The Ikki Tousen franchise is a licensing juggernaut, and with five Kanu Unchous in my collection, I am scarcely immune to its wiles. However, while the manga fields a bewilderingly large cast, for years my only non-Kanu figure was Griffon’s awful Ryofu Housen figure from way back. Now, with Daiki Kougyou’s Ryomou Shimei in my collection, that count increases to two.

Kanu, Ryomou and Hakufu Sonsaku comprise the trifecta of major Ikki Tousen characters but while Kanu is my favorite girl in the series, I’m less enamored with the other two. I don’t mind that Hakufu is a brainless ditz – I find it quite charming, actually – but there’s not much more than that to her personality and she simply doesn’t have many good figures. My reticence to like Ryomou has a more peculiar explanation. When Tokyopop localized the manga, they renamed it Battle Vixens and handed the translation duties to Keith Giffen, who’s more noted for his mainstream work with Marvel and DC Comics. Apparently, he was given a very basic version of what the characters were saying and was told to write the dialogue in a way that would appeal to Americans. So he did that, eschewing subtlety and charging every scene with blatant, profane sexuality. I gather that most of the manga’s readership here did not support this decision, but I didn’t actually mind; I felt that the vulgar writing fit well with the lewd nature of the art. It was crude, perhaps sophomoric, and excessive, but at that time Ikki Tousen’s core themes were nothing but excessive, and Ryomou was the very essence of that; when she accosts Gakushu in the first volume, she is loud and carnal, threatening to climax with every arm lock.

Despite having bought and read all of the manga volumes, I was surprised as anybody when Ikki Tousen took a turn towards the conventional, moderating the innuendo and bestowing distinct, well-defined backgrounds on its characters. I wonder if Yuji Shiozaki knew what which direction he wanted to take the series when he started off; I tend to doubt it, as the early volumes portray Hakufu and Koukin as the main characters and present Kaku Bunwa, Ryofu Housen, and Chuuei Toutaku as antagonists, with Kannei and Ryomou being somewhat enigmatic but generally troublesome wild cards. However, Toutaku and Ryofu are killed off in short order, Kaku just sort of shifts into the background as eye candy, and Kanu and the Seito Academy group eventually move in as co-leads against Moutoku. In the anime, Ryomou becomes the even-keeled, quiet, logical foil to the boisterous and impulsive Hakufu, replacing Koukin to some extent in that role. However, my view of Ryomou is still colored by her depiction early in the series, and even though I found the idea of a violent, uncontrollable, sadistic Rei Ayanami clone to be irresistible at first, she also faded a bit as the story progressed and I can’t quite remember much of what she did subsequent to her introduction. It’s also hard for me to think of her as one of the more normal characters in the anime, given the first impression given of her in Battle Vixens.

Anyway, on to the figure. This rendition of Ryomou Shimei comes from Daiki Kougyou and is sculpted in 1/6 scale, standing about 26 centimeters tall at the top of her head, plus about another two centimeters to account for the optional handcuffs. Her base is a featureless black plastic disc which does all that it needs to do without getting in the way.

This figure is based off of an illustration done by Shunya Yamashita, making Daiki Kougyou the latest manufacturer to have found inspiration in his artwork. Ryomou is often depicted in maid garb, a sartorial choice that is wholly incongruous with her sober, introspective mannerisms, and Yamashita has given his typical spin on Ryomou’s wardrobe, decking her out in a leather collar, bonnet and dress with frills and ribbons in plenty, and chunky purple boots. She also wears her trademark sealing eyepatch.

She’s given more of a realistic, adult body build here than in the anime or manga and I think it suits this figure very well. Her pose is also quite distinctive, although I’m not quite certain what she’s supposed to be doing … is she dancing, maybe? Regardless, it’s dynamic and appealing even if it does look a bit silly, although considering her wild outfit, perhaps that’s fitting.

The sculpting of her clothing is quite detailed, with her skirt, headdress, and garters all crinkled with ruffles. Her blouse features folds that emphasize the forward thrust of her lower torso, and her panties are, uhh, realistically creased as well. One flaw is there is a seam right on the front side of her left leg; it’s difficult to notice under normal room lighting and I didn’t even see it until I looked at my full-size photos, but once you know it’s there, it’s hard to miss.

The paintwork is also very nice. Her hair and ribbons have strong shading which give depth to the figure. Her overall color scheme is rather muted, with lots of black and white, but the bright red bow ties and the violet boots and gloves give her the appearance of being much more colorful than she really is. A hint of blush and lipstick highlight her facial features, and she also has her mole next to her lower lip.

She comes with just one accessory, her favorite set of handcuffs. They’re made of fairly rigid plastic with one open end which slides into her right hand. Besides that, she keeps faith with the source material by separating at the torso so that her skirt can be removed, revealing plain but lovingly-detailed underpants.

I bought Ryomou mainly to go with Daiki Kougyou’s Kanu, but I think she’s a great figure on her own merits. It’s a bit of a different take on the character, coming from Shunya Yamashita’s art and putting her in an unusual costume, but it all comes together very well. Now, I’m ready for a manufacturer to make some figures of Roshuku, Bashoku, and Houtou Shigen, who’s with me?

Daiki Kougyou is putting out two more versions of this figure. The Junior High School Student figure purports to depict her as she might have looked in the 7th grade, although I know of no junior high schoolers with breasts like that. Mou-chan looks quite cute anyway. The Original Face version dispenses with the Shunya Yamashita-inspired face in favor of a design a bit closer to the anime. Her undergarments are given a wet, transparent look, making this version the Ryomou of choice for perverts and letches.

Up to the tizzop

When I look at Alter’s lineup, there aren’t any figures that I’d consider bad. Oh sure, they’ve got quite a few figures that I don’t particularly care for, but they are supreme with respect to quality, and you can see it in every figure they make. On the flip side, consider Taki Corporation; they don’t have a single figure that I like and their works are distinguished only by their misshapenness. Then take a maker like Kotobukiya; they’ve been around forever and they put out pretty good figures. I can’t think of any that stand out, though; there are a number of Alter figures that I knew I was going to buy as soon as I saw them, but I can’t think of any Kotobukiya figures that I can make the same claim for.

Daiki Kougyou, however, is a different sort. While Alter is consistently superb and Kotobukiya is always solid and Taki is reliably bad, Daiki Kougyou’s figures are all over the place. They’ve crafted masterpieces like the miko version of Kanu Unchou, which can easily go toe to toe with anything Alter’s ever chucked out. And then you have figures like this, where you scratch your head and wonder what they were thinking. Further, while Alter, Taki, and Kotobukiya all tend to adhere closely to the original character designs, Daiki Kougyou often eschews convention and offers its own spin on existing characters. For example, many of their figures are sculpted by Toshirou, whose style has its own inimitable idiosyncrasies, and they have an upcoming figure of Ikkitousen’s Ryomou Shimei as re-imagined by Shunya Yamashita, who of course has an easily-identifiable and distinctive flair. They’ve also made a figure of Sei which is unusual in that they didn’t bother giving her a left arm, and her face looks a little bit like Dr. Julian Bashir from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

So when I look at this figure of Haruhi, it’s a bit surprising to me that it comes from Daiki Kougyou. It looks more akin to something that Max Factory or Good Smile Company would make, since it’s a very faithful representation of the character. It’s also an amazing figure, and while I think miko Kanu is the best figure that Daiki Kougyou’s ever made, Haruhi is right up there as well.

Haruhi Suzumiya is, of course, the titular character of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Normally I’d assume everybody who might read this review has watched the show and knows what it’s about, but I’d be incorrect on that score, since I haven’t finished watching the first season myself. On the unlikely chance that anyone reading this doesn’t know who Haruhi is, she is the effervescent, incorrigible leader of the SOS Brigade and the enigmatic epicenter of all the events in the show. All the events that I’ve watched thus far, anyway.

Sculpted in 1/8 scale, she actually looks a bit larger than that. It might be because her head is so large relative to her body, but just eyeballing her, I’d guess that she’s on the upper end of 1/8 scale or the lower end of 1/7 scale.

Haruhi comes with a rather unusual base. She plugs into a huge musical note, an eighth note I guess. The plug protrudes right from her rump so there’s no easy other way to display her. The note is made of plastic and is a bit flimsy, although it’s sturdy enough that it won’t bend unless you’re really putting some force against it (it’d probably break before bending, anyway). The note then goes into the second part of the base, a plain round plastic disc.

The other loose part in the box is Haruhi’s guitar. You push the neck into her left hand; the body balances against her leg and torso. She doesn’t really get a firm grip on it, so I’d recommend not jarring her too much. The guitar has real strings, which is good and bad; it gives it a more realistic appearance but it’s also an annoyance because the strings keep sliding out of the nut. The guitar does look quite awesome; it’s got twenty frets and the tuners, pickups, bridge, and volume knobs all have a chrome-look paint job.

Incidentally, I’m not sure what sort of guitar this is supposed to be. I also wonder why we never see pointy guitars like Ibanezes or Jacksons in anime. Personally, I like guitar designs with a Strat body and a pointy stock.

Haruhi herself looks absolutely incredible. Her face does an excellent job of capturing her lively personality, and the pose is both playful and hot. Her stockings are made of fishnet material rather than being printed on, and the effect is marvelous; there’s some natural shading around the back of her knees and towards her ankles where the material sort of bunches up which looks great. If you’ve got a pantyhose fetish, this is the figure you want.

In terms of overall quality, the sculpt is second to none. Her legs are long and well-proportioned and her ass is dead sexy. Her face lines up perfectly with her arm (I know you all remember Alter’s Hikaru, who was sighting down her gat with the wrong eye), and she’s got a guitar pick clenched between thumb and middle finger, which is a very nice touch. Similarly, the paint job is superb; she’s got a pretty simple color scheme here, but everything looks fine, from the muted tones of her guitar to her signature bright yellow hair ribbon. Daiki Kougyou also really nailed the color of her eyes as well.

I picked up Haruhi from HLJ’s sale and I’m wondering why I didn’t buy her earlier. As you can probably tell, I really like this figure; it’s cute, sexy, unique, an outstanding rendition of Haruhi and a remarkable figure in general.

Another review is up on foo-bar-baz. His pictures are quite brighter than mine. I don’t recall coming across any other reviews of this Haruhi.

Up to the tizzop

And the final entry in this week’s Kanu Uncho love affair is here, and nobody can claim that the best wasn’t saved for last. I hesitated to buy this figure simply because of the astronomical price but hey, money is replaceable but sold out is sold out, right? Rather than endure the inevitable mental flagellation that I’d inflict upon my cheapskate self if I let this opportunity slide by, I threw common sense to the wind and picked her up, and now that she’s here all I can really say is daaaayum.

Daiki Kougyo’s Kanu is sculpted in a manly 1/6 scale, a choice I definitely approve of. Rather than her regulation Seito High School uniform, she’s dressed up in a sarashi and hakama ensemble which effortlessly combines anachronistic fashion with pure sexiness. She also wields the Seiryutou, the legendary bardiche. It fits into a notch cut into her left hand, and the solid design is evident here; with many figures, it can be a pain or hassle to fit a weapon into a character’s hand, but with Kanu, I can easily slip her weapon into her grip by feel in the dark.

She also carries this thing, which looks something like a kimono, maybe. It’s rather heavy and I had no idea how to attach it to her, but Meronpan’s review of the red miko Kanu was a great help in figuring out the solution. You have to separate her torso and then remove a section of her back. There’s a part in the middle of her back where the long transparent ribbon attaches which you can lift up with your fingernail and thus excise the section.

Speaking of separating her torso, she pulls apart easily to remove her hakama trousers. Her boobs are also swappable. Looking at the above-linked review by Meronpan, it appears the red version comes with a sarashi that entirely covers up the breasts, but this black version lets the nipples peep through. I didn’t notice that before and I spent some time looking through the box, wondering where the PG-rated boobs were.

She also comes with two sets of naked boobs, one made of firm plastic and one made of a spongy, squishy material. It feels a bit fragile so I doubt I’ll use it.

In a word, the overall quality of this figure is stunning, and there’s not much for me to say there. The sculpt is excellent as is the paintwork. I love details like the hair ribbon that ties her tresses into a ponytail as well as her tabi socks and sandals.

I’ve received two Daiki Kougyo figures in quick succession and I’m definitely a big fan of theirs now. This Kanu Uncho is a beautiful figure to behold, not just superior in caliber but absolutely transcendant. The high price tag is a hard blow to absorb but I definitely am not feeling the hit to my bank account as Kanu was worth every dollar.

I tried to do something a bit more elaborate with my photographs here. When I started this blog, one of my main objectives was to improve my photographic abilities. I studied engineering in school and work as a programmer, and thus I was primarily interested in enhancing my technical knowledge. However, creativity is every bit as important as knowing what aperture size means, and I’m hoping that these photos are a bit more appealing than a solid black or white background. I won’t be constructing dioramas for many of my figures because of the requisite time expenditure but for a high-quality figure like this, I wanted to show it off in as interesting a manner as I could think of.

Meronpan has reviewed the red miko version released a while back. SbebiWan has a review up as well. I’m not sure who else has reviewed this version of Kanu, but I’ll add links here as I come across them, as this figure deserves all the fame that comes its way.

Cast-off pictures inc.

In an effort to keep this review somewhat work-safe I’m not going to inline the images with her naked boobs hanging out. Instead, I’ll just link them here:

Picture 1
Picture 2

I’ve also contributed this review to Shadonia! Click the banner below to read it, which includes a translation in French.

Back up to the tizzop

This post is unsafe for work. For school. For the library. If you get terminated, suspended, disciplined, or defenestrated as a result of viewing this post, I forswear any responsibility for what has happened, but I will point and laugh at you should I learn of your misfortune.

Daiki Kougyo is known for manufacturing exorbitantly expensive figures, and at around $150, Eve is no exception to their modus. She seems to be an original creation, and I have no idea what Diskvision is or what it represents.

Clocking in at an impressive 1/5.5 scale, Eve comes scantily clad in a plastic bustier and panty, which really isn’t anything more than a waistband with a flap that covers her crotch. They are flimsy and look rather cheap, and I’m guessing that anybody that desires this figure – including myself – isn’t inclined to leave them on her. The wings on her legs are not removable, which I think is a shame; I don’t think they look all that great and they detract from the simplicity of the figure.

Getting straight to the point, Eve isn’t entirely anatomically correct; there is a small, nearly-indiscernable depression between her legs, as if the sculptor waffled as to whether how far he wanted to go and settled on a half-assed compromise.

Apart from that though, her sculpt looks fantastic. She has relatively realistic albeit slender proportions, and there are pleasing details such as the fold of flesh on her side as well as the lines of her rib cage. Her feet are somewhat large, particularly coming from a sculpting figure that mainly does anime figures, but I like big feet anyway.

Her base is a thin black disc. Plain, effective, no larger than it needs to be, it’s a pretty good base.

Paint is simple, clean, and attractive, and that’s how I’d describe the figure itself. There isn’t a great deal going on here; it’s a straightforward nude sculpture, without any frills or gimmicks. At its price point, it’d be reasonable to expect more, but I’m pretty happy with this figure; she’s huge and she looks great, and other than the one quibble mentioned above, there’s not much I can complain about.

I felt a bit like a pornographer taking these shots.

Two ladies with no reservations about going full frontal for the camera.

Back to the tizzop