The Weekly Stuff Podcast with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman

The Weekly Stuff #428 – Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE Review & Discussion

Episode Summary

After Sean tells us about his fancy new smartphone and Jonathan reviews the game Tunic, it’s time to talk about Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE, the most pleasantly surprising qualitative whiplash we’ve ever seen.

Episode Notes

Before ‘diving’ into this week’s Gundam discussion – yes, it’s still a pun – Sean talks about finally upgrading to a new smartphone (after being on the iPhone 6S for over half the life of this show), asks Jonathan why he’s inexplicably watching through all the Star Trek movies including the very bad ones, and Jonathan gives impressions of the excellent indie adventure Tunic on Xbox. Then it’s time to talk about Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE, the most pleasantly surprising qualitative whiplash we’ve ever seen. Following the franchise low-point of Gundam Build Divers, Re:RISE is a stunningly smart, soulful, exciting, and all-around excellent anime that is nearly as great as the original show is bad. Following a new group of characters – the BUILD DiVERS, distinguished by one lowercase ‘i’ – Re:RISE immediately distinguishes itself with a deeply human and compelling protagonist, Hiroto Kuga, and a fantastic group of supporting characters, all on a wild adventure that combines the video game isekai tropes the first show tried but failed at, a more traditional fantasy isekai journey to another world, and even dashes of other non-Build Gundam shows with heroes, villains, and major life-and-death stakes. It’s the last full Gundam show made to date, and we couldn’t ask for much more of the series that catches this podcast up to the franchise’s present day.