Friday , March 29 2024

Cleatology – Previewing the Mizuno Ignitus II KH

Mizuno Morelia Green

My sister has just arrived home from a three year stint teaching over in Japan, and in her suitcase was a little present for me, a pair of Mizuno Ignitus II KH’s. Now the timing of this piece may seem a bit off with the Wave Ignitus III having been released and reviewed by Bryan; however, I have two specific reasons for writing this. The first is my sister went to quite a bit of trouble to find me a pair of boots which are nigh on impossible to find outside of Japan, and the second is that these boots are a bit special, indeed, a prior incarnation of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho might say “they are not one of the bottle.”

[Also: Mizuno Wave Ignitus III Review]

So what makes a pair of boots which are essentially a take down of the Wave Ignitus, the boot marketed by Mizuno as the worn by Japanese set piece maestro Keisuke Honda, so special? It’s that they aren’t a take down model at all. They actually are boots which were tailored to the specifications of, and worn by Keisuke Honda, and from what I’ve seen haven’t been marketed to anywhere other than the Japanese market. The fact that these boots were available to the market (however, limited) at all is pretty special. After all we’ve seen Adidas recently flaunt the new Messi line of F50’s (available in sythetic uppers only) as the boots that Messi wears, when a quick investigation was able to prove that the Argentine had not switched over to synthetic uppers, and Nike has been doing similar with the CR7 line for years. The message to me has always been clear, Adidas and Nike were happy to have customers to pay a premium (often the CR7 Vapor was pricier than the standard Vapor line) to wear boots that looked like what their heroes were wearing, as opposed to the boots that their heroes were wearing. Indeed in Japan the KH edition boots actually ran cheaper than the Wave Ignitus series, due to Mr. Honda preferring his boots with less frills than the ‘global consumption’ model.

Keisuke Honda, sporting the customized Ignitus II
Keisuke Honda, sporting the customized Ignitus II

While the two major footballing pieces of the Wave Ignitus, the Mukaiten panel and the Bio Vamp are left untouched, and the K-Leather upper remains. The heel counter has been removed completely, and the soleplate is entirely different. The MD blade configuration soleplate has been swapped for a more basic one featuring triangular studs. As someone who is firmly in the Sir Alex Ferguson camp, of preferring more traditional studs. I was very impressed to see that Mr. Honda preferred a more traditional approach as well.

The MD blade soleplate of the stock Wave Ignitus
The MD blade soleplate of the stock Wave Ignitus
The customized soleplate of the KH edition
The customized soleplate of the KH edition

I’m excited to get these into testing and provide a full review on them. I wore them in a game situation last night and can confirm that they are exceptionally comfortable for a first wear, so I have high hopes on these going forward.

About Richard Wyatt

When he's not playing deft flicks and through balls with various 7 a side teams, Richard is either enjoying a good brew or enlightening the world with SoccerCleats 101 and the good ship Twitter. Find him on Twitter if you want to know what a Sweeper/Deep Lying Playmaker looks like!

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6 comments

  1. Can't wait for this review! Very good find, not going to lie I'm jealous! I love rare boots and Mizuno!

  2. Whoah, Beerschot AC?
    What's a Canadian doing in my Belgium :p
    Also, might wanna change that since Beerschot AC doesn't exist anymore.

    • Haha, cheers Jeff, the Canadian humourously changes actual club names to suit a punchline, which is how Beerschot AC became Beershot AC (our AC stood for Alcohol Club as opposed to Antwerpen Club). Sad to hear the De Ratten went bankrupt!

  3. Hey i have this one! Will post it soon on instag or twitter!

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