S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider J Gallery

"Henshin!"

It's been a long time coming but I'm happy to announce my return to TokuNation galleries. It's time to take a look at the long awaited final Showa Rider, Kamen Rider J! J rounds out the trinity of movie exclusive riders from the post-RX era that is still considered Showa by Toei. Each film (Shin, ZO, & J) featured a new rider and a bit of a departure from traditional rider concepts, Shin to a far greater extent than the others. But they're all unique creatures really.

This trilogy of films & characters have always had a bit of a cult status in fan communities. However despite S.H. Figuarts of Kamen Rider Shin & ZO having been released over 2 years ago now, J was only just released in January. Bandai has clearly been sitting on this release for some time, but I'm incredibly happy to finally have him in hand.

For a little background, the Kamen Rider J film centered around a new evil group known as Fog Mother wanting to take control of the Earth to feast on it's inhabitants. Frankly it's fairly typical in Kamen Rider terms. But the designs and art direction of the film more than make up for any shortcoming of the plot. J himself, is actually the first real victim of this group, but would soon see himself reborn as a warrior of justice in no small part thanks to his soon to be talking sidekick, the grasshopper Berry. But more than any interesting facet of the story, J's actor is also what makes many fans enjoy this film. Yuta Mochizuki, whom many most fondly recall as Tyranno Ranger from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger starred in this film! Fun fact he was also the first live-action Tuxedo Kamen/Mask in the original Sailor Moon live action productions (hence the group shot down below).

Packaging
Nothing much to say here. J comes in a fairly standard slim style box. Only a handful of stock photos, and some dull colors don't make this box look terribly interesting. Packaging with Showa Riders has never been terribly flashy anyways.

Main Figure
ZO & J while separate films, had much of the same production staff, such as Keita Amemiya. That's specifically why their suit designs are so similar and why you may have mistaken one for the other at any point. It's common. There was an intention on the part of the production staff for these two to be like the modern equivalent of the Double Riders 1 & 2. Having both in figure form side by side allows you to get a better perspective on what makes them similar and so very different.

Kamen Rider J, is clearly a new mold. Many people assumed J would have been an easy repaint or remold of ZO, but that just doesn't work. Looking at the finer details of the sculpt J had to be a new mold. Sadly I don't think it's nearly as nice as ZO. J has one glaring flaw, and that's his ankle design. For some reason the ankle joints are set in very very close to the shin guards. So there's no real forward movement and it makes balancing him pretty difficult. He tends to fall backwards if you don't straighten his legs out somewhat. Adding to this is the limited nature of the hips. J has some thick things that impact the waist piece quite a bit. He can still maintain some decently dynamic poses, but the lower body is far from perfect.

As for the upper body J is actually really great. There's no noticeable issue that I can see. Physically the design is great, the shoulders are free of obstruction, the elbows have great range, and the torso can extend a decent amount as well. Honestly J has some superb articulation in his upper body. Thankfully the head is also uninhibited in this way. J has a smooth but striking design that lends itself well to the articulation he does have. However I do take issue with some of the paint apps. In the same way that ZO had some issues straight out of the box with his gold trim, J has issues with the green trim. Specifically I've noticed it on his shoulders. But these issues aside, Kamen Rider J is another wonderful addition to the Showa era of riders.

It would seem that outside of going back down the renewal/Seihou path, or doing some odd one off re-colors, or the most unlikely scenario of doing more Kaijin, that the Showa era of riders is now complete. However there is still a shortage of Rider Machines at least. We've recently seen that ZX's Helldiver is going to be happening finally, perhaps J's J-Crosser & ZO's Z-Bringer will happen someday soon as well?

Accessories
As with many Tamashii Web Exclusives Kamen Rider J has a lite load:

2 - sets of hands. One open pair, and oddly one "holding things" pair. These undoubtedly have to be for an upcoming release of the J-Crosser. There's just no other reason for J to include handlebar type hands like this.

1 - "J" Hand. This iconic piece recreates a very brief moment in the Kamen Rider J movie. Prior to the final fight with Garai, J performs his final henshin doing the iconic hand motions we've come to love over the years of this franchise. The final part of which sees J bringing his right hand across his chest in the shape of glowing J. I'd have preferred it if this accessory had a translucent red J, but the painted red one works just fine. It still looks really cool.

1 - Berry. The strange talking grasshopper companion of J, given to him by the Groundling people. This representation of Berry isn't altogether accurate, but it's somewhat forgivable at this scale.

2 - sets of Berry wings. One folded down set, one open set. Neither of them will stay on his back for more than a second. The parts are made of a soft rubbery plastic and can be difficult to plug onto his back.

And that's it. Though I don't think anything has necessarily been missed, in several of the films battles J actually sustains some physical damage to his suit. It's done in such a way that it looks like flesh wounds, rather than mechanical parts of a suit being damaged. I have to imagine that Bandai could easily re-release this figure in that damaged look with a slightly different color scheme, in the same fashion of as Broken Blade & Garren were. I'd easily buy this mold again. But it would have been cool to see a swap out chest plate or some other similar part.

Final Thoughts
While not a perfect release, S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider J is a fitting send off to the Showa era of Kamen Riders. It's nice to finally have all 15 Showa Riders together in once place. Now come on Bandai, pump out those bikes already! For now I settled for throwing J on another bike that I had lying around, Kickback should appreciate that one

Part 2

Beautiful! Welcome back, buddy!

I totally get that last picture.

This guy looks nice. It's really cool that every main Rider now has a Figuart.

Except Kiva.

Awesome figure! I almost would've bought one too since I enjoyed the movie so much but I don’t want to start getting into Showa like that.

Great pictures as usual, I love the giant sized pics, that's a type of shot you can only really do with J.

Also I knew the actor was TyrannoRanger, but he was also Tuxedo Mask? You really do learn something new every day.

Seriously?

Oh, I'm so glad these are back! And yeah, those designs scan as really similar, so the comparison shots are really helpful. I'd've assumed some parts re-use.

I forgot that he was getting a figure. Nice that the collection is now complete (not that I collect Kamen Rider Figuarts) and that the wait was mostly worth it.

It's good to be back! I've got some real treats in store for the near future.
one day. At least we can say now that outside Seihous or renewals, some vehicles and the Longshot of Kaijin, the Showa era is done finally.

Nice gallery

J looks too similar to ZO for casual fans but it's a good design regardless. Like the addition of ZO in the gallery