Mecha Analysis: Gundam Build Fighters Try Episode 4

Previously on Mecha Analysis
Gundam G no Reconguista Episode 5
Gundam Build Fighters Try Episode 3

Today on Mecha Analysis, we look at episode 4 of Gundam Build Fighters Try.
Something to keep in mind when looking at the Gunpla: Returning from Gundam Build Fighters, the ones responsible for mechanical design of Gundam Build Fighters Try are as follows,

• Kunio Okawara: THE Gundam designer, designing the original RX-78-2, and Zaku II along with many designs through the years. He's had his hand in Zeta, ZZ, 0080, F90, F91, 0083, Victory, G Gundam, 08th, Wing, X, Turn A, SEED, 00, Unicorn, and many other non-Gundam anime. Holy crap this list is long.
• Not much is said about Junichi Akutsu, Junya Ishigaki, and Kenji Teraoka.
• Kanetake Ebikawa, though has been working as a mechanical designer since the late 90s with anime like Blue Submarine No.6 and Full Metal Panic!, did not start designing for the Gundam franchise until 2007 with Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Other notable works include Gunpla Builders Beginning G, Gundam AGE, and Euerka Seven: AO.

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Episode 4
SD Fight! In the first season, we see SD Gundam take the occasional stage teamed up or against a regular scale Gunpla. This is the first time we see two SD Gundam duke it out! I'm quite happy to see Kenji expand the Gunpla that are used in this series!

Destiny Gundam

We get a cameo of coming opposition before the opening. One of the most significant Gunpla that is shown is the Destiny Gundam. I guess we will have to wait until he meets with the protagonists.

Gouf R35

After the tease in the previous episode, I was surprised to see Mr. Ral sparring with Sekai in this episodes. Because its a practice match, Mr. Ral was playing relatively defensively and only using his 5-Barreled Machine Gun.

I wonder if we will see even more of Mr. Ral's Gouf R35. He is the coach after all.

Team Try-Hards

Lightning is getting upgraded, Cardigan is being retired, Build Burning has yet to realize its full potential. Besides the battle between Gouf R35 and Build Burning Gundam, not much is really seen of the Try Fighters. At least we get to catch a glimpse of what Yuuma's working on!

I am really interested in how the writers transition Fumina's Powered GM Cardigan to Winning Gundam. I hope there's a build up to an epic introduction to Winning Gundam. It might just push me to purchase it in December.

Legend BB Musha Godmaru

I don't care how dumb Sekai is (in the realm of Gunpla), he makes whatever he pilots an iconic Shounen action hero. This time with a kit from the SD BB Legend line - Musha Godmaru.

Musha Godmaru is a samurai themed SD mobile suit. The base kit in this case would be G Gundam (how fitting for Sekai). Like most musha Gundam, Godmaru is equipped with katanas. Another special feature of the Godmaru is Bakunetsu-no-Jin

I am not fluent in Japanese, but I am interested in what these attacks me. Unfortunately, up until now, all I have to work with is the spoken attacks. This time, we get text on the screen!
Bakunetsu on google translate does not have a direct translation. However, based on G Gundam's attack, Bakunetsu God Finger, and each character's translation,

• 爆 (Baku) - Explosion
• 熱 (Netsu) - Heat

We could probably borrow the English version of the G Gundam attack, "erupting."
The second part of the attack, の陣 (no Jin), also appears on MG Musha Gundam's special expansion set, Sengoku No Jin. I was interested to find out what this meant both for the anime and also for one of my favorite Gunpla kits. の is a noun modifier for 陣. For some reason, 陣 is not really translated on Google translate, so I went over to Wikionary and found it usually means camp or battle formation. With the two parts combined the special move Sekai uses is roughly translated to Battle Formation of Eruption, or Erupting Formation.
Basically it's the Musha Godmaru's version of G Gundam's Hyper Mode.

...and of course, how could they feature Musha Godmaru without the iconic Bakunetsu God Finger (Erupting Burning Finger)? If I end up with a Build Burning Gundam 1/48 Head Display. I wonder how it would look with a Musha Godmaru on it...

SD Sangokuden Kouki Gundam

 

Bro, that visor's pretty Kouki! Hahaha...Thank you, I'm here 'til Thursday!

I do not know much about the SD franchise and how it contributes to the larger umbrella that is Gundam, but this 1994 SD Sangokuden kit regains its glory through its pilot Minato Sakai. The Kouki Gundam uses what Sakai called a Beam Crystal,

Once again I'm not familiar with the SD franchise, so I have no idea what this beam crystal is all about. Hoever, it seems to be a short ranged attack. In addition to its sword and shield, Kouki Gundam apparently has three modes - cloaked, as seen in the first image, regular (I think), as seen in the second image, and mobile armor mode, as seen below,

Like Musha Godmaru, Kouki Gundam has a special attack -  Kigan Issen-Zan which appears to be a long beam sword.

Time for another translation session!
Because I have nothing to work with, I used jisho.org's Kanji by radicals to find each character. After finding each character, I put it in google translate to once again find nothing of use (pronunciations are different from the show, no English translation, etc.). Since all the characters are Kanji, I decided to do a rough translation in Chinese. I got Ghost, Rock, Cut, and Flash. None of this makes sense.

At least we got a video of the attack from one of the SD Sangokuden games...

After a few failed attempts at figuring this out, I decided to refer to Wikitionary again. Why did I not do this the first time?

• 鬼 (On'Yomi, 'Ki') 岩 (Kan'on, 'Gan') - I am still unsure of this word, 'demon rock.' Does it refer to a very particular statue of a demon ogre? Is it a place? I tried searching the phrase on google and google.jp with nothing distinct about this phrase. The only thing I found interesting is the fact that Kigan is also used in Pokemon Adventures - a place called "Kigan Island" where a Gengar is shown as an overarching enemy of sorts.
• 一閃 (Nanori + On'Yomi, 'Is sen') - Flash
• 斬 (Kan'yōon, 'Zan') - Cut

I'm happy to have been able to look at the kanji that showed up in the anime, but I am still so very lost with this attack. If you know more about this, please leave a comment!

Cameos of the Week
As with almost every episode in the Build Fighters universe, cameos easily find their way in a show that rides so much on meta. Here are the cameos I thought were significant.

Musha Gundam Mk-II

As owner of both MG Musha Gundam, I am happy both now show up in the anime. Though this version of the Musha Mk-II is massive! It almost looks like its 1/48 scale!

Neo-Zeon-Themed Toyota Auris

In 2013, Toyota and Bandai teamed up to make a Auris themed to Char's Zaku. Apparently the campaign was popular enough that one year later, in 2014, Bandai teamed up with Toyota again to produce a Full Frontal themed Auris, this time with the flashy Sleeves ornate details throughout the outer body.

In the episode, a red Auris appears in the background. It has the subtly of Char's Auris, but it bears the Sleeves emblem of Full Frontal's Neo Zeon. So which one is it? I tend to believe its Char's but some may say its Full Frontal's. Either way, it is a great cameo!

I hope I'm not missing anything - I got so caught up in translating those special attacks. Anyway, hope to see you here tomorrow for more Mecha Analysis!