Uchikoma

Serving members of Section 9, part of the National Public Safety Commission, the Uchikoma is a one-man walker and roller machine. Its silhouette sits between two earlier think tanks: it clearly resembles the Tachikoma yet also recalls the Fuchikoma, distinguished by green paint and a wider pod at the back. The unit takes on a larger presence in the film Solid State Society.

By design the Uchikoma is a fusion of its predecessors. Its overall build draws mostly on the Fuchikoma from the original manga, while specific parts such as the legs are lifted from the Tachikoma. In practice it fills the same battlefield and support duties the earlier tanks handled for Section 9, though early on it lacks the developed personality that made the Tachikomas distinctive.

The machine arrives in continuity as a direct replacement. After the Tachikomas and their AIs are lost in the sacrifice that averts a nuclear detonation, Section 9 turns to the Uchikoma to fill the gap. It debuts in the final episode of 2nd GIG and continues into Solid State Society, and the closing scene of 2nd GIG, with Section 9 gathered under cherry blossoms beside their mechs and receiving budget news from an open Uchikoma cockpit, deliberately mirrors a moment from the opening of the manga. A naming dispute surrounds the model: the Bandai DVDs label the tanks Fuchikoma because of confusion over the hu and fu sounds, but every artbook and model-kit source clearly names these hybrids Uchikoma.