Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Kamen Rider Ouja

Release Date: August 2026

RRP: 9900 yen

Following the release of Kamen Rider Ryuki last year, there wasn't a doubt in anyone's minds that Bandai Tamashii Nations weren't going to be all-in on new Kamen Rider Ryuki figures for the S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou line. Even if it's something that slowly build upon over the next several years, given the amount of love they put into the original S.H. Figuarts Ryuki range fans can likely expect a full roster of Riders and Contact Monsters. Kamen Rider Knight might have seemed like the next obvious stop, but instead Bandai are following up with another firm fan favourite. S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Kamen Rider Ouja is the second of Ryuki's extensive roster of Riders to be released, with his Tamashii Web exclusive status indicating that the rest are quite likely to suffer a similar fate.

Kamen Rider Ouja comes in the standard two-piece Shinkocchou Seihou packaging, with the top half of the box featuring a nice big headshot of the snake Rider against a white backdrop. Meanwhile the sides sport "Masked Rider Ouja" in silver foil lettering against a solid black background. On the bottom half of the box you'll find the usual array of images showing the figure and accessories off in a variety of poses. Then inside you'll find all these parts spread across two moulded plastic trays - the main one housing the figure itself, and then a second one underneath with all the accessories.

As with all S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou figures, this new version of Kamen Rider Ouja is sculpted using the "true bone carving" technique to provide more realistic proportions - the build of the design directly based on Ouja's suit actor Jiro Okamoto. The line also boasts some of the most intricate detail of any Kamen Rider figures from Bandai Tamashii Nations, and Ouja particularly impresses with that striking metallic purple armour and snake-themed helmet sculpt. Unlike most Kamen Riders with their bug-like compound eyes, Ouja instead has those six hypnotic vent-like slits surround by flourishes like the fanged mouth plate and cobra hood. It's a design that has an immediate "evil Rider" vibe, a title of which Ouja was one of the first to officially have.  

Even now the Kamen Rider Ryuki S.H. Figuarts range holds up pretty well, but with 15 years between the two releases it probably goes without saying that the Shinkocchou Seihou is a marked improvement over the previous version. With the Shinkocchou Seihou version being a brand new figure built from the ground up things like sculpt, proportions and articulation are all significantly better, but perhaps the most immediate difference between the two is the Shinkocchou Seihou finally getting the shade of purple right. The original 2011 figure didn't look bad, but darker screen-accurate metallic purple just hits so much better. One thing the original does still have over the Shinkocchou Seihou however is the use of diecast metal on the feet, which is a practice Bandai have long since given up on the line. 

Much like Shinkocchou Seihou Ryuki (and the older Ryuki S.H. Figuarts for that matter), Ouja's V-Buckle has a removable Advent Deck which can either be held in one of the figure's compatible hands. The Advent Decks all having the same basic shape also means you could swap them between the figures if you so desired, though why exactly you would want to is a different matter. For proper screen accuracy the backside of an Advent Card is visible through the exposed part in the holder, but you cannot store the cards included within the Holder itself.

The armour design and body proportions might be unique to Ouja but engineering-wise this figure is still identical to Ryuki, and with that figure furthering the usual high standard of the Shinkocchou Seihou line that means you're in for a treat. Altogether Ouja features;

- Ball jointed head, neck, torso, waist and wrist

- Butterfly joint shoulders

- Swivel hinge shoulders, hips and ankles

- Double hinge elbows

- Double hinge (with an added swivel cut) knees

- Single hinge toe sections

- Bicep, forearm and thigh swivels

The Ryuki range introduced a new style of ankle joint featuring a far more impressive bend at the top of the foot, which Ouja can take full advantage of to get those feral fighting poses. The shoulder armour is attached to the arms via the usual raised ball joint formation, which allows you to swing it down to provide slightly more movement to the arms. They're still going to clash with the torso armour that hangs over the top, but even then you can still get a good range of motion out of them. Said torso armour is also made of two separate parts, with the top section able to pop up or compress slightly down for better neck or torso movement. Even though Ouja's design means things aren't quite as seamless as they are with Ryuki, this is still a very poseable figure that lives up to the line's high standard.

Again much like Ryuki, Ouja includes a pretty generous selection of accessories - something which is almost certainly going to be the case with any Ryuki Rider released in the line. Altogether he includes 13 additional hands, nine Advent Cards, the Venovisor and the Veno Saber. Both the hand and card count are slightly larger than those included with Ryuki, with the former consisting of a variety of open and posed hands, two different card-holding pairs, two larger accessory-holding pairs and even an extra left pointing hand. With Ouja swapping between being left and right-handed depending on the appearance (while Ryuki's Mirror World usually portrayed him left-handed, subsequent guest appearances he's usually right-handed), having matching pairs of sword-holding hands is perhaps more important than ever. Meanwhile the Advent Cards are once again printed on a larger sheet and need to be punched out for use, and include;

- Final Vent (Venosnaker)

- Venosnaker

- Sword Vent

- Steal Vent

- Unite Vent

- Strike Vent

- Final Vent (Genocider)

- Contract x2

That rather neatly covers all the main cards Ouja uses over the course of the series, with the inclusion of both Venosnaker and Genocider cards a very nice touch. As is the inclusion of the two blank Contract cards, which will go will either the existing Evildiver and Metalgelas S.H. Figuarts figures or the inevitable new ones that'll come out when Shinkocchou Seihou gets around to Gai and Raia. Finally we have the Venovisor and Veno Saber - beautifully sculpted and painted replicas of Ouja's snake staff visor and personal weapon. The Saber can be a little fiddly to get in the hands at first as the handle doesn't come apart like Ryuki's, but that can be easily solved with a bit of warm water. The Veno Visor also features an opening hatch at the back, in which you can place one of the Advent Cards. All in all a pretty solid selection of accessories that slightly improves upon that of the original to give you the perfect Ouja assortment.

With the original Kamen Rider Ouja figure still holding its own 15 years later, was there really any doubt that S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Kamen Rider Ouja was going to be a hit as well? Such a popular character being a web exclusive is unfortunate, but sadly that seems to be the fate of any Rider who's name isn't the title of a show these days (and for the Showa Riders, even that's not a guarantee). Ouja takes (nearly) everything that was great about Ryuki and repackages it with a sinister vibe, providing an update that truly brings Ouja in line with Shinkocchou Seihou's best. You don't even have the lingering feeling that the old version came with his Contract Monster either here, though it would be nice if Bandai would release Venosnaker on its own rather than locking him behind a more expensive Genocider release. Nevertheless, two releases in and the Ryuki range is still looking as strong as ever - do you have what it takes to "fight to survive" and complete the full Rider War line-up?