Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

And back to figures. Feels like a while since I’ve reviewed a figure. Remind me not to do an eroge review with that level of detail again. It felt good to take pictures again after taking a break. It’s kinda like when you have a good-ass porno that you really like and you watch the hell out of it, and after a while it becomes much less exciting and you can’t use it anymore, but then you stop watching it and later on, you view it again and it’s as good as you remember. Hmm, what were we talking about again? Oh yes, a figure, we have a figure here. Let’s take a look at it.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

Like Orchid Seed’s Seira Orgel, Kurisu comes from a game developed by 5pb. and NitroPlus. And like Chaos;HEAd, Steins;Gate upholds the tradition of bizarre punctuation and inconsistent capitalization. Steins;Gate was first released on the Xbox 360, the console of choice for visual novels, shmups, breast-bouncing volleyball games, and wife and idol-training simulators. I haven’t played it due to the annoying region protection built into the 360, but it’s also out on the PC. I’m still not going to play it since it has no porn and for me to play a visual novel, it has to have some really good porn and this game lacks such.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

The character designs in Steins;Gate were done by Huke, the illustrator best known for doing the much, much more popular Black Rock Shooter characters. His handiwork is perhaps not immediately obvious when you first observe this figure, but up close, it becomes apparent, particularly in her eyes; she has the same pupil-less eyes of the Black Rock Shooter character. She also has that character’s elongated body lines and a pair of short booty shorts. Not enough characters in anime wear shoot booty shorts. More the shame, that.

Speaking of that Black Rock Shooter character … I know that there was an anime episode featuring her and some of her buddies. I’m curious, did they ever reveal why she’s called “Black Rock Shooter”? Does she really shoot black rocks? I’m mildly interested in watching it myself, but I’m thinking life’s too short to give it that much time so I’m hoping someone out there might be able to shed some light on this mystery.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

Sculpted in 1/8 scale, Kurisu is just a bit over 21 centimeters tall, with her base adding about another centimeter to her total height. She’s not particularly large, though, as she has a very slender body build. That’s not to say that she doesn’t take up a lot of space; quite the opposite, actually, because her base is unusually complex. The smaller gears attach to sockets in the larger gears, and the larger gears attach to sockets in Kurisu’s legs. Kotobukiya thoughtfully provides a manual to show you how to put Kurisu together; it’s not too difficult but the pegs are pretty small and feel fragile, so I’m going to try to not move this figure around very much.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

Kurisu’s paint scheme comprises muted earth tones, which go well with her neutral expression. Her unkempt red necktie provides a small splash of color and also reveals a bit of her personality. Kotobukiya’s done a particularly nice job with the pattern on her jacket; the texture lets it stand out against the flat white and brown of her shirt and pantyhose.

Nitpickers may notice that the banding on the border of her jacket isn’t super crisp; I’m not sure if you’d be able to see it without a magnifying glass, but I figured I’d point that out.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

There’s a lot going on with this sculpt, and it’s mostly good. Kurisu is, of course, based on an illustration – the box cover to the video game – and that limits what the sculptor can do, but still, I like the body language that she gives off: she’s pensive, distant, and perhaps a touch melancholy. I also like how her sleeves are partially pulled over her hands; that adds a youthful look which contrasts with her grown-up attire. Speaking of which, her shorts are awesome. Kurisu probably isn’t what you’d call a sexy anime girl, but she still looks reasonably good, and the shorts and pantyhose combo add to her appeal and present a look that is very seldom seen. At least, I don’t recall seeing too many anime girls rocking shorts with pantyhose underneath.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

A nice touch is the cellphone affixed to her base. I guess it’s an older model, since it’s a flip-screen phone. I still use an eight-year old flip-screen phone myself, and I can’t help but be envious when my friends break out their smartphones with all their wacko apps and internet connectivity and MP3 playback abilities. On the other hand, I’m not at all jealous of their phone bills. Anyway, there’s a phone present here, and it looks quite nice; the buttons are even raised bumps rather than being just flat decals.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

There’s a few disconnects with the sculpt, particularly how her jacket is flared out behind her even though she’s not actually sitting on anything, and how her left leg seems to be resting on something but is actually floating in midair. I suppose these are things that don’t look unusual in a 2D illustration but when you look at this figure at all angles, it looks a bit odd. Just a bit, though. Her legs are also really, really long. It gives her sort of an spider-like look that people may like or hate.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review

Kurisu is a pretty good figure, one that I’m happy with. She’s sort of an oddity in my collection, since I tend to buy the obviously slutty rather than the quiet and thoughtful girls, but she looks so unique that I figured why the heck not.

One thing I did not notice when I ordered her is that Kotobukiya describes her as “the brilliant tsundere heroine.” Christ, they’re everywhere these days. That’s another reason I’m not going to play the game. However, I don’t doubt that Steins;Gate will get an anime adaptation, and then I suppose I’ll learn to dislike her. I guess that’s another reason why I don’t watch many of the shows I buy figures from; I don’t really want to hate the characters whose figures I own.

Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review
Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review
Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review
Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review
Kotobukiya Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate Figure Review
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31 Responses to Kurisu Makise from Steins;Gate

  1. Chag says:

    To my knowledge, Black Rock Shooter does not shoot actual rocks. The OVA features some glowing blue projectiles being ejaculated out of her weapon, and I’ve yet to come across rocks that fit the bill. Maybe the “Rock” in her name refers to her fashion sense? Do rock stars dress like that? God, I am so out of touch.

    She’s supposed to be a tsundere? Colour me surprised, because I sure as hell didn’t see that coming. She’s gotta be the most glum-looking tsundere I’ve ever seen. I didn’t think Huke could even draw expressions beside “empty” and “glum”. The more you know~

    • Tier says:

      Hmm, well, that’s disappointing, I was sorta hoping I’d get to see lofting big huge stones at people. Or at that Dead Master person, I guess. Having not seen the OVA, my only exposure to Dead Master is in this one doujinshi I have, in which Dead Master rapes Black Rock Shooter with tentacles, so I am assuming they are adversaries of some sort.

      Man, I don’t know anything about music these days. I was listening to some Dr. Dre in the car a while back and I realized that The Chronic is about as old now as the Beatles were when I was born. Damn I’m old.

      Yeah, I don’t see it in her character design myself, but I guess tsundere characters are everywhere these days. Google tells me that Steins;Gate has been greenlighted for an anime adaptation so I suppose we will find out for ourselves soon.

  2. Ashlotte says:

    Black background shots are quite epic!

    Slightly lament canceling this figure, but only slightly…Still really digging the Pose/Base/General Character design though for sure.

    And bah you shouldn’t pass up VNs that lack sex you bum…Going to miss some of the ones that have great stories that way. T_T

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, she definitely looks unique. I guess you can admire Kurisu in her anime form, whenever it is broadcast.

      I may miss out on some great stories, but I’d rather not miss out on great sex scenes XD Especially the tentacle-y ones. I wonder if there’s a demo for Walpurgis …

  3. radiant says:

    Love the first shot! You have a very fast lens!

    I’m thinking “Black” because she’s dressed in black “Rock” because she rocks, or is surrounded by rock-like stuff, and “Shooter” maybe because of the cannon, or the star on her jacket? Anyway, it’s Japanese. None of it ever makes sense.

    Thought about getting this figure when I first saw it, because it seemed kinda neat, but not enough about the clothing design convinced me.

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, I suppose not, I’m sure it just sounded cool to them or something. I kinda wonder if Huke and company expected their character design to blow up the way it did.

      And yeah, I can understand that for sure, since she’s not the sort of figure that I’d usually buy. With the exchange rate in the toilet and with so many figures hitting the bargain bin, I might’ve waited to see if she’d get discounted. I’m also kinda waiting to see if Amiami throws GSC’s recent Saber figure into the bargain bin, since her stock status still lists “Plenty.”

  4. Sloth says:

    Back when this was announced I had a lot of interest in Kurisu (is it meant to say Chris? If her name was Christ it’d be more Kuraisuto) because I loved the design. Then I realised the potential for this figure to come out looking strange as it’s made my Koto so I held back. After seeing her here, I think I’d get her on sale but not at normal price.

    That said I’m quite impressed with a few things on this figure. First is how it has stayed true to the original prototype. In particular her eyes, I find it so mesmerising for some reason. The gradient in her hair is a great touch too. Her bangs look really good to me – the tips look sharp and the sculpt of layers with complementary shading presents a perfect looking portrait.

    I think she would have looked batter on some angles if her left foot was actually stepping on one of the gears. It looks quite odd to rest arms and hands on your leg when the leg is suspended without support.

    I’m curious as to why you did not say anything about the base. It looks great IMO.

    I love your shots in the review. Very fitting lighting and sharp looking photos.

    • Tier says:

      Thanks! Yeah, I wondered the same thing about her name, I figure her name is probably Chris, but Wikipedia still lists it as “Kurisu,” even though the anime article contributors tend to anglicize names when it’s obvious. I don’t know if it’s obvious, but I can’t say I’ve ever heard of Kurisu as a Japanese name.

      The paint job looks really nice; the earth tones let the blue of her eyes and that white dot (actually a square, I guess) where her pupils should be capture a viewer’s attention. Yeah, I probably should’ve said something more about the base; I usually don’t talk much about bases (partially a reaction to some figure reviews I read years ago, which spent too many words talking about bases) but this one deserves more attention; the two-tone paint job is really nice and complements her clothing and hair very well. I usually don’t think of brown as being a very attractive color (except when I’m expecting a UPS delivery), but Kurisu makes it look good, even distinctive.

  5. BioToxic says:

    Ah this reminds me that I should get round to watching Choas;Head. I think FUNimation licensed it so I’ll need to remember to pick-up the DVDs whenever.

    Kurisu looks interesting. I like your first shot, is the red liquid in front of her? The floating gears look cool. It would have been cool if she was standing on them instead of the white foot peg though. I’m also liking her shorts/stockings combo. She definitely has the BRS look to her, blank expression and empty looking eyes.

    • Ashlotte says:

      I’d pass on the Anime…It was lackluster to say the least. Do yourself a favor and play the game instead, which is about 1000x better in every regard. >_>

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, it’s water with some food coloring added to it. I was sorta worried that it might stain the figure but it seems it does not.

      Hey, there’s also art of her in a swimsuit and a necktie. That’s a combo you don’t see much either, but I am liking it a lot. Someone should do a figure of her in a bikini, a tie, and a labcoat.

  6. super rats says:

    Never even knew about this figure. The gears are pretty cool. A lot of figures I’ve gotten make me worry about running or moving quickly in my apartment since it seems like any vibration makes them move around and I worry about the pegs. The scariest of them that I have, as far as snapping, is Alter’s Franco il Nero. There’s just one long thin peg holding up the whole figure in a weird way, but so far so good on that front.

    Also, sometimes names like Kurisu make me laugh once I sound them out and de-accent them and be like wtf, her name is Chris!

    • Tier says:

      I had another Alter figure (swimsuit Saber) that snapped its pegs clean off. She was leaning forward pretty badly but I didn’t take much notice of it, and after a few months, I discovered her faceplanted in my display case. I still haven’t figured out a way to repair her; I guess maybe I can try pulling the pegs out of her feet with forceps and drilling some holes for screws.

      When I was playing through Zanjibaru, there were a lot of times when I had to sound out words phonetically to figure out what they were saying. There was one time when the auto-translator came up with something like, “Guroneido rancheru” and I was like “Guro? Huh?” Then I said it to myself and figured out they were saying “grenade launcher.” Playing through that game makes me respect the sort of effort fansubbers have to put in.

  7. I like the base on this figure, it’s unique and a nice design. I guess she’s in that sitting pose due to some sort of energy field caused by the rotating gears. So that’s why she looks like she’s sitting, but not touching anything? But yeah, maybe just my imagination run amuck!

    I’m not a fan of the pupil-less eyes, they look so dead and lifeless to me.

    Kotobukiya has been coming out with some really nice figures in recent times, I had doubts when I first got one of their figures – unsure what kind of quality it’d be. I read some reviews of Kotobukiya’s earlier releases and there weren’t many praises. But a lot of the Kotobukiya figures I have now seem pretty good to me.

    That first shot with the water droplets is definitely cool!

    • Tier says:

      Yeah, it’s sort of an odd look; I think it works okay here because it’s such an abstract-looking figure, and I think it works okay with the Black Rock Shooter characters, but I was looking up some of Huke’s artwork on Danbooru and it looks a bit strange on the more ordinary-looking girls.

      I’ve always liked Kotobukiya, but that’s mainly because their figures used to be really, really cheap. I remember I got their 1/6 scale Rachel from Ninja Gaiden figure for like $35, and their first few Shining Wind figures were also very inexpensive. I’m not sure if they switched up their distribution methods or if the exchange rate messed up their pricing, but now they seem about as expensive as most other brands, at least at North American retailers.

  8. Fabienne says:

    Thats a nice figure, but Im a bit surprised that she is from Kotobukiya.
    I had the impression that in general they produce more friendly looking figures.

    her outfit is cool and the earth colors look pretty unique,
    especially the leather texture of her jacket.
    the base with the gear parts looks very interesting
    fans of the steampunk look would love it.
    I don’t what to think about her eyes, but I like the expresson of her mouth.

    anyway your pictures of her are very nice
    I like kurisu-makise-09.jpg, kurisu-makise-10.jpg and kurisu-makise-02.jpg the most 🙂

    • Tier says:

      Thanks XD Yeah, this figure seems a bit offbeat for Kotobukiya; looking at some of their recent figures, they’ve got figures from Shining Wind, Evangeion, Strike Witches, To Heart … all stuff everyone has seen before, but I kinda doubt anyone even knows what Steins;Gate is (and the only reason I ever heard about it is because I have a peculiar interest in Japanese 360 games).

      I liked the way the white pictures came out, though I was going for a funky effect with a LensBaby. She looks so serene and neutral that I thought it’d be interesting to try give the pictures a sense of motion while she was sitting still.

  9. Aka says:

    I always kind of wanted this figure, but never really enough to throw down the cash. There are a few details I never noticed that you brought to my attention as well, such as her sleeves around her hands, or that she was illustrated by Huke, or that she was tsundere.

    The first picture is really neat. It causes me to build a scenario as to why she would be in such as situation, here’s what comes to mind…

    She’s in an enclosure slowly being filled with fluid while her captors watch hoping for a response, fear. She stubornly refuses to show any emotion lest she give them the pleasure they desire. Denying them she continually stares back at them, expressionless. The only emotion her captors receive is fear themselves.

    Though, the more I look at it, the more I see a subtle hatred, the pitch of her head, the eyes and her mouth all add to it.

    Eitherway, I feel a much better use of water than with Kureha, if only for all the projected emotion I saw in it. Even though a swimsuit figure and water makes so much more sense than this figure.

    • Tier says:

      That could be! Or maybe her captors experience pleasure since some people get off on damsels in distress. Or she could also be staring back at the photographer, pissed off that he keeps dousing her with water because he sucks so much at taking pictures. I used the water here mainly because she looks very abstract, and I was going for pictures that don’t make a lot of sense. I’d consider her more of a bargain bin than an instant buy sort of figure, but she sure is fun to photograph.

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  11. nuo2x2 says:

    WOMG!!
    so that crazy awesome Kurisu “blood bath” photo that I saw in Tsuki Board was yours?!?
    my hat goes off to you bro, really love this “Picture of the Month” ^^b

    • Tier says:

      Thanks XD I upload my pics to Tsuki-board from time to time, it’s a great way to get quick feedback on a picture since I’m often not sure if my ideas work or not.

  12. Wolfheinrich says:

    I started watching Steins;gate yesterday and found myself getting interested in Kurisu. Unlike you, I only decide to buy figure when I am familiar with the story of the character. I knew steins;gate was getting animated but I have waited a while begin diving into it. I had a feeling I would like the story before I even started and I was right, it really turned out to be quite enjoyable.
    Enough about the anime, I am totally with you on her character design not being top notch sexy bishoujo; but I am strangely attached to the appeal of her shorts and pantyhose combo. And it always help me make the decision when I found good quality dojin related to the character~
    http://wolfheinrich-dollfigure.tumblr.com/post/8893452707/started-watching-steins-gate-today-and-suddenly

    • Tier says:

      I have yet to see the anime; I guess I might still watch it sometime. However, I’ve heard Kurisu being described as a tsundere, which is somewhat puzzling but makes me think I might not enjoy the show very much.

      • Wolfheinrich says:

        I would call Kurisu being more of a soft tsundere, which is easier to digest than the hard one. I do recommend this show if you are interested in Sci-Fi concept, cause/effect type of stories.

        • Tier says:

          Ah, okay, that’s not too bad, then. I guess maybe I might check the show out sometime. It’d also help if the male lead isn’t spineless; I think that’s what irritates me the most about a lot of anime. I don’t mind tsundere girls if the male lead can stand up to it. Like in Sengoku Rance; I’m totally fine with Ran being a tsundere because Rance is a pimp and doesn’t put up with that attitude.

  13. Pingback: [NSFW] Steins;Gate Fever - Kurisu Makise 牧瀬紅莉栖 | Wolfheinrich's World/Dollfigure.com

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  15. ReMeDy says:

    Just bought mine for $69.99 from Kirin Hobby. At today’s going rate for this figurine, that’s a steal if you look at Amazon’s prices.
    http://www.kirinhobby.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=3067

    I may even leave it unboxed and try to turn a profit on it. I figure if Steins;Gate gets localized like it should, this might become highly sought after, assuming they don’t keep producing this figurine.

    As for why she seems to float in the figurine, I wont spoil things, but in the game, she literally is floating, so I believe it was the artist’s intention to give her that floating look. Unfortunately, sculptures can’t float (without being suspended), so the artist added more gears and settled for a semi-floating look.
    http://www.davidjscott.com/misc/kurisu.jpg

    • Tier says:

      I think I read that someone picked up Steins;Gate for release in the US; it seems to have generated quite a bit of buzz, though I have not yet seen it. People say it’s a pretty good show, though, so I might take a look once the DVDs/BDs come out.

      Interesting; I think Kotobukiya’s sculpt is a reasonable compromise, then. On an unrelated note, this is one of the only times I’ve used a Lensbaby for a figure review and I kinda like how it turned out. I ought to use it more often.

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