Recap

The matchups for the semifinals have been decided, and Kauruko’s team faces off against Team G-Master, last year’s regional champions. Even with encouragement from Sekai, can Gyanko and her shields hold up?

Gee’s Thoughts

The answer is no. It was always no you idiots. This is a kid’s show, and the moment the matchup was decided, Gyanko was doomed from the beginning. In all seriousness, despite the completely obvious outcome of this week’s episode, I think we were all hoping she would have put up a better fight. Or in the very least, land a hit on the enemy team. Her complete beating is probably what makes it so disappointing. While nobody had any delusions that R-Gyagya was going to stand a chance, to be beaten so badly is even worse. What makes it all the more disconcerting is that Kaoruko is likely the only truly legitimate female gunpla battler in the show with any sense of agency. Unlike Fumina, who’s been unceremoniously pushed to the back and relegated to a support role, Kaoruko fought and stood on her own two legs, and used a legitimate kit that showed a sense of power and control. Unlike Fumina’s Winning Gundam, which merely exists to supplement the two legitimate models on her team, Kaoruko’s R-Gyagya was a contender in its own right. It could exist in a vacuum unlike the Winning Gundam, which needs another gundam to rely on. With Gyanko’s defeat, it likely means this is the last we’re going to see of a female gunpla battler actually doing anything important for the foreseeable future.

The silver lining of this is that we finally have a team that wins through sheer power and skill instead of stupid gimmicks or plot contrivances. No SD bullshit here. No plavsky hacks. Just well built robots (including that gorgeous Hyaku-Shiki!) and highly skilled pilots. Gyanko was good, but simply not good enough. It’s a pure reason to lose a fight, and her opponents weren’t even real jerks about it. Well, at least Sudou anyway. His two teammates are kinda sketchy but I guess we’ll see where that goes. With Akira being also knowledgeable of martial arts, it should be interesting to see where that goes. Shimon and Sekai’s fight was genuinely well done, even if it involved characters and gunpla nobody cares about. I kind of look forward to seeing the Build Burning get into a kung-fu fight with a plane that has arms and treads.