Kirino Kousaka News

Welcome, my fellow AnimeVice members, to this my third installment of the Weekly Figure Preview feature here on the Vice. Last week, we previewed three anime figures (Maxima, Yuri, and Black Gold Saw) along with one nendoroid (Makise Kurisu), and this week will feature the same preview formula. All of the figures/nendoroids that will be featured in this preview can be found on Play-Asia's site. For any figures that are not on Play-Asia, I will provide the link for the product at the end of the figure's respective article. Due to my current commitment to college, the next couple of previews might be shortened or perhaps not appear as scheduled. The line up for today, as follows:
 

1. Strike Witches 1/8th Scale PVC: Charlotte Elwood Yeager (ALTER Corporation)
   
2. K-ON! 1/7th Scale PVC: Akiyama Mio (Max Factory Version) (GoodSmile Company/MAX FACTORY)
3. Steins;Gate 1/8th Scale PVC: Makise Kurisu (Kotobukiya Corporation)
   
4. Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai Nendoroid PVC: Kirino Kosaka (GoodSmile Company) 

 
I will give readers a preview of each figure, complete with 2 images, descriptions, price, and my overall thoughts on each figure. 

Strike Witches 1/8th Scale PVC: Charlotte Elwood Yeager

Produced by the ALTER Corporation and licensed by AIC Spirits Studios as part of their official line of Strike Witches products, the 1/8th Scale Strike Witches PVC Charlotte Elwood Yeager figure is expected to see global market release around May 2011 in Japan and on Play-Asia's site for roughly 7,800 Yen (excluding taxes). It is crafted by the talented figure sculptor Munetoshi Kajio for the ALTER Corporation. 
Being new to the Strike Witches anime as well as the Strike Witches franchise from AIC Spirits/GONZO, I needed to look up more information regarding both Strike Witches and Charlotte Elwood Yeager, one of the many girls that appears in the franchise. I stumbled across this figure on ALTER's site last week when browsing their upcoming figures, and it quickly caught my interests to the point that I felt that I should preview it this week. I am not quite sure what about this figure caught my attention, but I was impressed by the quality that both ALTER and sculptor Munetoshi Kajio have put into this figure, from her overall appearance of her outfit to her striker gear down to the combat rifle she wields in battle. As a certified sucker for anime girls with guns, that is perhaps the reason why I took interest in her in the first place, since I had not known anything about her prior to looking up information on Monday. The blades on her striker unit are swappable with both still blades and spinning blades depending on what the collector wishes to display with. She would make a great addition to anyone's figure collection who is looking for another high quality figure that will attract the attention of all who lay eyes upon her in your growing collection. Perhaps I should look into Strike Witches one of these days....
Height: 210 Mm (21 Cm)
Availability: Limited (Limited Edition: Currently available for pre-order on Play-Asia and expected for global release in May 2011)
Price: 7,800 Yen (roughly $94.90 USD)
Who It is Recommended For: Fans of the Strike Witches franchise, Charlotte Elwood Yeager, or the figure collector who is looking to add a high quality figure to their expanding collections that is modestly priced compared to other similar-sized figures on the market. 

K-ON! 1/7th Scale PVC: Mio Akiyama (MAX FACTORY Version)

Produced by the GoodSmile Company in their continued partnership with MAX FACTORY and licensed by Kyoto Animation as part of their official K-ON! line of products, the 1/7th Scale K-ON! PVC Mio Akiyama figure is currently available on the market in Japan and on Play-Asia's site for roughly 7,640 Yen (excluding taxes). It was sculpted by the talented figure sculptor Nakayaman for MAX FACTORY. 
Being new to both the K-ON! anime as well as the K-ON! franchise from Kyoto Animation, I had to look up more information regarding the K-ON! franchise and Mio Akiyama, one of the five main female characters that is in the K-ON! franchise. I came across this figure when checking out the newest figures uploaded on GoodSmile's site, and decided since I had put off the other K-ON! figure that I had meant to feature last week (Tsumugi Kotobuki), I would feature Mio in this week's figure preview. Although I am not much of a fan of the moe or slice of life anime genres, this figure won me over with the high quality that both MAX FACTORY and their sculptor Nakayaman have put into her, from the details on her maid outfit to the flowing black hair and her slightly embarrassed expression down to the intricate details on her prized bass guitar Elizabeth. She would make a perfect addition to the figure collector's collection who is looking for a good quality figure that is attractive to the eye and priced at a affordable price that will not put the squeeze on your wallet. Still not sure if I will ever give the K-ON! franchise a try, but perhaps one of these days I might try it out and see what everyone is talking about.
Height: 230 Mm (23 Cm)
Availability: Limited (Limited Edition: Currently for sale on Play-Asia's site)
Price: 7,640 Yen (roughly $89.90 USD)
Who It is Recommended For: Fans of the K-ON! franchise, Mio Akiyama, or figure collectors that are looking into a good quality figure that is easy on the wallet and will be a eye-catching addition to their expanding collections. 

Steins;Gate 1/8th Scale PVC: Makise Kurisu

Produced by the Kotobukiya Corporation and licensed by the joint partnership of 5pb. and Nitro+ as part of their official line of Steins;Gate products, the 1/8th Scale Steins;Gate PVC Makise Kurisu figure is currently available on the market in Japan and on Play-Asia's site for roughly 7,880 Yen (excluding taxes). She is sculpted by talented figure sculptor MIC for the Kotobukiya Corporation.
Again being new to the Steins;Gate anime as well as the Steins;Gate franchise, I had to look up more information regarding both the Steins;Gate franchise and it's main female protagonist Makise Kurisu on AnimeVice and on Wikipedia. I featured a nendoroid version of Makise Kurisu in last week's preview, and I decided to feature the 1/8th Scale offering from Kotobukiya on this week's preview since I have been gaining interest in the Steins;Gate franchise since I looked it up last week. I was not sure of the overall quality of this figure (since my 1/8th Scale Valkyria Chronicles Alicia Melchiott figure also came from the Kotobukiya Corporation, and it had some rough patches on her legs and minor artifacts from production left over on her hands), but what amazed me the most about her was the unique base that Makise sits on and how it adds to the overall appearance of the figure, down to the cold and emotionless expression on her face. She comes with the base, the complex, intertwining cogs/gears that she sits upon, and her trademark cell phone that is attached to one of the gears. Makise would make a good addition to anyone who is looking for a unique, stand-out figure that delivers good quality and will become a appeasing addition to your growing collection. The price is a little steep for the quality in my opinion (I would have priced this at perhaps 6,200 or so Yen if it was up to me), but I can't argue about it without being a hypocrite. I really need to look into the anime one of these days, and perhaps the XB360 game if I had a XB360 and understood Japanese. 
Height: 220 Mm (22 Cm)
Availability: Limited (Limited Edition: Currently for sale on Play-Asia's site)
Price: 7,880 Yen (roughly $94.90 USD)
Who It is Recommended For: Fans of Steins;Gate, Makise Kurisu, or the figure collector looking to add a unique figure to their growing collection of figures. My only issue is the price and perhaps some overall quality concerns.

Nendoroid Corner: Non-Scale Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai! PVC: Kirino Kosaka

For this week's edition of Nendoroid Corner, we will be looking into the popular female protagonist Kirino Kousaka, the 14-year old main female protagonist of the hit Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai! anime. Produced by the GoodSmile Company in cooperation with Nendoron and licensed by a joint association between Aniplex and ASCII Media Works as part of their official lineup of Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai! products, the Non-Scale PVC Kirino Kousaka is expected to see global market release in February 2011 in Japan and on Play-Asia's site for roughly 3,500 Yen (excluding taxes). She is sculpted by the talented figure sculptor Katou Gaku for the GoodSmile Company. Once again, I am new to both the Ore no Imouto anime and the Ore no Imouto franchise, so I had to look up for more information on both the Ore no Imouto franchise and Kirino Kosaka on AnimeVice and Wikipedia before starting this preview. She comes with three swappable faces (Grumpy, Excited, and Confident) and several swappable arms that allow for several poses along with as a copy of her favorite shojo Meruru DVD , her cell phone, as well as her infamous bag of dirty doujinshi magazines for her to be displayed with. This is another great nendoroid that both sculptor Katou Gaku and GoodSmile have put great effort into, and it shows in the overall appearance of this nendoroid. I am not sure that this series is quite my cup of tea, but I do know when I see a great quality product on the market, and this nendoroid fits into that department with ease. She would make a perfect addition to the figure collector looking to expand on their nendoroid collection with a high quality figure that is reasonably priced and will not put the squeeze on your budget.
Height: 100 Mm (10 Cm)
Availability: Limited (Limited Edition: Currently sold out thru pre-orders on Play-Asia's site and is expected to see release in February 2011)
Price: 3,500 Yen (roughly $42.90 USD)
Who It is Recommended For: Fans of the Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai! franchise, Kirino Kosaka, or the nendoroid collector looking for another high quality addition to their collection to display to all who lay eyes upon it.
 
This concludes this week's figure preview. Next week, Bakemonogatari, Strike Witches, Manaka de Ikuno!!, and a Kuroneko Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii ga Nai! Nendoroid. 
 
*William Anderson is currently attending classes at Butte College in the process of earning a Radio/TV/Film Bachelor's Degree by 2012. He writes short stories, regularly contributes to both AnimeVice and Giant Bomb's wiki databases, and is trying to catch up on the anime shows that he has fallen more than 3 months behind on.

Disclaimer: You won't really die, don't worry. 
So my last blog was about an anime soundtrack, and the one before that was about an anime calendar, so why not round things off with some anime figures? 


So as promised, here's a totally adorable Azusa anime figurine, ready to hit the beach in her pink swimsuit (or mizugi... if you want to be all Japanese about it...) as seen in the anime series itself.
Of course, this figure comes with optional cat ears. Because it's Azusa. Duh. 
You can pick this up from Play-Asia if you're the type who's willing to slap down 45 dollars for an anime figure (though you won't get it until April or something, this one's rather popular). Personally, I'm not one of those people, but I do think it's pretty cute. This is one of Wave's "Beach Queens" anime figures, thought personally I think "Beach Princesses" would have been more apt, but hey. 
Also available is a tanned version, I prefer the regular though. 

 
Here's the rest of the K-On! gang: 






The Beach Queen series spans across tons of franchises and characters, here are the Oreimo figures (unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a Manami figure yet). Kirino seems a little bustier than she should be, and there's something just a tad... off with the Kuroneko figure (which is a shame because I like Kuroneko) but they're still both nice regardless. 


 
So yeah, just thought I'd post about these, I think they're nice, even if I'll never buy one. Or probably any other anime figure for that matter, but hey, that's just me. 
Man, I feel sorry for collectors, anime figurine collecting is an expensive sport indeed.

Hey guys,  
 
Sorry I've not being writing much here on the blog. After watching Chaos; Head I went on holiday then came back and started the new of school and well I've not really had much time for anime between Halo Reach and homework = P The little I have been watching however seems to be stuff I've already watched. Like Ghost in the Shell, Gurren Lagann and Evangelion. Not that this is a bad thing but I haven't been watching anything new (well new to me at any rate).  
 
I've just started  Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai which so far (only two episodes have been aired as of now) and I'm really enjoying it. It's quite nice to watch a more 'down to earth' anime. The characters make me smile and I think Kyosuke and Kirino play well of each other and while showing the typical 'older brother and younger sister' relationship (basically getting at each others throats all the time) its also rather endearing and fun to watch. Then there's the Okatu side of things which I find interesting as myself have never been to Japan its a nice insight on how they are viewed in Japan. Then again I find it rather ironic as its audience is probably mainly Okatu's anyways, but really thats all part of the fun.    

For you guys who haven't seen it yet. Basically, Kyousuke hasn't ever really bonded with his little sister Kirino who is basically uber popular, smart and well loved by all. She treats him with little respect until one day Kyousuke stumbles across a dating game hidden inside a magical girl anime. He quickly works out it belongs to Kirino and discovers her extensive moe anime collection.     
 

      
Anyways off to play more Minecraft and eat Dorito's! 
 
Till next time! 
 
The Triforce Fighter