Another in the parade of Orchid Seed’s delayed releases finally made her way to open air this week. When we first reported on Seihouin Erika she was due for release in September, and looked quite attractive in her prototype incarnation; eight months later it seems she may not have been worth the wait, alas. Just how does she live up to the aspirations of naked apron aficionados everywhere? Read on for the inconvenient truth:
Original Design: Mikeou
Sculptor: Ranmaru (Amiami search)
Source: Miraroma (eroge)
Scale: 1/7 (21 cm tall)
Materials: PVC
Release Date: December 12th, 2007
Production: Orchid Seed
Price: 5,800 JPY (tax included)
Current Availability: [KNC] [HLJ] [HS] [TL]
Support HD!: [PA]
![Heisei Democracy [ERO] Figure Review: Orchid Seed's Seihouin Erika from Miraroma](http://heiseidemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/orchiderika/header.jpg)
Character Description
Seihouin Erika is one of the heroines of Marmalade’s 2005 eroge Miraroma (“Miracle Romance Strawberry Scramble”). The tag line from her introduction is “Ho ho ho ho ho! You shall call me Erika-sama!”, and she is apparently a nun from a small European country who has returned to Japan to free the game’s protagonist from a curse.
![Heisei Democracy [ERO] Figure Review: Orchid Seed's Seihouin Erika from Miraroma](http://heiseidemocracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/erika_original.thumbnail.jpg)
Seihouin Erika as she appears in the original Miraroma
Sculpt
Fidelity
No matter how hard you squint it’s hard to see the original character anywhere in this sculpt. The chest is too big, the hair too voluminous, the build generally too chunky to evoke the lean, sprightly feel of Mikeou’s design. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the sculptor has erred on a side that I generally prefer, but calling a spade a spade one has to say that this isn’t Seihouin Erika.
Craftsmanship
There are issues with the sculpting fundamentals of this kit as well. Her pose is unstable and looks awkward from some angles, and her proportions aren’t nearly as attractive as they could be (the hips are too thin for her breasts). I also find the balance of the face composition to be off slightly, and her arm… I don’t know what’s up with that.
Production
Cast
This kit is not the shining accomplishment of Orchid’s production department, alas. The cast is flawed by imprecise mold work on the hair that leaves it looking bulky and blunt-edged, but the worst part of is certainly the atrocious seam used to attach her torso to her waist. It’s not so bad with the apron on, but cast off it sticks out like a sore thumb. A mold line on the forward arm is somewhat visible as well.
Paint
The paint job here is simple, almost to the point of being primitive. The range of finishes is limited to matte on the stockings and apron, with low gloss for the skin and hair; detail work is minimal but where present (on the stocking straps and cuff links) is not particularly well executed. Shading across the kit is minimal. If the paint job has one saving grace it is that the nipples were done without succumbing to Rudy or Kimono girl syndrome.
Conclusion
I wasn’t left with a favorable impression of Orchid’s Seihouin Erika. I ordered her back in April based on a set of promising prototype shots, and sadly they were not matched by reality; if you’re looking for an ero figure at a decent price and don’t mind some sculpting and production shoddiness, or if you’re a naked apron fanatic (I feel your pain) this is the figure for you, but otherwise your yen might be better spent elsewhere.
Overall Score: 6.5
+ bonus points for true naked apron castoff
o sculpt deviates from original design considerably
o plain paint job
– sculpt has some serious balance, anatomical issues
– poor casting job with unfortunate seams and mold lines
If you’re interested in supporting HD with your purchase of this kit she’s still available at Play Asia; otherwise the cheapest option currently seams to be Hobby Search.
Oh gosh… Shingo… I also being attracted by the prototype and now the actual figure is soo bad… that atrocious seams… so many visible mold lines… it’s totally very different from those products released from Orchid seed recently… what happen to them?
>>Kent
I’d like to know what happened too, this is pretty sub-par compared to Orchid’s other work released this year. Maybe they sourced production to a different factory? I hope we don’t see a repeat of this quality from them in the future.
WOW- a painted nether region?? Interesting….but yeah- I have so much crap coming to me…
If she is available in some bargin bin or something…yeah. But for now- unfortunately she gets a pass.
Thanx for the review Shingo!
This was one of the kits I’d been looking forward to sometime ago. The prototype photos looked nice, pretty unfortunate the real thing turned out this way. Oh well, I was waiting for her to hit the bargain bin anyway.
The positives are she’s not expensive (5800yen only), has huge boobs, nice nipple colour, a painted groove, blonde and an apron.
Guess Erika has the same problem as Daiki’s Akuma-san – joints across the erogenous waist/navel region. Guess, that means they’re not supposed to be fully castoff but to wear those aprons provided.
Lesson learnt today: Always read HD reviews first before buying. 8) Still, not too disappointed. I guess I can always break out the putty, and do some remodelling/sanding/airbrushing/painting myself. 8)
Waiting on arrival from HLJ . . . Have to wait and see what it looks likes when I get it
Anything else is not the issue to me – the nipples look way wrong for a topless/naked figure. I disliked that the moment I saw the photos of that part of this figure..
OK. Just received mine from HS. And while the the waist joint looks bad on close inspection, I just remembered how small 20cm figures are. So, if you leave the figure facing the front, it isn’t noticeable, even with the apron off. ;)
I just received the figure today and my first thought was: This has to be a fake! How she leans forward looks really strange, her hand is not able to grab the apron and the craftsmanship is poor.
So my question is: Is the figure you describe here an original product for sure?
If so, it’s really sad that Orchid Seed lost so much of its’ quality :(