Iroha is a fighting game character whose creation in 2005 corresponds almost exactly with the crest in the wave of the PVC production boom, and she has come to embody it with over a dozen kits released in the past two years. Few of them match the majesty of Nakayama Eiji’s winter ’06 foray into Irohadom, however, and when it was revealed last summer that this particular garage kit would be reborn in PVC I was overjoyed. With production under the auspices of Goodsmile I was sure they’d deliver a faithful rendition of his incredibly curvaceous sculpt, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Original Design: Takkun
Sculptor: Nakayama Eiji (Tekkoryuu)
Source: Samurai Spirits Tenkaichi Kenkakuden (game)
Scale: 1/5 (30 cm tall) (28 cm actual)
Materials: PVC, ABS
Release Date: September 28th, 2007
Production: Goodsmile
Price: 7,800 JPY (tax included)
Current Availability: [KNC] [HLJ] [HS] [TL] [AAA]
Support HD!: [PA] [YA]
There’s no castoff, no plushy bosoms, no gimmicks here – just an incredibly solid sculpt that stands on its own merits, and she’s got merits aplenty. I liked the Iroha design ever since I saw the first figure created of her (the one that came with the limited edition release of Samurai Spirits Tenkaichi Kenkakuden), though other than her Yuujin incarnation I resisted the barrage of figures released over the past few years. This Yamada Eiji sculpt, though, is another matter entirely.
Yamada Eiji of circle Tekkoryuu is known for his dynamic sculpts of amply endowed, healthy girls (such as his Prier from La Pucelle, to be released in PVC from Wafuudou Ganguten, and this beauty out in resin at WHF Yokohama Dash 2 last month). His take on Iroha is no exception, presenting a concrete vision of womanhood that differs from the one projected in the game, but is no less attractive for it.
Goodsmile’s rendition of the flowing lines of the sculpt is solid, with the highlight being their reproduction and paint job of the face, which I find positively brilliant. With typical Goodsmile quality all of the basic aspects of production are well covered here, so when it comes to nitpicking all I can do is wish that they’d gone a bit beyond the call of duty and included the extra details present on the original resin kit: the laces on her stockings, and the flower and heron decals on her robe. I also slightly prefer the gloss finish on the original kit over the matte chosen by Goodsmile, and they could’ve put a bit more effort into the oil etching on the metal blades of her weapons, but that really is just nitpicking; this is at its core a faithful rendition of the original Nakayama sculpt, and one I’m quite happy to own.
Overall Score: 9/10
+ amazing, dynamic original sculpt
+ beautiful job on the face
+ high Goodsmile standard of quality throughout
o lack of some details present in the original resin
o matte finish not quite as highlighted as original
o blades look a bit cheap
– the realization that I am not Iroha’s husband
This is a figure I’d recommend unconditionally to Iroha fans, fans of quality figures in general, and especially fans of the more rounded, less twiggy body image presented here. While kimono-clad maid ninjas with those proportions may not actually exist, this is a great tool to aid the suspension of disbelief. :3 If you’re interested in picking her up and you’d like to support HD, you can order her at Play-Asia.
I’m no less of an Iroha fan, but I was rather turned off by the rather blocky hips. It just seemed rather cubic to me.
Her face is really awesome though, so I’m still quite undecided. I’ll be watching the price on this one.
It was a tossup between her and the humongous 1/4 Mina Majikina. I decided on the latter as she was just too tempting and at that size who can refuse?
i have to say ive never really understood the fuss over iroha. cute background story and all, easy character to pick up as far as the games are concerned, but kind of a boring character design.
my lack of iroha love aside, it looks like a quality figure though.
“i have to say ive never really understood the fuss over iroha.”
It’s the barette. Totally.
No barette, no life. >:O
In all honesty I’m not a huge fan of Iroha’s design, but I am a huge fan of Nakayama Eiji. I hope we see more PVC kits from him in the future.
I was a fan of this figure since you covered her future release at WHF (or was it Wonder Festival?) earlier this year, and when she arrived on the HS website, I preordered her as soon as I could. She’s now waiting for me on their site, but I preordered her together with Kureha by Max Factory, so I have to wait until she’s available too! ^^
I love the figure- but her right leg looks off to me…like her ankle is broken or something. But this is one spot on kit- love it.
@work_ethic: i was about to say thats part of her design, (swan with a broken wing or something to that effect) but i noticed the bandage is on her left ankle. the right ankle looks okay to me, although a lot of the shots are covered by her ribbon.
Yeah, its the direction of the foot that bothers me….What?? Yes!! I AM looking at her feet!! I’m weird like that!! Don’t look at ME like that !!! Anyway, it’s really pronounced to me in jpg.11 and 68. Like why is it pointing inwards……
Anyway this looks like a great figure regardless. Thanx for the review.
well, the crane backstory might explain why her right leg looks so weird. It almost seemed to me that her pelvic bone was stretching at the skin, looking a little dislocated.
But I’m really liking the face. I really wish I could remove it and attach it to one of my other Iroha figures.
Nevertheless, I doubt I’m going to get this one unless it starts going below the current retail price. Still watching the market eagerly…