There’s no such thing as a franchise that’s never been caught in a creative rut. The older it is, the more likely it happens. With Gundam, this is absolutely the case—the series can be great, but it can also get caught up in making either lackluster entries like Gundam AGE, or releasing spin-off media based on previously existing series.

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But with Gundam Build Fighters, they stumbled onto something that worked. A world where people could take their favorite Gundams and build them as plastic models, then have them battle it out. The first series is beloved, and it spawned a series of sequel series including Gundam Build Divers, a series set in the same universe, but with vastly different rules. But does that make it the worst of the series or the best?

10 BUILD FIGHTERS: Character Growth

Gundam Build Fighters’ best strength isn’t in it’s story; it’s in the character development. At the beginning, Sei is a fantastic Gundam model builder, but he has no faith in his abilities to pilot. He loses every match he’s in until Reiji comes along, piloting the suit for him while relying on Sei’s knowledge in battle.

Watching these two develop and become friends, while Sei gradually gains confidence in himself is one of the best parts of this series.

9 BUILD DIVERS: The Characters Have Superpowers

One of the stranger things about Build Divers happens very early on in the series in episode four. There, the protagonists Riku and Yukki head to a special area to meet legendary warrior Tigerwolf. Tigerwolf explains that since the world is virtual, there’s no limit placed on what the pilots can achieve, even without the Gundam.

Effectively, the two protagonists learn that they have super strength and durability, while learning to teach their Gundams new special techniques.

8 BUILD FIGHTERS: The Sense Of Loss

One thing the villain of Gundam Build Divers was correct about was the way that GBN exists makes it impossible to feel any real sense of concern for the characters.

Every player in both Fighters and its sequel put their Gundam models on the line with every battle—if they lose, their real life model suffers the damage sustained during the match. Simply put, model work that took hours to finish could be destroyed. With GBN, the model is never in danger, taking away some of the urgency in the first portion of this series.

7 BUILD DIVERS: 5-On-5 Battles

There’s something to one on one battles, but team battles are pretty awesome too. With one on one battles, the direction of the battle is clear, as it all falls on the individual’s shoulders as to whether or not they’ll be able to lead their teammates to victory.

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Build Divers allows for there to be a teammate that’s inexperienced and still figuring out how to play, or for there to be a brief moment of frustration between people on the same side. There’s so many different ways to develop

6 BUILD FIGHTERS: Showing The Model Kits

One thing that gets lost in the transition from Gundam Build Fighters to Try and Build Divers is the focus they initially put on the actual model kits that the players had. Sei Iori spends hours working and re-working on the model he and Reiji take into battle.

The Build Gundam becomes the Build Strike, which becomes the Star Build Strike. It’s a big deal for them to figure out how models work, then coming up with effective counters for them.

5 BUILD DIVERS: A Deeper Storyline

Gundam Build Fighter’s story is direct and straight to the point: the two main characters want to become the best Gundam model fighters in the world. To do that, they have to continuously win, beating more and more powerful opponents.

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It works, and Gundam Build Fighters is perhaps the most liked because everything seems to click in place. However, Build Divers aims to be more. It asks questions about the nature of artificial intelligence and what humanity's responsibility is surrounding it.

4 BUILD FIGHTERS: The Combat Scenes

There’s one major thing that Gundam Build Fighters has over Divers, and that’s it’s fight scenes. Those battles are iconic, as the tournament setting meant that every battle meant something. It wasn’t just characters facing off for the sake of points or a quest.

Every enemy they overcame got them closer to their goal of making it into the national championships. Sei and Reiji versus Ricardo Fellini is one of the best fights not just in Build Fighters, but Gundam history.

3 BUILD DIVERS: The Expansive Setting

It’s true, the development of Build Divers’ Battle Nexus Online ruins some parts of the universe. But whatever it takes, it adds a ton as well. The admiration of the world of Gundam is taken to higher levels than ever, with entire areas devoted to specific eras of the Gundam universe.

It isn't all about battling now, but rather there are massive cities devoted to the design and building of Gundams. There’s events where we get to see the cutest Gundam designs—it’s a world where everything doesn’t have to be about who can beat who in a fight.

2 BUILD FIGHTERS: Better Rivals

Gundam Build Fighters had some of the most memorable rivals in a series like this in quite some time. It wasn’t just one specific enemy they had to deal with. Instead, the heroes were confronted with the dashing playboy Ricardo Fellini, the champion of Italy.

Other notable rivals included  the American super genius Nils Nielsen and the Meijin, the World Champion the heroes have to strive to become good enough to battle against. Reiji and Sei are forced to beat all of them and more if they want to become the best of the best.

1 BUILD DIVERS: The Supporting Cast

There’s a ton of flaws to Gundam Build Divers, but one bright spot the series has is its cast of background characters. Characters leaned all the way into their roleplaying, which lead to viewers getting people like Shahryar: a man who believed Gunpla designs could only reach their best when love was put into them.

There’s also Magee, a delightful femme male character who guides our protagonists, helping them to understand the world of Build Divers and giving them the connections they need to handle different scenarios and missions.

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