While Western popular culture features a number of parallels to its Japanese counterpart, one aspect that does not have a corresponding analogue is doujin, the vast conglomeration of self-published comics, video games, music, and more. Doujin is such an integral part of both the culture and industry that such works can command influence and popularity far beyond their humble origins; for example, the Touhou Project started as a series of 2D shooting games but has since grown into a powerful franchise complete with its own fan-made doujin works, and its significance as a cultural phenomenon is probably greater than its importance as a video game.
When one thinks of doujin, one often thinks of comic books, and probably pornographic ones at that. Certainly fan-made comics are a huge part of this mass of culture worship – the attendance figures of Comiket are proof enough of that. However, doujin encompasses all forms of media, including figures. There are numerous fan-made figures, usually sold in very limited quantities as resin model kits. Preassembled figures, however, are quite rare; while it is not technically complicated to create a comic book or a music video, manufacturing a complete, painted figure seems to be beyond the means and ambitions of many creators.
However, there is one doujin circle that is known primarily for their PVC figures. Keumaya has been making their own figures since 2006 and selling them at conventions and on Toranoana. They’ve carved out a comfortable niche as an independent figure creator, which is quite impressive even without taking into account the quality of their products.
I first came across Keumaya’s work while reading Heisei Democracy a few years back. The idea of independently-made figures was intriguing to me, and the character designs were outlandish, fascinating, and far different than anything else I had seen.
I think that this circle is composed of one person, who goes by the handle Keuma. I may be wrong about that, though.
Hyper Nurse Painkiller Kotone-chan is a result of a collaboration between Keumaya and Vispo, a sculpting group probably best known for their amazing renditions of the Evangelion girls perched on motorbikes. As I understand it, Keuma does the drawings, Vispo does the sculpts, and the figures are manufactured in China. Sounds like a good deal to me. This version of Kotone-chan is called the black version for obvious reasons, and seems to sadly mark the end of the Vispo and Keumaya partnership, as the set of figures sold at Comiket 77 are labelled “The Final Figure.â€
The original version of Hyper Nurse Painkiller Kotone-chan and the Black Goat Daughter caused a bit of a stir at Comiket 76. Apparently their genitalia was a bit too detailed for the sensibilities of the convention’s organizers and so these wares were tossed from the show. The banning was widely reported and I’m sure that the publicity did nothing but help Keumaya’s image and sales.
I picked up Kotone-chan off of Yahoo! Japan Auctions as usual. Kotone-chan is sculpted in 1/6 scale and is about 25 centimeters tall at the pinky finger of her right hand. She arrived in a small box swathed in plastic bubble wrap, with all her parts held in small plastic bags, and she needed quite a bit of assembly, as the instruction sheet indicates:
This figure on the upper-left of the sheet is Hyper Nurse Commander Erika-chan, while Kotone-chan’s parts are to her right. The sheet also seems to suggest having some tools at hand, including a hair dryer, tape, tweezers, and some aerosol can emblazoned with Japanese hieroglyphs. The sheet also provides some guidance as to what to do if Kotone starts leaning.
She also comes with this doujinshi, which is the same as the one packed with the earlier version of Kotone-chan. In it, Kotone appears to make a house call to a grossly overweight, bespectacled man, who promptly overpowers and rapes her. Good stuff. I don’t know of any other culture on the planet that could get away with this sort of thing.
Putting her together wasn’t easy, given the number of parts that comprise her. Her body separates at the torso just under the zig-zagging strap of her harness. Getting the two parts together without leaving a gap was difficult; reading through the Keumaya blog with the aid of Google Translate, it seems that he originally meant to sell these things during the summer when the temperature is warmer, and so he suggests using a hair dryer to heat up the plastic to make it easier to fit the two parts. Unfortunately, my hair dryer is busted so I’ll just have to deal with it.
Kotone’s wearing some sort of futuristic thong, and I spent some time trying to figure out how to get it off. Then I realized that it doesn’t come off; the earlier version of Kotone-chan had her modesty protected by nothing but her belts and a package of saline solution, but this version has her wearing these futuristic panties. I presume that this was a precaution that Keumaya took to avoid being jettisoned from Comiket again. It’s funny how I didn’t notice that; a figure’s undergarments are often one of the first things I look for. I like thongs though, so I don’t really mind the lack of full nudity options on this figure.
Although her panties don’t come off, she still has a huge amount of accessories. She’s still got the aforementioned saline pack – less vital here than on the earlier figure – a vest, two belts, a rather intimidating hand saw, two gats loaded with syringes, an extra hand posed in a manner slightly reminiscent of Ranka Lee’s kira sign, and an eyepatch. I’m not a huge fan of pirate patches so I didn’t bother putting it on her. She also comes with a sticker meant to resemble several pairs of band-aids that you can cut out to cover up her nipples. Getting all this stuff on her takes some time but it’s fairly intuitive; a word of warning though, I did notice quite a bit of black paint transfer on her skin from her belts and vest so I’d recommend deciding how you want to dress her and leave her that way. Another word of warning; while her saw is made of plastic, her syringe tips are quite pointy and sharp, so care is called for while handling them.
The base is a black plastic disc with Keumaya’s project logo on it and a large caption that reads “MADE IN CHINA.” There’s also a protrusion in which a supplied support strut can be inserted to help keep Kotone stable; I’m not sure if it’s necessary so I’m not using it now.
Being that this figure is independently made, I had no idea what its quality would be like. Happily, she looks quite nice. I find the sculpt to be very attractive, particularly her wild outfit and pose. While I’m not an ardent advocate of the flat chest, I do admire a nice backside, and Kotone-chan surely does have that. It appears that all of Keumaya’s current figures use the same lower torso and leg sculpt, and while their figures run the gamut of cup sizes, they’ve eschewed going for a happy medium as far as rump size goes and have instead settled on a gloriously round and prominent butt. I’m not a big fan of cat ears either, but I’ll make an exception in this case.
The paint is also very good, surprisingly good, even. She has a very dark, industrial color scheme here. The metal parts are given the appropriate chrome-like paint, including the soles of her high-heeled boots, the straps of her thong, parts of her hat, and numerous little knobs meant to represent rivets and clasps.
I also noticed some black flecks of paint on her skin; I’m not sure where they came from. They did not come off with rubbing alcohol so I’d guess that they weren’t caused by me putting her clothing on her. There’a also some oily residue that is visible on her skin, particularly on her ass; I’m not sure what that is, but I may try to remove it with Goo Gone later on.
Kotone-chan is the first doujin figure I’ve bought and she looks fantastic. I love her bizarre, bondage-like outfit, the ridiculously large saw, her dual handguns, and her joyful look. She cost a bit to acquire, but she was definitely worth the price.
Ashlotte has a review of the original version of Kotone-chan. This version isn’t wearing any panties.
I’ve also got Hyper Nurse V Yuno – at least, I think that’s her name – on order, but sadly she won’t be arriving for a couple of months since I ordered her off of Toranoana. She’s already up on Yahoo! Japan Auctions, though; I guess them’s the breaks when one shops for oddball figures.
There are a peculiarly large number of very cheap Keumaya figure auctions up on eBay. Given that the list price of these figures was around 7000 yen, I’m thinking that if something seems too cheap to be real, it probably isn’t real.
I wonder what Keumaya will do for their next series of figures? Or might they get out of the figure business entirely? The world will be a darker place if they do that.
Interesting figure. I think she needs larger breasts though. They’re much too small for the overall feel of the figure. It’s too bad her panties don’t come off, I’m curious as to how detailed they must have been. Because there are tons of nude figures doing all kinds of bad things at Wonder Festival. They get censored with some yellow tape though. Wonder why he didn’t just do that at Comiket? or were they prudes despite the sort of content that’s sold there in paper format.
Oh well, an interesting figure anyway.
Bah! Away with you Aka the breasts are fine…Gods knows its nigh impossible finding flat chest figures that aren’t a loli. >_<
I didn't really take a shot of her crotch for mine because I'm just not a big enough perv, but it is very well detailed down their and considering Japanese censorship laws I can easily see how this became a problem.
Ah anyway lovely review Tier…I especially like the darker shots near the end. Its interesting to see the differences between the original and this one…Sad mine only has one gun, but the fact that she has no panties and I like the color scheme better more then makes up for it for me. ~_^
Beautiful, very beautiful. Typically the kind of girl i like, i don’t mind her small breast. They’re cute and her nipples are … exciting 😉
I need more perverted figure in my collection lol, i think i’m starting to be a deeply perverted girl 😀
But why not ^^
Anyway this review is once again really great, detailed and the photos are nice.
Thanks !!
Ashlotte, flat chest is fine, but for this style figure it seemed bigger breasts would suit it better. Definitely not huge though… just a small handful.
>> Aka
I’m guessing that’s because of her shared lower torso design; Erica-chan and the two goat daughters are decently-endowed and Yuno and Hotaru-chan were codenamed Hyper Boobs-chan before Keumaya gave them their real names. I like the contrast between the flat chest and the curvy backside and thick thighs, though; it gives her a much different look than the usual anorexic flatchested anime girl (not that she doesn’t already look very different from such already …).
I dunno what the deal was with the censorship at Comiket, especially since porno comics are a doujin staple. It’s kinda funny how far figures have come as far as adult themes go; I remember when I was deciding which Ignis to buy, I went with the Orchid Seed one over the MF and Alter figures solely because you could expose her tits. Nowadays that sort of thing isn’t remarkable in the least.
>> Ashlotte
And that is sadly to our detriment. I’ve seen the pictures on Japanese review sites, though, it is quite nice looking.
Haha, yeah, I’m thinking about picking up the earlier figure now, too. And maybe Hotaru-chan, I thought that Yuno was just a color swap of Hotaru-chan but after looking through the doujinshi, they are apparently different characters.
>> Katsura-chan
Why not indeed! There surely is nothing wrong with porno figures, especially Kotone-chan, who is looking really perky (or maybe she’s just cold, like me, with a yard of snow outside). I really want that little giveaway gift that Native was giving out at Wonder Festival.
Interesting figure indeed – man, just look at all those needles! o_O Love the black background pics, great job!
I think you should’ve used a different band-aid color to cover her nipples in the first pic. They’re barely noticeable until you see the larger image. So much for NSFW! LMAO! =D
Haha, yeah, maybe I should’ve used some painter’s tape to cover them up. But if anybody catches you looking at that picture at work, at least you have plausible deniability … runners use bandaids to prevent bloody nipples so it’s a perfectly reasonable picture!
There were bandaids?!
@Tier: Lucky I sit in a secluded corner at work! I’m surprised your site isn’t blocked by my company though – when I was doing my Sora review, my Sora gallery album got blocked! The reason was, “Category: Pornography”. LMAO – seriously??! I changed the album name and everything was peachy again.
@Aka: LOL!
I’ve no idea of who she is actually. Probably I should do a google after this. A flat chested gal. This is worse, she is a wash-board. She doesn’t interest me. But again, your photos are great. I like those with back view, considering that she still has the curvy bottom. Also, I could avoid seeing her flat chest 😉
I’ve had this funny feeling for the past few days that I’d forgotten to do something, so I went outside and shoveled off the sidewalk since I thought that there might be some law that says that it has to be done. Then I click on this post by accident and find that I forgot to respond to comments! Whoops.
>> Aka
There were! Most useful to prevent bloody nipple syndrome. Quite annoying it is when you’re out running and your shirt is all sweaty and chafing the teats.
>> VF
Haha, that’s hilarious XD I did notice that none of my pictures show up on Google Images unless SafeSearch is turned off. I thought that was pretty lame.
>> softz
Maybe you’ll like the next Keumaya figure I review. Actually, I’m thinking most people most people won’t, since she’s sorta excessive as far as buxomness goes. Yuno strikes a nice in-between balance in my opinion, though XD I kinda wish I’d held off on preordering her so I could grab her off of Yahoo Japan.
Sweet Jesus on a Stick!
You own her? Damn!
Id kill a few innocent bystanders to get my hands on her.Sure shes flat chested but Life isnt all peaces and cream.She has more than enough other qualities to make up for non existent mammaries.
Im still amazed how good such a Doujin Figure can look compared to figures like my Shoun chiryu 🙁
Ha, see, you tear open your wounds yourself, too XD She’s definitely worth a little blood on your hands. I’m hoping that Keumaya keeps putting out figures because I definitely like the stuff that they put out.
You couldn’t please me more by reviewing this figure. It’s been a long time i want to buy it but i was afraid being disappointed but the quality seeing the price
I’m conquered! 😀
Not a problem if her “pantie” can’t be removed. This bondage style is kinda sexy.<3 like it a lot!
Like you mention, keumaya always use the same model for the bottom part of the body. It's sad in my opinion.
Thanks XD You should pick her up! I think she and a lot of the other recently-released Keumaya figures can be picked up (Toranoana is still taking orders for Yuno and Erica). Just be careful of bootlegs I guess since I’m assuming the really cheap ones in eBay are not altogether authentic.
Yeah, I would’ve liked to see different legs for each figure, but if he was going to only pick one set of legs, I’m glad he picked these, since I like the thicker, more muscular legs and the high heeled boots 😀
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hallo ,
i only want to clarify that you can cut off her thong
and than it looks like the old one .
i didn’t make it with her but with Erika (had to clean it a little bit )
i will probably try it with Yuno too
i hope i could help
and sorry for my bad english
It also works with Yuno
Ah, cool, thanks for the tip XD I like thongs so I’m thinking I might leave it this way, but maybe I might change my mind in the future.
Your English is fine, you need not apologize for it XD
the thong looks ok , but it was like a chastity belt
with lock in the middle and i wanted to give them there freedom back XD
and yes , i know its a stupid comment ^^lol^^
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I’m also interested in this figure. This offer at ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270719469831
do you think is legit?
Have bought a few Keumaya figures off ebay (all from Chinese sources and they’re not bad quality generally, though assembly is a pain – come in the signature box and seem fine). Suspect that they may even come from the manufacturers used to fulfill the Japanese orders – Chinese do not appear above churning out some extra items to sell themselves when given an initial prototype/commission.
However, the tell-tale is whether or not she comes with the Doujinshi, which I bet she doesn’t (none of mine did). So the figure is almost certainly in breach of copyright etc – if you want legit figures from ebay only buy from a seller based in Japan imo (though no measure is perfect). That said, if you still want the figure, just search for Keumaya and you should get a lot of hits for under $60.
Your call.
It’s noticeable that Tokyo Hunter is selling a few more legitimate Yuno’s at the moment:
http://tokyo-hunter.com/category/figures/pvc-figures/product/hyper-nurse-victory-yuno-pvc-doujinshi – 13,000 yen.
You can get the same figure (non-legit) on ebay for about $40 or less.
My initial instinct is to always distrust Chinese sellers, but I’ve heard from a lot of people who’ve bought Keumaya stuff from Hong Kong vendors and they’ve been okay. I’m guessing it’s pretty much as Cantan says; they probably just made a bunch more figures than were sold at Wonder Festival or through Keumaya’s site and they found their way to Chinese retailers. The base even says “MADE IN CHINA” in big letters.
Thank Cantan and Tier. The price offered is US$ 99.00. So more or less the equivalent of Y7,000. It doesn’t come with the doujin though (I asked the vendor) I do a “Two face” tonight and decide whether or not I get her.
My Yuno figure came from China,box and instructions look just like ones shown here.Only problem was belt with lock was very difficult to remove,to much glue,she looks like she had a rough time shaving.
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hello Tier
I buy from the keumayas yuno and I must get these days but do not put it together out there and saw one of your reviews that you guiastes by Blog keumaya tell me how this is done to set that looks as complicated or there will not be out there the guide assembly in English or Spanish or can you tell me how to do or something that already as echo or I could send a response to my email thanks
luvkyomaro@hotmail.com
Hi, I’m assuming this is machine translated and unfortunately, my Spanish is really, really bad. I would recommend looking at the picture of the instruction sheet to get an idea of how to assemble the figure. There is no instruction sheet written in English or Spanish and I cannot actually read the instruction sheet myself.
as she takes off her clothes to Kotone but the hobby japan version