Tag Archives: Anime

Anime (アニメ in Japanese) is the style of animation or cartoons popularized in Japan, but appreciated worldwide today. Anime inspires lots of LEGO models from builders everywhere. Whether you love the artistry of Hayao Miyazaki or mecha from shows like Gundam and Evangelion, you’ll find many wonderful LEGO creations inspired by anime here on The Brothers Brick.

Connection Terminated

I think I was twelve or thirteen when the Digimon Movie came to America. The power of Omnimon’s line as he saves the world from Diaboromon held so much power to me back then. My younger brothers and I were obsessed, watching it countless times during the summers until our parents came home and forced us outside. I honestly still have the WarGreymon poseable figure that I cherished back then. So seeing builder Kekenoji’s brilliant model of the iconic Omnimon, I just had to write about it. After recently watching Digimon Tri, the newest continuation of the Digi-Destined’s story, this character was fresh in my mind, and Kekenoji did a marvelous job modeling this awesome warrior.

The main body is nicely stylized, built with various techniques and upside-down bricks to give the effect of a suit of armor. The chest uses stacked 1×2 plates to achieve the blue stripes. Tires provide body to the core, as well as strength through friction, something Kekenoji makes use of again in the arms and the joints of the legs. The capes that the builder used have a pretty goofy source, coming from a few Zerg’s from the Toy Story line that Kekenoji had.

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All stings considered (A second look at the Hornet Queen)

It seems like just yesterday that we featured the Hornet Queen by Moko. Turns out she is more than just an imposing figure with amazing hair…the Queen’s armor and weapons detach and combine to an equally cool looking hornet! Those great Bionicle wings are a key feature, but my favorite touch has to be the transparent green minifigure helmet accessory used for the eyes. Super creepy looking! You can check out how things combine after the jump, too.

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Better call the Survey Corps, there’s a Titan on the loose!

Imagine seeing this monstrosity peeking over your fence. Expect your fence is a 164-foot wall and the creature is a goliath, looking for snacks. That’s the basic plot of Attack on Titan. Khang Huynh has faithful recreated the Colossal Titan from the franchise. The fleshy, muscular form is accurately portrayed through the inventive application of pieces. Take a look at those nostrils. At first, they appear to be made up of an engine part, but upon closer inspection, it is actually made up of two backpack pieces. Another great use of parts is at the lower lip which is represented by baguettes. Mudguard pieces create rounded forms at the shoulders and chin providing the model with realistic, humanoid shaping.

The head sculpt of the Titan can also be placed on a segment of the defensive wall, which is used to keep those pesky monsters out. The wall has some great details such as the suggestion of age, conveyed through the variation of colours nestled amongst the brickwork.

Just hide your minifigures, I’ve heard this build gets hungry. You can check out more of our articles on Attack on Titan creations, here.

Wall Maria is breached! The Titans have come!

“Are we the prey? No, we are the hunters!” Attack on Titan, or its original title Shingeki no Kyojin, is a tragic tale which starts out as humanity’s struggle against monsters, but evolves into an exploration of the evils of human nature, war, politics, more. Originally a Manga series that has been adapted into a high quality anime show, it has reached mainstream popularity and will now air its final season. Builder Pieter Dennison commemorates the very first episode with the town of Shiganshina being attacked by Titans.

This scene is just draws you in with the detailed buildings and uneven streets, forcing you to take a closer look at the way Pieter manipulates LEGO pieces to give this build a rough, aged feel. There is plenty of subtle use of texture and discolouration that doesn’t distract from the action that takes place. Minifigs representing townspeople flee from the Titan, which devours an unlucky soul. The soldiers of the Survey Corps swoop in from above with Spider-Man-esque manoeuvring gear to take down the grotesque monster. But can they save humanity from this mysterious threat?

This action-packed scene already got one of the opening songs stuck in my head…
“Seid ihr das Essen?
Nein, wir sind die Jäger!”

Virtual YouTubers in real LEGO

These adorable creations by Mike Dung are kind of meta. They’re plastic avatars of the virtual YouTube avatars from the Hololive 0th Generation. If (like me) you’re not up on the whole VTuber thing, don’t worry. You can still enjoy the charismatic builds and expressive faces of these characters. My favorite detail is how the same curved slope element is used in a variety of ways – from a flowing skirt to a lock of hair. I’m also fond of all the ways cheese slopes were incorporated, that’s another favorite element of mine.

Mike has been building great anime builds for years, but they’re not the only one. Check out our archives for more!

Soaring Swordfish is one sharp looking fighter

With the live-action version of Cowboy Bebop scheduled for release later this year, it’s great to see a build which harkens back to the original anime. The Swordfish II is one of the main ships from the show, often pushed to its limits as it chases bounty targets. Christopher Hoffmann has created this incredible rendition in Lego form and demonstrates his inventive usage of parts. The ship almost looks like a dagger, ready to pierce through the sky. To achieve this aesthetic, Christopher has used wing pieces to create the ship’s blade-like nose cone. Wheel cover parts emphasise the round proportions of the cockpit, encircling the domed viewport.

At first, it’s easy to mistake the main gun to be made up of black candlestick pieces but it’s actually created by connector parts with a bar piece running through the barrel. The stand is also a great addition making this build feel as though it is an official model. The edges of the stand are created by angled bumper pieces which nicely compliments the proportions of the ship. And with that, the Swordfish II is ready to blast off into space. See you, Space Cowboy.

Not quite the angel you might have been expecting

As this sinister-looking creature, known as Zeurel, looms over the countryside, it’s hard to imagine that this beast is actually deemed as an “angel.” Hailing from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, these angels are antagonistic creatures, causing chaos and destruction. Builder Lache has interpreted the original design in Lego form as an entry for this year’s Biocup. The wide spread of tentacles provides the model with a sense of mass and power. The use of a large inversed tyre creates a bulbous form around its short but significant head. Penetrating eyes peer through the slits in a Bionicle mask which creates the puppet-like face. But the most impressive use of pieces has to be in the green landscape at the bottom of the build. It’s cleverly made up of various Bionicle parts such as Piraka feet pieces.

If you love Evangelion you can check more articles, on builds from the anime, here.

Say Hello to the Hygogg

From the anime, Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, comes the weird humanoid octopus that is the Hygogg. Though it might not look like it, the Hygogg is an actually aquatic mech, used in special operations. Tino Poutiainen has captured the alien look of the original design while also adding his own unique style to the build. A variation of slope pieces have been used to great effect to create the wide shoulders and bulky wrists. The small pink eye in the centre of the torso could be the tip of a lipstick piece and the stickers used on the head are also accurate to the original design. Tino has done an excellent job of creating this oddly proportioned mech in LEGO form.

Forget about cicadas! Watch out for the Wasps!

Builders love to show off their anime-inspired robots, mech-suits, and vehicles. Who can blame them? They’re just so cool! The classic Cyberpunk anime Ghost in the Shell sports tons of futuristic designs for inspiration. Last year, Marius Hermann showed off his model of the anime’s popular spider-bot, the Tachikoma. This year, he decided to bring us the wasp-inspired Jigabachi.

As always, Marius was quite selective with his parts to remain faithful to the original design. A white Bionicle mask is used to model a specific version of the Jigabachi’s cockpit. Minifigure hands in yellow and black provide detail on the tail as well as on the rotor mast. The color choices really pop! I mean, sand green is always a personal favorite but seeing the surfboard smoothing out the main body of the model is a treat! Printed 1×1 tiles add extra detail to the wing sections while bars and rubber bands come together as the Jigabachi’s turret gun.

LEGO Goes Super Saiyan

Dragon Ball Z is a beloved animated show with many fans across generations, there’s definitely no need for a scouter to check out this LEGO model built by nobu_tary, surely its power level is above 9000. Here we have a figural model of the main protagonist of the series, Goku, in his super Saiyan form. The majority of Goku’s body is fashioned out of orange slopes in a variety of types and sizes, along with tan pieces to flesh out his face and arms. Dark blue bricks and tiles help render Goku’s boots, belt, and t-shirt. The signature spiky golden super Saiyan hair is comprised of slopes and bricks in yellow. A hero factory 1×1 printed round tile is cleverly used here to portray the Kame symbol typically shown on his gi. Nobu_tary also sticks in a couple LEGO dragon wings behind Goku, paying homage to the show’s namesake. Overall it’s always great to see uncommon colors and pieces coming together for an uncommon build – I haven’t seen a ton of models based on Dragon Ball Z.

On that day, mankind received a grim reminder. We lived in fear of the Titans...

Shingeki no Kyojin (or Attack on Titan) is regarded as one of the best and most popular manga and anime series. But for some reason, there seems to be a serious lack of LEGO builds of it. Luckily, Funnystuffs built the Attack Titan in great detail, accompanied by custom minifigures of some of the main characters. On the surface, Attack on Titan may appear to be just another kaiju series about cool kids fighting giant monsters, as the original premise has led us to believe. It gradually progressed into “the Game of Thrones of anime,” a dark and heartwrenching series about human nature, war, politics, and so much more. Now that its popularity is at its peak, there is hope for more Attack on Titan creations down the line.

Primarily a mech builder, Funnystuffs did a great job with the organic look of the Attack Titan. Covered with tan LEGO elements to represent its skin tone, it is completely accurate and to scale with the minifigures. The only gray bits peeking through are the necessary joints to give the titan full poseability. Funnystuffs gave special attention to the head – its iconic green eyes, grinning jaw, and long hair.

See more pictures of the Attack Titan in this gallery here. (Includes spoilers for those who may care.)

2020 be like...

2020 has been a whirlwind so far. It started off with Australia on fire, then the Coronavirus shuttered the entire globe indoors, the stock market took us to a time when I had other haircut choices and now we have murder hornets. And it’s only May. If this LEGO creation by Eric T is any indicator we’ll be seeing man-eating plants later this month followed closely by taser sharks and then slaughter rabbits. All kidding aside though, this toothy plant is pretty neat. Eric tells us it comes from a Japanese anime called Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? I imagine it would depend on the dungeon. Dungeon Girls…either that’s a cult pulp movie or the forecast for June.