S.H. Figuarts - Rock Lee

I absolutely love Lee. He's got the massive bushy brows, an inferiority complex, and one of the best fights ever in the entire Part 1 of 300 some odd episodes (not to mention the most outrageous eyes) As you may have guessed, he's a humorous homage to Bruce Lee. In Japanese, his name sounds like "Blues Lee", so both Rock Lee and his son in the Borut series, Metal Lee, are musical variants of that same pronunciation. He also has a similar hairstyle and jumpsuit to Bruce Lee, as well as the same birthday (yes, in Anime characters have a birthday, even if it is never once mentioned, is always put into their profiles). He's goofy looking but optimistic, and his biggest character trait is his gruelling hard work in the face of tough adversity, which I think we can all admire as a trait. His fight against Gaara and Kimmimaro are easily the best fights in all of Part 1 (300 episodes or so).

In the Ninja world of using chakra (aka magic), there are three primary types of chakra use: Taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat techniques), Genjutsu (Illusion techniques) and Ninjutsu (External mostly, and basically everything else like using the five Natures, etc). Unfortunately for Lee, he is near skillless in Genjutsu and Ninjutsu (which you'd think would mean he'd never pass basics to become a ninja...) however, his martial arts combat skills is so great, alongside his ability to unlock some pretty crazy internal chakra "gates", that he became a ninja on taijutsu alone. I also really like Lee's sensei, Might Guy, who is also a hilarious parody type character that is very endearing and incredibly powerful.

S.H. Figuarts - Madara Uchiha

One of the prime big bad guys of the Naruto Shippuden series: Madara Uchiha, a former co-founder of the Ninja village Hidden in the Leaves. Like Sasuke in the first part, the history is a bit back and forth. At first, Madara and Hashirama, the first Hokage, are friends, then enemies, then they form a truce and bring an end to the violence from their respective clans. When they founded the village, Madara and Hashirama had very different visions of how this would work. Madara's version of peace between the ninja clans was to control others through laws and regulations, where Hashirama's was cooperation between the various nations and villages. Eventually, Madara left with an ominous promise.

Many years later, he later returns and brings the Nine-tail fox to destroy the village. Many die in the attack, including Naruto's mother (Kushina) and father (Minato - see the previous review!). However, his parents manage to seal half of the Nine-Tails inside Minato, and a half into their just-then-born son, Naruto. He possesses powers mostly from his eye, which allows all kinds of space and time manipulation, as well as being a super skilled martial artist and fire technique user.

It's a very long storyline and plot as to the why's and hows, but basically, Madara becomes resurrected into a somewhat obedient zombie form. SH Figuarts included both a cracked/reanimated face and a regular one though, so that's pretty nice!

Speaking of which, the figure is pretty amazing, with only one gripe. The sculpt is fantastic, and most all the armour pieces for the legs and shoulders move freely on their hinges and can detach without damaging parts. The scythe and giant fan connected by real chain pieces are fantastic. The weapons have a nice lightweight that doesn't turn his hand over and looks super impressive given their size.

S.H. Figuarts - Jiraiya

An old man mentor figure is exactly what the Naruto show needed, and he was brought in at just the right time. Every Shonen anime has several teachers that help the main character progress to their next level of power in order to overcome their obstacles in battle. Jiraiya is no different! By the time he meets Naruto, he is in his early 50s. He is funny, if a somewhat perverted character who travels the world doing research for his romantic novels, and spies for the Village Hidden in the Leaves to gather intel about threats. As an aside, his name translates to "Young Thunder".

He meets a young Naruto and teaches him how to summon battle toads, unlock Sage mode, and control the Nine-tailed fox inside. It is implied for a long while that he is a very powerful ninja, one of the legendary Sanin who defeated the warlord Hanzo. It is not until his final battle that you see how incredible his ability is using summons and Sage mode is. The character of Jiraiya is inspired by a Japanese tale called "The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant". In the original tale, he is a shapeshifter who takes the form of a giant toad who falls in love with the Slug princess, Tsunade. He is rivalled by the snake shifter, Orochimaru, all of whom are powerful shinobi in the show. He was also the sensei to Naruto's father, Minato!

This figure does quite a few things very well. For one, likeness, paint and sculpt is totally spot on. Though it would've been cool to get a deluxe figure where he has the Sage mode face and his the two elder summon frogs on his shoulders, he's pretty great for his standard version. They used their formula in making baggy pant knee joints from the DB figures and it works well here. They include the vest and scroll at his back, and his hair does have some articulation at the ponytail, which is quite in keeping with how he'd toss his hair when going for a dramatic, over-the-top stance.
He's got the usual hands and faces as well as a few other nice accessories.