Enzi

Review by JoshB
Enzi is the first release in a new series from 1000 Toys and legendary sculptor Takayuki Takeya. Called "Joumon Kugutu (縄文傀儡)", this 1/6 scale figure evokes a style from Japan's past in toy form.
Joumon Kugutu I believe is a nod to the Juomon Period of Japan which lasted from 13,000 BC to 400 BC, and is characterized by a certain style of pottery. "Kugutu", I think is a mis-translation of Kugutsu, which means "Puppet".
Takeya of course is the mastermind behind such famous toy lines as "Super Imaginative Chogokin" and "Revoltech Takeya".
It seems as if Takeya has designed the character Enzi around a motif in the style of Juomon Period. Now, to be fair, this is just my interpretation and I could be way off.
The toy comes in a nice, compact box, with elegant styling. As there aren't many accessories, not much space is needed.
Inside, in the figure rests in black foam. See the video for the full unboxing.
The figure itself is stunning. Absolutely stunning.
As far as build quality, this figure is flawless. No paint issues, no visible seam lines, just solid construction. Each joint is buttery smooth.
The head is insane. The amount of detail that is present here is truly mind-blowing. The head sits on a dual ball joint and has a moveable jaw.
The head features light-up eyes, but you need to remove the top of the head to access the feature. Once you remove the top, pull out the small electronic box and remove the clear tab (if this is the first time). Re-insert the box, and slide the switch to the on position. Two LR-41 batteries are included.
Although it's a fairly straightforward 1/6th scale figure, it still has some phenomenal articulation. The shoulders are a great example of this. There is an inner section that pivots forward, another section that pivots up, and the whole thing rotates. The shoulder pads move on a hinge and also rotate around the shoulder.
Theres a bicep swivel, double jointed elbow, and ball jointed wrists.
The whole chest assembly is fantastic. The design of the armor plates (if that's what they are) cascade beautifully over the multiple joints.
The excellence continues with the legs, although some side movement is limited due to the design of the armor. There's ball jointed hips, swivel thighs, double jointed knees, and feet with way more articulation than they need.
Included with the figure is some sort of clear mask that goes over the face, however I cannot figure out how to get it to stay on securely. To be honest i'm not a huge fan of the look.
How could you say no to this face?
Several variant hands are included (one is missing from the picture). They come with these posts pre-inserted that need to be removed before swapping them out. My guess is to make sure the holes in the hand are sized properly but I don't know for sure.
The open hands have holes in them to insert a stand for the hovering ball accessory.
There are two black attachments for positioning the ball. One is for one hand only, the other is bent so it looks like it is hovering over two hands. I'm not even sure what this ball is supposed to be, but it would be more effective if it was clear instead of black.
Maybe it's some sort of crystal ball? No idea. It's cool looking.
It's such a great figure in all aspects. It's just so beautiful, it's like nothing in my collection.
Enzi went on sale originally on Dec.16th, 2016 at TOYSOUL 2016 in Hong Kong, then again was an event exclusive at Winter Wonderfest in 2017. The wide release opens for sale in limited quantities on Feb 24th at 1000toys official online shop.
There's also a green-ish colored variant named "Bokkoku" which is available at the same time.
Comments
1 comment postedHere's some boring Japanese info.
So you'll occasionally see tu, du, si, and ti in Japanese romanization. This comes from an older style of transliteration, so it's not wrong per se, just a little out of date. The thing is though, on Japanese word processing software all these spellings still work; "tu" and "du" still write つ and づ, and in fact du is still the only way to enter this character most would romanize as "zu" (one of them). If you're using an English keyboard to type Japanese the two letter versions of the three letter syllables are a little more convenient just since they're shorter.
Also I'm typing this on a Japanese keyboard but I still use romaji for Japanese word processing because this layout makes no sense to me.