This will be the first figure of 2014, that I will review today, Keiji is a real gem to start with.

Maeda Keiji or Maeda Toshimazu is a often used character in anime culture , as male in Sengeku Basara or Gifuu Doudou!! As a person of female gender, she made her appearance in Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Bride, where she was a supporting character who tought the group how to master their Ki and played with the girls, since she  happens to swing that way.

Maeda Keiji was an eccentric person, something like a dandy, the dandy in general is a libertine who likes and express himself with good looking, fancy clothes. His goal is to live according to his standards and ethics. The female Keiji is kind, but also a little mischievous prankster.

Maeda Keiji was released in the end of January 2014, she was sold as exclusive figure by Hobby Japan but manufactured by ALTER. The figure is based on the art of Nishii (Nitro+) and the figure was sculpted by the skilled Tanaka Sen’u. Keiji is one of the bigger 1/8 scale figure with umbrella  she measures arouaround 28 cm in height. The figure comes with a box, an elegant black base with golden decorations, a pretty large umbrella and a nicely detailed katana.

Hair & Face

The figure has light brown hair, the hair looks very detailed and shows strands, all around her head. The hair was put into a lovely ponytail hairstyle and has dynamic flow. A pipe ties her hair together, a smart way to hide her gadget. Keiji has a very pretty face and throws an adorable smile at the viewer, the open mouth is cute with the white little fang it has an michievous character.

Her purple eyes are gorgeous, they are surrounded by jagged eyelashes which are typical for characters created by Nishi, they are accentuating her face a lot. The figure has slightly rosy cheeks and a pointy chin.

Outfit & Body

Hyakka Ryouran is known for mixing traditional japanese outfits with anime fashion, but I don’t know what about Keiji is anime fashion, with her string bra and open hotpants that are more suited for a stripclub or other premises, I’m a bit lost. Well, but maybe she is a rock star. Rock stars can wear such eccentric sexy outfits without being labeled as ho.

I like her outfit a lot nevertheless, it is just awesome and I love how elegance and boldness mix.

You have the elegance of an traditional japanese dress in shape  of an richly decorated kimono. The sleeves are simply beautiful with the nice vivid colors and the white inlay, but I wonder how they printed that clear pattern on her kimono with all the folds and curves.

The string like underwear is hot and accentuates the attractive points of the lovely Keiji even more. The stocking like boots have a cool texture with some good looking wrinkles and the red soles are a real eyecatcher, the hotpants are a red black combination and resemble shiny leather, the front has a deep opening, also at the butt her hotpants also have a cutout window.

For a figure made by ALTER, which was long known for being rather conservative, Maeda Keiji is incredibly skin revealing and it looks so nice. The whole belly can be seen in all it’s sculpted glory.

Keiji has the body and curves of a grown up woman with great hips and strong thighs on the long legs, her fairly sized boobs come in a tear drop shape, not much is left to the imagination.

Final Words

ALTER didn’t disappoint with any of their Hyakka Ryouran figures, they are all great figures, but in my humble opinion Maeda Keiji is the best, she’s cute, she’s hot and she is simply beautiful.

I really like that she has this certain, strong Nitro+ look, especially her eyes, I love her cheerful  and friendly smile with the lively “I’m taking a little afternoon walk” pose. The flamboyant outfit is gorgeous and a good example for an eccentric style, the kimono part is nicely sculpted  and has great colors, together with the bold hotpants, string bra and stockings a charming contrast is created. The umbrella adds a lot of elegance to this beautiful otherwise barely dressed girl.

Well, this very lack of clothing is another one of Keiji’s charm points, she has a really great body. The design is great and ALTER did an remarkable job transfering it into a wonderful bishoujo figure. I’m very happy about this purchase, Maeda Keiji is the kind of figure I really like.

The whole  figure is a very good example of ALTER’s craftsmanship also with the heavy umbrella attached Maeda Keiji still stands firmly on her base and no support rod needs to be placed.

A new figure review…

What do we have here a Cornflakes, of course not it’s the Miku Hatsune – Cheerful Japan! -support version. This figure was announced on the last Winter Wonderfestival sold exclusively through the Goodsmile Online Shop. The figure is scaled 1/8 and has a height of 22 cm.

This Miku Hatsune – Cheerful Japan! figure adaption was the outcome of a Cheerful JAPAN! Illustration Contest. It is based on the winning submission by bun150. As part of the Cheerful JAPAN! charity project with every purchase of this figure 2000 Yen were donated to several aid organisations in Japan I think is a nice touch. After this Fukushima incident I already donated a higher sum, but in this case the more the better.

Miku was officially shipped on the 14th September this year, but just in Japan. The worldwide buyers received their figures from Singapore and had to wait 2 weeks more, but weren’t informed about it. Another disappointing thing was the way they packed the box, it was put in a box which was several sizes too big and the empty space was just filled with one tiny piece of foam WTF!

Ok enough bashing, I was lucky enough that my figure arrived undamaged and in top condition and so Im just angry about the additional waiting time the shipping from Singapore caused.

Hair & Face

Miku has huge twintails in a circular shape, both sides are slightly asymmetric in size, they are shaped like a 8 or with a bit more imagination it also looks like a heart shape. Next to the two main twintail strands also a number of finer strands have been incorporated, it looks really nice and dynamic like this. the connection to the head is hidden with two cute and pretty ribbons.

The main hair also looks good it has a number of details even at the back. On her twintails are 3 – 4 uneven spots, but overall her hair is nicely sculpted and has interesting shading, well the bright shading could have been applied a little less dramatic.

Miku Hatsune has a wide and youthful face with a happy cheerful expression, she is quite adorable with her radiant eyes and the radiant open mouth. The sculpting of her face appears soft and rounded. The figure is showing very subtle nearly invisible blushmarks, as a blushmarks fan I could be dissapointed with that, but on this figure her facial expression is still very convincing.

Outfit & Body

The figures outfit has a wide mix of different colors and has a quite unique style, around her neck she is wearing a hoodie collar and a pink flying tie. Her arms are covered with cream white sleeves and in her hand she is holding her cheerleader pom poms, well you actually can’t see her hands because of the pom poms. She is wearing a short cream white top with transparent window on her chest which reveals her small cleavage. The orange lines have been applied clean and carefully.

Her chocolate brown skirt has pink and yellow stripes. It is a short skirt with detailed wrinkles all around. In the middle of her legs she is wearing shiny gaiters which remind me of trackie pants.

She has orange half boots with a heart symbol in the middle, it looks like the silhouette of her hair doesn’t it? The transparent sole is a interesting detail. Around the back of her hair, the back of her hip and at the back of her feet Miku has these transparent things that have no real purpose.

With her petite body this Hatsune Miku looks like a young girl, there can’t be found many female curves on her. The body sculpting is nice and soft, but this smoothness eats away a lot of details, I have to say that the clothes are far more detailed than the body sculpting of her.
Well, since Miku is a mainly dressed figure the rather simple body sculpting is no real problem.

Pose & Base

As you can see Miku Hatsune – Cheerful Japan! is a very dynamic figure with her pulled up legs, it looks like she is jumping around on her base which has the shape of a giant speaker.
The speaker looks very appealing with it’s orange shiny color and the matte grey in the middle.

Base and figure are connected via a angled metal rod, you put one side into the base and one side into the knee, a rather painful image *ouch*. It’s a stable connection, but since the center of gravity is Miku’s head with the twintails, she’s wobbling a little bit when being moved around.

Final Words

Miku Hatsune – Cheerful Japan! – support version is a cool and cute figure, she has a adorable face, her radiant aura is just infectious. she also has a petite body and a lovely monster twintail hairstyle, the figure captivates with her dynamic pose, the cheerful happy character and the outfit with it’s nice color combination. It’s a very good adaption of a creative i and pretty llustration.

I would say she was worth the 12000 Yen, the pose turned out great and the overall sculpting looks very smooth and clean. The paintjob is also very well done and leaves a good impression.

My excitement over this nice Miku Hatsune figure was a bit clouded by the shipping delay and the messed up packaging, I was lucky that she arrived without damage, others had less luck than me.

If you like the more younger version of vocaloid Miku Hatsune this would be the figure to buy.

another review can be found at Tentaclearmada

some more pics …

Usami Haru is a 1/8 scaled figure manufactured by Kotobukiya and released in November 2009. She was an exclusive figure and only sold at Toranoana online & retails shop. As so often some other figure shops also got their hands on a few of thes exclusive items, so people who live outside Japan could also order her. I was a bit late, so the last chance left for me was ebay.

Dog related figures are pretty rare on the figure market, bunny dress and cat  related figures
are more common in the Otaku universe. I don’t know anymore why I wanted this figure that badly,maybe I wanted the challenge of getting this exclusive item, in the end I paid too much money for this figure *damn*but let’s put that aside for now and start with the review.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48rIDaUdj2I
 
Usami Haru is from the Visual Novel Game Devil on G String   “G Senjō no Maō“ No, the title has nothing to do with underwear, it’s related to the female lead character who plays the violin.
I havn’t played the game so I unfortunately can’t provide informations about her character.

Hair & Face

The flow of the long hair is smooth and nicely sculpted, but it looks quite chunky at the strands. It is colored in a dark brown tone and has no shading. Usami Haru’s eye region is well done even though it’s a bit hidden by the thick hair strands. Usami’s eyes are very detailed and painted in a dark purple color. She has a spiky nose and her cheeks are showing some faintblush marks.

Body & Pose

The pose looks very well done, it’s nice how Usami takes a cautious look over her shoulder.
One hand pulls the bikini slip to the side so her butt is exposed halways. The articulation of her arms and legs looks natural. Her butt is sculpted pretty nice and Usami’s waisteline is also very attractive. The well endowed bust size fits very well to her overall proportions. The skintone of Usamis body and face have a pale color and a smooth looking texture. The shading of Usami’s body is done in an restrained way, also around her thigh highs and bikini clothes.

Outfit

To some people her outfit would appear like crazy fetish cosplay, but I somehow like it.
Lately I get a liking to Neko related figures but the dog costume is also ok for me.

Usami wears a choker,which is a very hidden detail that I have just discovered. Obviously Usami doesn’t wear much more, everything she has is a nice and simple white bikini. Her slip shows some authentic looking wrinkles, the ribbons at her bikini slip and at her bikini top also add a nice detail to the bikini. Another nice part of the outfit are the striped thigh highs with frills.

The dog ears and the tail are magnetic, so you can put them on and off, I think they also should have made this bone in her mouth magnetic, because after some time it looks a bit retarted.

Production errors & flaws

Now to the bad points, it’s the first time a figure of mine had a few more critique points.

At the right side of her hips is a visible seam line due to the production progress, another more or less visible seam line is at the backside of her leg and her right arm. I think the Figure had needed more accurate grinding in the finishing process. Another production error can found at the right side of her upper body, it is a rather big hole. Thanks to her pale skin color this flaw isn’t that noticeable but it’s annoying nevertheless.

Final words

Before writing this review I considered to sell this figure, but now Im not so sure about that anymore, it’s a pity that the production quality shows some flaws like the small hole at the side of her upper body. Aside from that Usami is nicely sculpted figure with attractive proportions and creative design. Usami Haru looks good on my desk In my opinion Usami looks best with dog ears on. Usami Haru is a nice figure but I wouldn’t buy her again for the same price.

see you and thx for your attention ^__^