To me the Noizi Ito illustrations of Shana in GU-RE-N define what Shana looks like (rather than the animation), a look and feel that the Melon-Pan Shana released by Kotobukiya doesn’t quite capture. It was actually a nice a figure, but it didn’t satisfy me as a fan of Noizi Ito. Toy Works recently released a 1:8 scale pre-painted PVC Shakugan no Shana (in red and black hair variants) that takes a pose straight out of an Ito illustration. Clearly the intent was to capture the essence of Shana from the illustrations, a definite step in the right direction. So, does this figure get it right?
Shana clutches her sword case close to her bandage wrapped body. Visually, Shana appears fragile and thin, making her look vulnerable, and the pose defensive, yet her face is the picture of smoldering defiance. Shana can kick serious ass, but yet she still looks like she needs protection. Is that moe? I’m not really up on what exactly is moe.
The figure itself rests without any additional supports to prop it up or keep it in place, so you can opt not to use the generic looking base that comes with the figure. Given the pose it tips over with a slight nudge. A little more stability would have been nice, but it’s stable enough where it shouldn’t be a problem.
A closer inspection of the figure takes a lot of the magic away. The face of my Shana figure is scratched up and there are a number of dirt patches and scuff marks all over her body. The scratched face might be hard to see on the small inline pictures, but if you’re interested to see the damage, click on the link to the larger image.
While the sculptor got the twiggy body dead-on and did a good job with the travel of her hair (edit: though the way it’s attached to her head is clunky), straight on and up close the face looks a bit off. The eye decals feel a bit vacant from this angle. From any other angle, the eyes do have some heat, but it’s just weird how empty they look straight on. Of course, the naked eye could never really get this close, so the vacancy is a minor complaint.
I really wanted to like this figure more and had hoped it would really nail the attitude I wanted to see, which it does to some degree. Too bad the quality of the figure is below average. So for now, the Kotobukiya Melon-Pan Shana is still the best Shana figure available just because it’s a little more engaging.
Product Data
- Product: Shakugan no Shana (Contract of Fate version)
- Maker: Toy Works
- Sculptor: Yoshiyuki Nakamaya
- Scale and Material: 1/8 scale completed PVC figure
- Released: Late October 2006
- List Price: 4,980 JPY
- Domestic US Release: NO (as of 12/05/06)
There is a very good reason as to why a Shana fanatic like me didn’t buy this and instead is waiting for Jun Planning’s version.
Anyway, great pictures as always. I like how the way you blended her with the white background. Last picture seems to lack something though.
For some reason I missed the Jun Planning Shana. That one is even closer to the illustration than this one. The hair on that one has a weird gloss to it though. Looks like I’ll have to wait on that one since both HobbySearch and HobbyLink have closed acceptance on it.
I wanted to get this one, but umehiko already bought it and told me the hairs on it were quite badly done.
But your pictures are lovely as usual.
The last picture shows the big flaw in the hair design. It doesn’t look like it’s growing out of her head, but looks a little like a hair creature has attached itself to her head.
Still, I like the way the strands travel around her.
[...] Three shots of Kasumi and her assets after the jump. Also, if you don't follow HappySoda, super rats had some things to say about the Shana-in-Bandages figure. If you were thinking about grabbing it, maybe you should take a look. Just saying. Also, I got bored and played with the post image a bit. That's not what the figure will look like… the ones after the jump are. [...]
I also have this figure, but the Tendokyu version though. Yet to open it lol. Oh such is the pain of a busy life.
Oh yer …. thanks for the review … I nearly went to bought it .. luckily I was too tied up to go and make my purchase … then I came across this review … better save my moolas for better figurines
There are a lot of very good figures out there, so yeah, your money should find better ways to burn. Thanks for the input!
Hi, super rats,
I just bought the other version of this figure “the girls from tendokyu” and no problems. I got her from a local store (she was a Japanese import but very good price/less than shipping it from Japan), anyway I was able to check her out before I bought her and no problems to report orther than a ridge here or there on the hair (it’s dark brown so less noticable).
They also had the “Contract of Fate” version, however the one the have was very clean with no marks on the hair and very little edges… still I hesitated to buy that one as the color of the hair looks like it can show marks more easily if one was to get it dirty.
The brown hair version probably does make scuffs and stuffs less noticeable. Thanks for adding feedback to let people know that it is possible to get a good version of this figure if they like the design.
^ it was a very tough decision between the two color versions.
[...] Can’t do comparison shots between both versions since I’m missing one of them, I can however direct you to super rat’s awesome shoot of the Flame Haze Version here. [...]