Tag Archives: Manga

Who says LEGO gold is hard to build from?

We often talk on this website about how hard it is to make LEGO creations out of gold. Not literal gold, obviously, although presumably that is also quite difficult. Goldsmiths, get in touch and let us know. No, gold-coloured LEGO bricks have traditionally been limited to just a few select parts, making it quite hard to build anything substantial out of them. Not that you’d know that from looking at Joe Lam‘s hall of armours! These 12 sacred Cloths form a key part of the manga and anime Saint Seiya, and are all based on the zodiac signs. Joe’s build represents each one superbly! Can you spot them all?

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Do you have the Guts to build Berserk in LEGO?

Elden Ring and other From Software games have been a major influence on LEGO builds in recent years, but long before Dark Souls, another Japanese series wore the Dark Fantasy crown – the manga and anime series Berserk. Vietnamese builder Liivii forges anime characters and mecha from bricks and for their latest creation, they turned to Guts, Berserk’s violent antihero. As built by Livii, Guts is wearing the evolution of his armor infused with the Beast of Darkness. The builder recreates the Berserker armor with its many jet black ridges using all System elements, and most importantly, captures Guts’ bestial slouch as he lurches towards his next battle.

Otaku icons Yotsuba and Danbo in LEGO&!

Outside of Otakudom, Yotsuba might not be as familiar as Calvin and Hobbes or Dennis the Menace, but this genki girl from the long-running manga offers a similar authentic and charming child’s view of the world. To celebrate a new volume, Ids de Jong builds Yotsuba in LEGO, along with her cardboard companion Danbo. Yotsuba is posed among sunflowers, a motif used on the book covers. Ids uses bright green bricks for the hair, a color that is quite scarce, and even pick-a-brick has limits of 10 for some parts, but the results are spot on.

Ids previously made a Hatsune Miku character that is equally kawaii.

The LEGO Group announces ONE PIECE sets coming in 2025 [News]

After the success of its live action adaptation back in 2023, the LEGO Group has just announced a partnership with Netflix and Tomorrow Studios bringing ONE PIECE to the world of brick. There’s a lot to speculate about right now with no sets revealed. When will sets arrive on store shelves? How many sets will be in the theme? Which characters from the show will be captured in minifigure form? And how will they capture the signature stretchiness of protagonist Luffy? What we can say for certain is that LEGO is once again going to have a dedicated pirate theme, at least for 2025. We’ll be sure to update you with more information on set specifics as it becomes available. But for now, good luck in your quest to become King of the Pirates!

Read on for the full press release

It takes many pieces to make One Piece’s Whitebeard

The pirate adventure series One Piece is overflowing with larger-than-life characters, but Edward Newgate, aka Captain Whitebeard, aka “The Strongest Man Alive,” takes excess to new heights. To recreate this honorable ally to the Straw Hats in LEGO, builder lavishlump had to go big. Believe it or not, this model of the 666cm tall pirate emperor is to scale with the custom minifig of the captain’s number one, Marco the Phoenix. Lavishlump employs tiles to great effect to capture the captain’s chiseled physique, and the slight gap between plates in his head perfectly aproximates Whitebeard’s perpetually squinting eyes. The classic Islander horn piece makes for a dynamite mustache. But my favorite detail has got to be the use of a pearl gold handbag to connect the blade and shaft of Whitebeard’s massive naginata weapon.

With hundreds of colorful characters, dozens of whimsical pirate ships, and fantastic ports of call, One Piece and LEGO go together like skulls and crossbones. I hope to see many more LEGO tributes to Luffy and crew’s adventures on the Grand Line.

Intrepid LEGO reporter looking to branch out

The first thing I noticed about this wonderful LEGO Shoot the Bullet scene by Sweeps was the nice part usage (NPU) found close at hand. The 3 prong plant element makes a perfect hand for this chibi-style character named Aya Shameimaru (of Touhou Project fame). But the NPU doesn’t stop there. The ground is nicely textured with painters palettes and a nice bit of fall foliage. The recent new curved transparent bar in back is the perfect part to raise the character off the ground.

Have no fear, Chainsaw Man is here! Or something.

For LEGO creations straight from the mind of a weird ten-year old boy, (I know, because I was one once) then look no further than Redverse. Apparently, my ten-year-old self is not the only one to have sketched out something like this. Chainsaw Man is a popular manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. This build, against that bold background, depicts the volume one cover. The story features Denji, an impoverished young man, who makes a contract that fuses his body with that of a dog-like devil named Pochita, granting him the ability to transform parts of his body into chainsaws. I mean, what kid hasn’t wanted to do that? Wikipedia goes on to say that Denji eventually joins the Public Safety Devil Hunters, a government agency focused on fighting against devils whenever they become a threat to the world. You see? My parents were wrong; job opportunities abound when you have chainsaws for hands and a face! Now if only I knew how to cash in on my deranged juvenile ideas.

I’m Lupin’ you in on some wisdom.

This great character build of Lupin III by Rokan Cheung is titled 自分で決めなきゃ明日は開かれねぇんだぜ, which Google tells me translates to “If you don’t decide by yourself, tomorrow won’t open.” (This YouTube clip shows the delivery of the line, I think.) Pretty profound. And in addition we can admire the great LEGO design work and part usage at play. This is not a tiny build – the 1×2 gold ingot used as a tie bar gives a sense of scale. The graceful shaping of the hands and limbs are echoed by the clean lines of the couch. The character’s expression is also pretty clever, with a friction ram bar creating the perfect smirk.

Be sure to check our archives for more great manga and anime themed builds!

The Attack Titan is a smash hit!

Right on cue, Sandro Quattrini has come out with yet another outstanding LEGO build, this one from the Japanese manga/anime Attack on Titan. While I’ll fully admit that I’ve never watched or read any of the source material (I know, but we all have our flaws), I don’t have to be familiar with the show or books to see how impressive this build is! The Titan is caught mid-smash as it bursts through a wall, adding so much movement to a stationary build. All over the arms and chest, you can see the clever use of rods and other long, thin parts. This conveys all the raw power pouring out of this beast, tense muscles heaving forward with so much effort. Couple that bodily strain with an expertly-crafted face and the Titan’s rage seems to radiate out of the screen! Sandro has a reputation for expressive LEGO characters, but the Attack Titan’s excessively-toothed visage is some of their best work to date, in my opinion. And I can’t help but want to start on episode one of AoT thanks to this.

Armored Titan keeps moving forwards

“I’m the Armoured Titan and this is the Colossal Titan…” Truer words have never been spoken (unfortunately). After a year since his last Titan build, builder Funnystuffs finally built another one just in time for the final season of hit anime series Attack on Titan. His Armoured Titan is very accurate to its animated counterpart and instantly recognisable for those familiar with the character. Angular pieces represent bonelike armour plating and dark red underneath shows off sinewy muscle. We expect builds of these titans to be more massive, but the scale here is accurate. This titan stands at 15 meters tall and Funnystuffs did a good job translating that to LEGO bricks.

Disclaimer: The pieces here are tan, the lighting makes it look like light nougat.

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!”

Journey to Mount Kōya along the path of the gods

I’m watching the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics right now feeling nostalgic both for my hometown and for my trip back to Japan two summers ago before the pandemic, when I spent several days in Kyoto as well as Tokyo, Matsumoto, and Kobe. Just south of Kyoto stands Mount Kōya, where Kōbō Daishi (Kūkai) founded the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism in the 9th century. My father became good friends with the head monk of Kōya-san during our time in Japan, and the temples and pathways there hold a special place in my family’s hearts. Inspired by the Japanese manga Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara, LEGO builder Ted Andes has captured a Buddhist pilgrim pausing at a Shinto shrine in the Okunoin graveyard where Kōbō Daishi is buried.

What’s truly wonderful about this scene is that it captures the unique Buddhist-Shinto syncretism that permeates Japanese spirituality, wherein Shinto (literally the “Way of the Gods”) beliefs are practices alongside Buddhism brought from China. In Ted’s LEGO scene, a shrine to a local Shinto deity and the god’s sacred stone — complete with a straw rope with lightning-bolt paper — stand amidst Buddhist graves on a sacred Buddhist mountainside. Well-researched, gorgeously detailed scenes like this are a welcome contrast from the generically “Asian” scenes far too many western builders toss together for build challenges and contests.

As part of the same Summer Joust contest, Ted also shared this atmospheric scene inspired by the same Manga. The same pilgrim from the scene above walks through a bamboo grove at night as ghost tendrils and a spectral hand threaten our protagonist. Rather than relying on LEGO’s bright green bamboo pieces, Ted has recreated the tall stalks using dark tan candles, with just a few leaves entering the frame near the top. This sort of scene is exactly why little kids like me growing up in Japan were afraid of bamboo groves at night!