Ryuna, a Paper Umbrella, and Blanc
July 9th, 2007
Ryuna asked me why I stayed under the umbrella and I told her I needed to get nice and toasty before going into the water. I figure she knew it was BS, but she didn’t say anything and just lay herself out on the beach blanket. Too bad, as I had half hoped she’d try and drag me to the water.
Ryuna wore this classic white swimsuit outfitted from Max Factory. On the wrong person, a white swimsuit can be tragic, but Ryuna looks good in it and it suits her personality. She’s definitely not the type of anime chic to wear a hot pink bikini. What she’s got now definitely suits her.
After a while the day mellowed out and turned golden. In particular the light under the massive paper umbrella Ryuna and I rested under really made her look beautiful. She was almost as radiant as when Tony draws her. Nobody draws anime girls like Tony.
There was no way I could photograph Ryuna with the same grace that Tony can give her in his illustrations, but I wanted to try. It’s all I ever want to do with the pictures I take of the anime figurines, to show what makes that character beautiful. Lucky for me, the girls and the sculptors who make their likeness really make it such an easy thing to do. That’s probably what makes taking pictures of anime girl figurines so much fun.
Ryuna lifted my camera and began to play with it. She focused on Blanc who was strolling on the shoreline as the ocean waves reached out and tickled her feet. I took the camera away from her eye and told Ryuna it was her turn.
Review of Ryuna, Swimsuit Version from Max Factory
Ryuna’s deep blue eyes look like the only thing that keeps them from overflowing is the unquantifiable aura of elegance and beauty she carries, grace. Sculptor Saito Heel captures this divine quality in Ryuna to perfection. It’s not a facial expression that zombies out. I feel the character lives and breathes from many viewing angles, not just that one sweet spot. Like all figures she definitely has a sweet spot, which in this case is very sweet.
Ryuna
-A 1/7 scale painted pvc figure
-Scuplted by Saito Heel
-Released by MAx Factory
-Released late June 2007 in Japan
-US release July 30, 2007
-Pre Order at RightStuf
Really, I thought this was going to be one of those quiet figurines, one with a classic pose, but really didn’t call all that much attention to itself. Well, it is a quiet figure, and the one piece swimsuit is a classic look, but the gracefulness of the figure makes Ryuna a winner, rather than some run of the mill purchase. Saito Heel also sculpted Blanc Neige and is doing a phenominal job at bringing the Shining Tears girls to pvc form.
You know, now that I think about it I had the same experience with the Blanc Neige figure, seeing it as a decent figure upon ordering, but being blown away seeing it in person. Girls with funky ears don’t appeal to me, so I’m still passing on Elwing and Mao.
It’s Max Factory, so your version of this figure should be good, though I think the person who inspected my figure could use some glasses. There’s a couple of nasty injection artifacts that could have used a little more smoothing before heading off to paint. Actually, I find MF prone to slacking a little on the smooth finish. Otherwise, awesome. And, as is typical for non-glossy pvc, white is a very faint gray, so her swimsuit isn’t the same pristine white as shown in the product shots.
28 Responses to “Ryuna, a Paper Umbrella, and Blanc”
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July 9th, 2007 at 9:08 am
I didn’t like some of the Tony figures. But Kureha is on my want-to buy list ^^;
Very nice pictures nevertheless
July 9th, 2007 at 10:22 am
great picture as always super rats, adding the umbrella is a nice touch. I always admire how you can get great lighting for your shots.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:29 am
God damn I don’t think anyone can beat you when it comes to photographing figures. Very nice use of the umbrella, must have been a little difficult finding an umbrella like that though.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:52 am
I keep telling myself I’ll wait on ordering the rest of the Shining Tears girls, but after seeing your photos super rats, I find my will lacking.
Awesome photos as always!
July 9th, 2007 at 11:12 am
nice pictures, I like the second one, looks real :O her arm looks oily, did you put suntan on her :O
July 9th, 2007 at 11:38 am
^o^ amazing pictures! The umbrella looks like it worked as an amazing diffuser - how close did you have to set your light on this one? Actually come to think of it, where did you find all that room? I recall your desk was pretty tight.
Hey, if you are on facebook, and you haven’t done so already, join the Anime Figurines Network. A bunch of us are on there already (AKA Ugly, Shinohai, Valiant, Coros, Byaku-Chan…
July 9th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Gorgeous pictures as always, the parasol and Blanc are wonderfully inspired additions. I’ve been thinking of buying one of those oriental fans to use as a background prop, this pretty much settles it. That final pic of Ryuna is happily wallpapered ^^
July 9th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
-I swiped the umbrella from me momma and put it back before she noticed. It was missing from her house for three days and she didn’t notice…wonder what other things I can get from visiting mom.
-Go for it Moy!
-The oily look is just the shine from the PVC. Most pvc figures willl give you that effect if you get the light and camera real close.
-The umbrella works as a great diffuser. It was a little tricky since I wasn’t used to how much light it cuts off. The paper color also gave a golden hue that I liked, which I also accentuated using one of Photoshop Elements warming filters at 5-15%. Space was tight. Light behind umbrella was a few inches away. Ideally I would have liked to have moved the light behind the umbrella more…of course now that I’m typing this I realize I could have just used the overhead light.
The front light was about two or three feet away actually. Since the back light was dimmed a lot from the umbrella I had to weaken the intensity of the main light a lot via distance. For some shots I had a reflector by the figure’s feet angled toward the figure to fill in the shadows a bit more.
July 9th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Shes a very nice figure indeed, due to “monetary” reasons I didn’t get her but if she gets a restock I’ll get her which is happening to a lot of figures lately, they’re getting restocked.
The shots are simply gorgeous rats ^^
July 9th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Your pictures are just fantastic! More and more beautiful.
I’m definitly not interresting in this figure, but woho! That’s lovely.
Your lighting technique is incredible, and with the umbrella that’s just prefect!
super rats, you rock!
July 9th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Uff.
The second to last photo is the best. This one really gives the impression of a beach house near the shore.
Really awesome photos again. I’m beginning to understand the importance of macro photography. Shooting close ups certainly brings diversity into the set. However I’m bound to a 18-55mm lens, since I still have to recover from the recent camera purchase^^
July 9th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Thought Ryuna was awesome looking when I first saw her at the shop and your pics just make her look even better
Great shots and settings once again 
July 9th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
nice pictures indeed, you’re using a macro lens right? that does look fantastic!!!
July 9th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Belela-San, restocks are a lot better now than they were a year ago…I guess US distribution makes a second run almost automatic. You really can wait and see for a lot of figures without missing out. I have to remember that so I don’t wind up pre-ordering stuff that I maybe want.
David, Angelo, macro capability is definitely a bonus for this type of photo, whether you go point and shoot or dSLR. Macro opens up a lot of doors.
Shinohai, sometimes I envy that you work in a toy/hobby store.
Lu-k, thanks, I owe it to the umbrella…the spokes make for an interesting, yet orderly background.
July 9th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Super great shots super rats. You continue to wow and amaze the anime figure world.
Aren’t mom’s great? For my Pachira shoot I swiped a cross thingy from mine I found in the house. Why go out and buy props when you can just visit good ol’ mom?
I missed out on Ryuna, but managed to get Funky Ears aka Mao
July 9th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
great looking pics. you continue to amaze me with what you can do.
July 9th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Wow, glad I stumbled onto this site. These are some fantastic pics! I have only one figure from Max Factory but I like what I see so far.
July 9th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
The white straps seems a little off. You could probably fix that with a little bit of paint.
Ryuna did not look all that appealing to me at first. Mostly because she had a very plain style of black hair. But right now, she look so…hot/cute/pretty? I can’t make it out in words.
July 9th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Super Rats, I have been to Shinohai’s shop, and at first, it is a place of wonderment, but if you worked there 8 hrs a day… I’m pretty impressed that Shinohai is able to hold his sanity.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:15 am
Gorgeous pics as usual. The straps that dont quite touch the top of her swimsuit kinda gets to me - I wonder why they left the straps like that. Was the original illustration the same? @.@
July 10th, 2007 at 5:57 am
Your photos are awesome. I think nothing of her until i saw your first photo. I am almost tempted to buy her after reading your article.
July 10th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Though out of style for a long time, spagetti straps were sometimes detached from the suit and linked with an “invisible” small clear pastic connector. I got why Ryuna’s straps don’t connect, so I guess it didn’t leap out at me as wrong. I kind of thought it was a nice retro detail.
It does look a litte odd in the one closeup shot, but that’s at a magnification greater than you can view it in real life. Otherwise, I think it looks like it carries the illusion of that style of swimsuit. But, they probably should have just made the straps connect.
July 10th, 2007 at 8:31 am
Otaku Surf, glad you found it and liked it.
Kinslayer, I thought the same thing at first, but she really looks great in person.
Radiant, give Shino a while…crazy takes time.
July 11th, 2007 at 1:58 am
O_O
Awesomely gorgeous photos, the umbrella touch is a great one. This is prolly one of my favourite set from you yet~
This is why I would like to get better indoor shooting skills, but I don’t really have the proper set up to practice on >.
July 15th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Impressive shots & comments. Definitely I must get your feed on my google page. Hope you dont mind that i have used one of your shots as a model for a drawing on deviantart
July 16th, 2007 at 1:41 am
That’s cool, Zelloss. Glad you liked it enough to use it for a drawing.