When word first came in April that model company Aoshima was branching out into the bishoujo figure business with a Yamashita Shunya-designed figure as its flagship title many of us were curious as to how a non-Kotobukiya, non-Yamato maker would handle his iconic designs. The results are in, and the answer appears to be: not too badly, for a first try.

Original Design: Yamashita Shunya
Sculptor: Modeler T
Source: original
Scale: 1/7 (25 cm tall)
Materials: PVC
Release Date: mid-July, 2007
Production: Aoshima (official blog)
Price: 6,090 JPY (tax included)
Current Availability: [KNC] [HLJ] [HS] [TL] [AAA]
Support HD!: [JLIST] [PA]

Rudy is yet another bubblegum pop sci-fi design from the pen of Yamashita Shunya. It’s a familiar pose and motif of his, and a figure I likely would’ve passed over were it not for a) the castoff potential and b) the slight bunching of skin on her left side that is by far the sexiest aspect of the kit.

Aoshima’s reproduction of the Modeler T sculpt is decent, but the overall effect is diminished by the difficulty of effectively communicating Yamashita’s original color balance, coming across here as cheap (especially given the amount of hand-painted trim work necessary). The other obvious defect is in the replacement chest part - just because Japanese reviewers censor that doesn’t mean you can slack off there, sirs. Hot pink? What were you thinking? I’m also a bit disappointed that the … girdle, or whatever it is she’s wearing around her waist, isn’t removable. Why go to the trouble of putting panties underneath otherwise? >:(

In the final analysis I’d say this is a great sculpt based on an above average original design with decidedly average final execution. An easy recommendation for the Yamashita Shunya fans, a bit more difficult for the average collector but still a generally solid kit that shows enough promise that I’ll be looking forward to Aoshima’s future projects.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

+ cast off
+ waist sculpt
+ skin toning

- poor overall color balance
- chest discoloration
- seam of chest part when viewed at low angle