Pre-order Buchou-chan and Kouhai Now!

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Japan is a country of many contrasts, where ancient traditions coexist with modern innovations. Perhaps one of the most striking aspects of Japanese culture is its love of anime girls and guns. Yes, you read that right. The girls x guns concept has been around for ages and is still going strong with recent hits like Lycoris Recoil.

From cute schoolgirls wielding sniper rifles to busty maidens blasting zombies with shotguns, Japan has a fascination with combining the feminine and the firearm. But why is that? What is the appeal of seeing anime girls and guns together? And what does it say about Japan's society, history, and psychology?
There could be some deep philosophical meaning to it all but I think the answer is quite simple. It’s a concept that works amazingly well. Classics like Black Lagoon, Gunslinger Girl and Ghost in the Shell pulled fans in with their gritty, realistic depictions of violence and darker stories. As the genre continued to grow, it has shifted to a more cutesy approach. With popular mobile games like Girls’ Frontline and Nikke exploding, bishoujo gun girls are definitely the new fad.
While the concept has evolved and changed over time, one thing has remained consistent… the usage of school girls packing heat. This is twice as true in the world of doujinshi. Artists and character designers have created endless depictions of high school girls wielding boom cannons. Take for example daito who has an original illustration series Armed High School Girl and is the character designer for the Little Armory figure collection.

There are too many series to cover in one blog post so today we will focus on two recent figure additions from ARMS NOTE. Grab some cover and don't forget to duck, because things are about to get explosive!

The World of ARMS NOTE

ARMS NOTE is an original work of Ryosuke Fukai, who has spent many years drawing exceptional portraits of girls equipped with only the finest military weapons. As a freelance designer, concept artist and manga artist, he has created works for various projects like Azur Lane and Blue Archive.
His passion for ARMS NOTE however remains steady and the series continues to grow in popularity with every new illustration. In the series, the girls are depicted with various weapons and gadgets. The illustrations work so well by creating contrast between using the ordinary, everyday high school girl and the extraordinary. The dynamic is a bit of cute with a dash of cool. The first few figures released were of joshikousei (JK) which means high school girl. Each girl is different and features unique firepower like a sniper rifle, bionic legs or an exoskeleton arm.

The ARMS NOTE Suieibu no Buchou-chan & Sueibu no Kouhai figure from Ensoutoys is a set of two 1/7 scales of the most amazing and adorable girls from the ARMS NOTE series and more recent additions. If you prefer, they are also available individually and do not need to be purchased together!

Suieibu no Buchou-chan

Suieibu (水泳部) means swimming club in Japanese and buchou (部長) can be translated as manager or chief. So, as with all characters from the ARMS NOTE series, we have extremely creative naming… Suieibu no Buchou-chan is the captain of the swimming club. Fukai took a competitive style swimsuit and made it a bit more revealing and form fitting. As captain, she is given a confident pose and if paired together with Kouhai, can be looking back and smiling at her precious team member.
The sleek black design of the swimsuit looks slightly tactical with the addition of the gloves and legwear. Although, the latter was probably just to give fans a bit of nice, healthy thigh pinch…
The jacket hanging off the shoulders is a nice touch, further bringing out the allure of Buchou-chan and the green inner part adds color that works with the overall black color scheme. Her face is also very well done. Her soft expression, uniquely colored eyes and cute hair style.

It adds some youthful beauty and creates a kinder atmosphere than a cold blooded killer like Black Lagoon’s Revy. One of the big reasons the suieibu girls are well liked by fans is the tanned skin and slight muscle definition. For weaponry, Fukai has created his own pew pew machine and gave Buchou-chan a "personal defense weapon." Calling it the SMD6 from fictional Belgian manufacturer WITSEL MARKS, I think it's safe to say it is his take on the FN F2000 and looks stylishly cool!
There is a second figure available for pre-order from Amakuni where Buchou loses the jacket and gets a different pose. While very similar, this is definitely more of a bishoujo figure and may be preferred by those with *ahem* certain tastes…

Sueibu no Kouhai

Sueibu no Kouhai (コウハイ) is the junior (kouhai) of the swimming club with just as creative naming. Given a similarly designed swimsuit, Kouhai is a bit more colorful. The red, white and blue color scheme and blonde hair makes me think she might be a foreign exchange student. Kouhai typically isn't written in katakana but instead kanji (後輩) which lends credibility to the theory.
With a much simpler outfit than Buchou-chan, the pose is essential to make her stand out. The hand on the hip and arched back helps highlight her musculature and is visually appealing. Kouhai’s expression is equally as cute as Buchou-chans and her long hair was nicely sculpted.
For weaponry, Fukai created the SMD4 and Bolzen Frings SP.6 automatic pistol. I like that Fukai has created his own arms manufacturers and put equal effort into it. I am not sure what these are based off of so for those gun enthusiasts out there, leave a comment and let me know!
 Similar to Buchou-chan, Amakuni also has a figure of Kouhai. There are three different versions of the figure with the only difference being the color of the swimsuit. It has already been released so you can purchase today!
While the swim club might be one of ARMS NOTE's most popular groups, I am definitely excited for the Jirai-Chan figures that have been announced. No images of the figures have been released yet, we just have the official promo drawings to go by. Clear some space to add the ARMS NOTE girls to your collection!
We hope you enjoyed this one! Thank you for reading!