Here is a riddle: gather together a major figure manufacturer, a world-famous anime artist, and a graphics studio whose portfolio includes contributions to Metal Gear Solid 4, Tales of Vesperia, and Valkyria Chronicles, and what do you get? The answer is absolutely nothing other than a pair of boobie mousepads and a figure. Enka Oudou Dai Shogun was touted as a multimedia event, but I haven’t seen any of its media apart from a couple of illustrations in Shunya Yamashita’s One Voice artbook. It looks like nothing more will come of it and presumably it will thus be consigned to the dustbin of memory, just like Shuraki. Anyone remember Shuraki? There were some good figures from that series. Fortunately, Kiriko is a fine figure as well.
Kiriko came out early last year and I waffled for a long time before deciding against purchasing her. I had two problems with her design: I didn’t like how her bodysuit was a muted lavender color rather than the deep violet shown in the source illustration, and I didn’t like her backside, which looked very flat. So I passed on her and didn’t think much about it for a while, until I read VF’s review. I reconsidered my reservations and then reversed myself, resolving that I’d pick her up if I could find her and funds permitted. When Christmas rolled around last month, a friend of mine and his wife asked if I’d be interested in exchanging gifts. I like getting gifts so I agreed and after some brief discussion, we decided to give each other matching Amazon gift cards. If it’s the thought that counts, then our gifts were absolutely worthless because we put no thought into them at all. At any rate, I now had a mandate to buy something from Amazon and finding a merchant with Kiriko in stock, I put in an order for her. As it turned out, I paid cash anyway because I forgot to activate my gift card. Whoops.
Kiriko Hattori is manufactured by Yamato and is sculpted by Yoshizawa Mitsumasa of REFLECT. They’ve collaborated often and Kiriko shows many of REFLECT’s hallmarks. One unique thing about Kiriko is her size: she’s sculpted in 1/5 scale, a scale that’s not often used for anime figures, and stands an impressive 32.5 centimeters tall. She comes with a mirrored base, a sword, and a little hairpin which slides into a notch in her hair ribbon.
The source illustration was done by Shunya Yamashita and a couple of disparities are quickly noticeable. For one, her suit is a darker color. Her body also seems to be more compact; she still has long legs but her torso is shorter and her curves are more pronounced. In particular, her ass has a much more rounded and full shape compared to the figure. REFLECT’s Kiriko takes its basic design from Yamashita’s artwork but the final sculpt is very much a product of the sculptor.
As such, elements of REFLECT’s inimitable style are very visible. Here, Kiriko is a very tall girl, her statuesque presence accentuated by her elongated torso, high-heeled sandals, and thigh-high leg armor. Her hip bones are prominent, calling attention to her slender waist. Like many of REFLECT’s figures, Kiriko is much more of a woman than a typical big-headed moe anime girl.
And another element that is conspicuous is the sculpt of her backside. I’ve criticized some of REFLECT’s other figures because of their flattened buttocks, and from some angles, Kiriko suffers from that problem. And yet, now that I have her and can see her in person, it doesn’t actually look that bad. In fact, it looks pretty good. Stylistically, it’s similar to his recent Asuka figure in that it looks very sexy from many other angles. So, my initial impressions were wrong; she does have a great ass, even though I wouldn’t have minded if it were slightly more robust.
I’ve also changed my mind on how I feel about her suit. I wanted a darker suit and part of my hesitation regarding this figure was my hope that Yamato would release a re-colored version of Kiriko. However, I like the lighter lavender color now; it contrasts effectively with her black armor and subtly complements her pale skin.
Speaking of her bodysuit, it looks fantastic. It tightly hugs her body, displaying her toned physique. Strategically-placed wrinkles give it a realistic appearance and the long seams running down her sides emphasize the lean lines of her body. Two details that I particularly like are at the top and bottom of her suit: I love her high collar, which gives her a magisterial sense of authority, and her suit’s feet, which end in two-toed socks that give her a distinctly Japanese flair, despite her obvious Caucasian appearance.
Her armor also looks very good, with raised patterns meant to mimic embossing. It’s held to her body via red straps and the paint on those straps ia bit less convincing than I would prefer. Similarly, it would have been nice if her armor had more of a textured appearance; as it is, it has a flat, plastic-like look. Then again, Kiriko appears to be a modern-day ninja and contemporary armor tends to be made of plastics, so this might not be entirely unrealistic. Another note is that the little red ribbon tying her breastplate together looks rather flat, as if it had been stamped on her sternum; a little more depth would give it a more authentic look.
Her sword appears to be of Japanese origin, though it doesn’t seem to have the curvature associated with a typical – or stereotypical – katana. It does have a couple of cute little red balls dangling from a red cord. It gives her a playful edge that goes well with her expression.
Speaking of her face, Kiriko is beautiful, with her mysterious smile and her sideways gaze. Her expression seems to change depending on which angle you view her from; I think I like her frontal view best, where she seems to be staring off into the distance.
Kiriko also has very pretty hair. No helmet hair here; the tresses of her bangs are sculpted, and the rest of her hair is pulled back into a ponytail. The hair that frames her face playfully curves upwards, giving just a bit of a girlish touch to her overall look.
Quickly looking at my collection, I notice that almost all of the figures I have with ponytails are fighter girls. Mai Shiranui, Meiya Mitsurugi, Saber Lily, Yoko Ritona, Kaguya Nanbu, Rachel from Ninja Gaiden … almost all of them are warriors and most of them are carrying weapons. A curious trend, that.
I really like her overall sculpt. Her pose isn’t particularly complex or animated but it shows off her body to its best advantage and, combined with her height, gives her a very commanding shelf presence. Her long body and lengthy legs are both very sexy and her breasts are just the right size – not too big and not too small.
In this hobby, if you hesitate, you often miss out, but sometimes good things come to those who wait. Now that I have Kiriko, I see that I had no reason to wait; she is a fantastic figure, one that I love. If I had gotten her last year, she would’ve been in the top three of my five favorite figures list. I might have even selected her number one; I’d have to give it some thought but she definitely could have been there. Certainly I don’t have much that is negative to say about her; she’s a rare figure that looks even better in person than she does in photographs and after a long period of unnecessary deliberation, I am very glad to have her in my collection.
More concept art of Kiriko. I really like this costume of hers in the middle; it’d be really nice if Yamato made a figure out of it but I’m guessing that ain’t gonna happen. Excuse the bad scanning too, I am much more comfortable using a camera than a scanner.
Wow, that’s one beautiful figure. I love her eyes, and the bodysuit is amazing; I agree with you on the wonderfully placed wrinkles throughout. Though she doesn’t have much of an ass, it’s certainly a nice one. I’m with you on the bodysuit color, though; a darker purple closer to the art would have been preferable.
She’s one of those figures that I find myself staring at, even though she’s surrounded by a few dozen other figures on the shelves. I hope Yamato or someone will continue making more figures in this style – if not Kiriko, there are quite a few illustrations in One Voice (and Yamashita’s earlier books) that would make good figures.
It’s a shame about the butt but I find myself more attracted to this one’s face and hair. Plus she’s MASSIVE. Definitely want.
Some people like smaller scale stuff but I’m a big fan of bigger figures, so much so that I’ll buy 1/6 and 1/4 scale stuff that I probably wouldn’t consider if it were 1/8 scale. When I evaluate which figures I want, size has a great quality all of its own, as does a very pretty face.
She looks awesome I love her slender and tall body 😀
Her face looks pretty I really like this kind of faces which can be seen at Shunya Yamashita related figures, even though I only have the leaning Arisa 🙁
Kiriko’s ponytail hairstyle also adds some elegance to her appearance.
The lavender colored battlesuit looks really good with these detailed black armor parts.
It is also really appealing how the tight suit follows her curves and these fine wrinkles add a bit realism to it.
you’ve made Impressive pictures of her, my faves are kiriko-hattori-21, kiriko-hattori-11 and kiriko-hattori-07, it looks great with this tinsel stuff behind the main background,it creates a good feeling of depth. So far everything I tried with tinsels didn’t looked any good 🙁
I guess I’ve already asked VF about the base,but how does the base supports Kiriko’s pose, is it stable enough?
Yeah, I’m curious to know how Tier’s base is for Kiriko? On mine, she’s a little loose and wobbles left and right. It’s easily remedied with wrapping the stub with some tissue so the hole in her foot will sit more securely. But I wonder if it’s like this for all the Kirikos?
She seems to be standing perpendicular still; I do recall seeing another review where she seemed to have leaning issues. I wonder if it depends which way you place her on the stand? When I put her on her base, I remember that it seemed like she could fit two ways.
She seems to be reasonably stable; I’ve had her for a few weeks now (I got her right after Christmas) and didn’t clear out space for her on the shelf until just a few days ago, but she seems to have taken my manhandling of her without any leaning or warping problems.
I agree, she has a very elegant appearance, so much so that when I look at her, I don’t even think of her as a ninja girl … for some reason, she looks like the sort of girl you’d take to a ball.
Arisa! I have that figure in my Detolf. I didn’t even know you could remove her shirt till I saw your review. Mine doesn’t seem to be leaning though I haven’t touched her in around two or three years.
Ah I see thx for the info about her base,if she were shorter I’d probably tried to get Kiriko for a good price, but I think the size is just too big for my mainly 1/8 scaled figure collection 😉
mine is leaning so hard, it makes me sad ;(
I think I have to modify her base so that she gets more support at the upper part of the legs.
Oh you didn’t know that before then Im glad that I could be of help ;D
She’s actually closer to 1/6 scale! Technically. I figure that at about 32 centimeters tall, she’d be 1.6 meters or 5’3″ tall if she were 1/5 scale, which seems really short given her long body and high heels. At 1/6 scale, she’d be 1.92 meters or 6’3″ tall, which is probably too tall but seems to closer to how tall she should be.
Sweet review, Tier – the pics definitely did Kiriko some justice! =D For some reason, I just couldn’t find any inspiration when I was doing Kiriko’s shoot. I wasn’t expecting a review of Kiriko from you, so this is a pleasant surprise. Did the price come down for Kiriko when you got her? If I recall correctly, I paid around $75 for her when she was first released…
Her lizard green eyes still freak me out some times, but overall still a very beautiful figure that haven’t received much attention. I was wondering if Yamat would do a re-paint too, but by now I doubt that’ll happen. Those concept art looks pretty cool, especially the middle one as you’ve stated. I’d definitely pick up a figure of that if it was ever made. LOL
Unfortunately not; I paid about $120 for her, which seems to be what she listed for. So at least I didn’t have to pay a huge markup like I did with Exelica and grown-up Fate.
I’ve had a lot of figures where I really struggled with coming up with ideas for photographing them. Like Mai Shiranui; I was gonna use the screens for Kiriko so I didn’t want to use them for her and I didn’t have any other ideas so I was like “Ahh screw it, I’ll shoot her on black.” You can always sorta tell how enthusiastic I am about a figure by how much effort I put into the pictures.
That’s usually the case with me, but sometimes I just don’t have any ideas (or means) to create the backdrop I want no matter how much I like a figure. lol
I was actually thinking you would do Mai’s with that screen, now I see why you didn’t. Either way, the Mai shoot came out great, the black background lets you forget about the surrounding and just focus on her body. 😉
I’ve been meaning to build some backdrops for some figures I’ve had in the review queue for a couple of months. I’m way too lazy, though, and then I get other cool stuff to review so it gets pushed to the backburner. Maybe I can get some work done on them this weekend since I’ve got a couple of pillowcases to review and those are easy to bang out quickly.
Mai’s definitely a figure that ought to get all the attention XD I thought about shooting her on white but the product shots already did that, and the pink skin tone she got wasn’t too attractive in my opinion.
Ah, Kiriko. One of the few Yamashita figures which I actually think is quite nice (alongside Mirei-san, the DC bishoujo catwoman and… well, that’s it!)
Still wouldn’t buy one tho. she turns my head but fails to grab my attention.
Hehe, yeah, if you aren’t a big fan of Shunya figures this probably isn’t going to change your mind … she’s a good looking ninja girl but her face is very much a Shunya face.
Still got my fingers crossed that those Bishoujo figures turn out okay … Emma Frost was kinda, ehh … she looked like she coulda turned out better, like most of the 1/8 scale series.
I must say she certainly is beautiful. Sweet face, long legs, and what I think is a nice tight little ass 😉 I’m in love with her. Definite want list for sure. By the way Tier, I just want to say I discovered your site about a week ago and enjoy it very much. You’re photography is excellent. In fact everything about the site is top notch. Thanks for all your hard work in putting together one sweet website.
Thanks for dropping by XD I hope you stick around. She’s got a great body, I’m thinking maybe she does deserve that #1 ranking after all … there’s something about that high collar, tiny waist, and long legs that works together perfectly.
Aww you really make me regret not buying her up until now.
I actually always wanted her and had to cancel her because some other big money issues came up and she was so freaking expensive.
Sill I like her alot even after approximately one year of her release.Yamato and Reflect did some of my favorite figures.Wish ShunYama would do some other Stuff besides the Comic Bishoujous hes doing atm
Yeah, I like the bishoujo stuff – though I really wish it were higher quality – but I’d like to see some newer stuff. Creator’s Labo Asuka was really nice, but there is a ton of stuff in the One Voice artbook that would work great as figures. Or more figures of Kiriko would be nice. I’m not really a big girls-with-glasses fan but Kiriko is adorable with spectacles.
Speaking of Shunya, that reminds me I ought to take Emaretta-chan out of her box and do her review … I think your review of the original version and the one on Tomopop are the only ones I’ve seen of her.
Really tempted to pick this one up after seeing your pics, but given my current funds that would be the height of folly. Still very tempting though……..
Oh, and I finally got my Selvaria yesterday (after a very annoying retention period at the post office). I was quite excited, until I opened the box to find that her head was snapped off its peg! A little super glue fixed this problem, but it was still irritating. I was just wondering how often you run into this problem?
She does cost a pretty penny but I’m really glad I picked her up, since I did a quick check on the usual preowned options and they were either astronomically priced or didn’t have her at all. On the other hand, Yamato does like to do re-releases and re-colors so perhaps she’ll get re-issued in some form or other down the line.
Ouch >.< That's only happened to me once and it dang near gave me a heart attack. It happened with an E2046 Rei Ayanami figure and the repair was really easy. Still, I was pretty perturbed for a while. I can't recall any other figure I've bought that suffered damage in the box, even though I have a relatively large collection; even Black Rock Shooter came intact, and I've heard a bunch of stories of her hair snapping off during shipment.
Can’t say I liked the character too much before, but after the review, it looks very nice. It is very cute.
The 1/5 scale is crazy. Do you have a pic of it next to a normal 1/8 scale figure?
I do! Here’s a picture of her next to fellow ninja girl Momohime. Excuse the bad quality of the picture.
Wow, she’s huge! Lol.
Needs more images with the simple black background and the red ribbon!!! T_T
Suprised you don’t seem to be familiar with the stereotypical hollywood straight edge ninja sword considering how much anime/manga you consume. :p
I had hoped to take more but they came out pretty bad, which was all my fault; I laid down my acrylic sheet to provide reflections but it is so scratched and scuffed up now that it looked terrible. I had to Photoshop out a lot of the surface to get rid of that nastiness and that’s not something I like to do because I’m pretty bad with Photoshop. I gotta get a new one … I wonder what one does with a 30″ by 40″ sheet of acrylic that is scratched to hell?
Hmm, yeah, now that you mention that, I do vaguely recall reading somewhere that ninja often get equipped with a straight sword while samurai get the curved katana. I guess her weaponry makes sense then.
I really cracked up at your Kiriko/Momo picture. Looks like”Take your ninja daughter to work Day”!
Haha, yeah, Momohime does have the right look and size to be Kiriko’s daughter, doesn’t she? It’s pretty funny how Kiriko looks like a proud, composed mother and Momohime’s looks like she’s saying, “Mommy, can we go kill that person over there?”
Am I the only one who thinks the opening picture makes her look like she is dressed to go horseriding with a riding cane tucked between her legs?
I had heard about washing machines but that just looks very kinky… in a good way!
Am definitely coming to appreciate Yamato more. Would almost be tempted to get her myself if it wasn’t for the fact that the only seller I can find in this country is asking $200 for her! Still suffering from Kaguya. I’m also happier whenever I have a figure on the way – Come on Lily!
Hmm, yeah, I can see that, especially with the tall boots and the tight suit. I gotta admit I have no familiarity with equestrian traditions, though.
She seems to be commanding high prices, so I’m pretty glad that I found her – particularly as the first two places I tried to buy her from listed her as in stock but did not actually have her in inventory.
Yamato is doing pretty well – they’ve got a few figures (such as Heat Blade and two different versions of Sonico) that I’m really looking forward to, and of course I’m quite fond of their vmf50 dolls. I also like their Macross toys though I dunno if I’m going to review the YF-19 I bought since I really have no idea how to get everything tight in fighter mode.
I wonder when my Lily figure is going to ship. I bought it from HS and they’ve got this odd message about shipping delays on their front page. I wonder what that’s about?
This is my first time seeing Kiriko Hattori in figure form. I seem to remember seeing a mouse pad of this character though (I think it was one of Lylibellule reviews, unless that was a similar looking character).
I think they made a good call switching out that loud purple for a more muted tone. The brighter colour would have really distracted and made it harder to sculpt a slender looking figure I think.
I’m a bit unsure of her eyes though – I can’t decide if I like them or not. Green and yellow, kinda scary, yet at the same time mesmerising.
I would have liked to see a belt or some more armour round her waist area I think. There’s lots going on around her chest and legs, then there’s a void in the middle. Meh, that’s just me being picky. She still looks great as she is!
Haha, what ever did happen to Shuraki. I remember thinking “what’s all this crap” when I got my Char figure; looks like it really was just clutter.
Yeah, I do recall Lylibellule had that mousepad; I remember being kinda surprised she got it since I hadn’t seen anyone else with one.
I agree with that; the lighter color lets REFLECT’s body sculpt stand out, particularly the long torso and the hips, I think. Though if Yamato wanted to do a recolored version with a dark gray or charcoal-colored bodysuit, I think that’d look pretty good too.
I kinda miss those Shuraki figures. I never got Char since she got crazy expensive by the time I decided I wanted her. Oddly, the only one I don’t care much for is the one Shunya Yamashita designed (Neda or something?). I had hoped that it would become a big thing but I guess it never got further than some relatively cheap figures and the booklets and CDs that came with them. I kept the little booklets since I liked the artwork but I never listened to the CDs (not that there would’ve been much point to that since I don’t understand the language). I’m probably just being overly nostalgic but I liked it back then, when GSC did figures like the Shuraki girls and characters from random eroge like Pixy Hiyori instead of chucking out nothing but nendoroids and BRS stuff.
She looks a lot like Taki… why didn’t I buy this? Oh right, because it’s Yamato. I really like Shunya, but so far, everything that’s come out by Yamato hasn’t been up to my standards. The painted eye-lashes look terrible, as does that weird line across her mouth.
Granted Yamato has gotten better over the years, they’re still leagues behind the leaders, which is unfortunate, because on paper, Yamato has an excellent line-up of figures, excellent sculpts/poses, and great artists like Shunya backing it up. I wish they’d fix their quality more.
I completely disagree. And that’s the company line I’ve been hearing about Yamato for years. I wish people would move past that already; they aren’t “leagues” behind the competition, particularly when formerly leading companies do hilarious things like forgetting to paint stars on their figures’ jackets.
One of the best figures that i don’t have regrets in buying esp. if its from Shunya. Well i’m quite biased when it comes to Shunya, cause i realy like his style and artwork. Although this is not your typical normal 1/8 scale, i really don’t give a damn cause the price is worth the scale. I think Yamato quality has improved through the years, although i rarely see quality figure than mecha kit like Macross items. Nevertheless, there are items lately are worth checking.
Their Macross toys are great. I had a bunch of cheap VF-1 toys back when I was a kid and I loved them, even though they weren’t particularly great quality. When Yamato showed off the transformable 1/48 scale VF-1A, that blew my mind; it was the most amazing toy I’d ever seen. I kinda wish they’d stuck with 1/48 scale rather than switching back to 1/60, but I guess the Macross Plus and Zero toys would’ve been too large if they did.
My first scaled figure was a Yamato figure and it wasn’t that great. It holds a lot of nostalgic value but it’s hard to look at on my shelf, since it’s standing next to Alter’s Yagyu Jubei and Alpha Omega’s Villetta Nu. I agree that they’ve improved a lot, and they also do a lot of different things, which I appreciate – I collect stuff from their figure, Macross, and vmf50 product lines. Even their figure collection itself shows a lot of diversity, which I prefer to two-trick makers like Good Smile Company.
I am a massive sucker for Reflect’s sculpts and Shunya Yamashita’s art so she was a 100% no thinking purchase when she first came about. Even though her pose is rather simple there is without a doubt a commanding presense about her even if she is among other larger figures.
She’s one of those figures that really catches the eye. She literally looks like a woman among girls on my shelf, and the contrast between her light-colored suit and black body armor highlights her body.
I liked the stuff Yamato showed at Wonder Festival this past weekend. REFLECT seems to be doing three new figures – Sylvia from No More Heroes, Bayonetta [!], and Lili from Tekken. I kinda hope they don’t put Lili in a swimsuit … I’d really, really like it if they put her in her Oh! Great-designed outfit. The Asuka and Rei action figures look pretty cool, too.
I completely agree with you bro, there MACROSS mecha kit are really amazing. They surely have made a milk of Shoji Kawamoris masterpiece mecha design. Suffice to say, its kinda expensive here at our place, so im just relegated to collecting g the REVOLTECH versions and there assembly kit from BANDAI 1/100 which i bought way back 2000. Goodsmile is alsoa good figurine makers, but lately i get kinda bored cause they invest more time developing on nendroid sand figma, figures which personally (my opinion) isn’t that much exciting to my taste. I don’t mean to offend collectors on these area, but it seems they don’t develop that much exciting figures like Black Rock and etc.unlike ALTER which is really versatile in there taste of character figure design. It’s no wonder why i consider ALTER one of my favorite figure makers cause they really don’t hold bars in there pick of characters be it from anime to hentai and eroge game character. Plus there quality and craftsmanship is is almost near flawless and exquisite. I too have Juebei Yagyu in my display its a lovely sight to behold along with my other Shunya Yamashita figs. One of the characteristics i like with Shunya figures, is that they border between the realm of realism and anime. Shunya seems to have developed a taste of fusing realistic, anatomical proportion approach as oppose to the conventional anime style of rendering. And blending it with a distinct flavor of an anime appeal.That’s why its fun to collect, truly a hallmark of an artist efforts and a proof of his amazing skills in character design.REFLECT does have the say when it comes to capturing Yamashita piece . Amen to tto that bro!!!! Check his website and see his some portfolio piece at http://mitumasa.com/ …really nice
I’ve got the 1/48 scale versions Hikaru’s VF-1A and Roy’s VF-1S, and the 1/60 scale YF-19. I have no idea how to properly transform the YF-19 though; it seems like it’s pretty hard to get all the parts tightened down. Still, it’s an incredible looking toy and I can’t believe they were able to make a transforming toy that doesn’t need to be disassembled to reconfigure it.
My feelings are in accord with yours with respect to nendoroids and Figmas. I own a few Figmas and they’re okay, but I think they’re a bit too small and I don’t buy them much. I really do not like nendoroids at all and I’m disappointed to see that other companies are jumping on that bandwagon.
I think Alter is far and away the best figure maker in the industry. I’m not sure who I’d place after that. This time last year, I would’ve said GSC and Max Factory but Max Factory doesn’t make many figures and GSC has had so many bewildering problems that I don’t rank them very high now. I’d probably say Max Factory, I guess, since their Native imprint is very strong. I kinda wish Alter would do something like that; they already make a lot of stuff from eroge, as you say, and it’d be pretty cool if they took that one step further.
Yeah, I like Yamashita’s style a lot; I don’t mind the typical big-headed 14-year old anime girl stuff but it’s nice to see an artist who draws full-figured women, too. He’s got a very unique and sensual style that is instantly identifiable.
Wow! What a beautiful figure! I picked her up myself about a week ago. Great review as well. I know you guys went over the base already but it seems as though mine is faulty/not made right. I can’t fit both of her feet on both pegs. The distance is off a bit. Not a big problem mind you, I can still stand her on it but the smaller peg is visible since I can’t get her left foot on it. Any suggestions?
Thanks! Hmm, that’s a bit strange. I think I put her left foot on the smaller peg first and then put her right foot on the larger peg. PVC has a bit of flexibility to it but I didn’t have to bend her too much to get both feet properly seated on the pegs.
Yay! I just tried that and it worked. Guess I was kind of afraid of stressing her right leg before but your method worked. Thanks man, keep up the awesome work on the sight. I always check it every other day lol. Lots of cool figures coming out this year, looking forward to your future reviews 🙂
No problem, and thanks XD