Busou Shinki TV – Episode 01

Hello fellow Busou Shinki fans! As you may have already guessed or seen, Busou Shinki TV Anime started airing on October 04, 2012. For those that watched it were impressed, while those that didn’t….well, I shall spoil you with images and my review.

(Link – MySite) – Each Master has a 15 cm tall battle robot.

(Warning! Contains Spoilers! All images taken from a raw in decent quality using fraps to take images on Windows Media Player; Article is image heavy)

What is Busou Shinki? Busou Shinkis are 15 cm tall battle robots designed for fighting battles against one another. They can be highly customized from weaponry to armor sets, though Masters may choose not to do so.

Busou Shinki Anime TV Synopsis:

Some guys wait their entire life to meet the girl of their dreams, but high school freshman Rihito is already living with FOUR of them!  And, even more incredibly, they’re (almost) always ready and willing to help him with whatever difficult task their “Master” needs to be handled.  So, how did Rihito get to be so lucky?  Well, to tell the truth, while Hinna, Anne, Ines and Rene may not be exactly high maintenance, Rihito DOES have to make sure that they get lubricated regularly and have their batteries recharged in a cradle.  

But that’s because they’re Shinki: tiny, 6-inch high, customizable androids that are now being sold all over the world.  And don’t let their tiny size fool you.  These little ladies have more than full-size intelligence and emotions, and since each one would prefer to be Rihito’s favorite, there’s sure to be a little mechanical friction!  Get ready for sparks to fly as four battery powered princesses take charge of Rihito’s world in BUSOU SHINKI!

(Not a harem; 15 cm robots fighting and being comical!)

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– Related Articles:

Busou Shinki TV Homepage:
http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/busou/

Busou Shinki TV Anime announced:
https://arcticukitsu.com/Blog/?p=3144
(Contains Moon Angel OVA Episode reviews within.)

BusouShinkiWorld Discussion thread:
http://www.busoushinkiworld.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1858

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I absolutely love Busou Shinki at this point! When I joined there wasn’t an Anime, not until last year roughly around the same time with Busou Shinki Moon Angel – look above for links. Been dreaming about Konami making a single Busou Shinki Anime which turns out to be an OVA and an actual TV anime. From the looks of the first episode this shall be an awesome series to watch.

MMS Type Naked – The base body of each Shinki.
– Eukrante’s main weaponry being mass-produced.
– Ach’s main rifle being mass-produced.
– Arnval’s flying unit.
– Altline and Arnval fighting for demonstration; Fighto!
– Love the “dark vibe” given to the intro.
– Busou Shinki – Arnval – Type Angel

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Strarf vs Eukrante – Intro Fight:

The fight between Strarf and Eukrante was nicely done. It was lengthy and detailed enough that you could actually enjoy the battle, and not some cheap action-hiding scene that lower quality Anime tends to show. Strarf and Eukrante fight nicely as they switch from a fantasy world to an urban battleground, briefly interrupted by a (possibly) default stage set by the arena.

Poor Eukrante…..was a one sided fight.

– Eukrante dodging Strarf’s attack before a brief stare-down.







– Rihito and Arnval heading to their new home via subway; Arnval observing the lovely scenery of the sea-side city.

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Opening:
Being the first episode I felt the need to add the OP screens into here. Shall do the same if it altered or changes in the future within the next episode review. The opening is “InstallXDreams” showing the main Shinkis, amongst a handful of others.

– Feather a hint to fly and Tsubasa? Angelic Layer!








– Orbelleen, Zielbellen, Tsugaru, Fubuki, Zelnograd, Mary Celes, Laneira, Valona (Strarf alter).

– Strarf – Hina – Might bringing in the darker tone to the show; Note the sign-board showing Strarf.

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– Main Show:

With the introduction and OP out of the way we may now hop into the meat of the show. I wanted to make sure I covered almost everything, being a shinki fan and all.

The story starts off with Rihito and Arnval waking up, having Arnval forcefully yet comically waking Rihito from his deep slumber. Arnval was most likely mistaken as a plushie or a teddy-bear heh. And what kind of pajamas is Rihito even wearing?! Just….amusing. Though, it seems awkward that he has a pink phone and shoes. Maybe red was hard to insert or pink is intentional?

I find it nice how Arnval went out of her way to assist her Master with morning activites by fetching a melon-pan, tooth-paste, while being clumsy with milk in a juice-box. Konami being ecchi with the milk box. That Hamster needs to be put in a cage!


– I find Arnval’s expression here overly cute; Love how happy she is in waking her master. I would love this alarm-clock over the one that startles you into an actual zombie mode. Renge, Kohiru, Benio, please be my alarm clock!




– Amusing how ecchi-minded Konami is; That hamster reminds me of my Gerbils that kept chewing at cables. Cage that hamster!

I love how mature-minded and reliable Arnval is. She isn’t annoying, overly-vocal, nor provocative. She is your “elder-sister” taking care of everyone within a “family”. Once the other three Shinkis pop out of different boxes you can tell that Arnval is the most mature, Altlines being the kid, with Altlene being the bubble-head sister.

Once free all chaos, in a comical way, ensues as they unpack their Master’s boxes during the whole day. They horse around, play games, behave childish, and just end up being overly orderly in between by cleaning up the house. Also, they consume foods? They drank what looked like tea on a make-shift table….Well, maybe as an alternate source I guess they do. If we have vehicles running on various fuel sources – poop, sugar canes, garbage – then I guess it is possible. Thinking too much into it, you say? Nah, trying to justify it if anything.








– This is going to be a running gang, ain’t it?






– Due to a little accident Altlene gets trapped in tape, along with her “maid-armor”. Due to this they come across a “love-letter”.


From the looks of things Busou Shinki’s may spawn their equipment at will. They can summon it from another dimension, ready to fight whenever they need to. I was hoping they would equip themselves with such from their boxes but it looks like that isn’t the case.

Summon-able equipment at will and at any moment, not sure what to think about that.



– After flying after it for a few minutes the letter smacks into Eukrante sending her into the water while the trio obvious to such happily grab the letter. Eukrante is pissed! Nice comical moment that doesn’t get too serious.



– Similar to the Ride-On! Gear from Moon Angel, this “visualizer” sets up a hologram-styled battle arena displaying any scenery anywhere. Appears it doesn’t take the surrounding scenery into consideration.







– Poor Eukrante getting beaten for the second time, or maybe the first for this unit. Don’t mess with their Master’s possession and “you” won’t get owned. Shinki’s also have timers to mark events? Sounds like Data from Star Trek hmm….


– Their kind gesture in bringing the Dandylion as a gift for their Master; Flower gifts are common in figure photography, or mine at the least.


– Oh? You can place mini-discs with customized backgrounds in the Visualizer; Reminds me greatly of Battle Rondo’s Diorama Studio mode.


– Busou Shinki – Strarf – Type Devil – named Hina for this show; That dark ominous atmosphere she brings to the show; Cradles are used to charge Shinkis FYI.

Interesting ominious way to end the episode. I can’t wait to see the second episode to see Howling and Mao-Chao stir up some chaos, actual Chaos. The preview is giving me high hopes for this show.

The main characters design at first bothered me, just less so in this episode. He looks like your generic character, most likely side-lined when dealing with Shinkis most of the time. His pink shoes and phone bothered me quite a bit. He doesn’t seem to interest me all that much because he seems like a “drone”, not doing or hinting he is doing anything fun. Who knows? Maybe he is into cars similar to the main character in Ah! My Goddess.

Seeing Arnval as Rihito’s main Shinki  while behaving in the very helpful “elder sister” way was quite amusing while the rest behaved silly. Altines herself seems like a tomboyish, serious little kid who wants to keep things serious while Altlene bubbly-headed fashion and ecchi clown. Strarf? There are apparently two, with both being ominiously dangerous. Both have differen’t colored eyes, one being yellow and the one Rihito mysteriously got being red.

Seeing Arnval, Altline, and Altlene wander into a park after chasing for the “love letter”, then engaging into a street fight without a master was intriguing. How many times do you see Shinkis and such fight without Masters? Gives a nice unique vibe to the show and a nice independent factor to the Shinkis. Poor Eukrante though this episode, hope she catches a break with her nice moment in the next episodes.

This episode stayed interesting by keeping the beginning and ending serious and “dark” while the middle was all comical. I approve of this episode by giving it a stamp of approval. Wasn’t much to say when it came to the technical stuff, was highly entertaining regardless. What I want to know though is how did Rihito obtain the Strarf and will Eukrante actually win? Did you enjoy this first episode?

Now I’m hoping at least one of the three Shinkis I mentioned will appear in one of the 12 episode with an actual role – Renge, Kohiru, & Benio.

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Ending:

The ending is “Taiyou no sign – Azusa” which fits in well with Arnval’s angelic persona. If you weren’t aware Azusa song the OP and ED’s for Amagami SS. And as mentioned shall mention the OP’s and ED’s when they change, if they do change at all in the 12 episode run.



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Preview:

Appears Howling and Mao-Chao will stir up some actual chaos while the the four main Shinkis settle into their new home. Expect more battles from the looks.

– Next time on Shinki’s in space – Arnval, Strarf, Altlene and Altline go invading other foreign planets!



– Next time on Busou Shinki – Conquering the Fruit & Vegi jungle!

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Thanks for viewing and hope you enjoyed viewing my review of episode 01. See you for episode 2! Until then, peace!