I might not have mentioned this earlier, but I am a lady of various hobbies and tastes. Well, I say "mentioned," but if you've been following along, you can see some of my various hobbies for yourself. But I don't think I've touched on my love of video games yet. Perhaps one of my favorite series of all time is the "Megami Tensei" series of Japanese role-playing games. They're not as well-known as, say, The Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy, but they've slowly been growing in popularity over the last couple of years. (If you're interested, take a gander at Hardcore Gaming 101's very informative page exploring the entire series.) The franchise is composed of multiple different series. The one series that I'll be talking about in particular is the Persona series. They're turn-based RPGs that focus on psychological elements and character growth and relationships.
Arguably the most popular of these is Persona 4, which debuted in Japan back in 2008, and has enjoyed phenomenal success, including a remake, several spinoff sequels, and two animated adaptations. This is important, because the figure I'm reviewing today has a weird technicality, which I'll explain in a sec.
This figure is a Nendoroid, which is a brand of small articulated plastic figurines made by the Good Smile Company. They have a sort of super-deformed "chibi" look to make them appear cute. And it works, they are precious. They're articulated like the Figuarts, but they are entirely removable (I'll show you after the jump). This particular figure is of the character Yukiko Amagi, who is one of the playable characters in Persona 4. However, the figure is specifically marketed as being from the first anime version of the game, Persona 4 The Animation. So Yukiko is from the game, but the box is not advertising that. My guess is that Atlus (the game company that makes the Persona games) only decided to get aboard the Nendoroid train in an effort to promote the anime adaptation. ::shrugs::
Whatever, though. Less time on semantics, more time on reviews!
Yukiko is actually the first figure that I ever bought. Prior to March of this year, I really had little to no interest in collectible figurines. I think it's partially due to the fact that I had never encountered any from shows that I'd liked, and partially because a large portion of the figures on the market are ones that are very sexual, with scantily clad young women in provocative poses. So I really had no interest in collecting what I thought of as "titty sculptures."
But lo and behold, one evening I was browsing one of my regular online haunts for anime purchasing, Robert's Anime Corner Store. (I want to throw out an endorsement for this store; it is a small business, run in the USA by real anime and figurine collectors. They know what they're talking about, and they provide wonderful customer service. If you need help, the owner--the eponymous Robert--is easy to reach and quick to help. I cannot recommend these guys enough. ) And what to my wandering eyes appear...but a cute little figure of my favorite character of one of my favorite video games! I had a gift card, said "What the heck--at least she's clothed," and haven't looked back since.
She was $48.98 retail, but my gift card cut that in half. I chose one of the quicker UPS shipping options, so that was an additional $8-10. It arrived in marvelous condition, by the way.
The box is bright and cheerful, covered in Persona 4's signature yellow color theme. The intermittent patterns give it a vibrant, energetic feeling. The "window" in front gives you a look at the whole figure, plus most of the accessories. I like this, since you get a good feel for what the contents are.
As usual, the box is covered with photos of the Nendoroid in the various poses you can put it in. It showcases all of the different accessories, too. In an unrelated note, I want to direct your attention to the sticker in the bottom left corner, where it says "AAA Anime." This is a sign that what you are buying is a GENUINE product. AAA Anime is a California-based company that works as a distributor to US retailers, i.e. they import genuine items directly from Japanese companies and then sell them to companies here. The sticker is a sign that this figure was imported through AAA Anime and is NOT a bootleg. That is the easiest way to tell if a figure is genuine or not. I might do a "How to tell if you got a bootleg" guide in the future.
Here is Miss Yukiko out of the box. Besides her adorable self, she comes with two extra heads, three sets of arms, a right arm piece with her signature fan, and a separate bang piece that can have one of two pairs of glasses clipped in. There is her normal set of glasses, and a pair of joke glasses. Not bad.
She is just too adorable. Her dark gray eyes are lovingly rendered just like her character art; very recognizable as the work of Atlus artist Shigenori Soejima. Her long black locks are very matte, and the color seems to vary from a very flat black to an almost brownish-black in places. I am guessing that this is done to replicate the way that hair looks in real life, but it just makes the figure look sun-bleached. The colors are bright and even, and the patterns and small details are sharp and crisp. Even the teeny-tiny ones like the lines and emblem on her collar are clean and clear.
She has a hole in the back of her torso where you can clip her into her stand, which also comes with the figure. You can reach the hole by rotating her head. It's a little difficult because of how long her hair is, which blocks easy access.
Here is the stand. It is lightweight and easy to assemble. It's very articulated, which is good, given how much you have to finagle it to get it to clip into her torso! Nendoroids have a bit of weight to them; they feel very sturdy when you hold them. I think it's because the head is bigger, but also because the plastic is good quality. Nothing about it feels cheap or badly made, and while I'm sure that it could break if you were to be violent with it, it feels too sturdy to break.
Yukiko is not as articulated as, say, the Figuarts. She has standard range of motion at the neck, shoulders, and hips. But--I've got to share this with you guys--she has a secret. You can completely take her apart without harming her in the slightest. See above! You can de-assemble Nendoroids completely. I think it would be amazing if Good Smile were to make "customizable" Nendoroids available. You know: sell heads, bodies, hair, etc, that you could mix and match. As it is, though, you can take existing Nendoroids and swap out heads and bodies and suchlike to customize.
Before I forget, here is the listing of everything that comes with the figure. No real instructions on what to do. I'm guessing they figure that you can figure it out, although a brief primer on clipping the stand into the Nendoroid would have been helpful. I spent the better part of ten minutes trying to work out a solution at first.
I couldn't really take a good close-up of it, but the extra bang piece has small holes on either side that you can clip her glasses into. The arm pieces snap in and out easily, although you do have to exert a little pressure onto the pegs to get them to fully snap into the holes. If you don't click them in all the way, they hang there and then fall out.
I was so crazy about my first figure that I made her a little playset to display her in. This was pretty simple, made of scraps of plywood and printed-out images that I glued with Mod Podge. I had a lot of fun with it, and I might build sets for some of my other figures. Hmmm...sounds like a nice little winter project.
I am very impressed with my little Yukiko Nendoroid. MSRP is more expensive than the Figuarts I've gotten (especially since this is now a retired figure), but the quality is amazing. (Especially considering what I've gone through.) A good number of accessories, plus the ability to switch parts with other Nendos makes this a great value for the money. Given how sturdy this is, I wouldn't have qualms letting older children play with this, although it's not really a toy, but more of a collectible. I'll be keeping an eye on Good Smile's products in the years to come; hopefully some more of my favorite characters will have Nendoroid versions to pick up.
Miss Scarlett suggests: Figure collectors of the world, get yourself some Nendoroids!
