Sunrise Beyond and Bandai Spirits decided to drop what I think is the first half of the premiere episode for Kyoukai Senki, their upcoming mecha anime slated to premiere this October. If you want to find more on the story, you can head to the post I made around March. The clip doesn’t have any English subtitles but you can still get a good overview of the setting and our main character Amou.
The clip also has the opening sequence as well as a commercial for the upcoming HG kits. Speaking of HG kits, they’ve also revealed quite a few, including one from the tie-in Hobby Japan spin-off Kyoukai Senki: Frost Flower.
Among the kits revealed are two MAILeS units Amou’s friends will be using. To recall, MAILeS are basically AMAIM units equipped with AIs. Their structures are generally the same with some nuances differentiating them from the others. On the left is MAILeS Jogan which appears to be a long-range sniper AMAIM while on the right is MAILeS Reiki which is more of a close combat type with its super heated naginata as primary weapon.
HG 1/72 MAILeS Jogan
November 2021 / ¥2,400
HG 1/72 MAILeS Reiki
December 2021 / ¥2,400
We also get a sneak peek of the enemy unit as well as the grunts for this series, with the latter totally inspired by your typical Gundam series grunt with its color scheme and the pink monoeye-esque optics. On the left is the seemingly purple and red enemy unit, aptly named AMAIM Ghost. The image on Bandai Hobby’s site is actually shrouded in shadow so I did some photo manipulation to bring out some of the details and colors. Compared to the MAILeS units, the Ghost is less angular and looks like a more conventional real robot villan unit. But that may change once we see this thing animated. Then there’s the weirdly-named Bunyip Boomerang which is an unmanned AMAIM that has three modes: patrol, high mobility, and idle state — all of which can be replicated through replacement parts. As mentioned, it has this generally green color scheme which totally gives off a Gundam grunt unit vibe,
HG 1/72 AMAIM Ghost
December 2021 / ¥2,800
HG 1/72 Bunyip Boomerang
December 2021 / ¥2,400
For the Hobby Japan side story Kyoukai Senki: Frost Flower, we have the MAILeS Byakuchi which is more similar to the Kenbu than the other AMAIM units seen here. It can be equipped with various weapons thanks to its multiple hard points, including a 60 mm cannon and a quad guided missile launcher. It also comes with a shield with various marking options thanks to the included marking seals.
HG 1/72 MAILeS Byakuchi
September 2021 / ¥2,400
Lastly, they are also releasing an Armored Special Carrier kit. If this was Gundam, this would likely be a Premium Bandai exclusive or something from the EX Model line. But they are going with a regular release, which I’m pretty sure would be used in diorama builds not limited to Kyoukai Senki kits.
HG 1/72 Armored Special Carrier
November 2021 / ¥3,000
Based on these upcoming kits, I’m really getting a Gundam vibe with this series. For me, this is pretty much treated like a Gundam series with the grunt unit similarities and the whole Hobby Japan side story. This makes me more excited to see this series once it drops in October. If you want to get Kyoukai Senki kits and more, you can get them from HobbyLink Japan.
