Sayaka Miki – wieselhead.de

Sayaka Miki – Puella Magi Madoka Magica – GSC

admin — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 13:17:07 +0000

Hi and welcome to my review of Sayaka Miki from Good Smile Company

Haha after all the the ecchi figure reviews recently it’s kind of a combo breaker.

This figure of Sayaka is scaled 1/8 and has a height of 20 cm, her release date was in July 11th.
Her origin is the very popular anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica which is considered to be a revolutunary anime inside the magical girl genre. I was happy with the magical animes before, but oh well who asks me anyway. Sayaka Miki is the best friend of Madoka, the main heroine of the show. Sayaka is a very kind and cheerful person, she has a tomboyish personality and likes fooling around. In dangerous situations she protects her small fragile looking friend Madoka.

After the anime ended people wished for cool and dynamic figures of the characters in their fancy costumes, there didn’t pass much time until GSC presented their figure lineup of this anime.

Well, how should I say it all of them appeared rather underwhelming in terms of posing, they could have been adapted from a more interesting illustration than the one which was used.

Nevertheless these figures still had their lovely outfits and a very good quality. Additional to that the Puella Magi Madoka Magica girls also resembled the look of the anime very close.

From the figure line up Sayaka caught my interest the most, I really liked the design and colors. She wasn’t my favorite character, in case you’ve watched the anime you might know why. Her naive thinking of being a magical girl was a bit odd, lets say she wasn’t suited for that job.

I found a nice part of an Staff discussion where the persons in charge of crucial elements of the anime were talking about the character of Sayaka.

[spoiler] SHINBO: When the filming was done, I started to feel “she is such a poor girl,” and moreover when I listened to the performance during the after-recording session my heart gradually started to ache more and more, and I started to think “couldn’t there be a little bit salvation for her?”. At first I took a rational point of view, thinking so she is (written as) such a character, but gradually my emotion gushed out and took over.

UROBUCHI: And then I answered, “That would be impossible now.” (LOL)

UROBUCHI: Guess I bullied Sayaka a bit too much (LOL). But then the reason why I do not feel that sorry for Sayaka is this thing, that I just do not feel that even if she hooked up with Kyosuke that girl would really be happy ever after. Most likely Kyosuke is a guy who will stand her up in dates and go to practice the violin, I think.

[/spoiler]

Hair & Face

Ok, sorry for the slightly off topic talk now I’ll start with review part of this Sayaka Miki figure.

The first thing that meets the eye is her hair, look there is no seamline to be found. Her hair is nice and smoothly sculpted with the strands in the right position the hair resembles the look from the anime very well. Nevertheless there was a shirtstorm about the changes which were made to the final figure in terms of haircolor. People were cursing “seagrass“, “too dark“, “GSC betrayed“.

I rewatched some episodes of this show and now I would say that this figure has the right haircolor, a mixture of blue and grey, if at all the prototype had the wrong too bright hair color.

Im really satisfied with the way the face turned the eyes with the partially dotted iris and pupil. The unique 2D character designs of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica appear to be a bit more difficult to put into 3D shape, but it wturned out very nice in this case, there is not really an odd angle were Sayaka looks disappointing. Furthermore this figure features all the facial details from the anime character design, like the blush marks and the dark lined mouth.

Well it might be a bit odd, that the face still looks kind and happy, even when she is wielding the two optional cutlass swords. An optional head would have been a great feature to match the look of a girl in a fancy suit with sharp weapons weapons in her hands.

Outfit & Body

From the girls in Puella Magi Madoka Magica I liked the outfit of Sayaka the most I guess it was also the main reason I ordered this figure. The design is a little on the tomboyish side but also has a prominent female appearance. Her outfit looks more suited for close combat than the one of Mami or Madoka for example. Her top is a shoulder free corsage resembling dress, the quillings above and below are kind of cute, the top exposes her belly with the blue C symbol.

The white cape gives Sayaka the extra chivalrous touch, I like the flow of it a lot. At her nice skirt there are these impressively detailed creases. Im a big fan of her stockings with the blue belts around her thighs. I really like the color combination of navy blue, white and golden details.
The colors and the golden lines and buckles are applied in a quite accurate way.

Quality wise there is not much to complain about in terms of outfit and painting.

Her weapon looks like a combination of a cutlass, a weapon often used by Naval forces, and a katana. The long straight blade indeed resembles a katana. On the hilt has the typical cutlass look, in case you are wondering about the look of the hilt, no there is no trigger function it’s just a design element. The base is a small transparent diesk with a blue radial gradient effect.

Sayaka is actually captured in a happy situation with her arms and hands stretched out it looks like she imitates a plane, while having a kind smile on her face. GSC decided to give this figure a second hand option, where Sayaka can hold her two cutlass weapons. In this stage the face expression is a bit too friendly I would say but overall she looks nice in both display options.

Typically for the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime Sayaka has a big wide head, she is 13-14 years old so her body is young and petite. She was crafted with care, there are nice armpits, also the transition from arms to body looks quite nice, her shoulder free outfit slightly reveals one of her collarbones and her budding chest. Sayaka also has nice legs, they are accentuated by her stockings and the crossed pose. In my opinion she has the best pose of the bunch.

Final Words

I’m glad about this purchase and that I didn’t cancel her order, like I intended close before the release. I like her overall design a lot, a pretty head, a nice body and very nice colors. Even though I’m still not a big fan of her character, she is a beautiful figure and that is what counts. She has very nice details and the quality of sculpting and paintjob are very well done.

I purchased this Sayaka Miki figure for 5,750 Yen at AmiAmi, now she is sold out unfortunately.

Reviews of Madoka Kanami can be found at Figyura and Nopy’s blog who also reviewed Homura Akemi

New Preorders part 11

admin — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:42:14 +0000

Hi here is a new figure related post, but instead of a new figure review it’s about my latest figure preorders. 5 more figures made it to my list. This years list keeps growing faster than I would actually wish, lets see if I can keep it under 24 figures at the end of this year unlike in 2011.

First the last minute preorders/orders which were just added recently.

Naoe Kanetsugu -Hyakka Ryouran – ALTER

Naoe Kanetsugu from the Hyakka Ryouran anime is a 1/8 scaled figure which was released on 2012/02/24. With a big fat smile and a big fat hammer she has a very appealing design.

I nearly passed on Naoe since I wasn’t sure about purchasing her and as I considered it, she was already sold out on the japanese market. Luckily the german shop Figuya still had a few copies of her. I don’t have to say much more about her just check out Tier’s review, she’s awesome.

Astraea – Sora no Otoshimono – PLUM

Another figure that triggered my interest since announcement was this Astraea, she is scaled 1/6 and was released on 2011/12/27. Astraea is the 2nd Sora no Otoshimono figure by Plum.

The face of the first one, looked a bit off, luckily Astraea resembled her origin close enough.
Sora no Otoshimono is a nice anime with likeable characters, the girls are especially likeable, unfortunately so far there is not much to find from them in the figure market. I like Astraea, the strong and gluttonous Angeloid with the low processing capabilities. The figure is based on an official illustration. Because of her face the whole figure appears a bit *kyahhh!* ecchi.

I would have prefered this figure with a happy face, but Im quite satisfied with the look of her body and outfit. I assumed that she would end in the bargain bin, but nonsense this figure was sold out faster than expected. A few days ago I was able to find her for a reasonable price at Playmoya. But with the figure in the shipping now I slightly start to regret this purchase, but lets see how this one will turn out in the end. My upcoming review of her might be interesting :p

Now to the regular preorders……………………………………………………………………………….

Sayaka Miki – Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica – GSC

Sayaka is from the popular Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica anime, she is scaled 1/8 and will be released in June 2012. From the bigger figure manufacturers GSC seems to have leased the Madoka license and at first I was a bit dissapointed as I saw their prototypes, because I expected something more dynamic. Madoka is very cute, but from the 1st run Madoka★Magica figures, Sayaka was the more appealing one to me. She is by far not my favorite girl from the anime. [spoiler name=”spoiler”]I still don’t understand why she chose to die in such a pityful way[/spoiler] but in terms of overall appearance she looks so nice. I really like her blue and white colored knight like outfit with the skirt and the cape. Some parts of her outfit give her a slightly tomboyish still ladylike appearance. The cute face expression is also quite appealing to me, as well as her pose. The hands are exchangeable and she is able to hold two cool looking cutlass sabers.

Hatsune Miku – Cheerful Japan! – Support version – GSC

This figure was just recently announced on winter Wonfes 2012 and is now available exclusively at GSC’s online shop with shipping included I had to pay 12000 Yen upfront. This Hatsune Miku figure adaption is based on a submission by bun150 the winner of the Cheerful JAPAN! Cheerful Illustration Contest. The figure is scaled 1/8 and will be shipped in August this year. I fell for this figure as I saw pictures of her on Wonfes. She has such an adorable design, she is wearing a cute cheerleader dress and is equipped with an adorable face and super nice twintails. I also fell in love with the dynamic pose and the speaker box base, orange is my favorite color by the way.

Yagyu Jubei – Hyakka Ryouran – AmiAmi zero

A new swimsuit figure from AmiAmi zero’s Hyakka Ryouran swimsuit figure line up, next to Hattori and an announced Senhime figure, Jubei was chosen as a new figure. She is scaled 1/8 and will be released in September 2012. I actually like her design more than her character, but that shouldn’t be a problem, she has a very cute face and looks good from tip to toe. The blue eyes add a lovely contrast to the red hair and the skimpy red swimsuit. She has a very sexy body, with an well defined belly and a damn hot backside, this Jubei is also partly castoffable.

Maybe Baby Figure List

There were some more nice figures announced recently, that I would like to get, but since budget and space are limited, I have to give it some more thought to decide about ordering them or not.

Rororina Fryxell by Megahouse

Thats a lovely recreation of leather clothes we see on her outfit. The figure has a very nice design overall, if the cape will turn out as castoffable I might pick her up.

Naoe Kanetsugu Swimsuit version by Hobby Link/ALTER

If this Naoe was a normal run figure I would have already ordered her, but I already have three exclusive figures on order, so in terms of money I should pass, but when just looking at her bishoujo face and hair, I would really like to have her in my collection.

Soniko Nurse Version by Orchid Seed

A more cartoon like figure adaption from Soniko, here she is a friendly nurse with her curves pressed into an old geezers daydream nurse uniform, oh these stockings. Of course she is castoffable, but you even have a second dress option in form of a light top. As Soniko fan this should be a no brainer, but I should have a better resistance.

Megurine Luka by Max Factory

What draw me to this figures at first was the unique brown color of her outfit with the golden accents, and the more sexy adaption of a vocaloid. Now Im not so sure about her face anymore, its not ugly at all, but something seems to be missing for me.

Sandaime Muramasa by Max Factory

I might regret it later, but I can’t bring myself to order her until I see pictures of the final product. A brown skintone is something you could mess up with ease in my opinion. Well, I guess Max Factory can do a good job and I might order her after release if possible.

Laura Bodewig swimsuit version by WAVE

A cute twintail girl with an eyepatch and an overall priceless face expression. Why am I hesitating? The only little underwhelming thing is that she’s just 1/10 , which is a bit small to be honest.

Inia Sestina and Cryska Barchenowa by Kotobukiya

This adorable Inia is wearing a nice and tight Mizugi + stocking outfit and has a very cute appearance overall. Both figures would look very good together, I guess

Inia’s friend Cryska appears in a more aggressive fashion and shows a cleavage to die for XD She also has a great backside and comes with a Santa Clause hat. I didn’t remember that Kotobukiya had such sexy figures.

Figure preorder rodamap 02 of 2012

Aside from the 5 new additions most orders stayed like on the last preorder roadmap, only the bathing Hinako was delayed again to April TT , but Nagisa is finally set to be released in August.