Diformate- Saber (Armor ver.) Figure Review

Box Art by Takehito Harada

Here's the Figure, it looks "noble" doesn't it?

I got yet another figurine in the mail the other day. This time it’s a Fate/Stay Night Saber figure designed by Takehito Harada of Disgaea fame! This is one of the Takehito Harada Collocetion pieces from Diformate, the other one being Al Azif from Demonebane (that one’s a cutie too!).  I had the urge to search and buy it some time ago when I heard about it somehow; searched eBay, won it and here it is! I like the figure design (0obviously) it’s a little refreshing seeing Saber in between super deformed and her usual  form. The best part to me, ironically, is the illustration of Saber by Takehito Harada; it’s just so darn cute looking! I mean, look at it! I don’t suppose it’d be too much to ask for Saber to guest-star in the next Disgea or Nippon Ichi game is it?

To Heart 2 – 1/7 Tamaki Kosaka Maid Ver. PVC Figure Review

I got this figure in the mail after an impulse buy while Christmas shopping.
But that monetary loss is a gain for the blog and my heart!

Virtual Maid ARis

The virtual maid

Ohhhh man, just found this while casually shopping. As a maid-fetish man I felt it my obligation to speak of this awesome toy, that’s a must-have on any akiba-kei or maid lover’s christmas list! This handy little toy let’s you interact with a virtual maid! All you need is a webcam and you just aim the cam at the cube that comes in the box and your maid will come out of it with a stick for you to inteact and “play” with her. Sadly by the time I discovered this product, it was sold out, and it was a pre-order too. So all of you guys lucky enough to have one, by all means please share experiences with the maidless. Ah the website I intially found it on sale was http://www.toyslogic.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5537. It’s a great store for getting your character goods.

Ah and below is a sample of the dream that is having your own maid.

Sairenji Haruna Animal Cafe Version

Romanji Name: Sairenji Haruna (Animal Cafe Version)
Japanese name:
Scale: 1/8
Manufactured by: Shuesha Solid Selection
Produced by: Kotobukiya
Release Date: September 24, 2008

This is a cute character from the anime To-Loveる (which I haven’t seen, sorry). You might wonder why I like this one and not the Kannagi Nagi chacater because they both seem to have a boring pose. Well, this works well. The coy facial expression matches with the posture of the body while the Kannagi Nagi doesn’t seem to have any identifiable expression except a dumb smile. Also, for some reason, the flexing of the wrists makes her seem more cat-like, which adds to the charm. Despite the points this one earned for posture, it loses some on painting. The painting is absolutely flat without any depth at all.

This figure also has some features that I didn’t quite expect. First, the bell on her collar is a real bell that will ring if moved. Second, the ears are magnetic, so if for some reason, you didn’t want her to be a catgirl, you could remove them without having to worry about glue marks or scratches in the paint. But if you remove the ears, she still has a tail, right? Well, the tail is attached to the skirt, but if you wanted to you could just remove the skirt and heck, you could remove the top while you’re at it. For those of you with virgin eyes, you need not worry. She still is wearing somewhat of an undergarment that cannot be removed (and no, I did not attempt to try, it’s painted on)

I ordered mine on Hobby Search, but it can also be found at Hobby Fan.

Kannagi Nagi

Romanji Name: Kannagi Nagi
Japanese name: 巫 なぎ
Scale: 1/7
Manufactured by: Kotobukiya
Release Date: March 3, 2009

This is a good example of how things usually happen when a new Japanese item is available for pre-order. If you wait a few days or weeks (depending on the demand) it will sell out long before it’s made. At least that’s the case with CDJapan. If I were to be absolutely critical on this one, I would say that the face has a very mundane expression and the pose is not very interesting. If it weren’t for the fact that she was a catgirl, I wouldn’t even be mentioning this figure at all.

You can find this figure at CDJapan but the pre-orders are closed for this figure. Hobby Fan is taking pre-orders and expects them to arrive one month later than the posted release date. (Much more realistic)

CapcoManiax 2: Felicia

Romanji Name: CapcoManiax 2: Felicia (Excellent Model Series)
Japanese name: フエリシア カプコマニアシクス2
Scale: 1/8
Manufactured by: Mega House
Release Date: September 28, 2008

At first glance, I was impressed by the overall composition of the figure. Not many figures are actually a part of a scene and this one is in a very dynamic pose. The painting for the skin tones is flat, but the shading on the hair and fur is more dramatic with a higher than usual contrast ratio between the base color and shadows. The eyes are well rendered with three tones of green a white highlight and hair thin details. I have always thought that the coolest physical feature on this character was her hair and this is the only production model to have the hair appear to flow free and wild. The rest of her features are greatly exaggerated, such as the extra large hands, feet, ears and all else, but this figure was meant to be dynamic and over-the-top so this style of caricature is well-suited to the composition. Most of the seams on this figure are invisible except for the thumb and pinky finger on the extended hand. Apparently, those had to be cast separate from the arm/hand and there is a distinct line where those fingers are joined. Overall, this is a great piece and is rather nice to look at.

I bought mine at Hobby Search. At the time that this post was written, it was sold out at Hobby Fan but they were planning on restocking.

Nekomiya Nono 1/6 figure from Kotobukiya

Romanji Name: Nekomiya Nono
Japanese name: 猫宮のの
Scale: 1/6
Manufactured by: Kotobukiya
Sculpted by: Masato Abe
Release Date: October 31, 2008

This is Jermz and from this point on, I’ll be covering everything that I find about catgirl related items and events. So to start things off, I’m going to say a few things about Kotobukiya’s latest release of a catgirl figure, Nekomiya nono. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Japanese figures, Kotobukiya is one of the largest companies in the business and consistently produces high-quality figures at a reasonable price. This particular one sculpted by Masato Abe, is rather well-done. The painting is fairly flat with few subtle highlights on the tips of the ears and hair and shadows rendered at the ends of the hair and on the stockings to give it an anime-style appearance. However, the folds of the stretched swimsuit and wrinkles on the stockings are very realistic. The pose is adorable and unlike several figures that I’ve seen that were inspired by 2d drawings, this one doesn’t rely on being view from one direction. The tilt of the head, slight twist to the hips and the wrap around tail provide several different viewable angles other than the straight ahead view. As far as manufacturing quality, the seem-marks are mostly invisible with the exception of the tail and top of the head, but they are more than tolerable since they are difficult to see. If you’re interested in this figure you can still purchase them from Hobby Fan.

There are tons of catgirl figures that have been released and several more that are being planned for release, so if I have more time, be on the lookout for more catgirl news.