It seems like this has been a quiet month for figure releases. I think Saber Lily was the only newly-released figure I bought; I guess I also got Nana but she’s a couple months old. Black Rock Shooter and transvestite Yoko have been kicked to next month, and I don’t doubt that November’s releases are going to play the slippity slide game as well. Orchid Seed’s Seena has already been pushed back to December, and does anybody really think Alter’s Mio is going to be on time?
So anyway, without much new stuff to cover, let’s look at some older figures. Actually, Kyou isn’t that old; she was released back in August, and I’ve had her for a couple of months now. I’ve just been pretty lazy about taking pictures of her.
Kyou is from the game and anime Clannad. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of Key’s franchises. A number of them – like Air and Kanon – include repellant character designs with overly large eyes, tiny mouths, and freakishly large chins. I don’t know much about the plots of each of their titles, but I’m guessing they are standard high school dramas. Not really my thing. Most of my familiarity with Clannad comes from various fan-made comics of, uhh, questionable morality.
That said, I did watch the first episode of the Clannad After Story anime and I liked it. The characters don’t look like aliens and are appealing enough. The baseball game was pretty fun to watch, too.
So with that in mind I went ahead and bought this Kyou figure. I’ll admit that a major motivation for this purchase was the basketball; I like athletic girls. I also like her mischievous look; it gives her a confident, independent air, which is a very welcome change from the garden-grade subservient, low self-esteem girls that are all too common in anime. Oh yeah, and I like the shorts. They’re real short, which is a big plus.
Kyou is my first figure from Wave, who seem to be a bit of a fringe manufacturer. They put out a ton of 1/10 scale stuff, which doesn’t appeal to me at all. They say that Kyou is 1/7 scale; however, she measures about 20 centimeters tall, and the box says that the character is 160 centimeters tall. I flunked freshman math but fortunately I have a calculator here and it tells me that these measurements actually correspond to 1/8 scale.
The pose is pretty simple, but I like it a lot. It’s kinda sexy how she’s got one leg crossed over the other with her hand on her hip. The sculpt is also pretty good, with realistic wrinkles and creases on her clothes. Her backside could be a bit larger, I guess. The basketball seems to be about regulation size for the girls’ game and her shoes even have tread on the bottom, both of which are nice touches. The paint is alright, albeit a bit flat. She’s got a pretty simple color scheme here which doesn’t really stand out much. Her base is a plain white circle which has a pretty small footprint, which I approve of.
I hesitated a bit before buying this figure not only because I’m not a big fan of the progenitor franchise but also because I don’t know much about Wave, but I do like this figure a lot. It’s nothing that’s going to raise excitement levels or eyebrows, but it’s a nicely-done figure of a cute girl in a gym outfit. Nothing hugely special, but still pretty appealing.
I guess maybe it’s time to re-shoot some figures that I’ve previously reviewed, or to work through the old figure backlog. I wonder which I ought to do next?
WAVE has some really nice stuff. Their 1/10 Rei for example is as perfect as any Rei I’ve seen. Yes, they’re often small, WAVE figures are, but at least we get quality.
I mean, people keep saying how 1/6 figures should be better detailed than 1/8, and often it’s not true. With WAVE, you get often 1/10-1/8 which are perfectly detailed.
This figure, well, it fits the character, but it’s quite boring. No two ways about it, which is why I usually stay away from school-uniform figures.
Tread-marks on her shoes are a nice touch.
Also, there’s a reason one anime inspired RPG is called BESM – Big Eyes, Small Mouth 😉
I love Kyou, and this figure is great ^^ I don’t like her clothes but they are faithfull at the character who like sport ^^ Thanks for this presentation ^^
Needs more Tomoyo!!!!!
tho I guess Kyou comes in 3rd after Tomoyo and Fuuko. But the figure seems to portray Kyou as far more feminine than her character suggests. IIRC, she’s supposed to be more of a tomboy with a fair bit of tsundere in the mix.
>> Guy
I did think about getting Wave’s Rise Kujikawa. Not sure why I passed on it. Maybe I’ll pick it up if I see it on sale someplace. I kinda like that one Pia Carrot figure, the one with the short-haired girl in the pink shorts.
Figure size has a quality all its own to me, so I’m not too enthusiastic about getting any figure smaller than 1/8 scale. In fact, the next figure I get might be 1/4 scale.
>> Leonia
Yeah, I have to admit that her clothing doesn’t look too comfortable or practical for athletic competition. It looks good to me though! XD
>> gundamjehutykai
Indeed! I liked Tomoyo in the one episode I watched. I dunno who Fuuko is, though. From what little I know of Kyou, she seems to be less likely to use her feminine wiles and more likely to break your nose to persuade you.
That’s a pretty decent Kyou, though I don’t like her enough to buy a figure. In fact, none of the key franchise girls qualify for my collection, save for Tomoyo may be, but yeah she looks way too feminine and subtle compared to her character. Though, cross legs works for me too!
This is not my kind of figures, but Kyou presented with her ball is nice. I really appreciate your photos. 🙂
Im no fan of Key Designs.Thats all im gonna say ^^;;;;;;;;
>> Lylibellule
Thanks! Yeah, I have to admit, this isn’t really the sort of figure I usually buy, either. If she weren’t carrying a basketball, I probably wouldn’t have bought her.
That reminds me, the NBA season has started today! It is time for me to compose my annual “Dear God, Please Run Over Kobe Bryant With a Cement Mixer” prayer.
>> Blowfish
Haha, I hear that. I remember seeing screencaps of the Air anime and thinking, “WTF is wrong with her face??” The mouth and the bottom of the eyes shouldn’t be on the same horizontal plane.
I have no idea where to begin to think of storing a 1/4 figure.
You’ve seen my room, right? 1/4 would take too much precious book room 😀
And no, I was talking about how usually bigger figures are supposed to be more detailed (but less detailed once you reach a certain size), and the WAVE 1/10 seem way better detailed than bigger figures, which makes them quite attractive.
I haven’t actually looked all that closely at most of Wave’s stuff, since I wouldn’t even consider buying a 1/10 scale figure under most circumstances. I guess Figmas and stuff are around 1/10 scale? I suppose they might be an exception, although I don’t dig action figures all that much (I do have one in the mail right now, though). If Wave ever chucks out a figure of Itsuki Kannagi in her police uniform, that’d be another exception, I think.
Figmas and such are non-scale, actually.
But also think of the new Shuri figure I think, she’s 1/8, but because she’s a child she’s the same size as a 1/10.
Kyou is different, and that’s why I like her as well. She did go all teary in the bonus episode in After Story, but I really liked her kick-ass attitude and she doesn’t appear all manly like Tomoyo.
I’m still hoping one of the better manufacturers would make a Kyou figure in her uniform…not another Koto one please.
>> Guy
I got my first Figma today, and it’s a helluva lot smaller than I thought it’d be. Fun to play with though, I have to admit.
>> Tommy
Yeah, I liked her enthusiasm for chastising the weakest guy on her baseball team. I took a look at the Kotobukiya figure and I’m thinking I like the anime character designs in Clannad After Story much more than I like Key’s designs.
Actually, I like Tony Taka’s take on Clannad’s characters the best.
<.<
Everyone likes Tony Taka, especially inside their head, or when going to the bathroom 😛
And yes, figmas are pretty small. Some of the WAVE 1/10 are gorgeous though. Give them a look some day.
She’s one of my favorite figures. I love the LeBron James jersey in the background. That made me grin a bit. YOu’ve done a nice job reviewing Kyo, and I’m glad you like her!
By the way, they updated the Kanon character designs so they don’t look so creepy anymore. They sure were weird though.
I remember I saw the original video game character designs some years back, maybe off of the Megatokyo site, and when I saw those faces, I was like, “Uhh, what the hell?!” Eyes and mouths shouldn’t be on the same line drawn across the face.
Thanks, when I got this figure, I knew I wanted to put the Nike ad in the backdrop XD Actually, what I also thought of doing was drawing a picture of a Clannad character with the same messiah pose, but having almost no drawing ability and being unfamiliar with the entire male cast of the show, I figured that idea wasn’t going to work.
Yeah man, they were weird as hell. They all talked from right below their noses. The designs of the 2006 version are so much better. I was very relieved to see them redone.
See? http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii122/wtf2random/AnimePaperwallpapers_Kanon_Rling818.jpg
I can’t draw at all either. I have really no talent for that type of stuff. I’m sure you’ve got a bit more than me 🙂 Good choice on the LeBron jersey. It’s naturally perfect for this figure, but also, for some reason, it fits Kyo very well too. It seems that she’d be a huge sports fan.
I think it was the DVD box cover for Air that kinda freaked me out. I remember a lot of people talked about Air as being a really good show, and I was thinking about watching it despite the fact that the premise isn’t really my thing (my taste in anime is decidedly lowbrow) but then I saw the faces and I was like, “Oh HELL no.” You’re right, the new faces in Kanon are quite a bit cuter than the ones that freaked me out.
I’ve unfortunately got zero drawing ability now. I used to doodle quite a bit when I was a little kid and I really regret not keeping up with it past elementary school.
I don’t know much about Kyo’s background, but I’ve got the feeling that if she were on a basketball team, she’d either want to be the first scoring option or the point guard. Or both.
Air isn’t bad, but the ending is so sad that it’s almost a let down. Maybe that’s why it’s good; it sets you up for a great happy ending and then it crushes your dreams.
I’ve always wanted to be able to draw. I never could get it, though. I guess my talents lie elsewhere.
I’m sure she’d kick my ass too. I’m too slow to play basketball. I’m not very good at it. Kyo is athletic, though, and that’s pretty cool.
I’m too slow and, being a stereotypically short Asian guy, too small to play basketball. Every time I play a game I wind up getting my head smashed in by some dude’s elbow after he gets a rebound. I usually just wind up shooting hoops instead if I’m on a court.
I just don’t have the quickness to play baseketball. I can shoot a little bit, but that’s really all. Before highschool, I played pretty well as a center or forward, but then 6 feet was huge. A few years later, everyone playing that position was 6’4” or taller, and I kind of got left in the dust. I was never really my thing anyway; I’m a baseball guy myself. My body type suits me much better for that sport.
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