Nadeshiko-athlon is the nineteenth episode of Gundam Build Divers.
Synopsis[]
The Nadeshiko-athlon, a women-only pre-event to the Raid Battle, is about to begin. The female Divers are excited to hear that the winner will be chosen as an "image girl" for the recruitment of girl Divers, and the news carries even beyond GBN to reach Nanami's ears.[1]
Plot[]
In The Gundam Base, Momoka tells Nanami of a girls-only event, and encourages her to participate. Nanami notes she's never played Gunpla Battle before, and Momoka clarifies that it's a race event for female Divers sponsored by various women's brands such as the foreign brand "Sazameth". Yukio adds that it's one of the pre-events for the upcoming Raid Battle. Riku says it would be even livelier if Nanami joins, and Koichi remarks that GBN wants to make the game more entertaining for female users and lots of female Divers are talking about it. When Momoka tells her that the winner will become GBN image girl, Nanami is hooked and imagines herself as one before scolding Koichi for not telling her sooner. She decides to join - she wants to liven things up as a staff of The Gundam Base, and to meet Sarah as well. Plus, she thinks she's perfect as the Gunpa Battle image girl. Both she and Momoka then act like they already won, much to the guys' amusement.
At the island where the race is taking place, Koichi muses that there are more contestants than he expected. Yukio recalls seeing Stea and Kanari earlier, and Riku mentions seeing Force Chat Noir Neo. As Momoka vows not to lose, they're cut off by someone in awe of GBN - Nanami. Momoka thinks Nanami’s Diver avatar looks adorable, while Ayame notes her outfit resembles that of a Federation Forces pilot suit. Nanami then reveals her Diver Name as "Nami", and she finally meets Sarah. Elsewhere, Emilia is busy stretching when Rose approaches her. Rose asks if she's trying to be an image girl, and Emilia claims she's not in it for that, but adds that she would win nevertheless as her pride is at stake. She thinks back to when she entered, checking out her new earrings in a reflection when an ad for the race appeared. Just then, Karuna walked by and casually mentions that things like that didn't suit her before leaving. Upset that he thought she isn’t good enough to be an image girl, she impulsively enters the race. In the present, Rose mentions that she really doesn't care for the prize, but since it's a festival, she's going all out. Emilia proudly mentions that she would make a nice pacesetter, setting up their rivalry.
As Riku, Yukio and Koichi weave their way through the crowds, they're called out by Magee, who had saved them seats besides him, which they thank him for. Riku agrees with Magee’s remarks that the large crowd is because everybody loves a fun event, citing Nanami as an example, but Koichi is certain she's probably playing GBN only for today. As the announcer welcomes everyone to the 1st GBN Nadeshiko-athlon Sazameth Cup and praises the contestants, he also introduces the chairman of Sazameth, whose Diver avatar is a Guest Haro with a robotic body. Amidst the swooning from the girls, who also chanted his name in excitement, the chairman thanks everyone for coming and gifts all contestants commemorative Sazameth earrings, causing the girls to chant his name again. With the race starting, Yukio cheers on Nanami as the chairman fires the starter gun, causing her to be pushed to the ground by other girls. Momoka tells her that she won't get hurt unless she thinks it will, and Nanami tries it herself by stretching her cheeks and realizes that it does not hurt. With Nanami on her feet, the girls of Build Divers begin their race in earnest.
With the race underway, audience in the stadium are shown live video from onsite cameras. A map of the race course is also displayed and the announcer says that each contestant will compete in three ways: trail run, swimming and a Wappa road race. There are also events at three checkpoints for the contestants to clear, and a hidden setup somewhere on the course where contestants can get rare items. The announcer notes Emilia and Rose taking the lead and how serious they are, and in the stadium, Nuts, Oboro and Do-ji cheer Rose on. Momoka and Ayame then pick up their pace to catch Emilia and Rose, peeling off from Nanami and Sarah. Nanami muses about how serious some people are taking the race, and that she’s so far from being the image girl. Sarah then asks what an image girl is and reveals she joined because everyone else was so excited over it. Up ahead, Rose notes how Emilia is keeping up with her and secretly admits she wants to be an image girl. Suddenly, Emilia slows down and Rose uses the opportunity to increase the gap with her. Mentally, Emilia describes a race as being like Gunpla Battle and that there's a strategy to it.
Rose arrives at the checkpoint first and is surprised to see shelves of Gunpla kits. The announcer explains that the first checkpoint is Gunpla Building, and the contestants can display the Gunpla they built in their My Room or Force Nest. As Emilia arrives, Rose picks the Master Grade Sazabi Ver. Ka, as she always wanted one. Emilia eyes the Master Grade "G-Armor" Realtype Color, but stops herself and picks an easy to build Haropla instead, surprising Rose. Rose brushes it off and opens her box, and realizes her mistake – the Sazabi Ver. Ka has too many parts and she’ll be stuck here building it for awhile. She then admires Emilia for keeping her cool and making the right decision before realizing that everyone had figured it out, and were trying to find Haroplas, Petit'gguys or even Balls. Emilia finishes first and prepares to leave, but stops and chastises Nanami for trying to pull the parts off the runners by hand, and again for not double cutting. Rose finally completes her Gunpla and prepares to run off, only to stop and chastise Sarah for cutting out all the parts at the same time.
The other contestants complete their Gunplas with Momoka taking the lead. The girls than head to the water for the second part of the race, but Emilia and Rose soon catch up and overtake everyone to reach the second checkpoint – a Gunstagram contest. Here, the contestants have to take a picture of themselves with any number of Gunplas and props, then upload it onto the Gunstagram and get 100 Greats to clear the event. Rose takes the lead with her picture of a Second V sprouting four beautiful wings. Emilia and the other contestants follow suit with their own unique pictures. When Nanami goes for a classic Guncannon firing pose, Riku and Yukio take note of it with Koichi bashfully mentioning that she is his sister after all. The trio also take note of Sarah's entry as well. As the two runs to the next check point, ominous storm clouds appear nearby, and the GBN’s administrators detect a bug near the Nadeshiko-athlon venue.
As Nanami notes the weather is turning bad, Sarah stops suddenly and says she heard a cry for help. Concerned, the two go down a different path and finds a Zakrello-like NPD (Non-Player Diver) trapped under rocks. The two rescue the poor NPD and, as thanks, it gives Nanami four rare items. As the two get back to the race, Emilia and Rose reach the third check point. Seeing the various Gunpla before them, Rose thnks it is likely Gunpla related and chooses a Neue Ziel while Emilia chooses the Gundam AGE-1 Titus. At that, a large sumo ring appears, and the event is revealed to be a Gunpla puppet sumo match. The two are asked to put their Gunplas on a mini sumo ring, and as they do so, life-sized version of the Gunplas appear on the large ring. Rose then pulls her hand away from her Gunpla as the fight starts, and it (as well as the life sized counterpart) immediately falls over and loses, giving Emilia the win. A horrified Rose realizes too late that a Gunpla that cannot stand on its own never wins a sumo match, and to add insult to injury, the other contestants quickly queued up to challenge her - Momoka with a High Grade Gundam The Origin GM Guard Custom, Ayame with a SD Gundam Cross Silhouette Nightingale, etc. Despite being taken advantage of, Rose is confident that she will win soon, but her dreams are shattered when Sarah and Nanami turn up with a Tragos and Zeong respectively.
As the storm worsens, the Crystal Phoenix flies towards the island. When Emilia reaches the point for the Wappa road race, a purple lightning bolt destroys the machines the contestants are supposed to use. The lightning also resulted in a loss of connection and communication between the contestants and the audience in the stadium. The administrators describe it as a network failure, causing the Game Master to call for immediate investigation and recovery. Several more contestants arrived, and are at a lost on how to carry on with the race. Rose, who finally caught up thanks to the sumo contest being called off as a MRX-009 Psycho Gundam broke the ring, asks what's going on. After being told, Rose assumes that the adminstration wants them to blaze a trail themselves, and suggests they use their own Gunplas to finish the race. Momoka asks Sarah and Nanami to hop into her Momokapool, but Nanami wanted to build and pilot her own machine instead. Rose points out the remains of the destroyed machines which she could use, but Emilia realizes they won't be able to build anything out of these scraps without the Miracle Nippers, also known as Nipper Javelin, a super rare item that can create any part with a single snip.
Nanami pulls out one of the rare item she obtained from the NPD earlier, and Emilia confirms that it is the Miracle Nipper, shocking everyone. Nanami explains how she got it, and the contestants present then help build her machine. As repair work continues, Game Master notes the way the bug is spreading is similar to that of the Break Decals. With Nanami’s machine complete, the contestants finally take off to finish the race and soon after, the live video feed to the stadium resumes. A second lighting bolt then strikes the rock wall on the side of the race track, causing numerous pieces of rock to fall onto the contestants’ path. The contestants tried their best to evade the falling rocks or destroy them with their weapons, and Nanami surprises everyone by revealing that her machine can change modes when dodging more rocks dislodged by another lighting bolt. A fourth lighting bolt suddenly strikes the ground in front, lifting a large piece of rock from the ground that then flies towards the contestants. At that moment, Sarah’s eyes glow, and a barrier manifest itself before the contestants, smashing the rock into small pieces. This allows the 11 contestants leading the pack to reach the stadium, and surprisingly, everyone in this group cross the finish line simultaneously, making them joint winners.
However, they're soon told that because they finished the race using their Gunplas or original bike, they're all disqualified, disappointing the 11 contestants. Emilia accuses Rose of causing them to lose, while Rose defends herself by saying she simply spoke her mind. In the end, considering the administration’s network failure and at the chairman's request, it is announced that all contestants who reached the finish line will be declared winners. The 11 contestants who crossed the finish line first - Rose, Emilia, Nanami, Sarah, Momoka, Ayame, Hero, Lip, Miyu, Stea and Kanari – subsequently pose for a promotional poster for GBN. In the real world, Momoka is happy with the poster as everyone in it are all pretty girls. Momoka asks Nanami to play GBN again and she agrees, wanting to pilot her own Gunpla like everyone else. On the table before her are two Gunpla kits: a Zakrello kit that contains a 1:250 and a 1:550 scale models and a BB Senshi #113 SD Wind-wheeled Hyaku Shiki and Zakrello kit
Post Credits[]
At the GBN lobby, Emilia is admiring the poster and her new Sazameth earrings when Karuna approaches her. He reveals that he had something for her - a new set of earrings. He had thought the ones she was wearing the other day didn't suit her, so he used some of his spare points to buy a more mature set, surprising her. Emilia then blushes upon realizing she had misunderstood Karuna. Karuna notices the poster behind her and wonders if Emilia likes being an image girl, causing her to vigorously deny it. At the sides, Magee notes with amusement what a team they are...
Stats[]
Characters[]
- Riku Mikami
- Momoka Yashiro
- Yukio Hidaka
- Koichi Nanase
- Sarah
- Nanami Nanase
- Magee
- Ayame
- Emilia
- Rose
- Karuna
- Kanari
- Stea
- Hero
- Lip
- Miyu
- Do-ji
- Oboro
- Nuts
- Game Master
- Ms. Tori
- Kozy (Cameo)
- Su (Cameo)
- Ron (Cameo)
- Shu (Cameo)
Mecha[]
- PEN-01M Momokapool
- RX-零 RX-Zeromaru
- RGE-G2100C Clanche Custom (Emilia)
- MSN-03SL Jagd Doga Thorn
- MVF-M11C Murasame (Kanari)
- ZGMF-X88S Gaia Gundam (Stea)
- Shock Gundam
- SG Sazabi
- SG Char's Zaku II
Quotes[]
Music[]
- Opening: Infinity by SWANKY DANK
- Ending: Star Dash by spira・spica
Gallery[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- The name of the company "Sazameth" may reference the MSN-04 Sazabi and the MAN-08 Elmeth.
- During the second checkpoint, the Gunstagram contest, one of the image submissions is a tribute to the box art for the 1/144 RX-78GP01-Fb Gundam "Zephyranthes" Full Burnern Linkin Park Edition.
- Nanami's submission is based on the Mobile Suit Gundam opening, while Sarah's resembles wedding diorama used for Masami Obari's marriage with Gunpla modeler Ritsu Togasaki.[2]
- This marks the first animated appearance of the Second V.
- The episode also serves as an advertisement for the upcoming Figure-Rise Standard Diver Nami and the High Grade Build Custom Machine Rider kit.
- The episode also marks the animated debut (as a static) of the RGM-79HC GM Guard Custom and the MSN-04II Nightingale (as an SD Gundam Cross Silhouette kit).
- Nanami's Gunpla design would not be seen until the Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE episode "Re:RISE".
References[]
Welcome to GBN | Chaotic Ogre | The Protector | Tigerwolf of the Sacred Mountain | Holy Land of Perisia | Past and Future | Force Battle | Festival! | Return of the Ogre | Coalition of Volunteers | Ayame's Tears | Shining Wings | Duel | A New Power | Lotus Challenge | Friends Reunited | Joint Front | A Man's Will | Nadeshiko-athlon | The Truth | Your Feelings | Devoted Heart | The Fateful Two | Decisive Battle | A New World |