In the midst of planning for our trip to Japan in March, I came across unopened boxes of toys and collectibles — acquired as far back as February 2011. Rather than let them languish in storage hell, I decided to open up a couple and mess around with them a bit.

The Black Rock Shooter Headphones from Banpresto are premium prize items from gaming arcade machines. They were released as a set of four, and I managed to come across the BRS and Dead Master versions in Mandarake Nakano Broadway. I loved the way they look, so regardless of the sound quality I purchased the pair and brought them home.

      

      

Now for the pros and cons: for something that was not supposed to be for retail, the build quality on these are pretty good. Although some people might complain that they feel flimsy and cheap, others might argue that they are simply lightweight and flexible.

      

      

The sound quality, alas, is terrible. If you were the sort of person who was used to Sennheiser and Bose, you would rather poke your ears with a stick than listen to your beats on these headphones. Oh well — at least they were pretty. I guess it’s back to Urbanears for me.