[Readers Request] Gundam Build Fighters 4 + 5

Episode 4 of Gundam Build Fighters introduced a lot of tropes that just made me laugh the entire time. In Episode 4 there is an Idol and immediately when she came on screen I could not stop laughing. Look, not everything I do makes sense. . . but she was so over the top. Her entire existence is a pop idol singing about building robots. She is not a vocaloid- she is a real person with a real fanbase who are all into her music about building robots. I immediately had to pause the episode when this happened. Oki, I asked myself, what are the logistics of this? Surely the people who build Gunpla are all varied! Would people really all flock to a genre of music just because it had lyrics about model building and a half naked girl involved? I guess since they are mostly anime fans it could happen, but in this entire world a hit music star really succeeded because she made songs about model building?

Nothing else in this anime held me up quite as much. I think I laughed for days while trying to watch this, all while a very obvious plot unfolded in front of me. But even as Sei was being seduced by a girl who was suspiciously well endowed and prying into his Gunpla models, I couldn’t help but think about how this idols life must be. How high do her songs get on the charts? Even as Sei was being given laxatives in green tea and his classmate was getting jealous of the woman seducing him, I couldn’t help but think about how she must live. Does she have to stay in Japan? Is there a large international following for Kirara the Gunpla Idol? She participates in tournaments but I mean League is big and Nicki Taylor’s songs for it didn’t make the top 10.

If anything the predictability of the plot was boring, but I couldn’t shake it. There was an unmistakable humor in my gut. Sei, being seduced by a girl who sings about model building. A successful girl. She could be the Britney Spears of this futuristic society. And it turns out during the episode that by god, they meant for her to be this way. She was meant to be an ‘Akihabara style’ idol. This idea works for her. She fakes it all just to become a successful idol- but how? And furthermore, why does she admit this in a battle that’s being telecasted? Wouldn’t this hurt her image if everyone knew she was faking it?

She’s basically a ‘fake nerd girl’ in order to become famous, but, but how? Can you call it fake when you live with the lifestyle and know every detail? Does this really work? Can she really become ultra famous in this future world by making up stupid lyrics about modeling? I kind of respect how stupidly intricate this had to be to work: she was faking it by not faking it. She probably knows more about gunpla than I know about tacos, only I love tacos and this girl doesn’t even care. Anyway she loses to the boys and all I’m left with after episode four is laughter. Deep laughter. ‘Akihabara style’. . . this is like, some intense Akihabara Style! This is like someone just. . .picked one thing in Akihabara and became good at it. It’s like a yaoi singer becoming famous just from yaoi fangirls liking that she sings lyrics about ships they like. It’s missing the point! Man help me stop laughing.

Sei runs into a boy named Mao who is calling himself his rival – someone who wants to be

the best build fighter. However, this guy is treated much like a joke. I can only imagine him screaming in confusion as he tries to understand how girls who sing about models loudly are applauded but his declarations to strangers that he wants to be the very best™ are taken so negatively. I wish I could tell you a lot about this episode but to sum it up Sei and his rival have an imaginary battle in their minds because it’s too early for them to fight for real.

Because Mao has to work on his Gunpla idol career, okay?

Oki