Thursday, March 20, 2008

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999)

An anime movie released in 1999, the story draws some parallel with "The Little Red Riding Hood" story but with a twist as it involves an adolescent girl as a terrorist courier who wears a red hood and whose role is to deliver bombs in satchels. The big bad wolf is "The Wolf Brigade", trained to behave like a pack of wolves/dogs, hence the term "Kerberos", a reference to Hades' three-headed watchdog of hell in the Greek mythology. This fictitious creature is better known in western countries under its Latin form, Cerberus, which is the character's name in the Roman mythology. In other cultures, they are referred to as hellhounds.

Medicom produced this figure in 2002 and it was definitely a much improved Panzer Cop than its earlier release.

In those days, Medicom didn't believe in packaging. The figure came in a rather simple and most unattractive box showcasing Kazuki Fuse, the main male character in the movie.


As you can see from the picture, the MG42 and ammo belt (shown on the left) is just pathetic


Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Kerberos Protect Gear Panzer Cop in full glory. I replaced the crappy MG42 and ammo belt with a much better quality one.

The gas mask differs from that of the Straydog version and has much nicer details and looks more menacing. The red paint used for the googles make them stand out. The armour is also more complex and layered, giving it a very heavy feel.



Yutaka Izubuchi's (who created the Protect-Gear armor used in the Kerberos saga) mecha design signature "Buchi-ana", the five dots logo is featured on the helmet in this Protect Gear type.

The backpack radio cum ammo drum. Unfortunately, the magazine pouch on his left hip is moulded to his armour.



A close-up of the moulded side-arm, the Mauser C96 (you can make out the famous "broom" handle) together with the holster and the armour - more crap from Medicom.




"...and then the Wolf ate up Little Red Riding Hood."

Check out Kerberos Panzer Cops Group Pictures

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for this review, inspired me to go buy one of these :) I do have a question about the breathing tube that goes from the mask to the chest. How should this work? Is the metal hose supposed to be able to extend/slide out of the mask, or should it bridge the distance by stretching alone? As I just cannot fit mine and suspect it to be broken / too short. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

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  2. Hi there. Great choice & good decision to get this - ha! ha! I took measurements of my tube and it's about 5 cm long. It goes all the way into the mask and you can gently pull it out to fit into the chest armor because there is sufficient length and the tube is also very flexible. Hope it works out for you ;>

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