Hmm the packaging was fairly nice. It isn't nearly as nice as the 20th Century Boys one, but still nice. I find it funny they use one of the artworks from the manga and yet Saeko especially is far from manga accurate at least color wise (honestly I think the hair color she has on this figure and the anime *I believe?* looks really bad on her. Dark brown or black or very dark blue hair would look fantastic).
The figures seem really good when looking at each part of it separately, but as a whole they seem amateurish in a lot of ways. My main issue is the head size. Sculpts aside, they just look way too small. It's awkward in fact it is really awkward. It doesn't look as bad at angles, but front on Saeko especially looks weird. Because of the proportions it looks like she is pushing up her shoulders in a stiff strange manner. She looks really uncomfortable if I had to pick a word. With Ryo it also looks bad, but almost comically. His head and neck don't match at all and the thickness of the neck just doesn't work with how narrow and small his head is. The thing that pisses me off about this is that it is such a simple mistake and there's no way they didn't notice this. It was intentionally done, but had they scaled it up a little the figures would look much more natural.
Outfit on Saeko is nice I think. I really hate her shoes though. I just can't keep them from falling off. It's pretty annoying actually and I feel really stupid for having trouble with something so minute (then again Hot Toys made me feel true pain with the Bruce Lee buttons for his waist strap). Unfortunately the outfit itself just doesn't fit the body properly. Her skirt should be a very tight skirt, but it just looks big. Ryo's outfit looks perfect, but his pants are so poorly executed articulation wise. I haven't yet removed his underpants as I hear this highly restricts motion, but what you have out of the box is unacceptable. Medicom Kamen Rider figures and my Karas 1/6 figure has more range on the legs and that's really saying something. As he is now he might as well be a statue from the waist down. I love his shoes though. The blue jacket and red shirt are great. The material on the trenchcoat is pretty silly though. It feels so dinky and cheap and it looks the part too. I'm not sure what happened here. His blue jacket is very high quality so why was this one such an after thought? It is especially bad since I originally intended to use the trench coat, but I think I'll just stick with the iconic blue coat.
As for actual headsculpts, Ryo's looked awkward with in hand pictures, but in person it looks really nice actually. The hair and eyes and such all seem to be very nicely done. Saeko though just looks awkward once again. Her hair is too brick like and lacking in life. It just seems like a thick blob. Her expression is bad too. It isn't a cool smile like you would expect nor is it really a serious stare. Instead it is some mix of the two and I honestly am not sure what they were going for. It's also worth pointing out that her necklace seems so cheaply designed that you would think this was some basic addition a fan added to the figure release to make it more accurate rather than an actual legit inclusion. Ryo's second headsculpt is excellent though. Because it is so big it actually ends up looking more correct. In contrast, the complete lack of one for Saeko is insanely disappointing. She has no angry or smiling face. Saeko is much shorter, doesn't come with any alternate outfit pieces, and includes no alternate head sculpt. Makes me wonder why she was the same price as Ryo.
The bodies they chose are weird. Ryo looks fine kind of. His arms having the veins is stupid. It just doesn't work. They should have did a slight custom for those arms to make them normal. Once again the neck is massive. Aside from that though him being massively buff just in the pecs and somewhat in the arms is surprisingly accurate to the unrealistic style of muscles you usually see in manga and anime (where it seems like everyone is crazily buff but still somehow small and skinny). The legs could be a little smaller though. Saeko's body seems fine for the most part. The focus in the rear is...an interesting choice. Just turn her and from a side view things are almost comical. No complaints with it aside from that though. Of course the head is still too small to compliment the body.
Accessories are good for what they are. The hammer seems really nice. I haven't tried to put it in anyone's hands to see if they can actually hold it though (it's pretty heavy). Ryo's guns look nice and Saeko coming with the knives is a nice touch although the material they are made of is pathetic. No real complaints for the most part.
Overall I feel like Hot Toys is slowly starting to understand how to approach these kinds of licenses, but they are still no where near as skilled at execution of manga/anime style as Medicom. They need to create a line of anime styled bodies for one thing, of which would have slightly less realistic proportions. The figure comes across mostly as your typical fan custom, where they take the headsculpt from a company like Medicom and mod it to fit on a Hot Toys body. It doesn't go well together. If you don't get what I'm saying then just look into Medicom Dio or Jotaro. There you can see Jojo proportions such as the very long legs, insanely buff upper body, yet somehow they still seem somewhat small and such. It is a very unique style and yet Medicom flawlessly gets it every time with their Jojo figures.
I have come to expect more out of Hot Toys, but to be honest they never really impress me all too much anyway. While I think fans will enjoy the Ryo I can't really recommend Saeko unless you absolutely must complete the set. Even though Hot Toys went with the final volume artwork (I believe that is the one with the five main characters on it anyway), I doubt they will be continuing the line with Umibozu and Kaori though that would be nice.
