The Gunpla Builders World Cup (GBWC, Gunpla World Cup), a contest to determine the world's best Gunpla builder from the Gundam anime series, will hold its 13th Gunpla Builders World Cup 13th Tournament finals on February 7th at Gundam Base Tokyo (Koto Ward, Tokyo). The "world's best Gunpla" will be announced in three courses: U-14 for ages 6-14, U-20 for ages 15-20, and OVER-21 for ages 21 and over.
◇China performed well last time
GBWC is an international competition that began in 2011, where participants compete in Gunpla construction, painting techniques, and ideas. The 13th GBWC is being held in 16 countries and regions, including Japan, Australia, Canada, Europe & the Middle East, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, mainland China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the UK, the US, and Vietnam.
In the 12th OVER-21 course, "UNDER CONTROL" (Wu Jingming) from mainland China was selected as the world's best, in the U-20 course "God of Kungfu" (Chou Junhui) from mainland China was selected as the world's best, and in the U-14 course "Camouflage" (Dikdikzai) from Hong Kong was selected as the world's best.
◇ Hopes for Japan's first victory since 2018
In the 12th competition, all of the Japanese teams placed in the top three, but they did not win. Japan has not been the world champion since the 2018 Open Course competition with "Gundam Exia Repair II -Fetal Movement-" (by Utsugi), but the Japanese teams in each course of the 13th competition were all impressive.
The U-14 course was won by Gunpla Mana, an 11-year-old fifth-grader, with her creation "We Won't Fall at Jaburo!". Her creation is an adaptation of the famous scene from episode 29 of "Mobile Suit Gundam," "We Won't Fall at Jaburo!", in which Char's Z'Gok defeats a GM. She created a diorama imagining what would happen if a GM piloted by Sleggar Law fought against Char's Z'Gok. She recreated the scene of the GM putting up an evenly matched fight and "not falling apart." Another key point is that the Gundam is peeking from behind at the battle between the GM and Char's Z'Gok.
In the U-20 course, 15-year-old Una10, a third-year junior high school student, was selected to represent Japan with his work "What's Left from the 'Other Side'." He created a diorama based on the aftermath of the "Zeknova" incident in "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX." The diorama has a storyline that expresses the "horror of defeat in war."
The winner of the OVER-21 course was Jin's "Creation." By combining various RX-78-2 models, he expressed the evolution of Gunpla and the trajectory of Gundam. I was amazed at the innovative idea of the "RG" series breaking away from the "old kits." You can also see Gundams performing their final shooting, Gundams jumping out of the Operation V manual, and SD Gundams. It's a masterpiece that offers something new to discover every time you look at it.
Will Japan be able to win this time? The outcome of this heated battle will be closely watched. (Anima Mitsuru/MANTANWEB)
