Release Date: December 2019 RRP: 6480 yen Getting a  Kamen Rider Zangetsu stage play five years after Kamen Rider Gaim's final V-cinema release was surprise enough, but for it to also debut a brand new form that received an official S.H. Figuarts release just goes to show that Kamen Rider  really wasn't messing around in 2019. Kamen Rider Zangetsu -Gaim Gaiden- saw Yuki Kubota reprise his role as Takatora Kureshima , as he stumbles into an underground city deep below Zawame City . The play also sees Takatora receive a new Lockseed and unlock a brand new form - a form that also makes a brief but very welcome cameo in Kamen Rider Zi-O the Movie: Over Quartzer . ather unsurprisingly  S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Zangetsu Kachidoki Arms  was a Tamashii web exclusive  release, its arrival at the very end of the decade a sign that just when you think you have them worked out Bandai Tamashii Nations can still be full of surprises. 

If there's one thing that both Toei and Bandai like doing it's making money. So if a particular series has proven especially popular and/or profitable, you can bet that the two will milk it for everything that it's worth. In terms of Kamen Rider shows you only have to look at the slew of Kamen Rider Den-O movies or the Kamen Rider W Returns Accel and Eternal movies to realise that. And now it seems fair to say that Kamen Rider Gaim officially falls under that category too. Though the series didn't break the overall ratings decline that has plagued both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai for many years now (although many will argue that those don't amount to all that much anymore), the series struck a chord with the older fanbase and this combined with good merchandise sales was enough for a Kamen Rider Gaim Gaiden V-cinema project to go ahead. This straight to DVD release is split into two side stories, with the first focusing on Kamen Rider Zangetsu and the second on...

That time has come once again where we say goodbye to a Kamen Rider  series, only to say hello to a brand new one in the following week. So just before we start our engines and "drive the Kamen Rider" , it's time to give one last hurrah to the fruity warlords of Kamen Rider Gaim  we've loved and followed for the last year. Written by anime hot topic Gen Urobuchi (who's had more than a few mentions on this blog recently) and his first foray into writing both Kamen Rider and tokusatsu as a whole, Gaim has been a hotly talked about series thanks to its imaginative gimmicks, multiple riders and multi-layered story - especially on this side of the pond. But of course, the question remains - is it actually any good?

After five impressive releases of original Sengoku Driver Armoured Riders, the Kamen Rider Gaim S.H. Figuarts line is now briefly turning its attention to towards the Genesis Driver wielding Energy Riders of the Yggdrasil Corporation. The first of this next generation of Riders to be released is Kamen Rider Zangetsu Shin Melon Energy Arms , a suit that had a much bigger impact in the series than the simple power-up many originally expected it to be. Starting out as an upgrade for original Zangetsu Takatora Kureshima , the Driver and its powers later moved on to his younger brother Mitsuzane , making it the only suit in the series (other than the Kurokage troopers) to have been used by more than one person.

It's safe to say that the S.H. Figuarts figures of Kamen Rider Gaim and Kamen Rider Baron blew many fans away, making anticipation even higher as Bandai begin journeying through the multitude of Riders the show has. Coming as release number three is the least seen of the four "core" Riders of the show - Kamen Rider Zangetsu aka Takatora Kureshima . With Takatora upgrading to the Zangetsu Shin version of the suit fairy early on this original version hasn't made a whole load of appearances in comparison to Gaim, Baron and Ryugen. However the timing of this mass-release Figuart couldn't have been much better, as the original Zangetsu suit made a grand return in what has been one of Gaim 's best episodes so far.

Part four of my look into the first releases of Kamen Rider Gaim 's highly popular Arms Change line is the final figure I'll be covering and moves things away from the "Beat Rider" characters of the story. This time it's the mysterious white armoured Rider Kamen Rider Zangetsu , whose real identity is Yggdrasil Corporation project overseer Takatora Kureshima. As the man behind the project issuing Beat Riders with Sengoku Drivers it seems at first he is a villain, but as the story is progressing its emerging that there may be more to him than was once thought.