Demo, Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Ghost, Reviews

DX Kamen Rider 45 Ghost Eyecon Review & Demo | Kamen Rider Ghost

Kamen Rider 45 Ghost Eyecon
April, 2016 – ¥3,800

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Review

In the Legend! Rider Soul! Kamen Rider Ghost series, which ran on Toei’s YouTube account over the course of a few months, saw a journey between Takeru and Makoto to find all six Kamen Rider Ghost Eyecons. It culminated to the formation of the Kamen Rider 45 Ghost Eyecon, which allows Takeru to not only transform into the Rider #1 Damashii, but also the powerful Heisei Damashii that unites all 15 past Heisei Era Kamen Riders. Bandai has bundled all of the mini-episodes onto one DVD, bundled with the DX Kamen Rider 45 Ghost Eyecon.

The DVD is nothing to write home about. Unless you have a Region 2 or Region Free DVD Player, don’t expect to be able to watch the specials. They’re not subtitled anyway, but thankfully Over-Time and TV-Nihon have been releasing them.

The Kamen Rider 45 Ghost Eyecon itself is rather dull. It uses the lenticular sticker system on the front similar to the magazine pack-ins like Ikkyu and Pythagoras, but have dedicated lights inside like Boost and Deep Specter. Unlike Boost and Deep Specter however, there are no sounds. What makes this unique is that the Ghost Eyecon is two-in-one. When inserted one way, it will activate the “Kamen Rider!” sound for the Rider #1 Damashii, while flipping it over and inserting the other side will activate the “Heisei Rider!” sound for the Heisei Damashii. The concept is great, but the execution suffers.

With it being two-in-one, both sides of the Ghost Eyecon share the design sticker and pin plate at the same space. This causes the sticker to be small squished, covered up by the translucent pin plate. I like the concept, but when you combine that with the ugly lenticular sticker on the front, it just sort of sucks. The lights inside will cycle between red, green, and yellow depending on which button you press. Double pressing either button will cause the Eyecon to glow solid red or solid green, depending on which side. Hitting both buttons will cause it to turn yellow. It’s pretty boring.

Overall, the Kamen Rider 45 Ghost Eyecon is…not worth it? At the price it retails for because of the DVD, the product you get is nothing short of frustrating and not fun. With the knowledge that the Kamen Rider 45 Ghost Eyecon will be available in Gashapon format AND include two separate releases for each Damashii, that seems like the cheaper (and ultimately better) way to go. I like the concept of a two-in-one Ghost Eyecon, but I can’t help but think it could have been handled a whole lot better.

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