Yes, from JapanTackle archives, Ryoga goes back to '08, with 37 model listings.  

'18 Ryoga made the changes to match other new Daiwa models, including current Nd magnets compatible with SV spools.  

From discussion on TT, the earlier frames are not compatible with '18 Ryoga.  

But to show how Daiwa relies on model changes, my '18 Ryoga received a Hyperdrive gearset swap from '21 Basura.  

 

Big gears in the offset gearbox increase drag capacity over other Daiwas by 40%, to 25 lbs.  

34-mm floating spools, MagZ and SV, swap going back to '05.  

18 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

Yes, from JapanTackle archives, Ryoga goes back to '08, with 37 model listings.  

'18 Ryoga made the changes to match other new Daiwa models, including current Nd magnets compatible with SV spools.  

From discussion on TT, the earlier frames are not compatible with '18 Ryoga.  

But to show how Daiwa relies on model changes, my '18 Ryoga received a Hyperdrive gearset swap from '21 Basura.  

 

Big gears in the offset gearbox increase drag capacity over other Daiwas by 40%, to 25 lbs.  

34-mm floating spools, MagZ and SV, swap going back to '05.  

You can put an SV spool in anything that it will fit and it will work.   The TD-Z takes modern SV spool as does this ancient weird thing on the left that I have.  It's based on the Procaster Z and fishes identical to modern reels indicating that the magnets are similar to modern reels.  On some older reels the magnets will either be further away from the spool than modern reels (TD-Z) or super weak (1st gen Steez all variants except Megbass).  The spools will still work but be faster/longer casting which may or may not be an advantage depending on the use case. 

 

Then you also have the movable magnets of the T3's Magforce 3D that moved the entire magnet assembly from extra close (max brake) to normal (all around) then far away like TD-Z magnets (long cast).  The 1st Alpha's magnets are on the weaker side compared to modern reels but that doesn't stop the 15 Alphas SV from being my favorite finesse skipping reel.  SV spools aren't picky about agents like some Magforce Z spools can be.

Work is relative - the older magnets are not strong enough to register adequate response on SV Boost (confirmed in direct communication with Jun Sonada) and gives marginal response on SV (non boost).  

 

This works great with light weights, but when you increase cast weight to 1/2 oz, SV doesn't give enough start-up brake response to prevent backlash.  

Even with MagZ spool, this still needs end-tension to dial out hiccups.  Consider mag adjustment ersatz - needs full mag across the spectrum.  

 

Going through every spool from Roro-X to MagZ, I found a tiny window on SV-Boost where CV-Z would out-distance every other Daiwa casting 3 g to 150', but the window was just that narrow - wouldn't cast 2 g or 4 g.  

I did find a set-up where I like the reel, casting 1/4 oz jerkbait and 1/2+ oz topwaters on the red MagZ 1012, PE#2.    

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

@Micro Module Police 

you shoud be totally happy and without the inclination to gripe about absoluteny anything at all, if you buy up all the OG Daiwa  CV-Z and TD-Z you can get your hands on.  There are plenty of tem out there to keep you outfitted in reels as long as you want to fish.  

Then every thread you OP, and Every Post you pen on every other thread will be Positive and Cheerful.  But will happiness make your head explode (rhetorical question).  

Good luck.  

 

I rather enjoy this side of you bulldog..

😆😁 I really like the size of the new Ryoga, it looks smaller in build to my eye, of course that’s based on just the video only. 

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

Work is relative - the older magnets are not strong enough to register adequate response on SV Boost (confirmed in direct communication with Jun Sonada) and gives marginal response on SV (non boost).  

 

This works great with light weights, but when you increase cast weight to 1/2 oz, SV doesn't give enough start-up brake response to prevent backlash.  

Even with MagZ spool, this still needs end-tension to dial out hiccups.  Consider mag adjustment ersatz - needs full mag across the spectrum.  

 

Going through every spool from Roro-X to MagZ, I found a tiny window on SV-Boost where CV-Z would out-distance every other Daiwa casting 3 g to 150', but the window was just that narrow - wouldn't cast 2 g or 4 g.  

I did find a set-up where I like the reel, casting 1/4 oz jerkbait and 1/2+ oz topwaters on the red MagZ 1012, PE#2.    

 

@Bigbox99 I like the Blue CV-Z coastal, as much as I like @redmeansdistortion's red and black.  

That's more of a reel issue with the CV-Z's magnets.  I run a mix of fixed inductor Magforce Z, Magforce V, Ray's, SV and SV Boost in my reels swapping them around and run them all with zero spool tension.  It sounds like the spool you were running wasn't pairing well with the CV-Z.  I've had a similar issue with my SS SV with a fixed inductor Ray's spool.  The magnets and that spool didn't have enough control to cast with any effort.  I've heard the same about the KKR spools too. 

 

Magnet intensity will vary from reel model to reel model so its possible that the CV-Z just has weak magnets.  The only Millionaire I had was a Monoblock Carrozzeria Racing Milano that I molded with a longer T shadt to take normal 34mm spools and it seemed like it had normal magnets but it was also a Megabass reel and a heavily reworked Millionaire. 

 

The 1st gen Steez was notoriously weak on purpose to make the flagship reel a fast and exciting reel that required a high degree of skill to use without spool tension.  That was part of the appeal of the reel as an enthusiast tier reel. When Megabass released their version of the 1st gen Steez, the IS, they put much stronger magnets in the reel to to offer more control.  Despite the weak magnets of the 1st gen Steez I enjoy the weaker magnets of my LTD with the 1010 spool and know at least one person running a Zillion SV Boost spool in one.  Speaking of spools swaps and the SV Boost, the Zillion SV Boost spool in the 16 Steez SV TW is supposed to be great offering a greater range of adjustment and a much faster casting performance than in the Zillion.

And of course the topic of this thread is re-release of a new Ryoga, which some, at least, have waited the 8 years with bated breath.  

I recognize OG Daiwa is keen to the faithful - it never was for me.  

It took me 35 years to find a niche for a 2nd Daiwa - '16 Steez - and my niche expanded to 6 new Daiwas, exactly because of the spools made to take advantage of the latest magnets.  

I will continue to recommend these reels to my friends, and I won't find a need for a 32-mm Steez.  

The Ray's spool you have pictured predates any modern Daiwa.  You have the new style satin finish honeycomb spool but they are functionality identical to the early gloss finish circle ported spools.  They came out in 2015 for the TD-Z /Steez with a seperate 1016/T3 spool followed shortly after by the Alphas and later, Pixy.  Are you saying that the spools you have pictured don't work well in older reels like the TD-Z, Steez and Alphas or that they do because these reels are "newer" (not 35 years old) and have the latest magnets?  Off topic, but I'm confused as to what you are trying to clarify?  The 1st gen Steez, T3 and Alphas all had SV versions from Daiwa and Ray's spools from as far back as 2013-2016 with the reels themselves dating as far back as 2003 for the Alphas and 2006 for the Steez.

8 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

You can put an SV spool in anything that it will fit and it will work.   The TD-Z takes modern SV spool as does this ancient weird thing on the left that I have.  It's based on the Procaster Z and fishes identical to modern reels indicating that the magnets are similar to modern reels.  On some older reels the magnets will either be further away from the spool than modern reels (TD-Z) or super weak (1st gen Steez all variants except Megbass).  The spools will still work but be faster/longer casting which may or may not be an advantage depending on the use case. 

 

Then you also have the movable magnets of the T3's Magforce 3D that moved the entire magnet assembly from extra close (max brake) to normal (all around) then far away like TD-Z magnets (long cast).  The 1st Alpha's magnets are on the weaker side compared to modern reels but that doesn't stop the 15 Alphas SV from being my favorite finesse skipping reel.  SV spools aren't picky about agents like some Magforce Z spools can be.

So could I put an sv shallow spool in a steez a2 and make that work for bfs?

The difference between Steez and Steez A2 is magnesium vs. aluminum body, and aluminum vs. brass gears.  The other difference is the SV spool vs MagZ.  Everything else is the same, and the spools swap.  This thing has been on for a long time.  

5 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

The Ray's spool you have pictured predates any modern Daiwa.  You have the new style satin finish honeycomb spool but they are functionality identical to the early gloss finish circle ported spools.  They came out in 2015 for the TD-Z /Steez with a seperate 1016/T3 spool followed shortly after by the Alphas and later, Pixy.  Are you saying that the spools you have pictured don't work well in older reels like the TD-Z, Steez and Alphas or that they do because these reels are "newer" (not 35 years old) and have the latest magnets?  Off topic, but I'm confused as to what you are trying to clarify?  The 1st gen Steez, T3 and Alphas all had SV versions from Daiwa and Ray's spools from as far back as 2013-2016 with the reels themselves dating as far back as 2003 for the Alphas and 2006 for the Steez.

What constitutes a modern Daiwa? 

Unsolicited advice.  

 

Daiwa went through many variations to improve wide-range response on their mag brake.  

They arrived when they improved their magnets.  

Now, the same magnets get different weight ranges with different inductor mass and inductor return spring rates.  Orange, gold, purple are increasing inductor mass.  

  

Jun Sonada on JapanTackle casts every one, does a great job of rating working range, and offers spool tuning mods.  

Aftermarket spools take advantage of Daiwa magnets for BFS with lighter spools and lighter and tapered inductors

Here, the purple is different - it's Ray's Studio tapered SV inductor.  Ray's filled the void copying L/E KTF Kahen SV spool, but the tapered inductor is Ray's own design.   

14 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

So could I put an sv shallow spool in a steez a2 and make that work for bfs?

Yes, as long as it is a 34mm short shaft spool.  A good budget spool for this is the Ray's Studio spools also sold as SDS Customs on ebay.

13 hours ago, F14A-B said:

What constitutes a modern Daiwa? 

I consider the new platform reels that released around 2013 to be modern Diawas.  All Tatulas, T3, Ryoga, 16 Steez (and all the variants) and the T Wing Zillions.  This is also when Diawa shifted from the old 34mm "103" spool to the "1016" 34mm spool.  They're basically the same but the new style 1016 has a slightly different shaft length that can be zeroed out with spool tension adjustment. 

 

Older platforms that date back to the 90s or early 2000s that were in production up until recently or still are don't count.  Those are still old Daiwas but modernized.  A example of this would be the Millionaire. Daiwa likes to make limited runs of the reel. They did a similar thing with the OG Alphas for years before pulling the plug.  

On 10/19/2025 at 9:38 AM, bulldog1935 said:

Work is relative - the older magnets are not strong enough to register adequate response on SV Boost (confirmed in direct communication with Jun Sonada) and gives marginal response on SV (non boost).  

 

This works great with light weights, but when you increase cast weight to 1/2 oz, SV doesn't give enough start-up brake response to prevent backlash.  

Even with MagZ spool, this still needs end-tension to dial out hiccups.  Consider mag adjustment ersatz - needs full mag across the spectrum.  

 

Going through every spool from Roro-X to MagZ, I found a tiny window on SV-Boost where CV-Z would out-distance every other Daiwa casting 3 g to 150', but the window was just that narrow - wouldn't cast 2 g or 4 g.  

I did find a set-up where I like the reel, casting 1/4 oz jerkbait and 1/2+ oz topwaters on the red MagZ 1012, PE#2.    

I know you have to defend your 18 Ryoga from the plastic police but the 1st gen Ryoga isn't an old reel like your Millionaire.  It was a flagship product that was very forward looking for its time.  The 1st gen Ryoga is much more closely related to your 18 Ryoga than it is the Millionaire, by a lot.  The 100 size is a 1016 reel, maybe even the 1st such example of a 1016 reel and that puts it in the modern Daiwa camp IMO on that alone.  Magnets are super strong too my spools behave the same in my Black Jungle as they do in my Zillion and Zillion HD.  The 2nd gen is a more compact version that didn't get a lot of love because of the Hypermesh gears and non threaded side plate.  The 2nd gen is kind of slept on but it's significantly more compact than the 1st gen in the 1016 size while having the same spool.  Definitely a nice feat.  

I never had a wife on BR before.  

yeah, I can't get past short Studio Composite handles on low-geared reels, and thought gunmetal trim made the big bright reel look more symmetric - ZPI drag star, and original Zero cap from my Steez

On 10/19/2025 at 10:11 AM, Bigbox99 said:

There was a 1st gen Ryoga that used a screw in side plate.  It basically identical to the 18 Ryoga except better in that it doesn't have Daiwa Micro Module gears and a has a screw in side plate.  Megabass even made a few versions.

 

https://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwaryoga1016hl.html

 

https://www.tackletour.com/reviewmegabasslin10.html

My LIN 10 Black Jungle

 

Just going to post a few of aussiebasser's round reels for round reel visual stimulation.  He hasn't been active in years and has an awesome collection of round reels the world needs to see.

 

I'd have a hard time taking some of those reels/rods out on the water.