Review of Build-Divide -#000000- Code Black
Redemption. Master and teacher. Teacher and student. Finding your path. As banal as that all sounds, Build Divide: Code Black excelled in executing great story telling behind those ideas. Teruto is the loveable and fun main character whom the viewers can't help but constantly laugh at how awkward and funny his mannerisms are. He definitely became my favorite protagonist of the season. Having lost part of his memory and personality, all he can think about is the king and finding his path towards that. As a result, he has lost the ability to function as a normal human, and for whatever reason develops a hilariousobsession with bread as well. Blasted into a digital city, he wakes up and takes up shelter in a tent by a river, battling his way to the top to earn enough chips to fight the King. That's all he knows and strives for, and he could care less for anything else.
(SPOILERS AHEAD) He meets Sakura along the way. A mysterious individual who appears to be partially glitching out of reality at times. She runs into him by fate, and pushes him by guiding the path for him. Though she appears sincere, she has a use for him that he isn't aware about. She is a part of Kikka, Teruto's sister, who, in her desperation to see Teruto, sent her out there to bring him back. The tragedy of Sakura is that she knows she is going to cease to exist and eventually become a part of Kikka again. Realizing this, and being somewhat advised by Ishinome behind the scenes, she ends up realizing to a certain extent what is going to happen. As a result, she stole the chips from Teruto and fought a battle against Kikka she knew she couldn't win I assume because she wanted to fuse back with her before Teruto got to her.
Naomitsu is the 8th of several clones who is out to get revenge against Mario who happens to be his father. His father is looking for a powerful Build Divide player for a new body to take over, but it's unclear still what he means by wanting to reach a new dimension. Naomitsu wasn't that prominent in season 1, but I expect him and his father to be around a lot in season 2 since there isn't much known about them at the moment.
Hiyori is an energetic, optimistic, kind, and clumsy girl that meets Teruto and convinces him to become her master. As her student, she hilariously doesn't learn anything from him as he can never commit to actually teaching her anything. For the rest of the season she becomes his cheerleader, until Teruto becomes the sacrifice at the end and passes the torch on to her, as she has now become the main character of season 2, at least assuming based on the reveal. Her character has a lot of room for development and I am sure she'll grow a lot.
Ishinome is the most interesting character in the series besides Teruto. He wants to achieve his dream, whatever that is, and is often pulling strings behind the scenes. Despite being part of Mario's organization, he has an agenda of his own that Mario doesn't know about. Often, he manipulates the cast and uses his mysterious powers to alter events. As the battles go on, he often reacts to certain things that happen or that people say with either displeasement or amusement. I can't read him at all, and look forward to what he is going to do in the next season.
The biggest resolve in the series is the redemption of Teruto. He grew up with Kikka, and taught her about Build Divide until she was able to surpass him. Raged with jealousy, he decided to neglect her, steal her cards, and even bury her deck outside. He didn't want to fight the King just to get to the top; ultimately he wanted to apologize for his actions. Kikka had gone mad after being hooked up to a CPU and losing part of herself after making Sakura, but was able to wake up from this after Teruto apologized. In the final battle, Teruto redeems himself and offers himself to save everyone in the end.
The battles in Build Divide were mostly amazing. There is the rushed battle here and there, but ultimately they can be very epic such has the conclusion of the card professor battle. The directing was top shelf as Teruto and Sakura synchronized their lines, the music climaxes, and the professor gets exploded into a giant ball of chaos. I didn't know anything about the card game at all but this was a decent introduction to the rules and functions that I can somewhat understand as I learn along the episodes. The music is incredible, and does a great job adding mystery or intensity to the battles. The art is great and consistent throughout, and overall I have very little complaints about the series. The staff passionately crafted a beautiful and meaningful story. There is still a huge mystery as the world of Neo Tokyo became corrupted, and I can't wait for the return of this series in the Spring 2022 anime season.