Sora Kasugano has a pensive air around her. She would be just another character from an eroge, except for the softly contrasted monochromatic colors of her skin, clothing, and hair caught my eye. I find all of the Yosuganosora characters illustrated by Hashimoto Takashi attractive, mainly for how well the line work and color palette match so well.
Houjun Otoyama sculpted Sora based on this illustration. The adaptation of that illustration to the figure, particularly in her body language is well done. Otoyama caught the pensive body language as well as the physical shape and tone. Her hips and subtle torso twist look far more solid in the figure. I’m a fan of tummies, so I enjoy the extra tone that Otoyama included on Sora. All that’s missing is some water glistens, but I don’t imagine there’s currently a way to include that detail without it looking eww-chunky. Last thing you want to do with an already questionable desk ornament is to have to explain that stuff on her is supposed to be water.
Her towel is rendered surprisingly well for being made of plastic. As far as the base goes it does the job and is unobtrusive. The black rabbit doll acts as a counterweight to Sora’s lightness. Keeping it on the base grounds the figure well. Check out one of the thumbnails at the end that show the figure without the rabbit doll and towel to see how the composition of the figure is a bit unsettled without these accessories.
MegaHouse’s Sora Kasugano isn’t completely chocolate and unicorns. Sora’s head tilt looks better in the illustration, conveying a bit more personality than the more straight ahead positioning on the figure sculpt. Her figure face is a little more generic than resembling the illustration. As far as the detailing, shading in places is a bit over dark. In particular around her knees and ankles, it looks more like dirt than the natural darkening of these areas on an idealized body.
The over-shading isn’t enough to detract from her legs, which are a bit more realistically proportioned than in a good number of figures, where the tendency is to really elongate the leg area. Sora’s head and body are about the same combined length as her legs. Often times this proportion can make a drawing or figure appear stubby, rather than long and elegant. Sora appears to be anything but stubby.
I hope to see a Brilliant Stage treatment of some of the other Yosuganosora characters. Sora turned out better than I expected and a little bit more interesting than I thought she would be. Foo-bar-baz gave the figure 5-stars and I think its a good figure as well. I guess, if I had to score points against the sculpt itself, it would be her butt. The shape around her lower back, the tailbone on up seems off.
Extra Shots
Nice review. This Sora figure had also caught my eye because of the character design. The pre-release photos looked like they had some odd gaps around the edges of the bikini bottom, which had me concerned. Looks like this isn’t a problem with the final PVC, though.
.-= Adam´s last blog: Month-End Report, Jan. 2010 Edition =-.
Ah, she really is a lovely figure. She also caught my eye and I almost ordered her as well despite not knowing anything about her character or the series. The shading on her knees is slightly distracting… looks yellowish and unnatural. Still, I would be happy to have her in my collection ^^
.-= anonymous_object´s last blog: January Loots =-.
A little bit of that may be some color shift from the photographic process, color saturation, etc., but it’s definitely something that’s apparent when you’ve got the figure on your computer desk.
Great Sora’s pic, she is so lovely. I don’ t like the lower part of her back, those lines are a exaggerated, but the towel is covering that.
.-= imperiomoe´s last blog: Nanoha de Alter =-.
Amazing photos as always. You always have a tendency to make figures look absolutely amazing, but it looks like this figure truly is well made!
The towel does look quite well rendered, and the monochromatic tone is very nice.
I think the black bunny actually throws it off though – as a counterweight, it’s fine, but it’s way too much black going on, compared to the rest of the figure.
.-= radiant´s last blog: My Current Collection – January =-.
Glad you bought this one, waiting for mine as well. I so love her legs, so cute ^^
And love the pics as usual
.-= James´s last blog: Kos-Mos 1/4 (E2046/Gathering) review =-.
Nicely shot Super Rats.
Having seen foo-bar-baz’s review I was already pretty happy with the figure and eager for her arrival. However I can never get a great translation out of Google for foo-bar-baz so I’m never sure what he’s commenting about. Finally reading something about Sora in English is wonderful as I can now better understand what I’m expecting.
Curious though, you point out her bum as the least attractive portion of the figure, is this due to what seems to be exaggerated detailing in her lower back?
The shape of her gluteus bugs me a little. They taper off and extend in an odd way.
Pretty nice and cute loli. Both original art/eroge and this figure. Find this one more interesting than other school swimsuit one.
Those backgrounds you used fit her figure nicely even same when in similar tone as her colors. Pretty shots
I remember bumping into the CGs for this game before, and I instantly took a liking to the character designer’s style. It looks like the transition from 2D to 3D went quite smoothly, to say the least.
.-= ETERNAL´s last blog: The Two Faces of Ghost in the Shell =-.
Very nice review. I read it, and I agree with every word. I’m also happy that Foobarbaz gave it 5 stars. I did see they announced Kasugano Sora by Kotobukiya just a short while ago. Not too sure. I know a lot of DC readers are saying that Kotobukiya’s sculpt is superior, but honestly, the subtleness in Megahouse’s sculpt is much more realistic imo, and I prefer it more. The proportions look correct, on top of that, it’s not being suggestively “ecchi” as Kotobukiya’s version is. She looks, like a cute/shy girl who’s just trying to wrap a towel around herself, while Kotobukiya’s “strip” sculpt, only suggests pedophilia in its collectors. I mean, there’s no doubt that Kotobukiya’s version is a great sculpt, but I just like how Megahouse’s version seems a lot more artistic.
I am happy to be getting this figure soon. Toyslogic delayed it another month or so… They tend to do that a lot, so I may or may not be ordering from them… unless it’s a last resort. I think I’ll try Japanese stores, since their releases are so much faster.
I don’t see where one would say the Koto sculpt was superior on a sculpt level, though the flat lighting in the product shots really don’t reveal the sculpted details at all. Koto figures tend to be hazy as far as detail and nuance goes anyway. But, it does have the pillow like base, which is a nice touch. I can see how some would prefer the tease of the Koto sculpt.
Shipping from Japan costs a premium though. I’m actually doing the reverse of what you’re going to do and ordering more from US stores. If it’s only a month between release dates I can wait. Half the time I have to clear my desk to be able to display a new figure, so unboxing waits until I clean my desk, which can take a month in between. -_-;
delicious figure and awesome shoots!
would like to have it in 3D ^^
.-= phossil´s last blog: Habemus DSLR =-.
[...] seems to be a popular girl, and more reviews of this figure are up at Visual Fanfare, HappySoda, and foo-bar-baz. Go [...]
[...] more pics, check the review at Happy Soda, a beautiful review at Tentacle Armada and another great review (with “wet” pics ^^) at [...]
Great lighting on the photos!
.-= Visual Fanfare´s last blog: MegaHouse: Ranka Lee (Nyan-Nyan version) =-.
[...] Tier has put up a review at his site recently. As well, other reviews are also available at HappySoda, FooBarBaz, Excelica Meteor. Check them [...]
Definately not my kind of figure but its refreshing to see a plain figure from time to time.Nowadays we have so many flashy figures that its a joy to see that a manufacturer didnt put the girl in an alternate outfit to drive sales and instead follows the original concept.
As a Physical Therapist Ive gotta say that her Butt/Sacrum area is anatomical fail though
This figure makes me wonder if there are actually people in real life that rub their butt dry like this
Thanks for the professional opinion on her butt!
She arrived on Feb 17, and I am really happy to have her now. This is an adorable and cute figure. I did not play to her original game, but I really like Sora chara design. She has got a sweet appearance ^^ I made yestarday my shooting ^^
.-= Leonia´s last blog: Noumi Kudryavka – Alter =-.
[...] Reviews – Akibahobby – Beyyang – Exelica Meteor – Foobarbaz – Good Design Review – Happy Soda – Temporary Feeling – Tenplant – Tentacle Armada – Visual [...]
This is one figure that tempts me greatly… she looks gorgeous…. the bikini kinda put me off.. but she’s so darn cute…. I may cave at some point…. if she’s still available… lol
.-= Meimi132´s last blog: Romeo X Juliet Episode 1 & other musings =-.
[...] James at Exelcia Meteor gives her a 4/5, liking her simplicity and proportions. Super rats at Happy Soda agrees with foo-bar-baz’s 5-star rating of Sora but feels her face is generic and disagrees [...]
[...] Tier has put up a review at his site recently. As well, other reviews are also available at HappySoda, FooBarBaz, Excelica Meteor. Check them [...]
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