1/100 Type-00R Takemikazuchi / Takemikaduchi Review

Type 00-R Honor Guard version

After i finished Muvluv Alternative i am able to get Takemikazuchi for another addition for my collection which i got last month during my semester break. It akes a while to finish the kits since i ran out of paint which at that time were not available in my local hobby store as well and i just finished the kit 2 days ago. The kit turns out really great and this lineup is definitely one of the finest Kotobukiya's production. Also the reason why i chose alternate color scheme for my Takemikazuchi is because i find the Eishi who pilot this Variant of Takemikazuchi is rather cool guy despite having a minute screentime only in Alternative.

Takemikazuchi is the best 3rd Generation Tactical Surface Fighter that Japan developed around 2000 probably shortly after the BETA invasion to Kyoto. This TSF is named after the Japanese ancient deity of thunder(i know it from playing Persona series lol) and there are 4 variants of this TSF: 00R, 00F, 00A and 00C which differ in terms of performance with 00R being the best out of 4 variants. Type-00R had 100% performance capability and most of the parts are powerful prototypes where it takes a whole year in order to finish a single unit and only Shogun and the 5 Regents families are allowed to use this unit. The only difference between the Blue Type-00R with the purple one is the pilot's status where the Purple hold the highest status as it is used by Shogun and the blue one are used by 5 Regents family which had the 2nd highest political power after the Shogun.

Tsukuyomi, tell the formation to use the formation Wing Double Five. We are pushing the line forward.

 The pilot of the blue Takemikazuchi is the Honor Guard captain who lead the 16th batalion of Honor Guard which is the most elite unit of Japan Imperial Guard as they are the personal guard of Shogun. While the pilot's name is unknown, i heard that the pilot is the head of Ikaruga clan which is one of the 5 regents and probably he was in charge of the Kyoto defense in 1999 where BETA in the end managed to overrun the capital of Japan for a millenia. I find for some reason this guy seems really cool which is why i decided to repaint my Takemikazuchi with his color scheme. In terms of combat skill i guess that Ikaruga is on par with Tsukuyomi at very least considering he is her boss and in charge of hundreds of other Honor Guard Eishis. In Muvluv Alternative he leads the Honor Guard as reinforcement for Whiskey unit which lost 55% of its unit and one of the Eishi he saved happens to be Isumi's youngest sister.

For this kit i would say i have reached 90% of my intended results which are not bad. The challenges that i find in this kit are masking issues mainly. The head crest and the lower shoulder armor is the hardest one to mask and i did the work terribly for these parts since i lack of necessary tools in the middle of construction of this kit. But everything else reached my intended target.

This kit surprisingly have really good articulation for a Kotobukiya kit and way better compared to Volks model. The kit has slight stability issue when the Jump units are equipped but as not as severe as my F-14D. The weaknesses of this kit is that you definitely require paint to make the kit looks really good which is pretty much the same with most kotobukiya kits and you need to handle some parts with care like the Jump units and the weapon hanger since the joints are quite frail.

One of Takemikazuchi primary weapon are the Type-87 Assault Rifle which has capacity of 2000 rounds of 36 mm machine gun and 120 mm Grenade Shell. In Muvluv Alternative during the Sadogashima invasion, the Ikaruga guy had his Takemikazuchi carry 2 of them.

The second Primary weapon of Takemikazuchi is type 74 Longsword. Being one of the frontline of Humanity against BETA and  Japan still maintain their Bushido code (considering they didn's suffer total defeat in World War 2 in Alternative universe). They consider Melee combat as essential for the battle against BETA and their Eishis are trained in Bushido as well. The advantage ofTakemikazuchi is that the TSF had really good manuverability which enable the Eishi to engage in melee easier compared to the one who pilot Gekishin or F-15.

Takemikazuchi also got couple of other close range weapon other than the type-74 longsword which include pair of hidden blades and combat knives with couple of throwing knives as well. Though i never see Takemikazuchi used either the hidden blades or the throwing knives in the VN considering these weapons only see its use on some circumstance. But if a TSF only got a combat knife with no Jump Unit, it is pretty much fucked even for Takemikazuchi in the middle of BETA swarms.

These are the equipments that you got for Takemikazuchi which are quite plenty considering most Kotobukiya kits that i have built usually lack of extra accessories. Hopefully this review would help you understand the Takemikazuchi as a mecha and a kit as well. Currently i already preordered Takemikazuchi Tsukuyomi's version which is the red one since i want the sniper rifle included in the kit and on limited run as well. I wished the Ikaruga guy would get more screentime in future Muvluv works and hopefully Kotobukiya will keep releasing more Muvluv kits.