A Busou Shinki Primer

Boys’ toys (and even toys aimed at older collectors) have always been flavoured with machismo, aggression and implied violence. Muscle-bound he-men with snarls and grimaces wielding swords and guns are the traditional action figure standards.

But Japan also has a long-standing love affair with all things cute. Kawaisa has flavoured everything from commercial goods to military mascots.

So, putting a cute face on a fearsome heavily armed, battle-ready warrior would seem to be a quirky but entirely understandable natural step in the evolution of Japanese action figures.

Akitaka Mika’s MS shoujo in the 80s seems a likely conception point for this design style. In an interview with EX, the designer explained simply:

Well, I like drawing girls a lot. And, being a mechanical designer too, I thought it would be a lot of fun if I put Gundam armor on them.

That style has gained popularity in recent years with the rise of the moe movement. Shimada Fumikane’s designs have been at the forefront and as of writing there have been two anime OVA, Strike Witches and Sky Girls, featuring Shimada’s designs. It is perhaps unsurprising Konami tapped Shimada to be character designer for the first wave of its action figure line featuring cute girls in fearsome war accoutrements and accessories.

As a franchise, Busou Shinki (“armed princess” is the best translation I can come up with) is Konami’s calculated attempt to separate the otaku from their money. Otaku like moe female figures so Busou Shinki features moe character designs. Otaku like mecha and action figures so Busou Shinki features weapons and add-on armour pieces. Otaku like videogames so Busou Shinki features an online game component.

Action Figures

The entire Busou Shinki franchise revolves around a core action figure design by veteran modeller Asai Masaki. Dubbed the Multi Movable System by Konami, it’s a svelte 15cm-tall female action figure that’s highly posable.

One of the best things about the Busou Shinki action figures is that Konami has used different character designers for each wave. Thus, despite having the common denominators of the same base figure design and same overall theme (i.e. “chicks ready to kick ass”), Busou Shinki figures differ from wave to wave. They may not have the incredible variety of, say, Xevoz, but there’s bound to be something in the line that appeals to an action figure fan. Medieval knight, future-tech SWAT operator, mermaid, Gundam warrior … the line goes from the past to the future, from the seas to the stars.

It must be said that despite standardised pegs, ports and joints Busou Shinki doesn’t really fare well in the interchangeability department. The problem is by playing up variety, Konami has diminished the interchangeability somewhat. Flower-inspired parts don’t really mix well with mecha parts.

The action figures are sold in two different types of sets.

Full sets
These range in price from 3500 yen to 4500 yen. Each full set includes a core MMS figure as well as many accessories and weapons. The full sets also include a figure stand.

EX Weapon sets
These range in price from 1500 yen to 2500 yen. Each EX weapon set includes a head, weapons, armour and other accessories but crucially, does not include a core MMS figure. The idea here is to get a new character design without paying the price of a full set. This may seem odd but Japanese toy companies have used this method to sell action figures as far back as the Henshin Cyborg line in the Seventies.

Both types of sets include access codes which can be added to Busou Shinki software to gain access to CG versions of characters.

Software

The free software components of the line, Diorama Studio and Battle Rondo, are interesting in their own right.

Diorama Studio is a remarkable piece of software that essentially lets you play with a virtual action figure on your PC. It even includes with a free CG model, Ninja Shina (which lacks an action figure counterpart) so you can try it out without spending a cent. Once you add access codes found in Busou Shinki packages to Diorama Studio, you get to play with CG counterparts of the figures.

Battle Rondo, the game aspect of the line, involves equipping and training a CG Shinki and pitting her against another player’s Shinki in battle.

Both programs are in Japanese but don’t let that intimidate you. I’ve put together some guides to help you get up and running with Diorama Studio and there’s a guide on GameFAQs for Battle Rondo. For further reading, check out my regularly updated page of related links.