Don’t be fooled by the title. Even though SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy just came out (as of writing), this isn’t a post on that. How could it be? Until it adds King -- sans sketchy costumes or her clear discomfort -- the product is fundamentally flawed at best, with a strong lean toward “worthless”.
Believe it or not, this doesn’t have to do with video games. Well, not entirely. I’m sure I’ll find a way to shoehorn a few into the discussion at some point, because I’m me and need to spend some time in a strait jacket. No, the real spark for this post was…video games, technically, but another catalyst intervened. And I’ll say upfront that the fact that it’s even the spark in the first place makes my soul ache.
So. Let’s talk about Gundam Build Divers.
I love the first season/installment, Gundam Build Fighters. I enjoyed the second season/installment, Gundam Build Fighters Try -- a show whose faults I acknowledge, but I still think the net worth keeps it in the black. As for Gundam Build Divers? At this stage, I’m dreading each new episode instead of anticipating it. It’s become a chore. I’m going to finish it, yeah, but I’ll be a bloody stump dragging myself across the finish line.
To be fair, it’s not as if Divers is the worst thing I’ve ever seen. That’s partly because its first half is pretty solid. But the farther it goes, the greater the downturn; the plot completely stalls out once the second opening starts airing, and when it does make its comeback it’s downright hateful. I don’t know how many episodes are left -- presumably it’ll run 25 or 26 episodes, just like the other shows and the standard 2-cour season, respectively -- but as of writing we’re on episode 22. There’s a shitload of ground to cover, which implies that an unsatisfying ending is on the way. Unless there’s a third cour, but right now I don’t even want it.
I’m honor-bound to write a post or two on Divers, so I guess that’ll officially enter the docket once the show’s over. With that said? I can pinpoint one of the major, major, major reasons why the show falters. I’ll hold back as many plot details as I can (no guarantees, though), but really this is more about character than it is about plot. So strap in as I explain how it’s so easy to go wrong…and how it’s so easy to go right. How good is bad, and how bad is good.
Let’s start with an introduction. This is Sarah.
I had a bad feeling about Sarah the instant she was introduced -- in key art, in the opening, in the show proper, you name it. Out of all the tropes and archetypes out there, the “mysterious waif” is definitely in my Top 10 Anime Betrayals most hated. Why? Because they’re not really characters -- not in the unsteady hands of a shoddy creator. They’re only means to an end. They’re the love interest. They’re the damsel that needs saving. They’re the MacGuffin in human form. They’re the lynchpin of the plot. They’re pure and demure. They’re the black hole that bends countless characters and events around them, so thoroughly that no light can escape them.
It’s not as if the trope is an automatic fail state. Yes, I acknowledge that they can be done well; it’s not a 1:1 example, but Laphicet from Tales of Berseria is the best in class…who to be fair was basically the Apology Edition of Ion from Tales of the Abyss. By the same token? I acknowledge that my biases have poisoned my mind -- that at the end of the day, the situation isn’t as dire as I make it out to be.
But I still think Sarah is a shitty character -- if not because she’s a mysterious waif, then certainly because she hits all the highlights. And if not that, then it’s because she’s too good and pure for her own damn good.
One of the critical missteps of Divers is that from the first episode on -- from the instant she’s first introduced -- you know something is up with Sarah. I won’t go into details here, but given that 95% of the show takes place in a virtual world, you can probably guess what she is before the credits roll in Episode 1. Despite that, it takes a full 20 episodes for the “mystery” behind this “character” to be revealed. Okay. You know what? Fine. It’s a blatantly obvious non-twist. Surely there’s been something up to that point to make her more than just the lynchpin of a limp-wristed reveal, right?
Nope.
Like, it really does just boil down to a simple “nope”. There’s nothing to this “character” besides generic platitudes -- the sort of stuff you’ve seen dozens, if not hundreds of times before, only with Gundams now. Which to be fair would be a saving grace in any other instance. Alas…
For argument’s sake, I’ll list the relevant traits that make her such a worthy addition to the canon.
1) She likes Gundams (well, Gunpla technically, but it’s a virtual world so they’re real enough).
2) She likes her friends.
3) She likes cute and pretty things.
4) She’s nice.
5) She supports her friends.
There you go. That’s it. That’s all there is to her. Pretty much the only thing she brings to the table is her emphatic connection to Gunpla, so she can tell others when their Gunpla wants to fight, or is happy, or is in pain. But beyond that? She exists in a world, and series, built around heavily-armed mechs slugging it out for fun and glory. She doesn’t even have a Gundam. Nor does she show any interest in piloting one herself. Another character says Sarah can serve as the team mascot, but she doesn’t even do that properly. That would require her to do something in front of people besides generic cooing and cawing, and generic niceties, and generic smiles.
Maybe that’s the point behind her “character”. I’m trying to dance around her nature -- though again, it’s easy to guess from this post alone -- but it’s possible that the writers planned to have such a simplistic heroine take center stage on purpose. The fact that she’s so limited is there to emphasize her otherness. If that really is the case, then it’d explain why her speech is limited. Why she basically just stands there and offers some doe-eyed smile that’s more unsettling than endearing. Why she seems to show minimal levels of curiosity, and takes everything at base value without anything resembling critical thought.
Or maybe she’s just awful. Yeah, let’s go with that one.
It’s taken nearly two dozen episodes for Sarah to actually struggle with anything, so you’d be forgiven assuming she’s a background character that keeps popping up in the frame -- which I guess would also make her an animation error that needs fixing for the Blu-Ray release. Having those struggles doesn’t save or redeem her character in the slightest, least of all because -- just like any “good” mysterious waif -- the plot warps and distorts around her. Part of the reason why she hasn’t struggled is because there’s been nothing for her to struggle against or with. No conflict, external or internal.
Sarah doesn’t have any flaws. She’s never had to confront anyone or anything about her opinions or choices (except for the last few episodes, and that’s highly debatable). She’s never had to question if she’s done right or wrong. She’s never had to compare and contrast between her existence and the social mores that pervade the online world of GBN, and the real world it draws influence from.
It’s like…characters are supposed to have arcs, right? Development? Progression? That’s usually how you make a good one. At least, that’s what I thought. And if you’re not going to make a character that progresses in the standard way -- someone who journeys, someone who confronts their weaknesses, someone who learns and grows from their experiences -- then you’ve got to make a character that’s top-notch through sheer presence, charisma, or general execution.
By and large, Sarah doesn’t. She’s got no arc, no development, no progression. And she damn sure doesn’t have a presence or charisma. I’m not going to go back and take a fine-toothed comb to every episode, but it feels like there were multiple instances throughout the show where she did nothing but sit on the sidelines and say “So pretty!” or “Your Gunpla is happy”. It’s almost as if the writers were afraid to make her be anything less than good, or pure, or perfect. Like they thought that if they made her move a single step beyond the bounds of “unrelenting purity”, there would be riots in the streets. So there’s nothing (intentional) that makes her bad -- only good. Good and pure and perfect and cute and all the things that make me want to hurl.
Then on the opposite end of the spectrum, you have Rose. Rose is the best.
It takes a long while for Rose to show up, and even then she’s two degrees away from being a background/team-padding character a la Ino or Tenten. In my opinion, she makes her limited screentime count. For one thing, she’s a proper Gunpla battler and VR user, meaning she can actually have a presence in the show’s core aspect. She’s got the sass factor, but far from unwilling to be a loyal, supportive teammate for her pals -- especially the fledgling Do-ji, who’s in dire need of a confidence boost by way of being dead weight.
Then Rose gets to take part in a women-only competition (alongside the other ladies of Divers, Sarah included), and the limiters come off. Divers has many weaknesses, but the comedy is generally on-point -- and despite being a fourth-stringer, Rose ends up dominating the episode while garnering the most laughs. Why? How? Because despite her positive traits, Rose has a crucial flaw -- something that keeps her from being good and pure and wholesome and sweet and perfect and whatever.
Rose is an idiot.
No amount of hot blood or bluster can cover that up -- and to be clear, she shows tons of hot blood. It’s just BTFO by her being an idiot. At the competition’s first checkpoint, the contestants have to build a Gunpla to pass…so Rose, naturally, chooses the biggest and most complex Gunpla of the bunch, while everyone else chooses the basic models on hand. Later on, she laughs at a competitor stopping to tell a third contestant she’s building a Gunpla wrong…only to stop in turn when a fourth contestant screws up.
Then the contestants have to choose a Gunpla to fight on their behalf in a sumo contest. Rose thinks she’ll get the edge by picking the biggest, toughest guy on hand, so she does -- and grabs a top-heavy mech that can’t even stand up by itself. Hell, she very nearly gets everyone disqualified by having them cross the finish line using contest-illegal means…oh, but she roused them to action with an impassioned speech, so clearly she knew what she was talking about.
Meanwhile, what did Sarah do in that episode? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…she took part. She rode a bike. She showed up in a picture with everybody else. And…uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…she continued to exist.
You see what I mean? In almost two dozen episodes, I’m hard-pressed to tell you anything about Sarah besides plot details. The girl doesn’t leave an impression, and doesn’t even try to. Meanwhile, it only took one episode for Rose to not only establish her presence, but to steal the title of Best Girl in a single shot (sorry Ayame fans). And she did it effortlessly. Why? Because Rose actually has a character, even if her faults and foibles are decisive. The fact that she’s so far-shifted from anything even remotely ideal is what ensures she has a presence, standing just as tall as the giant robots that litter the franchise.
There’s very little about this character that’s worth idolizing in the real world, let alone emulating. She’s a short-sighted, hyperactive blowhard who’s a prime candidate for a Darwin Award. If she were the main character, she’d get her show booted off the air for being such a terrible role model for little girls. She’s a bad heroine, through and through. And yeah, I’m not saying she should be the main character. I’d be happy if there was more of her in the show (it wouldn’t surprise me if she and her team showed up in the finale to take part in the dumbass battle for the ages), but yes. She’s a bad heroine.
I’m okay with that. I would rather a heroine that’s too spicy for the lead role than a heroine who slots in just ‘cause and does nothing to earn it. Because apparently, for some writers, “being good” and “doing things” are mutually exclusive.
This whole line of reasoning might sound insane, coming from someone who loves the Boy Scout archetype of heroes and would thus let Captain America step all over him if it meant sparing his boots from a single drop of puddle water. Yes, the line between a “good” heroine and a “bad” one is pretty nebulous -- full of points that become obscure or conflated even though they’re incompatible. I could go into further detail, but I’d like to keep this post under 3000 words if possible.
So I guess I should start by saying this: sure, I like Boy Scout characters like Cap, Superman, Leonardo, Iida (Best Boy and Girl), and more. With that in mind, there are more flavors to enjoy in the world of fiction. At the end of the day, an archetype is just a means to an end -- a collection of recognizable traits, tropes, and organization of variables to create a character. I’ll give a big fat thumbs up to BlazBlue’s Tsubaki Yayoi, but I’ll do the same for Poison from Street Fighter and Final Fight.
Do something to make a good character. Do anything. Do whatever it takes. I don’t care what. Nor do I care if the lines blur, or if something shimmies past my expectations. Tsubaki’s a Girl Scout by default, but a huge part of her character arc has her falling prey to insecurities and jealousy and thus becoming a puppet for mind control, distorting her sense of justice. Poison’s the leader of a gang, but she’s still a self-made entrepreneur trying to make it -- and presumably put food on the table -- in the hyper-competitive entertainment industry. (And to paraphrase a YouTube comment, I don’t care what’s between her legs. Poison is Poison. Enough said.)
The problem with Sarah is that she’s only good. She’s without flaws, making her boring as a character and plunge into the uncanny valley as a facsimile of a human. On a macro and micro scale, she does nothing to show signs of life -- no pizzazz from moment to moment, because she’s too busy being “the mascot”. If she’s the embodiment of what it takes to create a sympathetic character -- someone that the heroes would risk an entire world on just to protect, and just to have smile again -- then you might as well burn it all down.
There. That’ll do it. Now to sit here and hope Divers manages, somehow, to stick the landing.
…Okay, I got Poison and Tsubaki in there as video game references, but I feel like I can squeeze one more in there. Brain, who ya got?
Switch port when?
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