Japanese Giant Mantis (Diversity of Life on Earth – Japanese Giant Mantis by Bandai)

The Japanese giant mantis (Tenodera aridifolia) is a large mantid distributed in Japan, Taiwan, and China. There has been some confusion on the taxonomic identity of this species, as the Chinese mantis (T. sinensis), which is more familiar to most casual observers and non-specialists, was originally described as a subspecies of T. aridifolia and older accounts of the true Chinese mantis often refer to T. aridifolia. Today we will be looking at a couple examples of this species released in 2020 by Bandai.

In 2020, Bandai started producing sets of large, exquisitely-detailed, articulated arthropods. So far there has been a set of stag beetles (Kuwagata) featuring four sculpts representing three species, two sets of vespid wasps (Suzumebachi Vols. 1 and 2) featuring seven species, and a set of five figures of T. aridifolia (Kamakiri). It looks like in early 2021, they will be releasing similar sets of crabs and caterpillars. Today we are looking at two of the figures in the Kamakiri collection. The set consisted of five figures, representing two females (brown and green), two males (brown and green), and a clear/transparent figure. The figures require substantial assembly and the final product is heavily articulated (including every major joint and the abdominal segments). The figures can be displayed with or without the flying wings exposed. There are also black bases with curved acrylic rods, so they can be displayed in-flight if the collector desires. The main difference between the male and female figures is the shape of the abdomen, being swollen in the female. I chose the green male, which I display wings open, and a brown female, which I display wings closed. The total body length of an assembled figure is 15 cm, which puts it at about 2:1-1.5:1 in scale.

First the female:

Next the male:

The male sneaks in to make his move:

…resulting in the predictable outcome:

These recent Bandai figures (including those in the other aforementioned sets) are for serious collectors. They are not ‘toys’ to be played with. They come recommended to those collectors that are patient enough to do the assembly and are OK with articulations. The wasp figures seem to hold together better than the stag beetles and mantids. I am really looking forward to the upcoming crabs and caterpillar sets, as well.

If one wants a T. aridifolia in their collection, but doesn’t want to deal with large articulated figures that require assembly, there are smaller options available by Yujin, Bandai, Furuta, Break Co. Ltd., Takara Tomy A.R.T.S., and Re-ment.