Coincidentially, the figure of todays review is also in posession of an traditional japanese umbrealla. It’s a figure of Senran Kagura‘s timid, rebelish, prodigy ninja student Yagyuu.

This figure was manufactured by Vertex, a relatively new company in the figure business.
Two sculptors, Hogary and M.I.C.  worked together to create this figure, which was released by the end of January 2014. Yagyuu is scaled 1/8 and a litttle taller than 20 cm without umbrella.

Senran Kagura is well known for it’s skin revaling games, but there already was an animes and 2 or more manga’s, readinng  Shoujotachi no Shinei was really nice unfortunately it’s translation appears to be on hold, like it happens with many mangas I do enjoy once in a while.

Yagyuu is a 15 years old and often shows a timid somewhat distant delinquent attitude, but she is a trustworthy companion and would never harm her friends. She is quite attached to Hibari on a personal level, cause sh reminds her of her passed away litttle sister, but she also likes her on a physical level, both are close friends and you will see them together most of the day. Yagyuu acts very protective towards Hibari, who isn’t the best ninja candidate around .

This is my first figure from Vertex so I didn’t know what to expect, the prototype looked really good and so placed my preorder. To honest my first impression after unpacking her was not that great. There were no damages or screaming flaws, my expectations were just too high.

After I took first pictures I’ve literally seen her in a better light and began to appreciate her more, still not the level of an Maeda Keiji, but that would have been a more than optimistic demand.

Hair & Face 

The long, bushy ultra twintails of Yagyuu are actually nice, the sculpting is not that crisp, but nevertheless it shows a certain kind of clean detailism and obviously it’s fluffy wildly flowing look is really cute. Seperated by shuriken’s the twintailes have quite a number of strands, that are accentuated by shading of a lighter tone above the  basic purple color.

Yagyuu greets the viewer with a somehow  gloomy expression on her pretty face, the overall style is different from the Senran Kagura figures sculpted by Ringo Renmei, like Hibari or Katsuragi, a bit less cartoonish. With one eyepatched eye Yagyuu has a strong expression.
The skincolor is pale and is quite different compared to the prototype.

I got really picky about the opacity level of the figures skin and I can’t shake it off anymore.

Body & Outfit 

Yagyuu ‘s body looks great, her curvy body and the detailed belly in particular, overall the body sculpting is really well done and makes an appealing figure of her. Oh these muscular thighs are not bad either and I shouldn’t forget to mention her really pretty backside.

Yagyuu has not much of an outfit, most of her clothes torn to shreds, the skirt with the good looking pattern shows most damage, her scarf and even her socks suffered a bit. The scarf is very long and consists of three parts, the two single bands slide in slots positioned in the main piece. The main outfit is ashiny black bikini, the tight fit is really attractive. On the prototype the straps of the bikini were  shown with distance to her body, in the end it was included in the body mold, which is no the best way to do it nowadays. The straps above her boobs are only painted on the top, on close look it’s rather irritating. The only major flaw are these bikiini straps.

You can play around with the different castoff stages, it’s up to you if you would like to display her with scarf and skirt, just the skirt or without these parts, in all her black bikini glory.

The umbrella is Yagyuu’s main weapon and one of her figures major appeal points. This umbrella turned out really good, it is very detailed with accurate lines and realistic weathered shading effects. The supporting bar framework inside is quite elaborate. The grip slides in both hands and guarantees a solid fit.

The base is red for whatever reason, it’s not what I would call displeasing for the eye, but it is a bit uncommon, also the writing on it is a litttle strange, it looks more like a dripping brush than japanese letters.

Final Words

Is Yagyuu a good figure? Yes, in all honesty she is. This figure from Vertex has an eye catching design with her voluminous twintails, the torn clothes and of course the nicely sculpted and articulated body, On the bottomline  it’s a very attractive figure with a few  minor flaws, like the bikini straps. On a more positive note, things like overpainting or seam lines from the molding process, are a rarity on Yagyuu from Vertex. The difference between the prototype’s skintone and the final product is obvious, but actually something to get over easily, not as hideous as on a certain Kobato figure. I was a bit sceptical as I unpacked this figure, but Yagyuu turned out to be a nice figure, fully assembled with her pretty umbrella she looks pretty good.