Random Thoughts

What not to do: Google "buy BJD", you'll literally get a ton of Ali Express listings of knockoff BJDs.

You will have to do some research up front, you need to know what company you want to buy. For that, you can go to the BJD hashtag, here, on instagram, sometimes even Twitter, and see if there is something you like. Usually people also tag the company and sculpt, and if not, asking usually gets the reply.

You can also go to one of the many official dealer pages and just click through their dolls to see if you find something that you like.

Stay away from Ali Express and Amazon. Both of these pages are riddled with knockoffs. Idk if there are actually any legit sellers on Ali, if there are, they are few. I think Dollzone sells on Amazon, but seriously, most of the dolls there are fakes.

Ebay and Etsy are also full of recasts, but you can find some legit dolls there.

So, how do you spot a recast store? Let me show you some hints, that are usually a dead giveaway.

A lot of different styles.

This is the header of an etsy shop. While the two on the left might be from the same maker, the other two are very different. (The one on the right is a doll from Fairyland, one of the, if not the most recasted company out there).

Different styles only make sense, if the seller is a distributor/dealer. If it's not a dealer, back out.

Which brings us to the next point:

Generic names.

If a shop were a dealer, they would give you the names of the companies and sculpts.

Example from an official dealer:

See how you can choose the company, size, and then the sculpts? Recast shops don't give you that (there's one exception, that I'll mention later).

They give you "1/4 BJD Doll MSD", "Girl BJD 1/6" or if they wanna go all out "1/3 BJD Doll 60.5CM Full Set BJD Doll With Clothes Resin Toys Best Gift for Girls Hand Made Doll Custom Dolls OOAK Art Doll diy Dolls".

They want to stay as generic as possible, so the newbies that google for "buy bjd" will be redirected to their pages.

If you find generic names, back the hell out of there. I don't know a single company or dealer, that do not tell you what doll exactly you're buying!

Short production time

BJDs take time to make. They are not mass produced dolls, they are casted, sanded, strung and packed by small companies. Even the big names in this hobby usually are just a hand full of people. So it takes time.

Usually between 2-6 months. I don't know any company that actually gives you an estimate below 60 days. Sometimes they ship faster (maybe it's a popular sculpt and they have actually made some for stock, maybe they didn't have a lot of orders during that time, etc), but they don't usually give you a shorter timeline.

If your listing claims the doll will be shipped in 1-2 weeks? Bad news for you, that's pretty sure a recast store.

Price

I hate to say it, but this is an expensive hobby. Dolls usually cost at least $200, oftentimes more. There are some companies that have cheaper prices, but if it goes below $150, I would definitely have a closer look.

Now, the price is usually the last thing that I mention, because before the price tag, you should check for all the things mentioned above. Only if you have a consistent style, specific names, and a timeline that makes sense, then you should check for the price.

I say that, because I know of one Recast store, that tries so hard to look legit, they actually put effort in it.

And that is the BJD Shop.

Look at that. You have company names, you have sculpt names, it looks like a legit dealer (if you ignore that their production time is 1-4 weeks).

But now look at the prices.

Not taking into account that this specific sculpt isn't even available from Fairyland anymore, the price? Is not even $100 (for blank doll).

Now let's look at the actual price by FL:

Rule of thumb: If a price is too good to be true, it very likely is.

So I recommend actually looking for the doll company, if you find a dealer you're not sure is legit, and compare the prices.

A good page for information is Den Of Angels. It's a forum, but a lot of things are easily available without account through Google. For example their dealer list. Is it complete? I don't know, maybe not, but it's a good start.

The illustrated intro tells the tale of how Arago invaded, but a group of 5 Samurai Troopers were able to defeat him. The narrator (of a promotional ad that's playing over Shinjuku) continues to say 35 years later, the government established the Defense Special Cases Task Force, aka DST. It's the DST's job to train the next generation of Samurai Troopers in case of another demon invasion.

We see a character reading their horoscope that tells them: "The worst day ever. Your lucky item is a chocolate-covered banana."

The demon invasion begins.

We get a glimpse into the DST command center where the alarms are going off. A woman with red hair and green eyes ominously says, "The demons' seal is finally coming undone."

In the youjakai, we see a demon armoring up, and then declaring, "Now I'm getting fired up!" (this is his catchphrase).

Youjakai gates appear all over the city, and the youjai invade. The song the leading demon is singing is from the 1980's:

Unlike the original series, the invading forces are killing people, and the DST's weapons don't work against them.

The Samurai Troopers in their undergear are fighting off some of the soldiers. They introduce themselves as Wataru of the Hellfire, Sho of the Alloy, Takeru of the Ascension, Manabu of the Moonbeam, and Musashi of the Water.

As they fight the demon leader, the crowd gets upset and demands they use their armors, but Takeru grumbles that they would use the armors if they could (they can't).

Just as Musashi is about to be killed, a smokescreen is deployed, and a sixth person, identified as Ryu, steps into the battle by borrowing Musashi's bracelet. Ryu transforms into the undergear while saying that with the smokescreen, the crowd won't see he's joining the battle — he says the Troopers can't (be seen) losing because they are (DST's) poster boys.

The battle concludes and the smoke clears. The crowd cheers and thanks the 5 Samurai Trooper (poster boys) for saving them.

Back at the DST headquarters, the red-haired woman gives an overview of the situation, saying it's a "repeat of the Demon Outbreak in Shinjuku 35 years ago." We see she's video calling with one of the government leaders, letting them know all 23 wards of Tokyo are affected and that there's a barrier preventing contact with the outside world.

The government leader laments that he can't make a statement about the situation because of the barrier and reveals that the DST has been mocked as a government agency. People believed it was a waste of money to build up the DST.

The woman says she'll assign the Samurai Troopers to rescue operations, but the government leader protests that they're just children. However, the woman says that "the data proves 15 is the optimal age to bring out their Weapon-Gear's full power." and that "Only the Samurai Troopers can defeat the demons."

Meanwhile, Musashi sits alone at a table in what appears to be the DST lounge area. Ryu finds him and asks where his teammates are. Musashi doesn't know, and Ryu observes that, just because they're all heroes doesn't mean they're friends.

Musashi wonders what it means to be a hero because none of the current Samurai Troopers do not meet his definition of a hero. The poster behind him is edited to show the Troopers wearing armor, when they can't actually do so. Musashi laments that his "older brother", Yama(to) should've been a Trooper and not Musashi. But Yama(to) failed the test for misconduct. Ryu comments that the current troopers are poster boys for the government, chosen more for following orders than for their character.

Ryu says he has confidence in Musashi, despite Musashi's doubts.

Elsewhere in the DST headquarters, we find the demon leader, now in human form, being assessed. A pink-haired girl updates the red-haired woman on her findings:

The boy is human who had been turned into a monster via sorcery, but the spell was broken by a special substance on the bullet he'd been shot with. The girl wonders how a human could've grown up in the Youjakai when the Youjakai was created from the accumulation of negative feelings of humans.

In the Youjakai, 9 of the invading warriors bemoan that they can't celebrate their victory since their leader, the "prince" was captured. The group also wonders where the tenth warrior from their group is. They squabble a bit about what to do about their missing members.

Ramaga appears and notes that the "prince" was captured, however, he's not concerned, saying, "No matter. None escape my grasp."

Back at the DST command center, Ryu is confused that the red-haired woman wants to recruit the demon-now-turned-human. Their conversation is interrupted by the 5 Samurai Troopers who demand to know how to summon and use their armors. Ryu says they're not ready yet, to which one cockily replies, "I think you just don't want us to get any stronger. You don't want us beating you." The conversation is interrupted by the pink-haired girl reporting that the demon-turned-human is now awake. The red-haired woman, revealed as the Commander, tells the 5 Samurai Troopers to focus on rescuing civilians.

When Ryu and the commander enter a conference room where the demon-turned-human is, Ryu becomes upset because his limited edition cream soda-flavored yaki soba noodles are being eaten. The pink haired girl exclaims that they taste terrible.

Ryu picks up a cd album called, "Demon Ultimate Song Collection 100", a CD of Japanese hits from the 80's that the demon-turned-human had with him.

The red-haired woman introduces herself as Nasti Yagyu, the commander of the DST. The demon-turned-human's name is Gai, who accuses them of turning him human. They tell him what really happened.

During the commotion from youja soldiers attacking the headquarters, Gai demands to know what Nasti meant when she placed a jewel into his hand, which then glowed.

In a destroyed mall, the 5 Troopers are "looking" for survivors. When Musashi tells them that the DST HQ is under attack, the other 4 Troopers refuse to return to help, saying they couldn't care less if the DST was destroyed. They complain about having to save people, and instead decide they'll steal jewelry and watches from the destroyed shops so they can sell them later. They mock Musashi for wanting to be a hero.

When Musashi finds survivors, the other Troopers don't want him to help them since the survivors heard and saw them looting and not caring about being heroes. To prevent word getting out, the Troopers turn on Musashi.

Despite now being buried with the survivors, Musashi keeps trying to save them because he has an older brother too. In Musashi's memory, he and his brother are lost and wandering in the woods, hoping a hero will arrive to help them. Yama(to) is shown to be determined and hopeful, while Musashi is scared and worried. Musashi remembers his brother saying that a hero would smile and sing a song even in a time of despair.

Musashi cries that he can't sing, he can't be the hero that he wants to be.

Gai arrives and proceeds to slaughter the 4 Troopers while singing:

As Nasti and her team flee the DST HQ, she wonders why the jewel glowed when placed in Gai's hand. Its reaction to Gai is "proof he's an heir to an Armor Gear. Red heralds the emissary of fire."

After tossing Musashi clear of the rubble, Gai reveals that his real objective wasn't to save Musashi, but ti get at the chocolate-banana-flavored yaki soba that was in a bag. Musashi remembers that his horoscope said his lucky item would be a chocolate-covered banana, which the soba's packaging shows.

As Gai stalks towards Musashi, he comments that "Humans sure are ugly creatures." Just before swinging his weapon at Musashi, he exclaims, "Now I'm fired up!"

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