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!”