Iroha has become quite popular with figure makers lately, what with about ten PVCs released or slated for early 2007. The Cerberus Project sculpt differs significantly from the rest of the pack, gaving Iroha a more cartoony face, but more importantly, while everyone else chose to put her in pin-up poses, Cerberus Project decided to go for the essence of a fighting game character, motion. It is an amazing and potentially tragic figure.
The beautiful sense of motion won me over instantly when I first saw the promotional shots. She’s a samurai maid, agile and swift, her blades slice through the air. Out of all the figures in my collection, this Iroha has the most graceful step. There’s a poetry to it.
Plus there’s also her boobs. Her garment fits a little looser than the original sculpt, so you are able to see a hint of unpainted detail that wasn’t that apparent in the original. As far as I know, her clothes are meant to stay on.
Her sash in the PVC figure differs from the original, having more of a straight drop than a delicious curve. I had hoped they were going to use a harder material on the sash to keep the shape, but it’s a softer plastic, so it can’t keep the same shape of the original.
However, what’s most important, the grace of her step is perfectly done.
Other than the sash, the PVC is very close to the original sculpt shown in the promotional photos. Her head swivels about 30 to 45 degrees, so you do have a little leeway as far as how you want to display her in the case. It’s her hair that limits how much her head swivels.
Of course, I didn’t realize her head swiveled until just now, which was too bad. When taking photos of a fixed pose figure, one of the main things I try to do is find the angles where the character comes through. Without that, she just becomes a lump of plastic. Having the ability to swivel her head while shooting would have opened the character up to a greater variety of shots and implied emotions.
So yeah, for a long time now I’ve wanted to shoot a running through the bamboo forest scene. The problem arises when trying to create the bamboo forest. I may really love doing these photo shoots, but I’m not that crazy insane. Okay, if I actually had the tools and know-how I probably would, but I’m not crazy insane enough to acquire those skills. Instead, Iroha runs through a forest of bamboo spears that she weaves through.
Paint, Build, and Detailing
The build quality ArtStorm’s Iroha is decent. The drape of her sleeves rocks from the flow of the fabric and the detail and physics of the clothing folds. Her hair piece and gloves have good sharp detail work. The way her apron has softer folds than ther sleeves does an okay job of implying a different texture and weight of fabric, but the blue shading all over her apron is a little overdone.
Mold lines are a little more obvious than I would like and they’re in likely to be viewed locations. I have digitally altered the close-up picture of her rear to keep the mold lines from ruining the shot, but you can see them in the second shot of her backside if you click on the larger image.
There is a potential critical flaw with this Iroha in PVC form. The only thing that connects Iroha to the base is the ball of her left foot. Due to the pliable nature of PVC, figures that stand on one foot, let alone on just the tip of one foot, are notorious for gradually bending at the stress point so that the figure develops a lean. When I ordered Iroha, I assumed there would be a support post for her back leg to help distribute the stress, but there is no additional support. While it may look like her shash tails could bear weight, they don’t actually touch the base. It looks like they might be able to act as supports should she start to lean back, but I don’t think the sash would be rigid enough, especially in warm weather, to provide enough support to prevent any leaning.
I hope they’ve done something to reinforce her leg internally. She also wobbles a little like a spring doorstop due to her hollow base not having much in the way of thickness or support, which isn’t reassuring.
Update
It’s been two and a half months since I’ve gotten Iroha and she is still just as upright as when I got her.
In the End
In terms of flow and expression of movement, ArtStorm’s Iroha is one of the finest figures out there. The only reason I’m not attaching a “Highly Recommended” tag onto this figure is the high probability that Iroha will lean. It’s a real shame, because she’s incredible. Hopefully, I’m wrong about the sash not providing enough support.
Product Information
- Product: Iroha
- Sculptor: Cerberus Project
- Maker: ArtStorm/Lilics
- Scale and Material: 1/8 scale PVC
- Released: Mid-December 2006
- List Price: 6,500 JPY
- US Release: 12/30/2006 with a SRP of $65.99
Looks good, and a great use of skewers. As for the bamboo background, I had that for another figure shoot I did, but they didn’t turn out so well. Not to mention the amount of mosquitoes buzzing around me.
Standing on the ball of her foot is definitely something you should be concerned about. Well I suppose if you keep her in a cool area it should be fine.
That was a beautiful review and a beautiful figure.
You have a couple of weeks to admire the graceful step before it becomes a hamstring stretch. But I like the pictures with the skewers.
Do you watermark each picture one by one or do you use some mass batch software?
Hi there,
I found your site from RIUVA. Honestly, I thought the sharpen sticks was the fact that Iroha was leaping head-on against a line of pikemen!!
I was a little disappointed that it was supposed to be a bamboo forest. XD
From
Waterfall
Adun: There aren’t any bamboo forests where I’m at in the US, but there are plenty of mosquitoes.
Wrex: Yeah she’s great.
tj han: I hope I have at least a couple of weeks. Seriously, I was expecting a support post of some kind. As far as the watermark, the cheapo version of Photoshop I have only lets you batch add a text watermark, so I insert them by hand.
Waterfall: It’s kind of abstract the way I have it, so it can be pikemen or it can be stalks. I kind of thought of both while doing it.
Very very beautiful. I love the sticks + white fluff combination for this shoot. Just curious, did u get the pink version?
Pwnage set of photos again. And rats, when will you settle on a single watermark design? lol
Tsubaki: I just got this version. This one was offered first and I like it better than the pink one, so didn’t switch.
LianYL: lol…I might change it again. I think this one calls a little too much attention to itself.
sweet review + photos, like your spear bamboo forest concept for the diorama.
on another hand of the figure, which other companies came out with the different variations of iroha?
Following this link to HLJ should show you what’s been released or will soon be released. To me this is by far the best Iroha. I’ll update in two weeks as to whether she leans or not.
HLJ link to Iroha
What is that depression between her neck and chest? It looks like a cicatrix from a traqueostomy!
I liked her eyes, glossy painting is more adequate for eyes.
The depression is a bit overdone and the coloration around it is over saturated on the figure, not just in the pictures. It doesn’t look so bad in real life though as it does under the close scrutiny of a macro lens.
[...] Well, super rats posted two figure reviews while I was out. One of an underwhelming Aria figure and a bustilicious Iroha figure. I prefer the latter photo shoot. It's always fun with the props he sets up. [...]
excelente figura de PVC, Iroha es ahora mi persoaje favorito de Samurai Shodonw, el mejor juego de Samurais de todos…jojoj…..siempre tiene muchas novedades e Iroha es de los personajes mass exosos ke tiene SNK como Mai Shoranui..enf in..xiaoo!
Devil foxy, gracias. Pienso que entiendo la mayor parte de eso.
>>Thanks, Devil foxy. I think I understood most of that.<<
you make such beautiful settings for your figurines. excellent piece of work. just wondering but is she still upright?
Yes she is. Her ankle must be reinforced or made of super stiff plastic that keeps its shape.
this is gross
Thank you.
[...] Photo 20: Iroha from the game SNK’s Samurai Spirits – thanks to Raz, who also provided a link to the Iroha figure on HappySoda [...]
i hate the something in her chest its not ok