Editor Hideki Kakinuma Looks Back on the Showa Era History of the Rise of Character Models Leading to the Gunpla Hit [Hobby Industry Inside Vol. 58

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first release of Gunpla (plastic model products of "Mobile Suit Gundam"). Hideki Kakinuma, who witnessed the big breakthrough of Gunpla as an editor of the model magazine "Hobby Japan" and edited the separate volume "How to build GUNDAM" (he is also famous as the mechanical designer of "Kikou Souseiki Mospider" and "Megazone 23"), looks back on the history of plastic models in the Showa period up to the launch of Gunpla in 1980 He looked back on the history of plastic models in the Showa period, from his own unique perspective.

Gunpla's distant ancestor was "Tetsujin 28-go"?

─ ─ According to "Bandai Character Plastic Model Chronicles," co-authored by Mr. Kakinuma and the late Satoshi Kato (Bandai Mokei) and published by Gakken, the first character plastic model in Japan was the "Electric Tetsujin 28-go" (released in 1960) by Imai Kagaku (Imai).

Kakinuma: At the time, scale models that were scaled down from the real thing were the norm, and Imai's motor-driven "Tetsujin 28-go" is said to be the first product to be made into a plastic model after obtaining the rights to commercialize the character. The plastic model was a mixture of the live-action version and the manga version, which was the original story, and the quality was not good. However, it was important for me to be able to assemble the popular Tetsujin that appeared in magazines and on TV with my own hands, regardless of how good or bad the model was. When I was in kindergarten, I was given an Imai "Tetsujin" and was really impressed. 1963 saw the broadcast of the TV cartoon, and the popularity exploded, with plastic models selling a total of 5 million units. After the cartoon was made, anything with "Tetsujin 28-go" printed on it, from chairs to sandals and other goods for children, was a big seller. Imai was a very advanced model maker because Imai's plastic models were released before those character goods.
Tamiya, which became world-famous for its scale models, started out making wooden models, and plastic models were imported from Europe and the United States. Compared to things like BEGOMA and MENKO, which were popular among children at the time, plastic models were more "intellectual". When you buy a plastic model of an airplane, you learn the names of each part, such as "rudder" and "spinner," only after looking at the illustration. If anything, you also learn the principle of flight. Also, when Tamiya released the Panther Tank plastic model in 1961, Shigeru Komatsuzaki drew its package. It is said to be the first time that a full-fledged artist, who is very popular for his color illustrations for magazines, was in charge of the packaging, and in that sense, the cultural level of the company is high. When IMAI made a plastic model of the foreign special effects program "Thunderbirds" (broadcast in 1966), Mr. Komatsuzaki also drew the package. It is the top level of culture in children's culture. The first plastic model included an illustration showing the layout of the nuclear reactor of Thunderbird No. 2. However, in an industry where scale models such as the Yamato and Zero fighter were the mainstream, Imai, which sold only plastic models of manga and anime such as "Astro Boy," "Eight Man," and "Battle 0 Hayato," was called the "Imai of manga models" and treated like a candy store.


──This was in the 1960s, when Imai was developing a series of mascots and other products with a list price of 50 yen.

Kakinuma: Yes, even though they were priced at 50 yen, they were legitimate copyrighted products, and they were even advertised in color on the back covers of manga magazines. The process of "read the manga, look at the ad on the back cover, go buy the plastic model" was perfectly executed, so IMAI was a brand for children.
We would organize giveaways of comic magazines and collect survey postcards from the children who were our customers. Moreover, since we were an advertiser, no other model maker would have thought of having access to all the information about new serials in advance. However, for a long-established model manufacturer that had been producing scale models of tanks and battleships, character models were a gimmicky business. Even so, because they borrowed the credits from comic books and were advertisers in comic magazines, character models in the 1960s were almost a monopoly of Imai's business.