Strangely enough, we’ve never taken a look at a figure of Sena Kashiwazaki here, despite the healthy number of candidates. In truth I only own two, this one and the similar-looking Alphamax figure, which I received some time ago. Unfortunately, when Gift announced that they were going to do one of Sena in a swimsuit, I lost interest in reviewing the older figure, but perhaps I’ll revisit it sometime in the future. For now, we’ll take a look at this figure, which captures much of Sena’s charm in a singularly impressive and super-sized package.
Sena Kashiwazaki is one of the two lead girls from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, abbreviated Haganai and translated as I Don’t Have Many Friends. Like very many properties in contemporary anime culture, the series originated as a light novel, then received a manga adaptation, and then subsequently was adapted into a popular anime series. Haganai even received a live-action motion picture treatment, though I have no idea how well it was received.
Haganai features an eclectic cast of memorable and likable characters, but Sena seems to stand out as amongst the most popular (though Kobato certainly has her share of fans, particularly those who like their anime girls to be younger). It’s not hard to see why, just observing Sena’s physical appearance; she’s busty, broad-hipped and blonde (strangely, while half-English protagonist Kodaka Hasegawa continually receives inquiries regarding his blonde hair, nobody seems to ask Sena about it). However, her characterization is perhaps the most uneven of all the characters in the show. She’s said to be intelligent, popular, and assertive, but much of the show’s comedy comes at her expense, when she is shown to be timid, naive, and more than a bit lonely. She also seems to be the prime romantic prospect for Kodaka, but she also shows certain uncontrollable lesbian tendences when she’s around Kobato. Perhaps the writer of the series discovered later that Sena is a more interesting character when she is shown to be vulnerable rather than as a princess type, and that Yozora is a more interesting character when she is bullying and taking advantage of her counterpart.
This figure is manufactured by Gift in a majestic 1/4 scale. She comes ready for display; she’s packaged with her base already affixed to her feet. Sena is around 37 centimeters in height from the base to the top of her head.
Sena is a tempestuous girl prone to wild mood swings but this figure shows her beaming sunnily with a big smile on her face. Her expression works really well here, even if Sena is not ordinarily the friendliest of girls. The design of her face does a pretty good job of replicating the style of series artist Buriki; other figures of Sena have occasionally taken a less faithful approach in this respect, but it’s pretty easy to discern his characteristic elements (broad and comparatively short face shape, wideset eyes with a pronounced upper curve and small pupils, highly-positioned eyebrows) here.
This figure also exhibits some of the trademarks of Takayuki Kondou, the sculptor. Sena has a lithe body with slender legs and a conspicuously long torso. It’s the same sort of body build that can be seen in the sculptor’s other figures, such as Tamaki Kousaka and his two adult Fate T. Harlaown and Nanoha bikini figures from half a decade back. Sena also has a noticeably flat face when viewed from the side, but I guess you’re not really supposed to be looking at this figure from that viewpoint.
Sena’s nickname is Niku, or “meat,” and the bulbous flesh of her chest is obviously one of the things that you’re meant to look at here. Sena has an impressive rack and it’s well-modeled, particularly in the way her inadequate bikini top presses into her skin.
Sena’s rear doesn’t really get as many remarks or cutting barbs as the size of her chest, but nonetheless, she has an agreeably large backside. Again, her swimsuit isn’t quite up to the task of covering her up. It is also realistically sculpted, with a number of wrinkles that add a bit of appeal to the design.
Her outfit is obviously quite scant but she does have a few other accessories, including a green wristband, an armband on her left bicep, and her trademark butterfly hairclip. She also has a single visible fang in her mouth, which is generally used to identify characters that are highly excitable or a bit unstable, and Sena certainly exemplifies both of those traits.
Aside from her sexiness – and I imagine many of Sena’s fans do appreciate her physical appearance – one of this figure’s biggest draws is its sheer size. It dwarfs the typical 1/8 scale figure, and even a 1/7 scale figure such as Good Smile Company’s Yozora looks very small in comparison.
Admittedly, the size of this figure does present a few complications, particularly in terms of finding display space. It’s also much more difficult to take pictures of a larger figure than a smaller one, especially when a scenic background is involved. I also completely forgot to use the tentacle stand with this figure despite having been reminded the other week, though I suppose it’s just as well since I don’t think I could have fit it into the picture, anyway. I’ll just have to make a note to use it with one of the next few figures I plan to review (that particular character actually has had some experience with tentacles so I suppose it would be a more appropriate coupling for her).
But regardless of the issues that her size generates, I’m still very happy with this figure. It’s always great to see 1/4 scale figures but I didn’t really think Gift would make one of Sena; indeed, I didn’t think they’d make one of anyone at all, as they hadn’t produced a 1/4 scale figure in some time, aside from the pint-sized loli Nanoha girls. However, I’m glad that they did, even though it makes me wonder what I should do with my Alphamax figure. I suppose that’s not a bad problem to have. Overall, Sena looks very appealing, with her tiny swimsuit, attractive body shape, and winning smile. Hopefully Gift continues making more figures of this size.
Another review of Sena can be seen and read over at Wieselhead.
I was quite surprise after i pre-ordered this figure. It being a 1/4 scale and my first of that scale. Currently I do have the space issue with her, I don;t want to remove a shelf in my dedolf cabinet, it would house only her and lose out of another self for others, Nonetheless I’m glad i got this one. Also being my first Sena figure as we;;. Dodn;t like many of the other offerings for one reason or another.
It’s kind of hard to imagine how big a 1/4 scale figure is without being able to see it with one’s own eyes. Even the comparison in the photo doesn’t really do justice to how huge they are.
I’m not really a big huge fan of many of the Sena figures out there, too. Some of them don’t really look like her, apart from the curvy figure and butterfly hairclip. I guess I shouldn’t complain about that since I often say that I like it when figure makers put their own spin on a character’s design, but in this case, I think Sena’s canonical look is the best choice.
I love Sena as a character, but hate her design. Huge tits are always terrible. The “Niku” nickname is stupid for her too, because breasts are largely fatty tissue, not muscular meaty flesh. Though I think Yozora coined the term more just for the fact she is seen as a slab of meat by dudes, and not specifically for the breasts. Fandom just took it to mean her bust. Anyway.
Nice figure. I have a different version of her (actually had two, but gave one away for a secret santa last year). Such large figures are too much trouble for me to display ;.;
LIES. Yeah, I think that guess is correct, especially since you hear of “meat toilets” in Japanese porn every now and then. I think that one Native figure that I have sitting here even has it written on her leg.
I also have the Alphamax one which wears the same swimsuit but it’s buried somewhere in the closet and I didn’t want to go rooting around for it. It’s a good-looking figure that comes in a more conventional size. Apart from the Griffon figure which had her in her fantasy armor, I don’t think there have been many other Sena figures that have piqued my interest.
Yeah, I ordered GSC’s plain school uniform version, then Griffon released the Monster Hunter version, so I got that instead, before the GSC one even arrived, so I left it unopened, and gave it away for christmas.
Not that I’m overly fond of Griffon as a company (despite owning many of their figures) — it’s simply the fact they tend to do things nobody else does. Also the overall sculpting is quite good, their artists just suck at face design, and they have fairly poor QC standards. Since they stopped doing 1/8 Touhou I haven’t bought anything from them. >.<
Oh well. Out of space for figures anyway! Now all I can do is admire photos from people like you. 😀
Yeah, I was very surprised to see them make a figure of Dead or Alive’s Kasumi, and I still kinda want their Kuroyukihime figure, too. Kasumi will be my first figure from them in years and I’m curious to see how much they’ve improved.
Lacking space is a huge bummer – it’s one reason why reviews have slowed done some here; every figure I review is one that I have to find space for. But I’m glad you enjoy the pictures XD
Kinda funny that most Sena figures before, fall to look like her, even the Max Factory one. The GSC figure is especially not my favorite. Gift often takes some freedom in terms of style, but they made Sena spot on, even with the (so often forgotten) rosy cheeks, she is really sweet. Big boobs in anime are often nice, not too big though, but it mainly depends on character design than a certain size. It’s too bad that the top won’t come off or that there are no crafted signs of nipples, anyway even without lewd details like that this figure is really sexy. I like her big butt a lot, it creates a good balance against her front weights. It also is very well sculpted. One thing I think is somewhat crazy are her shoes, they are not suitable for sandy regions, looks more like something from a porno shooting XD
Thx for mentioning my post, I had quite some fun with that ^^ I like the shiny yellowish background in your pictures. For me her size was rather challenging to shoot at first, but easier than shooting a 1/3 doll haha.
I hope they will continue Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai I don’t want to be forced to read the rest. Like with the melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, it’s sad to admit, but the lack of pictures in light novels prevents me from reading them on a regular basis.
Yeah, I wasn’t a huge fan of either the GSC one or the Max Factory one, either. It is a little odd that the GSC figure is the only one that I can think of that put her in a school uniform, though. Not that the uniform is all that attractive, which might explain why other figure makers have stayed away from that look. (Or maybe GSC just called dibs on it, I dunno.)
Haha, yeah, a castoff design would’ve been awesome, or perky nipples, or maybe some cameltoe. I really like how the sculptor did a great job of emphasizing the bust and ass; Sena is one of those rare anime girls who looks really curvy in those areas and it’s nice to see it accurately represented here.
Yeah, this was a tough figure to shoot, as most 1/4 scale figures are for me. My backgrounds really aren’t sized for a figure that is this large, which is why they’re so blurred. I normally don’t like that one-eyeball-in-focus look, but there’s not a lot of choice when I need the background to blur out.
I still need to watch the rest of the second season. I stopped at some point and I’m not sure why, as I enjoyed the first season quite a bit. I did read the manga several years ago (and I was a little surprised that it got an anime adaptation) but I don’t think I have any interest in reading the light novels. This might be overly presumptuous, but I’m kinda thinking that they’re on the intellectual level of bad fanfiction. Maybe I might be wrong but judging by how awful so many of the anime adaptations are, I’m not expecting to be so.
Whoa, damn. As far as 1/4 figures go, she’s certainly pretty damn good. My figure budget’s been blown to hell at the moment, but I’ll certainly try to get this figure in my collection some day in the future. Because what’s not to like? I like her happy smile, she’s pretty colourful for a swimsuit figure (blonde with a blue bikini makes a nice contrast) and I like the details you mentioned about how the swimsuit kind of digs into her a bit and has wrinkles all over to shape her form. She’s certainly got curves in all the right places. I like how her boobs are in the comfortably big zone too, they look attractive, but still somewhat plausible and far removed from the stupidly big size Sonico sometimes has (and let’s not even get started on Pochaco).
Compared to the Alpha Max figure, which I also have, I like her general body shape better. One of my biggest bothers about that figure is that her body kinds of has an odd twist into it as a result of that hourglass figure, something that isn’t present here. The only flaw with this figure is that her face is kinda flat, but that isn’t a problem anyway because it isn’t noticeable from the normal viewing angle.
Also, fyi, apparently not even the author of the light novels liked the live action version, so I doubt it was well received.
I think I’m actually buying fewer figures than before, not really because I want to slow down (well, I kinda do, I have a ridiculous number of unopened figures at the moment), but mainly because there just hasn’t been a lot that has really grabbed me. Alter not making much great stuff in the last couple of years has a lot to do with that, I guess.
Yeah, Sena has a really nice design, particularly with her happy look here. I like her best when she looks happy, anyway. There have been a few figures that have had body builds that aren’t really to my liking, like the Dominance girl that Dragon Toy is making; she’s really pretty but she’s a little too bulky for me to buy her.
I should dig that Alphamax figure out of the closet one of these days but my preference for this one is very straightforward – it’s a helluva lot bigger. I really hope Gift rolls out more 1/4 scale figures; they always do a nice job with them. I’m not sure if they share manufacturing operations with FREEing but Sena’s skin tone seems to be nicer than the bunnygirl figures I have; it’s a little ruddier, a little more lifelike, I think.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by that; a school comedy probably lends itself reasonably well to a live-action show, but Haganai was pretty funny and there are lots of ways such an adaptation can go wrong. I’d wonder what might make them think that adapting an LN/manga/anime series into a live-action show is a good idea but looking at all the comic books that have been turned into blockbuster movies in the US, I guess it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine.
very nice I been looking at this figure on amazon and been thinking of buying one since she looks so nice, and thanks for letting me know the size, but it won’t be a prob finding space for her.
You’re welcome!
Gah, another great quarter-scale shoot. I though I had enough Sena figures to avoid this one so of course you’d end up reviewing it. I only finally just got a smattering of Detolf shelves which I put together last weekend. These big girls sure to eat up the space fast…
They definitely do, which is one reason why I don’t always buy the ones I want (I kinda wish I had ordered bunnygirl Medaka but I didn’t). Sena at least is a little shorter than some of her counterparts so she requires a little less headroom.
I just got her. She’s shockingly huge and I love her to death. Good proportions, and I think her chest size is kind of restrained. In a good way.
Yeah, I agree; she has a nice bust size. Not too small but not humongous, either. Not that I think humongous breasts in anime is a bad thing, it’s just not my thing.
Great job as always, but I really loved those few with the white background! Her’s isn’t a figure that stands up to close scrutiny (in my opinion) but from a step back boy does she look good. The white really showcases the contrast between her bikini/skin and also really amplifies her overall curvature and sexiness.
The white background (and flat black backgrounds) are kinda plain, but I feel like I should use them more, particularly with some characters that I have no idea what I want to do with (the Yamato 2199 figures particularly come to mind). With Sena, it was more of a practicality thing since she was way too big for full-body shots with the green background, but I’m glad that the plain white ones turned out okay.