Samurai Gattai Series 1 & 2

Ever since the spoiler about Shinkenger's toys was spread, I couldn't wait for the auxiliary mecha (侍合体シリーズ - Samurai Gattai Series) to be released. Waiting for the first one, Kabuto (beetle, although the kanji used is 兜 - helmet) Origami was a bit painful, because it was released the same time with the release of Kajiki (swordfish, although the kanji used is 舵 - helm) Origami. They were released around March 28th, which is just before Kajiki Origami was actually being shown in the show. *Rants* Now I have them both, I couldn't wait for the third one, Tora Origami which will be released April 25th, perhaps because Tenkuu Shinken Oh will only be shown just after that day.

Anyway both Origami will be included in this review, while Tora and Daitenkuu as well as Tenku Shinken Oh will be reviewed after I get the Tora Shinkeh Oh.

Kabuto Origami is - based on my opinion - the first sentai mecha toy that have a lot of rubber components (head and legs). It just felt different compared with the other toys. The detail of the Kabuto Shinken Oh's head, however, is very detailed, it kinda make up for the rubber parts. Kajiki Origami doesn't have as many rubber part as Kabuto Origami.

Kabuto Origami, being the first armament for Shinken Oh, is not quite great as whole, either as the Kabuto Origami itself or the combined form - Kabuto Shinken Oh. The bulky helmet really turns people off, not to mention the white connector - it just doesn't seem right to have it there. Furthermore, I'm still wondering until now why Bandai didn't make the connector to be removable instad. The legs, however, kinda neat, they add fiery effect to Kabuto Shinken Oh.



In the show, Shiba clan still had the Hiden Disk 09 - which holds the Kabuto Origami power, while they've lost the other Hiden Disk. Takeru (Shinken Red) required a lot of mojikara (it's term that is used in Shinkenger's world, similar to 'power'/'MP') to master the disk, thus he trained a lot by himself, slightly injured himself in the process. Finally, the disk could be used and Kabuto Origami was summoned. Anyway, Kabuto Origami's power is a laser beam/ranged attack which Shinken Oh lacked off previosly.



The Hiden Disk which is also included, combined together with Kabuto Origami create a rotating head gimmick - which become the finisher attack in the show. Kabuto Origami is not provided with any shooting gimmick though. Kajiki Origami is the one with shooting gimmick, press the buttons, and it will launch torpedo from it's sides.



The second armament of Shinken Oh, Kajiki Origami, looks much nicer compared to Kabuto Origami. You can even take the picture of it without exposing it's connector. The connector in Kajiki Shinken Oh is also not as visible as much as in Kabuto Shinken Oh. The backpack is big, and quite useless. Not that grand as decoration although it's not bad either.



The Hiden Disk 10, that was obtained by Ryuunosuke (Shinken Blue) in the show, is included and together with Kajiki Origami create a silly gimmick of moving jaw. It's just silly, not as great as the rotating head of Kabuto Origami. There is a mode which is to put the sword on the top of the head. In this mode, Kajiki Origami supposedly give a power upgrade to Shinken Oh as well as increase the slash attack range. However, due to the articulation of the DX Shinken Oh, it's quite useless and redundant.



There is also a naginata mode in the show. Due to the design of Kame Origami, the naginata mode is *too bad* not included in the toy. I'm still crossing my finger that it would be released someday, because I have weird preference to Naginata, *cough* Shizuru *cough*. Speaking of Shizuru (from Mai Hime)... I'm quite happy that they're going to mechanize - sentai-nized Kiyohime, but I'll talk about it in the future.

Final words, Kabuto Origami is not as great as Kajiki Origami, however, you might still want to get both of them to complete your collection or to combine them together as DaiTenkuu once Tora Origami is released. That's all for now, 一見落着. Full Story

Samurai Gattai DX Shinken Oh

侍戦隊シンケンジャー　あっぱれ　Samurai sentai shinkennjaa... Appare!

I can still feel the hype, the first time I listened to the new super sentai series, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger's OP song. "Oh man, it was AWESOME!". And the awesomeness didn't stop after the opening song, the entire episode was really great. It manages to preserve it's awesomeness even until today (the 9th episode was already shown by the time I wrote this).

The first episode was very powerful, and somehow turned me, hypnotized me to collect all the shinkenger merchandise - stuff - toys. The first things I managed to buy was the Shodo Phone and its holder as well as the Shinkenmaru. But I'm not going to review them here today, instead, I'm going to review the Samurai Gattai DX Shinken Oh (侍合体DXシンケンオー).

I bought it from ebay directly from Japan instead from local store, because I just couldn't wait for it to come to my hand.

Back view, Inside view

As far as I know, it's the first sentai mecha that has 2 forms (apart from the form when the 5 mecha combined into megazord form), emblem form and animal form. The emblem form basically shapes - polygons, pentagon, hexagon, circle, square, and triangle.



They are embedded with kanji - as symbol for their elements, fire (火), water (水), heaven (天), wood (木), and earth (土). They're called Shishi (獅子 - lion) Origami, Ryuu (龍 - dragon) Origami, Kame (亀 - turtle) Origami, Kuma (熊 - bear) Origami, and Saru (猿 - monkey) Origami respectively. Origami is an artistic folded paper, which was very famous during Samurai era in Japan. Some say that Origami in shinkenger is 'Folded God' (because it's officially written as 折紙 - orikami - fold god), but I prefer to stick it to the folded paper, because they do look like one (those 'small', flat arm and legs will give you the idea). Oh yeah you can hover your mouse to the colored text to change the pictures.

In the show, they can be used for a preemptive attack even in small form (they're turned into big form using the Shodo Phone by writing kanji big (大) on them), they can transform from emblem form to animal form freely (yes, it also happen when they're big or in megazord form), and apparently they also can fly :O (well I saw they flew, perhaps except Kuma Origami. Anwyay, toy wise, they are great. It kinda gave me the first experience that I couldn't master the DX sentai toy transformation very well especially for Shishi Origami and Ryuu Origami.

Apart from the rather complex transformation, the toys were made with very great detail. The surface of the emblems, the "Shinken" crest at each Origami, movable mouth, the detail of the Shinken Oh's sword, or the top knot head of Shinken Oh (without his helmet - which really resembles samurai). The minus side is, as stated previously, they do look like origami - most of their limbs are flat, and Ryuu Origami even has this hole neck thing. Yet, I still love them - perhaps due to my interest to Shinkenger.



After the Origamis transformed to the final form/gattai form (which was done by writing kanji gattai/combine 合 in the show), the final attaching part is simple and straight forward. Unlike Go-Onger, where all parts came from the Engines, Shinken Oh's sword and shield do not come from the Origami (the helmet does come from Ryuu Origami), they just magically appear.



Shinken Oh's shield, also known as Hiden (秘伝 - "Hiden" is Japanese word, meaning mysterious, secret, something like that) Disk 08, and is replacable by other Hiden Disk, but this is not shown in the show yet. And unlike other sentai, Shinken Oh's sword, is really a main weapon (perhaps due to its nature which is Samurai themed) - and not only used during the finisher (anway what I meant is, Shinken Oh rarely uses his fist in the show).



Final words, despite the funny look of each Origami, DX Shinken Oh still offers great playability, offers elegant pose of samurai mecha toy to be displayed, and a great addition to any collection. That concludes this review, 一見落着. Full Story