Once again Otaking lend me some help and advise about the text for this review, I’m quite grateful about the help.

I probably haven’t logged into my Kancolle account since 3 years, but I have fond memories of the time where I played actively and took care of the adorable ships girls. Too bad that I was forced to use an VPN every time I wanted to play.

Today I will show you one of my older grails that I always wanted since it’s release. I recently purchased this Kouwan Seiki, She is also known as Harbour Princess from the Kancolle game. This figure was manufactured by Max Factory and released in 2017. She’s been sculpted by Akimof and is scaled 1/8 with measures 155 mm in height.
On release her price was around 18.000 yen, which still was a lot at that time.

The figure is also part of the Wonderful Hobby Selection line of Max Factory. In 2016 I received the Sorceress from the WHS line which was a bad joke partially. The figure of course looked great, but arrived with a broken peg that prevented me from setting up the figure, Max Factory was kind enough to send a spare part, but that also arrived broken … .

That experience actually prevented me from preordering. You can probably imagine how I felt when I opened that figures package earlier this year, but fortunately everything was fine and without flaw.

Kantai Collection is not at its prime days anymore, nevertheless the character design hasn’t lost it’s appeal. Kantai Collection has been a super popular gatcha game that convinced figure manufacturers that gatcha game characters attract more customers than purely anime based characters.

If anyone of you wonders about the sparkles in the pictures background, it is a polycarbonate board with sculpted water droplets on the surface, with the right amount of DOF (depth of field) and light it creates a lovely bokeh.
To match the figures partially eerie atmosphere I decided for purple as main color. As flooring I used a small white carpet and spread some bigger and smaller rocks above, to create some ocean bottom. I thought that the fishing net would be a matching addition to the set.

Coming up with a stage has always been kind of a challenge, compared to earlier years figure photography became more challenging and ambitious. I think I became a little bad recipient, it’s really frustrating. Some fellow figure photographers invest an immense amount of work to create diorama like settings, it’s amazing! I always see myself debating about how much work I want to invest in a figures set and if it is worth the effort.

Figures of antagonists are generally a rare event, except they are especially remarkable. Kancolle has cool designs, also for the Abyssals that were turned into figures, like Kuubo Wo-kyuu or Senkan Re-kyuu, Kouwan Seiki convinced me the most.

Since then the gatcha game character based figures keep growing in numbers. As anime enthusiast this trend is regrettable for me, since less figures based on anime are made, but it can’t be helped these days.

Harbour Princess is a pretty figure with her ghost like white skin, the huge claws and pointy horn on the forehead, she is obviously a monster, but a cute one. The character design of Harbour Princess has been illustrated by Akira (アキラ)

Her shy and vulnerable expression are anything less than adorable. I really like the heavy eylashes design, they are even sculpted and not just lines from a brush, I’m also a big fan of the dramatic makeup anyway. The long hair is nicely done, it has smooth looking long strands and a cutely cut bangs. Her red eyes are very pretty and mesmerizing.

Haurbour Princess is dressed in something called “virgin killer sweater” which was a popular meme some years ago. The outfit has some dark grey weathering, living in the vast ocean surely has a few disadvantages for the Abyssal’s. Furthermore the sweaters vertical creases accentuate the characters dynamite body with the ample bosom, thin waist and quite wide hips. The sweater is also equipped with decorative black armor pieces, the style and pattern looks very interesting and pretty. As shoes she has some kind of kneesock boots with black sole.

Part of her outfit are also the separate sleeves, they have the same vertical creases as the sweater and those pretty black armoir bits, because of her big hands the sleeves have a huge opening, the mechanical claws have a nice roughed up look and intimidating design. Kouwan Seiki is portrayed as mature character with a well endowed and attractive body. Obviously, she also has nicely sculpted big boobs, the outfit also reveals a bit of sideboob which is a little bit risky, but nothing when compared to the shameless hotties from Azure Lane. The figure has really nice thighs.

The figure has been put in a kneeling pose, encircled by a muddy looking base, that intentionally shows traces of wear and destruction painted in shades of black and rusty brown. She is holding onto the remaining pieces of her once proud airfield. I like the tiny particles that have been applied on the runway, they give the illusion of glowing sparks.

Next to the main figure, sits the runway monster with its huge jaw, compared to Kouwan Seiki that is a really nasty monster with teeth and grey tongue.

Final Words

I like the figure a lot, she looks great and has an unique design, a bishoujo monster girl is something I didn’t have in my collection so far. It’s a great design with the dramatic makeup and the overall visual presentation is very well done. Is this figure worth the Wonderful Hobby Selection tag? I have a specific opinion about it.

Max Factory figures are already well done in general. WHS should bring something more. I think that the WHS manufacturing quality is not outstanding enough to justify it. A label like WHS should indicate the highest level of craftsmanship, and I don’t see this big difference on Kouwan Seiki and I definitely didn’t saw it at the Sorceress figure. They both had problems that take away from the overall quality. Nevertheless I’m really happy to have the Kouwan Seiki WHS in my collection now.

In February 2016, I’ve reviewed the Shigure Kai Ni version, that focused on the character as warrior. Kancolle figures are generally bristling with guns and equipment for naval warfare, but this Shigure has none of such things.

Like the name implies, the Shigure – casual version is portrayed on her day off, she is wearing her winter school uniform with a jacket over it to match the autumn theme.  The Shigure – casual version was released in August 2018 and manufactured by GSC. The figure is scaled 1/8 and more or less based on an illustration that was in the Nyantype magazine from November 2016, sculptor Yuukoon had a bit of artistic freedom and turned it into a very nice figure.

Although the figure measures only 21 cm her portrayal and appearance are very expressive and nearly iconic. Shigure is very photogenic, she looks like right out of an outdoor shooting from a fashion magazine. Shigure is leaning on a fence, one you would see in a nature related park. She and the fence are attached on a round brown base, it has an appealing stone like texture, half of the base is covered by a cluster of as well as separate ginkgo tree leaves.

Shigure’s hair looks beautiful, it accurately follows her official character design with huge ahoge and the “dog ears”, it shows sharp contours and has a fluffy look at the same time. On the left side of her head is a nice hair ornament.

At 1/8 scale she apparently has a small head, but the figure has a very detailed face nevertheless. Shigure has beautiful blue eyes, the optional red framed glasses give Shigure a mature and also smart appearance, without them her face looks a bit “naked”. Her cheeks show some subtle blush and the slightly open mouth is cute.

The clothes of this Shigure are what you would consider casual, still many elements of a school uniform are present, although a casual look has been created. The jacket is quite nice, it looks cool how Shigure has one hand in the side pocket. Her red loosened up necktie is nice to look at. The very pretty square patterned skirt might be piece that isn’t looking like part of a school uniform. Overall the clothes look great and are nicely sculpted I like how the clothes follow the bodylines tightly and how the slender but attractive body is accentuated.

The figure is designed in a way that you could display her without skirt, wearing her black panties, but I thought it would be rather weird to only wear panties in the park. Her legwear consists of black kneesocks and brown loafers.

With the added items like bag and a retro camera around her neck, she could pass as a student of photography.

Because of her size Shigure might appear like a simple figure, but she isn’t. The pose were Shigure is leaning on the fence in an expressive way shows great articulation. I really like how her left hand touches the glasses frame with her hand, that said fingers and frame doesn’t align that well, there is 1-2 mm distance, maybe I was too dumb to get it in the correct position.

Final Words

This was my th review of a Kantai Collection figure, I really like my Shigure – casual version figure, that shows a different approach on the origin she is based on. It’s very nice to see one of the Kantai Collection characters in a different context than with weapons and machine parts, after all the character designs from the game are enchanting.

The appearance of this figure is rather mature. In this adaption Shigure is not brimming with a smile, of course her character is actually not the upbeat type. Here she wears a serious and yes, a somewhat blank expression. I think it fits the overall style of the figure. The figure has a cool pose a pretty looking outfit and an appealing base.

Good Smile Company planned a few more figures of Kantai Collection characters with a casual  look, tagged as “Shopping Mode”. These figures are based on Kaga, Haruna and Kashima.

Are you interested in some more casually dressed Kantai Collection characters?

Check out my other Kantai Collection figure reviews

Kashima – Amakuni/

Takao – light armament ver. – Max Factory

Yuudachi Kai Ni – Good Smile Company

Shigure Kai Ni – Good Smile Company

I – 168 – chuuha version – Max Factory

Kongo – chuuha version – Max Factory

Yamato – mizugi mode – Banpresto

I have bought quite a number of Kantai Collection figures in the last few years, but this one is especially nice. Amakuni’s Kashima has a number of additional  parts; 1 alternative arm and hand part for left and right. The figure also has a second smaller base, for displaying her without weapons, for this also a nice back cover is provided.

Kashima is a character from the Kantai Collection browser game, she is very popular and with her voice and overall appearance she is especially cute. Unlike her sadistic sister ship Katori, Kashima is a very gentle girl, her general pattern of speech is friendly, slightly flirty and coquettish. Twitter and Pixiv or fanart in general portrayed her as easy to have girl, which I found rather cruel, but more about it in a later paragraph.

On a historical note Kashima was officially a training cruiser for the Imperial Japanese Navy, sometimes she was used as flagship but her main purpose was that of a training cruiser. The Kashima cruiser actually survived World War II and was not used for tests of nuclear weapons afterwards. Instead she was made a repatriation transport ship that under the command of the American authorities, transported japanese prisoners of war back to the homeland, which is rather sweet when I think about it.

I didn’t have much interest in Kashima before, she wasn’t part of my Kancolle online fleet and I wondered about all the hype. Shortly after the figures was announced a friend showed me a short doujinshi about Kashima. It showed her in different situations where she acts quite lewd like to be expected from her and breaks in tears in the end, because she doesn’t like it at all ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

That poorly illustrated piece created a deep feeling of guilt and sadness inside me, it points out a critique on anime pop culture, Kashima is a good girl but in most fanart she is bluntly put, mainly portrayed as slut, which is honestly often happening with female anime characters. Since that day I cant’t enjoy ecchi fanart like I used to. To protect Kashima’s dignity I decided to buy her figure and take good care of it. Show some respect for your anime waifus!

Now lets talk about the figure in detail, Kashima is wearing a sassy beret with Uniform Yankee signal flags at the sides.

Kashima’s hair is nicely sculpted and painted in a light purple tone, she sports a curly twintail hairstyle of rather short length. Overall her hairstyle is slightly curly at the tips. It is a very cute hairstyle that matches the characters overall sweet appearance. Her face has a very smooth texture without sharp corners, the figure has blue eyes with a distinctive design that makes her look attractive and adorable. Her sweet lips add the final touch to her beautiful face.

Kashima wears a gorgeous looking uniform, the cream white color and overall design create an elegant look, her olive green shirt shows it’s collar and frilly sleeves under the jacket, also her nice and modestly sized chest begins to show.

She wears a dark colored pleated miniskirt with decorative white line and inlay. Its shortness reveals her curvy thighs. While the overall figure has a slender silhouette, those meaty and womanly legs do stand out. I like that a lot about her. Amakuni added a special surface to her legs, the feature is called “soft skin” and you can feel the difference ♡.

The figure is castoffable, the skirt is, it’s absence reveals her fancy black panties. Unfortunately Kashima’s butt is more or less flat, compared to her thighs it’s a small disappointment for me, so I better leave her skirt where it belongs.

Kashima’s weapon backpack is the coolest and realistic looking that I have ever seen on a kancolle figure since Yuudachi. Between the main turrets she has two AA guns, one on each side, under those two searchlights are installed, the shiny lenses look really great. Her main turrets, AA guns and searchlights are extremely moveable. Furthermore Kashima’s equipment involves a pair of binoculars and a depth charge launcher carried like a briefcase.

Optionally the arm that hold the binoculars and has a ship part like bag can be exchanged with an arm where Kashima touches her collarbone. On the left side you can exchange  the hand that holds the depth charge launcher briefcase with a hand where Kashima moves her fingers playfully. When you don’t want to use the weapon backpack, because it requires too much space or for whatever reason, Amakuni was so kind to include a smaller base and a pretty plug.

Final Words

Amakuni’s Kashima deserves a premium tag and it’s worth every Yen. The figure has a very sweet face, a super beautiful and detailed uniform, exceptionally cool weapon backpack and different options to display her, make her an awesome figure from the Kancolle franchise. Also the big size gives her an iconic appearance. She is actually a bit better than the Kancolle figures that GSC or Max Factory made so far.

Yuudachi is based on Kantai Collection ~Kan Colle~ the once extremely popular browser game, it’s been a while since I’ve played, I honestly miss seeing and hearing all my cute shipgirls, but the game concept is so frustrating, starting from the login and going to the endless task of leveling up and always these long repair times after another failed map.

GSC created a wonderful figure of Yuudachi in her Kai Ni version, she was sculpted by Urakawa Akinori following an illustration of Kujou Ichiso. Yuudachi Kai Ni is scaled 1/8 and measures 22cm, I’ve purchased her for 12,980.00 JPY.

Yuudachi has a very cute face with detailed red eyes and a confident smirk. Overall she a a great and attractive expression. She has faint blonde hair, at the sides of her hair are flaps and wildly flowing strands placed further below with an orange gradient effect at the tips. On top of her head she wears a cute, small, black ribbon.

Yuudachi is actually just a Destroyer ship, the smallest type within a fleet, nevertheless her figure is combined with a big amount of parts. She has a really huge backpack that consist of one funnel with the decorative sail and red propeller, the backpack also carries her gun installations. The detailed guns can be rotated and elevated. At her legs the figure wears her torpedo launchers, on a closer look you see that the torpedoes Yuudachi is holding have funny faces.

The figure of Yuudachi is truly amazing, she is one of the more dynamic Kancolle figures, her pose indicatetes speed and agility and the girl really looks like she is having fun, the nicely made flame parts make her base look more attractive and underline the figures powerful pose. I guess Yuudachi is my favorite from all the Kancolle figures so far.

In the anime Yuudachi started as random Destroyer girl, cheerful and cute, but a rather bad student. After noticing how hard Fubuki tried to improve, she also wanted to get stronger, in the end she showed even more talent than the girl she admired all the time and became Yuudachi Kai Ni.

“I’ll show you the nightmare of Solomon” So lets have a short history lesson, but remember war is always a bad thing. Yuudachi is also referred to as Salomon no Akuma because of her historical counterpart.

In November 13th 1942 a group of the IJN fleet headed out to retake Guadalcanal, because of bad sight the IJN fleet and US fleet were on collision course and started engaging each other in close combat. Close quarter battles especially in he middle of the night are very dangerous for any ships, even with all the armaments, warships are actually very vulnerable under fire. Yuudachi was the first in the IJN fleets formation to break the enemy lines.

in between the US group Yuudachi fired everything at her disposal, creating confusion and damage on all the ships around her. With her fleets assistance Yuudachi actively sunk three ships, at the end of the battle she was damaged and unable to move, but really, most of the crew could be rescued by Samidare. Yuudachi’s actions prevented the IJN fleet from a disaster at least on that day. After the 40 minute long battle ended, the US group have been reduced to 2 remaining fully operateable ships, the chaotic close quarter combat proved that the ships of the IJN were actually really well made, but wasted in a war that never could have been won. Individual achievements, such as Yuudachi’s are quite rare in naval warfare. The other ships portrayed in Kancolle can’t really compete with Yuudachi’s war story.

It’s funny though that her “poi” which means something like “maybe” is related to rumors that other ships maybe should receive the credit partially. Anyway I actually don’t care about that, in the end or better said in her Kantai Collection fiction Yuudachi is a friendly and cheerful ship and it made this especially great looking figure possible.

Yuudachi is the second figure adaption of a Kancolle Shiratsuyu-class ship, the first one was Shigure, she also is a very nice figure, but compared to this exciting Yuudachi figure she is kind of plain, do you know how difficult it is to combine two figures in a picture, these two really gave me a hard time, their bases made it nearly impossible.

Final words

Yuudachi turned out very nice with her cute appearance and pretty black uniform, she is one of the prettiest Kancolle ship girl figures and unchallenged in terms of dynamic appearance, her standing one one leg and pushing forward in a bold manner pose looks cool and is articulated very well. The big mechanical backpack and surrounding flames the whole figure has an impressive, powerful look. Her figure is elaborately sculpted and extremely detailed, because of that some parts are really thin and the figure should be handled with care. Since the figure demands a bit of assembly work, I was a bit worried to break something, but everything fits neatly together.

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related Posts

Shigure Kai Ni – Good Smile Company

I – 168 – chuuha version – Max Factory

Kongo – chuuha version – Max Factory

Yamato – mizugi mode – Banpresto