As we do every Friday, we take another look at Hokuto no Ken figures. This week, a publisher we know almost nothing about: I.A Company, based in Osaka, which released licensed 1/10 scale garage kits of Kenshiro, Toki, Rei and Kaioh some time after 1998. Unlike the major Hokuto no Ken figure lines of the late 1990s, I.A Company left behind no catalogue and no known archives.
The boxes as the only clues
I.A Company is a ghost publisher. No catalogue or website has been found, just a name and an Osaka address printed at the bottom of the instruction sheets. Only the Tōei Animation copyright gives away a release after 1998. The kits themselves have not vanished, though: they still turn up on Japanese resale sites.
Who sculpted the kits?
There is no name on the box. The sculptor’s name only appears once the kit is opened, at the top of the instruction sheet: 原型・大山 和則 for Rei, 原型・伊達 譲 for Kaioh. Two kits, two different hands, Ōyama Kazunori and Date Yuzuru. Neither name leads to any other known Hokuto no Ken piece. As for Kenshiro and Toki, without their instruction sheets there is no way of knowing who sculpted them.
An instruction sheet for first-time resin builders
The instruction sheet takes the buyer by the hand. A single page, the same for every kit. A toothbrush to remove the mould release agent, wet sandpaper for the seam lines, a brass rod to reinforce the glued joints, a primer before painting, and even a recommended brand of paint, Gunze’s Mr. Color. A part missing? Write directly to I.A Company. For the colours, the sheet points to the manga’s colour pages or to photographs. The manga as the reference, even though the copyright names Tōei Animation…
Three heroes and Kaioh
Kenshiro, Toki and Rei belong to the first part of the manga. The fourth character comes from much later in the story: Kaioh, master of Hokuto Ryūken, whom Kenshiro faces in the Land of Shura. All four stand on a rocky base; Kaioh’s takes the form of a slab, supplied with the body and small separate parts.
What remains
Four kits, two sculptors’ names, an Osaka address: that is all I.A Company left behind. Full details of the boxes, instruction sheets and resin parts can be found on the line’s page.
Sources
- Boxes for Rei, Toki and Kaioh, instruction sheets for Rei and Kaioh, undersides of the bases: sculptors, copyright, publisher’s address.
- Mandarake listing for the Rei kit: box, instruction sheet and bagged resin.
- Resale listings on Yahoo! Auctions, Mercari and PayPay Flea Market: kits in bare resin, built or still bagged.
