Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Upper body front/rear view

Oowashi pack with wings fully spread

Atmospheric aerial combat equipment, Oowashi,

HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam - Oowashi in aircraft mode with nose extended. (1/3)

Oowashi in aircraft mode with nose extended.

Dry decals on the wings.

HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam - The high-energy beam cannons on the Oowashi pack can be rotated forward, extended in length, and

The high-energy beam cannons on the Oowashi pack can be rotated forward,
extended in length, and the grip can be pulled out.

HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam - Beam cannon action pose. Due to the design, it's not easy to fit the beam cannon grip into the h

Beam cannon action pose.
Due to the design, it's not easy to fit the beam cannon grip into the hand.

HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam - Aerial firing pose (1/3)

Aerial firing pose

HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam - Double beam saber action (1/3)

Double beam saber action

HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam - Beam saber action 2 (1/4)

HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam - Beam saber action 2 (2/4)

Beam saber action 2

Together with the HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam.

Comparison with the Shiranui pack

Together with the 1/100 Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam.

Following the Shiranui Akatsuki Gundam, the Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam has now been released in HG as well. The 1/100 version came bundled with both weapon packs together, but the HG has been split into two separate kits.

The base body is naturally the same as the existing HG Shiranui Akatsuki Gundam, and with its clean gold plating and dry decals included, this is a very premium kit for 1/144 scale. One small difference worth noting: the Shiranui Akatsuki came with light blue beam saber parts, while the Oowashi includes pink beam saber parts. Pink is actually the correct color per the original design specs — it seems the Shiranui ended up with light blue beam sabers almost by accident, since the light blue effect parts were already being used for that kit. (Probably a cost-cutting measure too..)

The Oowashi pack does a solid job of recreating its features — the wing folding gimmick is there, along with the nose transformation gimmick that shifts it into flight mode. On top of that, the two high-energy beam cannons can be repositioned forward, extended in length, and the grips can be transformed as well, all nicely reproduced.. but the actual problem is that it's really not easy to get the beam cannon grips into the hands.

Since the base body is the same, it shares the same quirks too — including the same drawback of the side beam sabers being very loosely held in place. You can't really glue them down either since the plated parts don't bond well, and overall it's a bit of a nuisance that gave me quite a headache during the review shoot.. ^^;

Being a plated kit, it comes in at ¥2400, which is on the pricier side for an HG — but it's a kit that's worth it to a reasonable degree, and if you're a fan of the Akatsuki Gundam, it'd look fantastic displayed as a pair alongside the Shiranui :-)

HG Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam | 2006. 4 | ¥2,400

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.