Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack.
It's pretty big for a D-Style kit.

Upper body front and back

Head

Lower body

There are 3 types of hands in total, though you can spot a bit of hollowing here and there..

Separate arm parts are included specifically for Gunbuster's signature arms-crossed pose.

Leftover parts.

The Degeneracy Reactor and Buster Homerun..

There's also a hole for attaching a Kotobukiya stand.

You can remove the chest armor to see the interior.

Separate sole weapons are also included for the Inazuma Kick.

Articulation is an honest 90-degree level..
That's pretty decent for an SD-class kit.

The shoulders have horizontal play in their movement,
which comes in handy when posing.

D Style Gunbuster - The iconic scene of opening the chest armor and holding the Degeneracy Reactor.. (1/3)

The iconic scene of opening the chest armor and holding the Degeneracy Reactor..

D Style Gunbuster - Buster Homerun action! (1/3)

Buster Homerun action!

D Style Gunbuster - Buster Missile action firing from the fingertips! (1/4)

D Style Gunbuster - Buster Missile action firing from the fingertips! (2/4)

Buster Missile action firing from the fingertips!

D Style Gunbuster - Gunbuster's trademark cocky arms-crossed pose. You have to swap out the chest armor and both arms with th

Gunbuster's trademark cocky arms-crossed pose.
You have to swap out the chest armor and both arms with the dedicated parts,
but the proportions end up looking really sharp because of it.

D Style Gunbuster - Super Inazuma Kick~ It's not super dynamic given the articulation limits, but it's cute in its own way ^^

Super Inazuma Kick~
It's not super dynamic given the articulation limits,
but it's cute in its own way ^^

Compared to the D-Style Ingram, Gunbuster is pretty big.

The D-Style series, full of personality.

The 4th D-Style kit is Gunbuster, from Gainax's Aim for the Top! It's an absolutely massive, overpowered(;) robot standing at 220 meters tall, and it's got quite a dedicated fanbase.

First off, a lot of the parts come pre-painted, so even a straight build gives you a really nice color combination right out of the box. Sure, some areas like the ribbing inside the chest armor and a few other spots could use some touch-up painting, but the molded colors are solid and the paint quality on the runners is pretty good too — the overall look once it's done is just lovely ^^

For a Kotobukiya kit, the part count is quite low, so assembly is quick and easy. The snap-fit is well implemented too, so you can put it together nice and sturdy without any glue. The kit is a bit larger than other D-Style kits, and with that slightly bigger scale comes pretty decent arm and leg articulation — for an SD-class kit, anyway.

As for extra features, you can recreate the Degeneracy Reactor scene with the chest armor open, and Gunbuster's signature arms-crossed pose is recreated by swapping out the arms and chest parts as a set, which makes the proportions look quite natural. For weapons, the Buster Homerun is included, and three types of hand parts are provided to recreate things like the Buster Missile.

The price (¥2000) still feels a bit steep for what you get, which is a little iffy, but the kit itself is genuinely nice. The satisfying straight-build feel and lovely look you just can't get from a Bandai SD, plus Kotobukiya's signature voluminous proportions — if you can get past the price, this is a great little kit that'll bring some charming fun not just to Gunbuster fans, but to all mecha enthusiasts :-)

D Style Gunbuster | 2011.1 | ¥2,000

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.