Today’s figure post is about Souryuu Asuka Langley – Shin Seiki Evangelion – Gothic Lolita ver :RE made by Kotobukiya. It was a gift from my dear friend Miette-chan Figure Photography. I always kept an eye on this figure, but other orders always took the budget for this gorgeous figure away, so I ended up with not ordering the Asuka Langley – Shin Seiki Evangelion – Gothic Lolita ver :RE figure.

Weeks later I received a package from the States and I was just speechless when I looked what was inside. This figure of Souryuu Asuka Langley – Gothic Lolita ver :RE, also had a rerelease in 2020 and 2021 it was sold for 12,800 Yen. Asuka is scaled 1/7 and measures 18 cm in height, she was sculpted by Itandi. This figure is a reissue of this Souryuu Asuka Langley – Gothic Lolita ver. figure from 2004.

Yeah, well it is an old figure, compared to things that have been made before 2010 figure sculpting and manufacturing took a big leap and nowadays figure collecting is not the niche hobby as it used to be.

I like the updated version a lot more, the smoother facial features are much better and it looks like a sweet Asuka. In this figure adaptation Asuka is dressed in a frilly gothic lolita outfit, albeit it’s not something would wear on many occasions, but it suits her very well. The gothic lolita outfit turned out quite nice, it’s a copy from the old 2004’s Asuka, with the new version though, it has, as to be expected a more detailed design. More folds and wrinkles were added and there is a generally more appealing appearance present now.

As base Asuka comes with a quarter cut, weathered looking staircase with lots of cracks, it’s damaged condition is adding a nice touch and atmosphere to the Because it is not as detailed as on frontal view,
you rather don’t want to look too hard from other sides. I like the way Asuka is resting on the steps, her feet are placed on different steps which puts some focus on her pretty legs with the pretty thighs and thin ankles. With the right hand she is playing around at her skirt, the left arm just hangs downwards lazily with the elbow overstretched.

The main color of the figures outfit is a dark blue, which is present on her corsage, gloves and stockings.
A curiosity on her outfit are the holders at the corset, they look like weapon holsters in my eyes.
All the borders of the outfit are decorated with a frilly border basically everywhere. Asuka is also wearing a four layered white skirt. She is wearing black shoes with blue ribbons. The white choker around her neck is decorated with a red ribbon, the element with the ribbon was repeatedly used at the twintails and sleeves of the dress.

Asuka has an impressive twintail hairstyle painted in carrot orange. The face of this young lady is very expressive with her big blue eyes and her slightly shy gaze is directed to the left. Her character design follows the style of the movies, were Asuka has soft facial features and a generally cute appearance without pointy nose or chin, like in these animes of the 90’s. Overall this is a beautiful figure of Asuka, I really like the cute and round face with the expressive eyes.

The gothic lolita dress appears nice and elegant with it’s combination of red ribbons, white frill and blue are interesting, although some details of the dress could be a bit finer, since it’s a 1/7 scaled figure the frilly parts do look good nevertheless.

Asuka is of courseone of the main characters in Anno, Hideaki’s masterpiece Neon Genesis Evangelion, I have been a big fan of NGE since the day it came into my life and paved my way to the anime sphere.
I loved the pre or actually post apocalyptic setting, were mankind brings together everything they have to prevent complete annihilation.

The religious elements and complex symbolism were really interesting and I liked all the heavy technology that was used to defend against the overwhelming threat.
Every character had some serious issues, nowadays I can relate to this more than in my teenage years.

I was really happy when the new movies were announced, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone and Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance were a nicely retelling of the anime’s plot with a different direction and nice additional content. Since Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo involved a drastic time skip and had other problems in general I was no fan of it and would honestly say it’s bad for the most part. When Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time was announced I was extremely worried that it would be a bad conclusion for the story, but to my surprise it had been a wonderful final, some unnecessary, budget burning fight scenes were there, but nothing was really bothering me and I was happy how everything came to an end.

In summary Souryuu Asuka Langley – Shin Seiki Evangelion – Gothic Lolita ver :RE is a nice piece of NGE merchandise, you’ll receive a beautiful adaptation of the Asuka character, I think it’s a great idea that she was combined with this diorama base. She was posed in such a way that shows a cool atmosphere and highlights some leg and thigh highs fanservice.

Souryuu Asuka Langley – Ver. Radio Eva, Original Color, is the full name of todays figure. It has been released in December 2020. Tis Asuka is scaled 1/7 and measures 25 cm in height, the figure was sculpted by Kiking and Tone.

The interesting thing about the Radio Eva version is that it has been made in two color variations,
one with normal colors and one with less saturated colors, which is the one you see in my review here.

It might not be obvious for you, but Hobby Max is a Chinese figure manufacturer, most anime figures are made in China, even when the company behind it being from Japan. With all the technical know how and infrastructure it’s just a logical step that Chinese companies start making their own figure lineups.

Emontoys, Myethos or APEX TOY are good companies that make good figures with more or less the same quality level as well regarded Japanese manufacturers.

I’m a very big fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン) from 1995, the setting is quite epic, in general I like “humanity fights against extinction” settings,but NGE is so distinctive and larger than life, I like how everyone is somewhat broken.

That said, I never really understood the hype for the female main characters Rei and Asuka, they are difficult somehow, calling them problem children would be an understatement. But I also didn’t hate them. Misato though, was the only decent women for me in the story.

I was happy that Neon Genesis Evangelion received new movie adaptations years after the anime ended. 2007 Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, 2009 Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance.
I loved them so much and really was looking forward to the next movie. Albeit Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo from 2012 was such an oddball of a movie, it felt totally different and I wasn’t as happy about it as I was about the previous two movies.

The fourth and probably last movie, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 has been delayed a few times now, my guess is that it’s hard to find a decent ending for it, because the third one was too ambitious. Let’s hope that it will be finished until 2022 in a satisfying way.

Asuka is a very talented, proud and a bodacious Eva pilot. As the story begins she is 14 years old. She is a real tsundere and tends to be aggressive towards the people she cares about. On good days she can be surprisingly friendly. In my opinion it’s easier to relate to Asuka as character, she tries her best as pilot. Asuka is quite honest and hardly tries to hide her often negative emotions which comes off as rude and annoying.

The figure has a especially nice head, I really like the vulnerable expression Asuka is showing here with her tilted head, the pretty eyes are turned to the left and her mouth shows slightly parted lips and teeth. Her unsaturated orange hair color is beautiful, the sculpting turned out very good with the pretty hairstyle and hair decorations. The strands although probably machine made, is carefully crafted and smooth on the surface.

So what’s up with this Radio EVA? It’s an online stone for Neon Genesis Evangelion related fashion and accessory, you can get jackets, pants, shirts and whatever you can imagine. After hundreds of Asuka’s in pilot suit, the outfit of this figure is something new. Did Asuka retire her plug suit and became a model for street fashion?

The Asuka – Radio Eva version was adapted from an illustrations of Yoneyama Mai, she looks really cool, I don’t think it’s my favorite choice of clothes to see on a girl, nevertheless her jacket is awesome, as it shows really impressive attention to detail with all the three dimensional and accurate interpretation of human clothes at a much smaller scale.

She wears short socks and NGE design sneaker, you could also buy at the Radio Eva store.
And so her pose feels like inspired by something from the casual catwalk or fashion magazine, the jacket is hanging from her shoulder and one hand is hidden inside the jackte’s sleeve, which looks cute.

The figure stands on one feet, the other is lifted upwards. The figure perfectly recreates the characters facial features, Asuka’s expression doesn’t come off very happy,but with beautiful hair and pretty big eyes it is still very nice. The lack of color creates a stylish and cinematic athmosphere, I don’t regret that I decided for this version, it’s something unique on the figure market and also in my figure collection.

I think this figure, Souryuu Asuka Langley – Ver. Radio Eva, Original Color, turned out great, it’s a high quality sculpture with a wonderful paint job. Articulation and facial expression are very well done. I would choose an Hobby Max figure anytime, there is nothing to worry about in terms of quality.

Even when this wouldn’t be your first figure of the Asuka character, the different look here is great, after witnessing all the plug suit versions, it’s a refreshing appearance to see Asuka in casual fashion. Although I am not sure if she would ever choose to wear this kind of casual fashion or rather choose something girly “anta baka!”