Like I mentioned in my last Preorder Post, receiving this figure was a rather unforeseen purchase.
But Im actually about receiving my copy of ALTER’s Menma figure, destiny seemed to treat me good since the package arrived earlier than usual and I was spared from Customs fees as well.
Menma was released in October 2012 and manufactured by ALTER. It seems that the illustration of 厨二屋@下之世どらごん was used for this figure, the artist also draw the illustration for ALTER’s Hitagi. Menma is a 1/8 scaled figure and including the base, the figure measures 21 cm in height.
Her origin is “Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai“, a quite nice and heartwarming anime from 2011. In next years summer there will be a Movie adaption as well.
Menma is a cheerful, happy girl who likes to be around her friends, Well actually Menma is a ghost.
[spoiler name=”Info – Spoiler – Warning”]She died as she drowned in a river, yeah thats quite hard, since then her former group of friends grow apart. Menma hadn’t passed away yet and she stays in her ghost shape, the only person who can see and interact with her ischer old friend Jinta. Menma is living at his house.[/spoiler]
Hair & Face
Her haircolor is a washed out tone of brown with a shade of grey, with the number individually sculpted strands the hair has a very light appearance, I think her fringe looks pretty cute here.
Menma has a pretty and 3 dimensional face with cute ears between the hair. The most prominent detail of her face are the huge blue eyes, they are beautifully painted and the eyelashes add a nice contrast around them. The eyes give the figure a very lively feel. I also like the subtle applied blushmarks and the small eyebrows. Menma has a faint smile on he lips, from some angles it appears whimsical and there are other angles where it seems to be a not entirely happy smile.
Base
The base of this figure is actually a masterpiece, I would say. ALTER recreated this part of Menma’s and her friends hideout in a very nice manner, the recreation of different materials like wood and corrugated metal looks very convincing with the nice shading and weathering effects.
Menma is connected to the base without the use of any. The figure has a rectangular cutout at her butt who fits on the bulk she is sitting, to deviler more stabibility Menma has a magnet under her butt and so she manages to stay on the top of the base in her lively pose. You can easily take her off the top and let Menma sit on the lower part of the base, or even somewhere else.
Outfit & Body
Menma is wearing her standard outfit from the anime, it is a simple, very girly white summer dress. You could think that her parents were living in a Hippie community “Flower Power!”
At the back is a white ribbon, the blue ribbon at her front is the only color highlight of her dress.
I like the big frills at the end of the dress, frills can also be found at her armless sleeves and neck.
You can’t peek under her skirt because the figure actually has no lower body under her dress 😀
Menma is a very skinny and petite girl, to put it bluntly she’s flat and without any curves. It seems like she is in need for food, but don’t worry she is a energetic and cheerful growing up ghost girl. The limbs are very well sculpted and it’s fun to touch her bare feet with the tiny toes.
Final Words
ALTER’s Menma is a cute little figure that embodies the picture of a pure innocent girl in a very convincing way. She is really enchanting in her angelic simple dress and the playful pose. On her own this petite figure might appear a bit inconspicuous, but together with the very nice diorama base, this Menma figure unfolds her true beauty. All the carefully crafted details of this figure and her base create a very cute and charming look. It’s a well done figure I would recommend to buy.
Without Leonia I would have probably passed on this adorable figure, Im really glad I took her in.
Another nice and very elaborate review of this adorable Menma can be found at pokethemerch
In case you prefer a more skin revealing Menma figure, Max Factory made a “jailbait” bikini version of her, she was reviewed by vanichufigures and nyaafigurines
feal87
Menma…WHERE ARE YOU? *cries*
Great figure indeed. Alter, as usual, is doing a wonderful job here. *_*
wieselhead
*Lol* I try to ignore this sad fact about her character and it works.
My cute Menma is a happy girl (•‾̑⌣‾̑•)
Yeah they are playing their game
Tier
Alter did a great job capturing her innocence and liveliness (sort of a funny thing to say about a dead girl). Menma is one of those characters that I really liked even though she’s not particularly sexy. Though you wouldn’t know that if you’d only seen her Max Factory figure.
I have to admit that I didn’t really think of the anime as that heartwarming. Rather, by the end I felt old. Really old. I met almost all of my real-life friends either in college or high school, and we’ve all grown up and drifted off to other things and I could relate to that main theme of AnoHana. Also, some of the characters in the anime are really ugly inside, with serious emotional problems. I appreciated that the show’s creators went that far to make them realistic, rather than trying to make characters that everybody would love; that seems to be a very rare thing in anime these days.
The picture with Menma wearing Shinobu’s helmet is so cute. What I’m really waiting for, though, is a figure of Naruko. I miss her; there used to be so much good Anaru artwork but now she’s mostly forgotten.
wieselhead
I also find it strange to buy a figure of a actually dead character, but oh well you forget that after unpacking the figure, she’s no Zombie fortunately 😀
Hehe Max Factory really made her out of character, I wouldn’t have bought her since that would have been too much guilty pleasure X<D
Oh so it wasn't heartwarming? Maybe not exactly… Well, to be honest I didn't remember all the details from the anime or how I felt when I watched it.
Parting ways and growing up was one of the aspects of the show, such things always makes me sad and the I am reminded of my hilarious high school life.
You really start to fell old if you notice how many good friends from the time are left.
The megane girl and the other boy really developed some ugly personalities, I couldn't really bring myself to like them.
But at least they were playing along in the end of this show.
haha thx, yeah it suits her quite well. I also liked the twintail redhead, such a cute girl,
The artworks portray her appealing points quite well. I wonder why only Kotobukiya and Wave gave her some attention
Tier
I think you could see the anime as heartwarming. Me, the thing that stood out to me was just how messed up the characters were. Jinta was basically a complete loser. Anaru’s current friends were nasty shrews. Poppo seemed to be borderline insane. And Yukiatsu had a really strange problem. As strange as it may sound, the scene that moved me most was this one sequence somewhere in the middle, where all the friends are in their secret base and Jintan is trying to defend himself, and then Poppo turns him against him. There was something about that scene that was so ugly and yet so human and believable that I was really disturbed.
wieselhead
Yes all of them were pretty messed up persons, probably due the shock they received as their friend Menma died.
It might not been the main reason, but I imagine that such an experience would cause very bad emotions and memories.
A good part of this show are more realistic portrays of humans.
hoshiko
Never watch Ano Hana before but she’s cute! Very innocent looking.
I laughed when I saw that picture in which she has a book on her head. Cute!
wieselhead
Really? Now that surprises me a bit, I guess it could be something you would like.
She looks very innocent in her sinple angle like dress.
Thx good that I could make you laugh ^_^
Aya
Menma so adorable ^_^
wieselhead
jup, she wins the pure cuteness prize this year 😀
Miette-chan
Such a lovely figure, makes me feel a bit guilty I haven’t watched Ano Hana yet. Then again I was guaranteed by Chag it would be a cryfest.
It’s been a while since I seen an Alter figure upclose. The base, the pose, the nice flowy dress, the cute feet. Yup, this is a keeper. No wonder Alter is my favorite.
wieselhead
Haha watch it and cry, ok it’s not that bad, it’s a sad show at some points, but nothing like Clannad ^^
You should give it some episodes, no one really dies 🙂
With Menma they made a lovely and elaborate figure, base and figure make her a great piece of figure art.
Most of the figures I’ve ordered this year were from ALTER (29% to be correct) 😀
Can’t they make a Sonico figure or one of her friends? ^o^
Kai
Watching the anime, I think I like Anaru more instead of Menma though. She’s smexy 😀 And would love to see more of her figures. Menma is still great nonetheless though.
And this figure’s pretty flawless. The base especially, is a pure masterpiece.
wieselhead
Well, who would deny that Anaru is the most attractive girl from this show, I liked her a lot.
Too bad there aren’t much or any figure that portrays her smexyness : /
Menma is more the cute and pure character compared to her, but that’s also something that I like.
She looks pretty awesome on her highly detailed base. ALTER should make an Anaru figure soon.