I bought this figure about 18 years ago when I was on a crazy Japanese Vinyl kick. Then just a couple years ago I photographed it for a review and quickly realized I had forgotten every bit of detail about this toy (other than that it was produced by Bandai). I had no frame of reference in my head and googling things like "shark woman bandai" returned zilch. Then tonight I researched hard (hours literally) and finally was able to identify her. In 2001 Kamen Rider Agito aired as the eleventh installment of the Kamen series. There were a lot of villains in this series including a troublesome trio called the El Lords. These three Lords controlled Water, Wind, and Ground. Technically El of the Water is a male entity and voiced by a male actor, but for the majority of her/his screen time in this series, they had possessed the 21 year old human character Masumi Sekiya. And while possessing Masumi, the El of the Water looked distinctly female. Something I love about Japanese villains on action television is the creative designs.
In this case, the El of the water is covered in a freaky shark motif. From the bloody shark snout on her forehead to the staff with an ornate shark tail design, they really put a lot of thought into this. Let's check out El of the Water below!
Japanese Vinyl figures typically just come with a cardboard hangtag and plastic loop.
My tag is long since gone so I swiped this pic from Yahoo japan.
These soft vinyl figures are usually just articulated at the waist and shoulders.
Time for a Comparison Pic!
Cheers!
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