Plamo-Kyoshiro

Plamo-Kyoshiro (プラモ狂四郎) is a 1982 manga belonging to the Gundam franchise, written by Hisashi Yasui and illustrated by Koichi Yamato. It was published from August 20, 1982 until December 17, 1986 in Comic BomBom magazine of Kodansha publishing house, receiving eventual reprints. This was the very first production of the Gundam franchise, in its entire history, that showed idea of battles with customized Gundam Plastic Models. This idea has proven to be a very powerful concept, and has been used several times later  in other productions of the franchise, such as Gundam Build Fighters , Gundam Build Fighters Try and Gundam Build Divers 

This work is  considered the very first work of the gundam franchise set in an alternate universe, and is the first absolute derivative of the original TV series .

Plot
The manga is aimed to the audience of Plastic model fans., The story of Plato-Kyoshiro's is about Shiro Kyoda, a young man from Tamiya city and a student of the Bandai Elementary School. Shiro is great enthusiast of Plastic Models and Plamo Battles. Shiro's dream is to become the representative of Japan in the World Simulation Tournament and be able to fight in the finals in the Battle of Hobbytopia. In addition to that, the comic had original Mecha designs that gave rise to the series of Mobile Suit Variations and BB Senshi.

Plamo Simulation
In Plamo Kyoshiro, the Gunpla Battles are known as Plamo Simulation. (The word Plamo comes from PLAstic MOdel ) The battles take place through an artifac called Plamo Simulation Machine.  In the players put their kits into the domes of the Machine (See the image below) sit on the seats and put on a specialized helmet. They dive into the virtual field on the a unison exclamation of the ‘Plamo Simulation Go!’ command. The battle is directly imaged in the players’ minds while spectators view it on screens. the damage suffered by the models in battle is replicated on the real kits by lasers and mechanical arms. Mods done on the kits can affect the battle, like using a different material to build the parts or adding gimmicks like springs and tasers.

Also, the players can make dioramas and conect the dioramas to the Plamo Simulation Machine and use them as a battle ground for the match.

For the World Simulation Tournament, the Biochip Plamo Controller (BCPC) is used. The BCPC is housed in a huge facility called the ‘Plamo Simulation Center’. It seems to be an extension of the standard simulation but with an additional biochip which has the player’s biodata. To win the battle, the biochip which will be hidden in the kit must be destroyed. In this system psychic power is used to channel the player’s spiritual energy to control the plamo.



Characters
(this list is enunciative, but not limitative- there are more characters-)

Shiro is the protagonist of the series. He lives in Tamiya City and is a student of the Bandai elementary school. It is the classic shonen protagonist with an exuberant and passionate behavior, as well as being characterized as a real otaku, willing to do anything to grab the last gunpla on the market and customize it according to its personal tastes. He began to take an interest in Plamo Simulation thanks to the owner of the Craft-Man Model Shop, which he is a loyal customer, and in a short time, will be noticed among the most talented and skillful "modellers" in the country, who will not hesitate to challenge him and his gunpla at every opportunity.Shiro usually uses more or less customized Gundams as his favorite means. Among his most famous "pieces" we remember the Perfect Gundam, the Musha Gundam and the Red Warrior.
 * Shiro Kyoda

He is the owner of the modeling shop frequented by Shiro, The Craft-Man Model Shop,. Also, he is the father of Midori and supporter of Shiro. Shiro refers to him as "Master". On the second floor of his shop, he has a "Plamo Simulation Machine" that allows Shiro to train for the various tournaments and clash with his rivals.
 * Futoshi Kurata

She is the daughter of Futoshi and although she is able to build models and occasionally take to "battle simulation", her role is more like a support role, almost like a "mascot". Her name is a tribute to the Midori, an old manufacturer of plamo.
 * Midori Kurata

He is a classmate of Shiro, and is always portrayed in camouflage clothes. Ken lives in a Western-style house and belongs to a very wealthy family. He is also a very passionate modeller, which leads him to often find himself in conflict with his friend Shiro, a rivalry that will be rekindled when, having moved to the United States because of his father's work, he will meet Sacky who will plagiarize him. He will again prove to be Shiro's friend, however, at the end of the World Simulation tournament, where he will not hesitate to betray Sacky, tired of his cruel behavior.
 * Ken Maruyama

His name is a tribute to Marusan, the first toy company to produce plamo in Japan. Ken uses plamo from various series (especially Dougram ) and in various scales for his fights. While it generally makes extensive use of Zeon media, including various Zaku, the Gelgoog and the Acguy, worthy of mention is also the use of a GM Cannon.

He is a classmate of Shiro and Ken Maruyama's right-hand. his nickname is Kibou. Initially he too will be in a position of rivalry with the protagonist, but then find himself his friend after joining forces against modelers from other schools and shops. He is not a skilled fighter like Shiro and Ken, but his support often proves to be fundamental. He stops building gunpla and taking part in the Simulation Battles after being banned by his mother, in view of the school exams. Like Ken, Kouichi also makes use of various media from various series, but is generally associated with mobile armors and support vehicles.
 * Koichi Kida

University graduate. He is a sportsman (boxer) who has skill of model making. He also works as a instructor at the Athletic Club. he has a great influence on Shiro as a modeler. He recomended Shiro to "put your soul in his own plastic model". Also in the sequel's "New Plamo Kyoshiro", it appeared as an advisor to the new protagonist.
 * Tomita

Akira is the first recurrent antagonist to give Kyoshiro a hard time. He is the leader of the modeling club Plamo Teikoku Emperor, locateded on the Taiyo Model Shop. He is extremely competitive and he hates to lose, and his models are characterized by dark but realistic colors, along the lines of Okawara's "Real Type". Despite being a caustic rival of Shiro, he does not hesitate to join forces against the common threat of Sacky. He has a predilection for Zeon models, and among his favorite vehicles appear Gouf, Hi-Zack and Zssa in custom colors
 * Akira Yamane

He is the super villain and Main antagonist of the series. He is a brilliant model maker with dual American and Japanese nationalities. Sacky does not hesitate to destroy those close to him for his interests. he loves to humiliate his opponents and destroy their plamo, and his personality is arrogant and selfish. He has studied very advanced modeling techniques in the United States. He uses innovative materials and special effects, on his models, experimenting as much as possible.
 * Sacky Takeda

His name is a tribute to Saki Hijiri, a central figure in the edition of the mythical Japanese science fiction magazine Uchousen , The models created by of Sacky are extremely eccentric: the best example of this is the terrible Bloody Mary (nicknamed "Devil Gundam"), a grotesque Alien hybrid hidden under the disguise of a mobile suit, able to spit latex from the hidden xenomorphic mouth under the helmet.

SPECIAL GUESTS - REAL LIFE CHARACTERS Behind this pseudonym are hidden (from left to right in the image) Katsumi "Meijin" Kawaguchi, Masahiro Oda and Masaya Takahashi, three sacred monsters of the 80s who have inextricably linked their name to Gundam.
 * Stream Based

"Stream Base" was the name of their modeling group at the time of the university. In the Manga, They act as instructors and guides Shiro. They apeared for the first time in volume 4, when the protagonist will have to face the Zeon Shonen-Tai Group.

Known as "the bearded guy of plamo", he was famous for his tutorials on the SF Plamo Magazine, designed by Koichi Tokita, in which he is portrayed in a caricatured version; appears in the same guise as a mascot in volume 4 of the manga, providing random explanations to readers on how to build models.
 * Kazuzo Ozawa

It is formally introduced in volume 8 as Shiro's companion to Hakone against Iwao Moai to turn out to be an enemy, but it will be revealed that in reality is Sacky in disguise, driven by the desire to seize the secret techniques of the Moai clan. The "real" Ozawa will eventually appear in Volume 10 as an observer of the final battle between the Shiro and Sacky factions in the Sekigahara Wars.

Since the 2000s, he almost retired as a model magazine writer and since then he worked as a CG illustrator with box art in the early master grade series, but he died on June 11, 2007 due to stomach cancer.


 * Tomita
 * Muraoka
 * Hiroshi Fujii
 * Iwaki Tetsuo

Plamo (Mobile Suits)
(this list is enunciative, but not limitative- there are more models-)

Plastic Models of other Franchises
Trivia:The Gunpla Battles only Focuses on 'Gundam Models'. The Plamo Battles focuses in all types of plastic models no matter the origin. That's why the comic has shameless appearances of models from other series / franchises, such as:

Notes:


 * 1) The Walker Machines Gallop Type, Dugger Type and Crab Type also appear. The Robot Walker Gallia also apears.
 * 2) The ATH-14-ST Standing Tortoise and the X-ATH-02 Strike Dog also appear.
 * 3) The Soltic H8RF Kolchima Special also appears.The CrabGunner and the DesertGunner also appear.
 * 4) The FAM-RV-S1T Torunfam and The ARV Round Vernian Type Recon also appear.
 * 5) The Fighting Platform Fou and the Aura Battler Bozon also appear
 * 6) The SPT's Daljuan, Gashlan, El-Darr and Dankova make appearance. The main Robot SPT Layzner does not appear.
 * 7) The Heavy Metal Auge apears.

Production Notes
Plamo-Kyoshiro was written by Hisashi Yasui and illustrated by Koichi Yamato. In October 15, 1981, Kodansha had released the first issue of its magazine Comic Bom Bom. Mobile Suit Gundam was extremely popular at that time. Although the Gundam boom was centered at the higher age group, the fire slowly spread to the lower age group in the form of gunpla and thus it was decided to mainly publish gunpla content. At that precise moment, the publisher was planning to launch a manga adaptation of the Mobile Suit Gundam movies, but the publisher was unable to get Sunrise's authorization on time. As an alternative plan, the publisher contacted Hisashi Yasui to create a new series. That's how Plamo-Kyoshiro was born.

In 1979 was released Mobile Suit Gundam, the first series of the Gundam franchise. In 1980 The toy company Bandai began to penetrate for the first time on the sale of plastic models, a hobby quite widespread in the world, but hardly known in Japan at that time. To publicize this new product, Bandai sponsored events and specialized magazines in the hobby of Plastic models along with other advertising techniques. The Plamo-Kyoshiro manga was created as a tool to publicize the plastic models that Bandai was launching at the time.



The story of the Manga and the idea of Plamo Battles were concepts specially designed to arouse the interest of the readers for the hobby of Plastic models. In the manga, the characters appear buying plastic models of Gundam Series and from other famous anime series, TV series and feature films, as well as models of airplanes tanks and other models of vehicles to use them in the simulation. In addition, the characters appear customizing and creating their own original models of  Vehicles and Robots. Apart from this, the characters can be seen using branded products from companies dedicated to the Plastic model industry and numerous references to famous companies, products and people related to this hobby.

The producers of the comic also gave the opportunity to real people to appear caricatured in the manga. editors of modeling magazines, illustrators of hobby magazines, prominent employees of model making companies and young practitioners of this pastime also appeared caricatured in the comic.

Throughout the manga they appear teaching Shiro how to build the models, what materials to use and what techniques to apply in the construction of them. These explanations are accompanied by very detailed illustrations so that readers could learn implicitly how to assemble the models.

The point of all these was, of course to arouse the interest of the reader for the hobby and and promote industry, companies, key people, magazines and the plamo culture in general.

Manga
The original edition had 15 volumes and was in publication from August 20, 1982 until December 17, 1986 in Comic Bom Bom magazine by Kodansha. In 1989 a Single Volume was published entitled Plamo-Kyoshiro-Musha Gundam Version; This volume deals with the episode in which the Musha Gundam appeared. In 1990 a second edition of 11 volumes was launched. In 1999 a 6-volume Deluxe edition was published. Between 2002 and 2004 an Economic Version of 13 volumes was published and in the year 2008 a paperback edition of 10 volumes was published. All the Plamo-Kyoshiro publications, from the original 1982 until the last of 2008 have all been published by Kodansha The manga has also received several sequels and derivatives:

Publication History
The volume numbers can be confirmed on the cover
 * Original Issue, 1982-1986


 * SPECIAL ISSUE
 * Plamo-Kyoshiro Musha Gundam Version


 * REPRINT 1990


 * Reprint 2002

The volume numbers can be confirmed on the cover
 * Reprint of 2008

Sequels

 * Shin Plamo-Kyoshiro (1987–1988) - by Hisashi Yasui (Story), Koichi Yamato (Illustration)

Plastic Model And Toys
This series combines classic Gundam characters in SD form with ‘cloth’ armor representing their iconic Mobiles Suits. This was the seventh release in the series. it was launched in 1989.
 * SD Gundam Cloth Musha MKII

This is a Master Grade plastic model of the Perfect Gundam (パーフェクトガンダム, Pāfekuto Gandamu), the first model customized by that Shiro Kyoda. this model was released in 2003. the model includes a little statue of Shiro at 1/20 scale with some artwork from the manga related to the model.
 * 1/100 MG Perfect Gundam

The Kyoshiro Maniax label is the result of the joint collaboration of mecha designer Hajime Katoki and the staff behind the "Plamo Kyoshiro" manga to produce Gundam FIX Figuration-style action figures and trading figures of Mobile Suits from the manga. This first trading figure lineup features miniature Mobile Suit figures with two color variants each of Full Armor Gundam, Career Suit, and Bloody Mary, plus three variants of Dokuro Type Zaku (each sporting a different numbered forehead) and one secret, for a total of 10 possible types to trade and collect. The figures' heights range from 9-11cm. Sold by the randomly packed box of 12.
 * Kyoshiro Maniax Mini Figures Vol.1 & 2 


 * Gundam Fix Figuration 

Video Games and Table Games

 * SD Gundam G Generation Series
 * SD Gundam G Generation F (PlayStation)
 * SD Gundam G Generation F-IF (PlayStation)
 * SD Gundam G Generation NEO (PlayStation 2)
 * SD Gundam G Generation SEED (PlayStation 2)


 * Another Century's Episode Series
 * Another Centurys Episode 3 THE FINAL (PS3)


 * Gundam Extreme Vs. Series
 * Gundam Extreme Vs. Full Boost
 * Gundam Extreme Vs. Maxi Boost


 * Gundam War
 * Gundam War :Colectible Card Game