The official site of figure maker Alter was updated today with two new figures scheduled for release in November of this year: Suzumiya Haruhi (school uniform ver.) from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, and Shigure Asa from SHUFFLE! MEMORIES. The Haruhi figure is being produced in cooperation with Chara-Ani and features a sculpt from Inagaki Hiroshi, and is to be released at 1/8 scale (18 cm tall) and 6,090 yen. Asa is is also coming at 1/8 scale (21 cm tall) and 7,140 yen, with a sculpt from Kuramoto Ikuma of Millimeter Modeling. Figure images below:

Lovely dynamic Haruhi !
Haruhi is nice, though not too big of a fan of the hunched look, and as for Asa, DAMN IT! Not a fan of her face or the pudgy legs. T.T
Haruhi looks like she’s dodging gunfire there.
weird link on Inagaki Hiroshi ;)
welcome back Shingo!
solid but not spectacular sculpts of 2 characters that I really like, but won’t be getting.
Haruhi warrants a buy. I find the pose energetic.
I don’t see pudgy legs on Asa. They’re just realistic looking.
For me, Haruhi’s pose is fantastic. Definitely will be buying.
Seeing such a cute sculpt on my favourite Shuffle! character is awesome too.
Where some may be put off by the “chubby” curves; I won’t.
Curves ftw.
Asa’s legs like fairly nice to me, and Haruhi looks pretty nice as well. I don’t think I’ll get either of them, though…
Now, if they decide to make a Nerine…
Gawd, Asa figure is tempting, though she’s not my favorite character. I have yet to a nice Kaede figure, so if Alter releases one, I’m going to be broke
You could write an essay on the feeling that Haruhi projects. It’s a bitchin statue, but it makes me hate the moe industry.
So yeah I’ll be buying it day one. :3
they’re both awesome! Especially the shuffle one, the whole thing is so cute
They’re both so very tempting. Especially Asa.
Needs more Kaede dammit.
Lovely Haruhi, though they shouldn’t have made her bend over so much… It diminishes the overall height.
Asa is just plain ick. What did they do to her face and legs? DDD=
so tempting yet… so broke…
Hell I’m in for both.
They need a Kareha to go along with Asa.
Good Sculpt.
Alter really captured them on 3D.
I’m sure it’s the lack of sleep talking here but I could swear that I see hints of Leonardo DiCaprio in the face of the Haruhi fig.
God, but I need more sleep.
I’m loving the Asa figure- she looks lovely and the face is cute.
agree with The-O
that is no asa
agree with The-O
that is no Asa
I have a feeling that another Asa will soon come up
The more I see Alter’s Haruhi, the more I think I might purchase her.
Overall, I like the subdued, almost dried out color palette. The “seeya” pose captures a side of Haruhi’s character most figures don’t quite touch; more along the lines of her deredere than her tsuntsun, if you catch my drift.
The Asa figure looks great. I hope I won’t run out of monies before it will be released.
I’d prefer a figure of Mayumi but this will probably never happen.
Not too fond of Haruhi’s pose. I mean in 2D it suits her perfect but not so keen on the 3D. Loving Asa, but will most likely pass.
Agreed that the pose of the Suzumiya Haruhi (school uniform ver.) figure brings out the character and the 3D dynamic view of pvc figures. Though I’m not really a fan for Suzumiya Haruhi but I think this one looks quite nice. Not sure if my friend who is a fan of this anime series will be purchasing it or not.
By the way, Shingo, any news on the re-issue for the GSC Shuraki Trinity Box 3 & 4? It seems no news on Shuraki Trinity for quite sometime already since their last news on next figure to be releasing is Monica.
What of the Chara-Ani limited edition version of the Haruhi figurine, with an open-mouth smile?
http://www.chara-ani.com/details.asp?prdid=C08700011
I like both but I don’t think I’ll be getting the chara-ani one. I’ve already got a few Haruhi figures with the :D expression.
Personally I’m glad the glut of Haruhi bunnygirl releases seems to be over.
sorry to be off-topic, but where is Shingo these days ? It’s quite hard to contact him now (e-mailed him about Hobby Japan 9 preview but no response), and WF 2008 summer is coming soon, I hope there will be coverage about it.
@TrueDevil
Seconded. C74 is around the corner too.
Yeah, You are Right TrueDevil!
I really Hope, first of all, that Shingo is OK!… 0_0
Because is Unusual that He disappear so many days!
Then Of Course people is waiting for the Hobby Japan mag. previews and news from the next WF.
maybe the WoW monster ate him again:(
I had HD set as one of my browsers home pages and used to look forward to checking the site every night.
Well… What happened with My Opinion? lol
I said that.. Firts Of All, I hope Shingo Is Ok!…
Then I also want to see the Hobby japan Preview Scans!!!. The nes from MegaHouse :)
Well, I suppose he’s not really as interested in the coverage of these things as he used to be. Happens to us all at some point. Maybe he’s just gone on a holiday at the last second – or maybe aliens got him? O_O
Maybe he got…married (gasp!)
@Deibi Manabu:
As much as I hope that (a loss of interest) isn’t the case , if it were I would think the least that could be done would be a formal announcement that the site is on probation until further notice. At this rate, any returning visitors, such as ourselves, are completely left in the dark as to whether HD is still functioning or not.
That’s what makes me think it’s possible that it’s a lack of interest. Sometimes we get depressed and don’t even want to let people know anything.
Maybe he got sick just like that – if so, he couldn’t really tell us until he got better..
Well, it isn’t the first time he’s gone on an extended break. And he’s been blogging nearly constantly for who knows how long, I can’t remember. Everyone takes a break from their hobbies once in a while.
Or maybe he really is hooked on WoW. Maybe working on new doujin (C74 coming up iirc). Maybe PC blew up or fucked up. He might even have been arrested. You can get held for 23 days without charge here. That’s pretty unlikely though.
NOTE: I posted this before, right before Shingo came back temporarily so no one probably seen it, and I want to paste it here because it looks like the thoughts are flowing.
But you know, in a post not too long ago, Shingo did mention that he was risking a case of burnout, so whatever can be read from that. Or hey, like Deibi said with being a bit depressed, I could certainly see that, I think I’m climbing out of my own case of it. And I think it is a bit of a climb that maybe comes with a media/hobby/figure-based lifestyle.
Well, I’d say I have been taking Shingo and his HeiseiDemocracy for granted but I know I haven’t. It’s been clear to me that for what Shingo covers for us English speakers really is peerless. Shingo you don’t seem to show it, but it’s clear to me that no one provides this sort of resource, and really is peerless for English speakers.
I mean, there are a handful of people like Danny Choo, but pfft, I’d say that what Shingo does for figure enthusiasts is beyond just a Danny Choo-like blog, it’s thorough and touches every figure I have a remote interest in, and has way more value considering his preferences alignment with many of ours. What Shingo does would be competent for a small team of journalists trying to cover the medium as it appears to me, and it seems to be mostly driven simply by his will and enthusiam, as proof by his recent burn-out and room to be abducted by WoW.
At times like these I wish Shingo did have more incentive to be giving us this resource, for example, I for one would definately pay for a subscription if needed. Shingo, the peerless and invaluable service you give to us along with the will and effort it takes to provide it is not lost on me.
Might I suggest a burn-out-resistant schedule that is much less packed than a Mainichi post and a bit less frequent, because really, I don’t think anyone has expectations as big as those Mainichi posts. I’d save that for if you did have a small team of journalists.
Oh, and when I say peerless I mean it. If Shingo quit completely, I mean really, is there a replacement? I haven’t found one.
@ Hinsoog,
Not as good as Shingo and not enough doujin but you can try http://www.dannychoo.com/figure/eng/ in the meantime.
>> Hinsoog
I totally agree with your opinions about Shingo. He’s the 1 person who has identical interests/tastes as I have, and that’s so extremely rare. It’s like 1 in 6 billion.
And if he’s into WoW full time, I understand as well, cause I was once hooked too. Think 24x7x365 days. At work, I’m thinking of WoW. Sleeping, and I’m dreaming of it too.
Anyway, let’s pray he’s alright, and that’s he’s just taking an extended break.
Cheers to Shingo, and to all HD visitors too. 8)
HD, when active, is undoubtedly the best new figure news site I’ve found that is in English (Moeyo is the best of all, though I can’t read it and the pictures are kind of small, but they update constantly and cover things very well).
As far as WoW or burnout, I can see it happening. I know if I was in his shoes when Little Big Planet comes out people would be wondering what the hell happened to me, ’cause I KNOW I’m gonna be completely addicted to it:)
heh, well said Hinsoog. I’ve only just discovered and delved into this site in the last month and the coverage is so extensive and in tune with my specific interests… it amazes me. I’ve been checking back every day of July to read more of the past news and reviews and see if Shingo is back in action.
AX may have took more of a mental toll on him than he originally thought. Hopefully he’s just relaxing with the summer. HD is an incredible site so I hope he revives his passion if that’s what flamed out ^^
Hinsoog I completely agree. Shingo and his site are peerless. I visited Choo once and couldn’t figure out what the hell he was trying to inform everyone about. That site is all over the place, with superficial posts and a layout that gives me aneurysms.
I wish my Japanese skills were adequate, I could at least help myself in getting more info or better yet collaborate with Shingo. I tried searching through 2chan for Hobby Japan previews and somehow ended up in their “guro” section – oh the horror!
I also agree with Hinsoog. While I definitely wouldn’t want to push Shingo into continuing if he’s not up to it (whatever the reason) there really is no substitution. To be honest, I truly miss the frequent updates and the invaluable info given to us English speaking figure collectors. Recently I have found myself scouring Japanese sites trying to make out the info using half baked translation tools.
I do wish there was something I could do to help. I can see how the stress or burnout could occur, but maybe with help we could make Heisei Demo active again. I don’t know exactly what I’d do but just offering in case it’s possible.
they seriously need to fix up the asa or else its not gunna sell
i mean… look at it