • Remember Captain Zeon, the children's cartoon hero made to propagandize Zeon in the Universal Century? Yes, no, maybe so? Well, he's back, and this time, he's a VTuber-sorry, GTuber that pilots a Zeonized Nu Gundam!
  • Tie-in Petitguys are becoming a recurring thing in the Gundam Build franchise, only appearing in the actual show to play on their cuteness factor, but nobody was expecting the Knight Justice-inspired Justigguy to appear as Kazami's spare mech!
• Unpopular Popular Character: While In-Universe the protagonists' Nonstandard Character Design Gunpla are treated as The Scrappy to play up them being a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, many fans were happy to see obscure suits like the WaDOM from ∀ Gundam and an SD Gundam based on the Gundlander series getting a whole show where they get to be in the spotlight.
• Watch It for the Meme: Episode 13, just to hear and see May scream "TAXI~!!!". Even in the English Dub.
• Win Back the Crowd: Sunrise seems to be addressing several of the complaints fans (especially Western ones) had with the first season of Build Divers.
  • The use of several more obscure mecha by the heroes, particularly the WaDOM from ∀ Gundam and the SD Gundam rep being based on the Gundlander series. This is especially evident during the final battle where loads of obscure mobile suits are presented front and center, many of which made their first animated debut in this show.
  • Several characters appear to homage Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans which was underutilized previously.
  • The new head writer on the series is Yasuyuki Muto, who wrote the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVAs.
  • The animation team behind this is Sunrise Beyond, previously known as XEBEC, the animation team behind mecha series such as Martian Successor Nadesico, Fafner in the Azure: Dead Aggressor and Full Metal Panic!: Invisible Victory.
  • Rather than mostly focusing on Hiroto and then develop his teammates later on like the previous series did for Riku and his team, the show doesn't waste any time devoting several multi-episode arcs to develop Hiroto's teammates early on.
  • Sarah was a very divisive character, being a Mysterious Waif with a Captain Obvious Reveal and her presence as walking Deus ex Machina, though this only applied to Break Decals. May, on the other hand, is a massive Action Girl with her own amazing Gunpla, her reveal being subtly hidden and her actively contributing to the other heroes victories through strategy.
  • One of the biggest problems the fandom had since Gundam Build Fighters Try was the lessening of the stakes, to where Build Divers's big problems with the Break Decals weren't fully fleshed out and ended up being dealt with halfway through the series. Episode 12 had the heroes completely and utterly lose, leading to the deaths of numerous Eldorans and cause the Internet to suffer server failures across the world.
  • Merchandise example: The entire concept of the Core Gundam opened a completely new wave of customization possibilities not largely considered before, to the point of many builders converting previous Mobile Suits as armors for the Core Gundam and its variants. So successful was this idea that it was applied into the show via Alus' armors for his subsequent Core Gundams, specifically the Nu, Arche, and Turn X.
  • The trade off however, are the lack of new Gundam designs, which is the Build series main selling point, the repetitive battles with the One-Eyes, and the limited settings the battles take place in.