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Gundam Build Fighters TV Anime to Premiere in October
posted on by Egan Loo
In a Tuesday presentation, Sunrise announced Gundam Build Fighters, a new Gundam television anime series that will premiere this October on TV Tokyo. The series will feature not only new mecha designs, but also customized designs from previous Gundam projects such as Build Strike Gundam (Gundam Seed), Zaku Amazing (first Gundam), Wing Gundam Fenice (Gundam W), and Gundam X Maō (Gundam X). The anime will tie into an HG Build Fighters model kit line that encourages customization with the accompanying HG Build Custom line of accessories.
The story is set in the near future when GunPla Battles, competitions that pit Gundam plastic models against each other, have become popular worldwide in the "Second GunPla Boom." Sei Iori (pictured above), a first-year middle-school student and the only son of a model shop owner, is talented at building GunPla, but inexperienced in the GunPla Battles. He encounters a mysterious boy named Reiji (pictured below) who happens to be an accomplished Gundam Fighter. Together, they strive for the GunPla Battle world championships. Sei's customized GunPla is the Build Strike Gundam (pictured above).
Other characters include Tatsuya Yūki (pictured below), the model club president and resident campus "idol" at Sei's school. He is talented at both GunPla building and GunPla Battles, and he already placed in the last GunPla Battle world championships. His nickname is the "Crimson Comet," and his GunPla of choice is the Zaku Amazing.
China Kōsaka (pictured below) is a first-year school girl at Sei's academy and a member in both the class council and art club. Her family runs the Kōsaka restaurant.
Kenji Nagasaki (No. 6) is drecting off scripts supervised by Yousuke Kuroda (Gundam 00). Kenichi Ohnuki (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed C.E.73: Stargazer, Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time – A Tale of the Eight Guardians, Garzey's Wing) is designing the characters in collaboration with Suzuhito Yasuda (Yozakura Quartet, Durarara!!, Devil Survivor 2 The Animation). The mecha designer roster includes Kunio Okawara, Junichi Akutsu, Junya Ishigaki, Kanetake Ebikawa, and Kenji Teraoka.
In addition to the model lines, the digital card game Gundam Try Age will add Gundam Build Fighters via a Build MS 3-Dan update in Japanese arcades this fall. The Gundam Breaker game for PlayStation 3 will also tie into the concept of customizable mobile suits.
Images © Sotsu, Sunrise, TV Tokyo
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