Manga / SD Gundam Musha Bancho Fuunroku

SD Gundam Musha Banchō Fūunroku (武者番長風雲録) is a Manga series authored by Masato Ichishiki and serialized in magazine Comic BomBom for 4 volumes from 2006-2007. It's part of the Musha Gundam series, taking place in modern-day Japan. It is the last SD Gundam manga series written by Ichishiki.

Official relations have been formed between Earth and the land of Ark, leading to the creation of 3rd Musha Elementary School, an inter-racial school attended by both humans and Mobile Citizens alike. Young boy Ryuunosuke comes across and befriends a Mobile Citizen student Kokuryu who, despite normally looking like a little kid, can transform into the samurai warrior Kokuryu Gundam. Because of this, Kokuryu and his friends face off against the student gangs that threaten the peaceful harmony together.

Tropes associated with SD Gundam Musha Banchō Fūunroku are:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Implied with the 7th Private Musha Elementary School. Student Council President Hakuou is a Magnificent Bastard who practically runs the school with a devoted fanbase of girls, being the true leader of the Tears of Time gang of delinquents, and straight up organizing a whole tournament with the sole purpose of taking out Kokuryu.
• Androids Are People, Too: With the Musha Baanchous being ridiculously Musha-like Tekki Mushas, it's not surprising to see other characters treat them like people.
• Animal Theme Naming: The four (later five) Baanchous are each associated with a specific animal, which is indicated by their name.
  • Kokuryu Gundam: Black Dragon
  • Hakuou Gundam: White Phoenix
  • Sekijishi Gundam: Red Lion
  • Seriou Gundam: Blue Wolf
  • Kaien Gundam: Grey Monkey
• Book Dumb: Kokuryu Gundam. Despite his skills in combat and his knack for being inspirational, he's a terrible student and with his only proficient subject being physical education. In fact, one of the earliest chapters of the manga involved the Chaos-Brewing Commitee hijacking his test retake in order to make him flunk out.
• Cerebus Syndrome: While it's common for Masato Ichishiki's SD Gundam mangas to develop this in the last chapters, this series in particular has the sharpest Mood Whiplash of them all due to the story behind the Elite suits, Ankokuryu creating an army of Elites using schoolchildren, and the leader of the Chaos-Brewing Committee straight-up dropping Axis on the planet.
• Fusion Dance: One of the main abilities of the Baanchous is the ability to combine with each other.
• Japanese Delinquents: The major threat of this series at first. To wit, rival student gangs from 6th Northeast Circle Musha Primary School, 7th Private Musha Elementary School, Doros Ocean Primary School, and more antagonize innocent people and our heroes.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Both Kokuryu Gundam and Hakuou Gundam get them in the forms of Kokuryu Gundam Special Attack and Hakuou Gundam Elegant, respectively.
• Mythology Gag: Kokuryu and Ryuunosuke's homeroom teacher, TEACHER OF THREE YEARS DOTERAI JABUROU, is named after the Federation base from the original series of the same name.
• Named After Someone Famous: This is mostly done with significant human characters. While some of the references may not be recognized by foreigners, the historical figures given a nod are understood by the Japanese audience.
  • Lady Tomoe (aka Tomoe Gozen) shares her name with a 12th century female samurai. This makes sense, since she is one of only two female characters seen to take an active role during battle.
  • Fukutsuzawa Yukichi shares his name with a Meiji-era reform advocate considered one of the founders of modern Japan. This can also be seen as fitting as the original purpose of his Elite suits were to bring about a reform in developing the minds of children to their highest potential.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The series has a minor news reporter character named Crystal Tatsugawa, who is a reference to Japanese announcer and news reporter Christel Takigawa.
• Older Alter Ego: Kokuryu and Hakuou have this ability. In their base forms, they look like little kids, while their samurai forms look more like teenagers.
  • Sekijishi and Seirou have a similar ability, but they transform into a chibi lion and wolf respectively.
• Production Throwback: In one of the earliest chapters of the manga, Ryuunosuke explains SD Gundam customization using Shounen Musha Retsumaru, who is the protagonist of another of Masato Ichisiki's SD Gundam manga SD Gundam Force Emaki Musharetsuden.
  • This is also done in the final volume of the manga, where Ichishiki writes an extra chapter where Kokuryu goes on a search for his missing pudding and runs into Muchamaru, Waka, Bakimaru, and Retsumaru.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: The Baanchous are the Musha Gundam equivalent of this trope, as they are Tekki Mushas, but act like any other Musha (minus their powered-down child form). However, Gaza Captain explains that it's because they were originally meant to be the Musha Gundam equivalent of Deceptively Human Robots. Ankokuryu Gundam is a more straightforward case as his powered-down form is a human.
  • Downplayed with Kaien Gundam, who looks like a normal Musha, but acts more robotic than the other Baanchous.
• Robotic Reveal: Happens before Hakuou's fight with Kokuryu. During this, Hakuou explains to Ryuunosuke that he and Kokuryu are actually Baanchous, highly evolved Tekki Mushas created by the Chaos-Brewing Committee that can control dark power. Up to this point, Ryuunosuke thought that they meant "Banchou".
• Running Gag: The work's biggest running gag is Kokuryu and Ryuunosuke's teacher, Doterai Jaburou, appearing whenever Kokuryu gets into a fight to try and break it up before immediately being cut off. This is also coupled with him mentioning that he's been a teacher for three years.
  Jaburou: <When he arrives at the stadium being used for Hakuou's challenge for Kokuryu> "Are you fighting again?! As a teacher of three years, I, Doterai Jaburou, will not allow this!!"
  • Tomoe Gozen using a judo throw on Hakuou whenever he says or does something she perceives as "romantic" out of embarrassment.
• The Fat Episode: One of the earliest chapters of the manga involves Kokuryu becoming fat from gorging on pudding made by Ryuunosuke's mom during his suspension.
• World of Ham: It's a Masato Ichishiki SD Gundam manga, so this is expected. Even the (literal) Cold Sniper Seirou is a Cold Ham who cracks bad puns.