BuildDivide: for what its worth easily my surprise of the season spoilers ahead BuildDivide: Code Black is a tiein anime for the brand new trading card game of the same name. However as far as I can tell the card game has no story with the anime acting as a hey watch this and maybe youll play the real game type of thing. While this might sound unimpressive and probably why it isnt all that popular allow me to convince you to give BuildDivide a shot its actually pretty good First and foremost: please at the very least watch the opening. This is very easily up there for top 5 openings of this season. https://www..com/watch?v=Uw2YIZgbdc Now I dont know about you all but Im a sucker for openings following along with the songs beat and my god can Egoist deliver. As for the card game aspect I suspect a lot of people are afraid that theyll have to learn how to play or at least understand some moves. Worry not as the first episode does talk about the basic rules during the first battle but basically sums it up as lose all your lives = loss every battle afterwards is quite literally just an shonen fight but with cards the magic of animation. Most of the characters do commentary on their actions so you can easily forget about having to learn any rules. Summary Teruto awakens in virtuallike placed called Neo Kyoto where everyone takes part in BuildDivide a card game duel that is the main means of earning social and economic standing in this city but also allows its winners to be granted any wish they want. At the same time Sakura another contestant is introduced and after bumping into each other Teruto explains that he only just woke up and has no idea of who or where he is but only remembers how to play the game. Sakura tells him that battling all the way to the top will allow him to meet the King the top ranked BuildDivide player and ruler of Neo Kyoto who might have the answer to his questions. While having forgotten much of his past Sakura realizes that he is the real deal when it comes to playing BuildDivide and decides to join him for the journey on the path to the King. https://i.ur.com/qRkD2uL.jpg In one of the first big twist episodes Teurto encounters a masked girl at a park who challenges him to a battle one which he eventually loses. In the process however he discovers that this masked girl is not only the King herself but while gaining some of his memories back also remembers that this is his sister Kikka one who he had long abandoned once she had surpassed him in playing skill and as a part of his family as well: once Kikka beats Teruto BuildDivide is no longer fun for him and ignores her attempts to play again until family problems force the two to separate ultimately breaking Kikka and shaping her to be the King with her wish being to one day be able to play with her brother once more while this is just a short summary of Kikka episode 8 is the main reason why I wanted to write a review it honestly caught me off guard just how good this episode was. https://i.ur.com/qSC9a0K.jpg Some time passes and Teruto has reached enough chips to face the King. Sakura thanks Teruto for allowing her to join him in reaching the King only to take the key in the pursuit of her own wish leaving the gang behind while she goes to battle the King. We learn more about Sakura after this just like Teruto she woke up with no recollection of her past. However it is revealed that Sakura was born from within Kikka serving as a way for her soul to get closer to Teruto. Sakura is also aware that she can never have her own body she is confined to always being part of the soul of Kikka herself. As she loses Sakura accepts her defeat as punishment for betraying him and with a final farewell ceases to exist and merges back into Kikka. It is then revealed to Teruto that Neo Kyoto is a simulation with the computational powers of its citizens being used to create a virtual world where they exist. Knowing this Teruto decides to head back to the virtual world one more time to fight the King and win to rescue his sister. Teruto wins and the system begins to break down with Neo Kyoto glitching pulling Kikka back into place and eventually freeing her only for Teruto to act as her stand in as he begins to be pulled back into the system promising to return them all to the world they came from. Neo Kyoto on the verge of collapsing is enclosed by a barrier with Hiyori and one of the higherups at BuildDivide awakening outside of Neo Kyoto in the real world before fading to white and revealing Code White the name for the next half of the anime. https://i.ur.com/zufvyCV.jpg Plot BuildDivide is quite simple not daring to do anything over the top or super surprising. Yet the simplicity of this show is also its beauty while this might seem contradictory it really is refreshing to see an anime land a great plot without overdoing itself and reaching for different strings to pull. At the same time natural progression of the plot including growth as every episode and event passes by really helps to solidify the idea that this really is just the regular world for them and once the plot twists are revealed it simply makes sense in relation to the rest of the plot instead of trying to figure out just how or if there were any hints you might have missed. Speaking for myself I would have never guessed that Neo Kyoto was a virtual city it simply seemed like the future where everyone plays BuildDivide. Sakura reveals her past along with some hints that there might be more to the city and the curiosity of the truth behind the city grows until it is all revealed by Teruto towards the end while this process takes about 5 episodes it all just flows naturally and while events happen in the meanwhile BuildDivide keeps you hooked by keeping those ideas in the back of your mind ultimately rewarding you by solving the questions in your mind at the end. While simplicity is usually treated as a bad thing BuildDivide handles this in such a great way that is honestly refreshing to see natural simplicity that serves to keep the viewer engaged yet still reward them with logical twists and turns. Characters While there arent many characters they feel complete everyone has a role they play and even though the character set can be pretty easily defined as chill they all fit in nicely with the story. From Teruto and his stoic behavior in the beginning slowly realizing more about his past and becoming more aware of his situation along with emotional Hiyori and her energetic sometimes clumsy nature and Sakura acting as a balance between the two everyone just feelsnormal? No one is trying to pretend to be someone they arent and are simply friends coming along for the ride and wishing that Terutos wish be granted adding to the rather simplistic yet wellexecuted nature of most of the anime itself. https://i.ur.com/GzCxbTT.jpg Everything Else Animationwise this one is pretty average. The character design is pretty well done owning back to the nature of our characters just being regular people. There are certainly scenes that might look unnatural and there are certainly some faces that just look off. The real star however is all the BuildDivide battles: think Black Clover opening animation budget meme. A lot of these battles are surprisingly well animated with lots of emphasis on the card characters themselves. The soundtrack is well done also with tracks being both somber in ambient but also upbeat. The world design is quite simple as well but it all evens out when most of the focus is on the battles itself. Overall Thoughts While I came in thinking Id drop this since I cant stand card games at all its weird that for an anime made to promote a real trading card game quite frankly the highlight of this is the story itself and even if you decide to pick up the card game this story gets thrown out the window since this is simply an anime original While I keep repeating this the simplicity and natural nature of BuildDivide is the star of the show with the twists the show presents being quite gratifying having experienced a natural flow of the story and the characters themselves. While Teruto is the central star of the anime seeing the growth of Teruto from being quite stoic to eventually reaching out to save Sakura and sacrifice himself for the sake of the other characters was my most gratifying part of this and quite frankly I would honestly rank him as the best MC of this season. I left pretty satisfied with the story and will remember BuildDivide as the simple trading card anime with a banger of an opening take that as you will. https://i.ur.com/pJxNwuj.jpg And best of all dont forget to watch the second part