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I was making the same face as Sekai when I saw that combination, Tryon 3 is awesome!

I know right! Felt more Daltanious/Gaiking inspired than GGG but it's got a lion chest so whatever! Maybe they'll bring some of the more ridiculous G Gundams into the show now.

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I wonder if we'll see a season 3 at this point. I mean, we've yet to see any previous faces save for Meijin. Maybe we'll get like a "middle school champions enter the actual legit world tournament" season, or something of that sorts?

We've had Fellini and Luang Dallara mentioned as top fighters in the individual world tournament.

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Anyone else feel this season isn't living up to season 1? It started off strong, but I'm feeling the latter half of season 2 isn't as good as season 1's. Not bad by any means, but at this point in season 1, I couldn't wait for new eps---but "not feeling it" for season 2. Still watch, but I'm not "eagerly anticipating" each new ep.

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Anyone else feel this season isn't living up to season 1? It started off strong, but I'm feeling the latter half of season 2 isn't as good as season 1's. Not bad by any means, but at this point in season 1, I couldn't wait for new eps---but "not feeling it" for season 2. Still watch, but I'm not "eagerly anticipating" each new ep.

That "new car"-smell is gone. We know where our protagonists are heading. S1 was good because it was new. This time around, we know the "rules of the game" and we know where we're heading. So yeah, some of the thrill is gone, but it's still a fun ride.

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I think season 1 was great because we actually knew all the fighters on a fairly personal level (Fellini, Meijin, Mao, etc.). We also had Aila as a side-plot that was developed quite well too.

Now we have some other schools, only two of which are really relevant/developed (Gunpla Academy and the Tryon squad). No real "antagonist" to be found like the chairman from last season, etc.

I personally think that season 2 should have piggybacked off of season 1 with individual fights and a lot more recurring cast.

Also, season 1 showed a lot of the "building" part of gunpla as well. Sekai, on the other hand, just kind of fell into an epic gunpla from the start, and so we don't really know that much about Build Burning either.

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Season 1 was a fun and self-aware love letter to gundam fans that was much better than it had any right to be. I was pleasantly surprised by the animation quality and how fun the characters were in season 1. Season 2 on the other hand, still feels like the cash grab of season 1, but without the extra polish. I kind of feel season 2 is a generic kids show, but with gundams.

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I wonder if we'll see a season 3 at this point. I mean, we've yet to see any previous faces save for Meijin. Maybe we'll get like a "middle school champions enter the actual legit world tournament" season, or something of that sorts?

We've had Fellini and Luang Dallara mentioned as top fighters in the individual world tournament.

Actually, we did see one other face from the first season, Nils Nielson.

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One other thing to note is that Masashi Hirose's illness and subsequent departure from the voice cast had an adverse effect on the series. As Ral-san, he was a solid mentor and his punchlines were absolutely priceless. Katsuhisa Hoki's version of the character has a severely reduced presence to a near-wallflower level. It's like he's missing on the episodes he's actually on.

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it is on the upper right corner of the box. the Real size Star Winning Gundam (it was hinted in the OP though)

Wait, what's the spoiler? Apologies if I missed it, but I can't see anything that would be a spoiler. We've already seen the Star Winning right?

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I'm all about Fumina saving the day, especially if it gets the annoying Boys From Brazil out of the story. But this love triangle (quadrangle?) they keep trying to inject into the story has to go. It's just making Fumina look idiotic, and really weakening her character.

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I'm all about Fumina saving the day, especially if it gets the annoying Boys From Brazil out of the story. But this love triangle (quadrangle?) they keep trying to inject into the story has to go. It's just making Fumina look idiotic, and really weakening her character.

PREACH! PREACH! AMEN MY BROTHER!!!

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I'm all about Fumina saving the day, especially if it gets the annoying Boys From Brazil out of the story. But this love triangle (quadrangle?) they keep trying to inject into the story has to go. It's just making Fumina look idiotic, and really weakening her character.

Oh come now. Fumina is the only character of the bunch having a realistic reaction to any of this. It's all in good fun. I'm convinced Sekai doesn't even realize anything is happening.

I'm a bit tired of hearing about how this and that is ruining Fumina. Uh dude, she's the baddest member of the whole team. And she kind of always has been. But she's also not a Mary-Sue and that's what makes her great. She's smart, strong, skilled, and capable, but she's also a teenage girl. I think they've actually struck an amazing balance with her character, and gundam fighting aside, the level of care that they've actually taken with Fumina's character is one of the biggest reasons I watch this show.

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I don't feel it's realistic to have Fumina go all bug-eyed with steam coming out of her ears every time a female so much as speaks to Sekai. It makes sense for her to be friends with Sekai, but there is no basis for her to view him as a love interest; he's younger than her, clearly less intelligent, and, as you point out, he doesn't even seem aware of her (or anyone) in a romantic sense.

The writers already have Gyanko in the show as a vehicle for their tired anime hyper-jealousy gags. They should leave those jokes to her, and let Fumina stick to being awesome. Because she is an awesome, carefully written character with a wide appeal... when she isn't acting like an overused trope.

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No her reaction isn't realistic and it feels forced because it only started at the begining of this season when she saw him with the girl from the gunpla academy. Prior to that she had no problem if Sekai talked to girls. Hell she had no problem with Gyanko bringing him a boxed lunch, only making fun of him for not knowing what it meant to a girl to do that for a boy. Now its like:

"STAY AWAY FROM MY MAN YOU DIRTY HUSSIES!!!!"

Almost overnight. I'm waiting for the moment when she sees him with his sister and freaks thinking they might be a little too close that we all know is coming.

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I think I missed the part where this happened overnight and simply imagined that the relationship between Sekai and Fumina has developed over time into this. It's almost like it's been 14 episodes since Fumina mocked Sekai for not understanding the meaning of Gyanko's bento. (And it was at that exact moment that I realized I'm a grown man critically analyzing a children's cartoon from Japan, and the romantic development within that show)

You can't tell me you never felt a pang of jealousy when you saw a crush talking to a member of the opposite sex, with whom they might actually have more in common. (And let's not dance around the issue here: Fumina has something akin to a tsundere crush on Sekai) Especially when that other person says they like your crush. (Especially in Japanese, which relies heavily on context to determine whether "suki" means like or love) This is a cartoon, and it's not a serious one either, so yes they use the ear-steam approach to create a caricature that communicates complex feelings without explicitly stating them in words- you can do that easily with facial expressions, but it's tough to animate.

Furthermore, this hasn't just been "whenever a female so much as speaks to Sekai", it's been primarily in response to Gyanko (who Fumina knows is competition) and now a girl who just said she liked Sekai.

Please, will you come off your respective high horses and take some perspective here?

Frankly, I feel like China and Sei's relationship feels a lot more forced. They were kind of classmates, and then Sei needed to use the art room (because his own work room wasn't good enough?) and little China was intrigued with this kid's fascination with toy robots? And then somehow that let to a contrived romance between 12 year olds that stayed together for at least the last 7 years? I dunno, that's a lot bigger stretch than "really passionate girl and really passionate guy grow close to each other while competing on the same team in something they both really care about".

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I'll let you decide how high you feel my horse is, and whether I have dismounted or not, but...

I'm not talking about Sei/China, or Reiji/Aila for that matter, or anything that happened in season 1. I'm talking about season 2, where Fumina - who is the intelligent, independent backbone of the team and the best character in the season - turns into a tired anime cliche in specific, contrived circumstances. Setting aside why she should be so infatuated with a weird red-headed kid whose (forgive me) balls clearly haven't dropped yet, we have to ask, "Does Fumina realistically act like she has a crush on Sekai?"

I'd say, no. She has no trouble talking to him in normal contexts, whether out casually or in their club activities. She doesn't get all shy or stumble over her words or do any of that nonsense. Neither is she seeking out chances to be with him, or trying to get his attention. She doesn't seem at all concerned with how he feels about her, or getting him to express it. Likewise, she doesn't seem either inclined or reluctant to express her feelings to him. I admit it's been a long time since I was that age, but these are all things that real adolescents, as well as anime characters, do.

No, the only time we see Fumina have romantic feelings about Sekai are when - over and over - another girl arrives on the scene and the writers get to pull the raging jealousy gag. It's unrealistic and it's also redundant; Gyanko already exists in the show for that purpose - and no other, as far as I can tell. I'm not saying this is "ruining" Fumina, it's just creating these annoying out-of-character moments for an otherwise excellent female protagonist.

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Because that was the most perfect moment to re-introduce sei and they passed it along for a stupid China moment who pointlessly flew maybe 10 or 15 hours JUST to drop off stupid stuff and fly right back. Way to waste a good thing Bandai, way to go.

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My theory (maybe guess is a better word) is that the reason we didn't see a grown-up Sei in the original teaser, and they won't have him in the show, is that they don't want to design a "grown up" Sei because it would hurt self-identification that younger fans built with him. He was sort of the "this could be you" self-insert character of season 1, but he has necessarily grown up much faster than viewers have, so showing him as a grown-up would be jarring to young fans. The same argument could be made for the other season 1 protagonist, Reiji, who is similarly absent.

Whatever the reason, I'm annoyed, too. I love to see China back in the show, however briefly and implausibly (they don't have courier services in their world?), but I want Sei back as well!

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My theory (maybe guess is a better word) is that the reason we didn't see a grown-up Sei in the original teaser, and they won't have him in the show, is that they don't want to design a "grown up" Sei because it would hurt self-identification that younger fans built with him. He was sort of the "this could be you" self-insert character of season 1, but he has necessarily grown up much faster than viewers have, so showing him as a grown-up would be jarring to young fans. The same argument could be made for the other season 1 protagonist, Reiji, who is similarly absent.

Perhaps another reason is the debate on whether or not to retain the same voice actress that played Sei. Seven years is a lot for male characters to change their voices from their early teens. Female characters can easily get away with having the same voice actresses after several years; hence we have Yui Ishikawa reprising her role as China.

In the case of Sei, having Mikako Komatsu play a 20+ year-old Sei will be very awkward. At the same time, casting a male actor to play Sei may not connect well with fans of the previous season.

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Perhaps another reason is the debate on whether or not to retain the same voice actress that played Sei. Seven years is a lot for male characters to change their voices from their early teens. Female characters can easily get away with having the same voice actresses after several years; hence we have Yui Ishikawa reprising her role as China.

In the case of Sei, having Mikako Komatsu play a 20+ year-old Sei will be very awkward. At the same time, casting a male actor to play Sei may not connect well with fans of the previous season.

That's a really good point!

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