Introduction
Today’s review brings us Kagarino Kirie, a 300 year old vampire from Bishoujo Mangekyou. It’s not a series I’m familiar with, but Kirie was charming enough that I took a chance on Skytube’s release.
For the most part, I’m not disappointed. This figure is of an obviously high quality, and she looks very handsome on display. There are a few quibbles, though, which we’ll get to later.
Assembly and Specifications
First off though, let’s go over the vital statistics! Kirie is a 1/6 scale figure, and she’s about 19cm tall when seated. She’s manufactured by Alphamax, and sells at a ¥16,800 RRP. As you’ll no doubt spot pretty quick, she’s also cast offable – no surprise there, as she is a Skytube figure.
This figure comes in one of the bigger boxes I’ve seen, most likely due to the plethora of bits and bobs in the box. Aside from Kirie herself, you’ll also find a faux fur mat, her twin-tails, an interchangeable dress part, a glass of premium vino, a chair with interchangeable cushion, an extra arm, and… I think that’s everything.
As you can imagine, Kirie is a tricky one to assemble. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it difficult, but there are certainly some fiddly parts, particularly when putting her dress back together. The included instructions, although entirely in Japanese, are quite helpful to understanding how things work. If I tried to explain it myself, we’d legitimately be here all day. Once you get a grip on the idea, though, the pieces fit together fairly easily.
Sculpting
As mentioned before, Kirie is quite a handsome figure. She’s well sculpted, with a slender and attractive body posed in a casually seductive manner. The intricate folds of her dress and the lengths of hair that spill over the chair and tumble onto the floor around her feet add to the allure. There’s a very decadent feeling about this figure.
Beneath the clothes, you’ll find her nudie bits are quite lovingly rendered too. It’s amusing how much detail goes into things you’d have to go out of you way to see, but I suppose that’s the nature of the beast with cast off figures. The optional half-dropped dress adds subtle and tasteful nudity – it works very well if you remove her panties along with it.
There are some very obvious draw-backs, however. The first is the blindingly blatant seam on her shoulder. It’s almost impossible to ignore… but it’s also necessary to help with Kirie’s cast off features. The interchangeable arm makes undressing her easier, and also makes sure there isn’t a weird notch in her arm once she’s been disrobed.
There is an effort to hide it with her hair, but it doesn’t really work – the hair just doesn’t go in front of the seam. In fact, her hair simply doesn’t sit right on anything. Although her twin-tails are meant to drape over the chair, there’s consistently a large gap. It isn’t the end of the world, but I feel they could’ve made things more snug.
Paintwork
Kirie’s attractive sculpt is backed up by some very solid painting. The usual variety of finishes are on display, with her stockings and the red lining of her dress featuring some very appealing shading work. This figure has lovely legs, which is important for this kind of pose.
More subtle shading is employed on her hair and skin, too, helping to accentuate the shape. Her nipples have a glossy finish to give them that appealing anime-style highlight. (Why are anime nipples so shiny, though?)
I hadn’t mentioned it until now, but the chair is very well made too. Considering you won’t see a lot of it behind Kirie, they really did a nice job with the quilted and studded backing. Similarly, the wine glass does a decent job at looking like a real glass of wine. It’s not flawless, but it works well enough at viewing distance. The little details really help the figure.
And speaking of the little details, Kirie’s polka-dotted underwear is slightly see-through, too. It’s a cheeky little touch – one that you won’t notice unless you look for it – but it adds a lot of charm to the figure.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Kirie is a thoroughly impressive figure. She’s not without some issues – particularly that glaring shoulder seam – but the quality of the figure outshines those problems. I could complain about how poorly she grips the wine glass, or how the included fur mat looks kind of cheap and tacky (and probably a nuisance to clean), but the figure is still quite outstanding.
If you can look past the smaller issues (and the one or two larger issues), you’ll probably quite like this figure. The hair draped across the floor does make her a little tricky to place on a shelf, but once she’s on display her allure really comes through clearly. I think she’s certainly a figure worth her price.
Final Score
Summary
Skytube’s Kagarino Kirie figure is visually appealing, and impressive from a quality stand-point, too. A few glaring issues – most notably the shoulder seam – hold her back from a perfect score. However, these issues don’t take away too much from what is an otherwise excellent product. If you like what you see here, I’d recommend checking her out – as of writing, her price is still quite fair.
