Season 6, Episode 4: The Hour of the Hippo (Patreon)

It's time... for the Ultimate Battle of the Sky Castle. That's right, the Hour of the Hippo is upon us! In this episode, SD Gundam finally gives us what we didn't even know we craved: even smaller mobile suits wearing hats. Plus: learn Nina's thoughts on mustachioed Gundams and mobile suit horses.

Kanji in the Episode

• As ever, jisho.org was extremely helpful.
• Wikipedia page for the Warring States Period, and a Japanese page with maps of borders during that era (one of those maps used below for side-by-side comparison):
  
• 
  
• And here's the original scroll map again, and a list of the "domain" names with how I think they're meant to be read:
  
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  汚泥砂 O de sa = Odessa
  愚羅灘 Gu ra nada = Granada
  空離舞巣 Guu ri pu su = Gripps
  濁河流 Da kka ru = Dakkar
  月月 = Moon Moon
  邪武楼 Ja bu rou = Jaburo
  阻路門 So ru mon = Solomon
  彩土七 Sai do 7 = Side 7
  悪沈 Aku Shizu = Axis
  
• Wikipedia page for the folkloric Hyakki Yagyō (百鬼夜行).

Nina's Research Bits, misc.

• A page on Himeji Castle, including the photograph used below in the side-by-side comparison with the Gundam castle in this episode. Photo by Wikipedia contributor 663highland, cropped to emphasize similarity to Gundam Castle:

• Explanation of shinden-zukuri architecture (court-noble estates from the Heian period), and artwork depicting these estates. It seems that shinden-zukuri, or their military-family equivalent the buke-zukuri, were the inspiration for the Army of Darkness Manor. 
• Wikipedia pages for iyokan citrus fruits, Seiko company, and the military applications of kites.
• Page from the Gekkeikan sake company about Kagami-biraki (ceremonial breaking-open of a small barrel of sake). 

Thom's Research 1: Musha Origins

• The Japanese Wikipedia page about Musha Gundam (武者ガンダム) and the whole extended Musha Gundam Universe. It details the creation of the original Musha Gundam in Plamo-Kyoshiro and its eventual importation into SD Gundam.
• In a post on his blog, Plamo-Kyoshiro, mangaka Yamato Koichi describes his feelings around the creation of the Musha Gundam.
• This tweet by a gunpla-builder shows a comparison between the Musha Gundam as it originally appeared in Plamo-Kyoshiro versus how it's usually depicted now.
• ...Or you can see just its original design in a comic panel here.
• The Japanese Wikipedia page for editor and writer Yasui Hisashi (安井尚志) is here.
• You can see an example of the comics by Susumu Imaishi (pen name MARSHI) that were included in the manuals for SD kits here. This one features Sengoku Hyakushiki and Hyakkimaru. This kit included shiny gold parts to build Hyakushiki and matte blue ones to build Hyakkimaru instead.

Thom's Research 2: LSI Simulation Games

• As noted in the episode, there isn't much information about these available. LSI stands for Large Scale Integration, and describes the circuitry used in the game's CPU. Most LSI games were handheld video games like this Zeta Gundam game, or this First Gundam game built into a Gundam action figure.
• You can see a list of Bandai's late-80s tabletop games, including a number of LSI Simulation games here.
• Here are pictures of the game box with its various components, and here's the box for the SD Char's Counterattack (or Nu vs Sazabi) game I mentioned in the talkback (front and back).

Thom's Research 3: Oracion

• The Japanese Wikipedia page for the novel Yushun (優駿).
• Box office figures for Japan in 1988. 
• The "Yushun 2" parody skit performed on the show とんねるずのみなさんのおかげです. Skip to around 8:50 for the appearance of Centaur-mode Oracion.

Thom's Research 4: Zakuto Lion

• Mangaka and creator of the Zakuto Lion pair, Susumu Imaishi (今石進), tweeted about the name's origin. 
• Picture of the packaging for Zact Lion Smokers' Toothpaste and Zact Lion Stain Fighter Toothpaste. 
• Here you can see a gashapon eraser set featuring Lord Zakuto and his two pets.
• Zact Lion made some truly bizarre and delightful animated TV commercials, two of which you can watch here. Highly recommended.

Thom's Research 5: Shachihoko

• You can find more or less the same general information about shachihoko (鯱) in various places, including at Yokai.com, Nippon.com, Japan-Experience.com, or on Wikipedia (Japanese).
• This page argues for a plausible connection to the Vedic sea monster Makara.
• The Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users Systems (JAANUS) has more precise historical information.
• JAANUS also has information on Shibi (鴟尾/鵄尾/蚩尾/鮪) roof ornaments.
• Here you can see the massive Shachihoko atop Matsue Castle.
• Here is a news story about the temporary removal of the massive Shachihoko from the roof of Nagoya Castle. 

Mobile Suit Breakdown is written, recorded, and produced within Lenapehoking, the ancestral and unceded homeland of the Lenape, or Delaware, people. Before European settlers forced them to move west, the Lenape lived in New York City, New Jersey, and portions of New York State, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Connecticut. Lenapehoking is still the homeland of the Lenape diaspora, which includes communities living in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario.

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