Welcome back to another Waifu Watch review! Today we’re taking a look at Sakuya (Teacher Ver.) from Blade Arcus From Shining EX. Manufactured by Flare, Sakuya stands 20cm tall and has an RRP of ¥12,800 (tax excluded). She features a cast-off skirt, as well as interchangeable face-plates and removable glasses.
Sakuya charms with a playful and sexy pose that places a lot of emphasis on her long, shapely legs and her ample cleavage. The figure is quite well sculpted over-all, with generally crisp details and clean edges. Her outfit is quite well rendered, particularly her underwear, and the figure delivers with a killer pair of legs.
Some areas have room for improvement, though, such as her shirt and ribbon, which are a bit thick and chunky. Her open mouth also looks a little iffy from some angles, though it’s better than some attempts we’ve seen. I’ve also seen some criticism of Sakuya’s hair being under-detailed, although I’m not sure I agree.
The paintwork is one of the figure’s high points, with a great use of varied finishes and some very clean detail work on her clothes. The pin-stripes on her suit and the floral patterns on her underwear look great. Furthermore, there’s great use of shading here, with a particular stand-out being Sakuya’s skirt. With the clever use of highlights and shadows, they were able to create visible panty lines that help make the skirt look tighter and sexier.
Rather less strong is the figure’s overall assembly process. Putting Sakuya on her attractive hardwood styled base is easy enough, and removing and replacing her skirt is self explanatory. Switching her face-plates and putting on her glasses, however, can be needlessly difficult. Things are made harder by the included instructions, which effectively demonstrate how the head comes apart, but advise a method that doesn’t work very well at all.
The easiest way I’ve found is to remove Sakuya’s head entirely first, and then carefully pry apart her face and the back of her head. Pay special attention to her ear-rings, which are very easy to knock out and even easier to lose. When replacing her head, it’s best not to pre-assemble it, as the opening for her neck is actually too small to slide on – it’s designed to close around it. Instead, put the face on the neck first, and then her fringe, and finally the back of her head.
If this all sounds a bit confusing, that’s because it’s a rather clumsy set-up, but it hopefully makes sense once you have the figure at hand.
Overall, Sakuya is a very appealing figure with a lot of charm. She’s perhaps a little pricy for what she offers, but I think she looks great. Sakuya isn’t really a centrepiece figure to build around, but she still stands out as part of a collection. She’s not a ‘must have’ by any means, but if you like what you see then you probably won’t be disappointed if you pick her up yourself.
Final Score
Summary
Sakuya is easy to recommend to collectors. While she’s not the most outstanding or the most polished figure, she’s still well made and very charming. Though she won’t carry a display by herself, she’d make a great addition to any collection. However, some might consider her a little too pricy for what she offers.
