It’s time for Christmas in July, courtesy of Kotobukiya. It might seem odd to release a Santa-themed figure in the middle of the year, particularly one of a Soviet commie, but the timing is nonetheless auspicious as Total Eclipse is in the early stages of its anime run and many viewers seem uncertain as to just what to make of it. Even so, I think most people can agree that the female characters are very hot and are worthy of having figures made of them.
Cryska is one of the main characters of Muv Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse. Originally a written story serialized in the magazine Tech Gian, it has received a currently-airing anime adaptation. A Soviet mecha pilot, thus far she has shown herself to be humorless, mission-driven, and enigmatic. She comprises half of the duo called the “Scarlet Twins,” her counterpart being the more lively but no less mysterious Inia Sestina. Kotobukiya also released a figure of Inia last month, but I ordered it from a US-based store so I won’t be getting it for a few more weeks.
I’d been looking forward to the Total Eclipse anime for some time, being a fan of its art style and world design. The first couple of episodes were promising – particularly in the uncompromising brutality the second episode depicted – but the last few episodes have been something else entirely. I guess I wasn’t completely surprised – I knew a beach episode was coming, having seen a ton of art of the Total Eclipse characters in swimwear – but I was still taken aback by the abrupt shift in the storyline’s tenor. However, I guess nobody should be shocked because Total Eclipse is playing out exactly according to convention. There’s the hotheaded, snarky, conflicted main character in Isamu Dyson – err, I mean, Yuuya Bridges. There’s the perverted, peeping Tom sidekick. And of course, there’s the harem of busty, sexy women, with Yui and Cryska calling Yuuya “kisama” while blatantly desiring his sperm.
The show features a surprisingly heavy emphasis on nationalism – appalling might be a more appropriate word, given that the alien antagonists are bent on killing and eating everyone and that nationality presumably has no effect on flavor. One would hope that humanity would move past its differences and unify itself to prevent snack-time extinction. But no, much of the early part of the show portrays the reluctance of the characters in putting their cultural baggage aside.
The race squabbling has already taken up way too much of the anime’s time, but I have to admit that I find it fascinating on a personal level. Being Yonsei Japanese, I’ve been interested in how Japanese people react to foreign-born Japanese, pretty much ever since reading Rising Sun as a kid. I can also relate to Yuuya’s internal bias; I’m also half-Korean and grew up in Seoul, and I could not wait to get back to the States. Despite living in Korea for over ten years, I refused to learn the language, to eat most of the food, and to become interested in Korean culture. That said, I was twelve years old when I left Korea and my feelings have changed since I’ve gotten older (though not necessarily more mature; it would be difficult to ascribe maturity to myself, given that I run a website with pictures of half-naked dolls wrapped in toy tentacles). Given that the Total Eclipse characters are adult, battle-hardened military personnel, one would expect that they would act in a more disciplined manner. Hopefully this plot thread will run its course soon.
(One last note about the anime: Yui sure is cute gimping around on a bum ankle. She reminds me a lot of Junko Hattori from Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Mao – and given that that was a wacky harem comedy, that is perhaps not the sort of characterization the Total Eclipse producers ought to be shooting for.)
This figure of Cryska is based off of artwork by Miyata Sou, the artist responsible for much of Total Eclipse’s artwork. Or rather, formerly responsible; he got himself fired from Age Soft a couple of months ago. Too bad, I liked his pictures.
Cryska is manufactured by Kotobukiya. This particular product is labeled “Guren,” which means something like “red lotus flower.” She’s sculpted in 1/7 scale and is about 13 centimeters tall, making her a close match to Kotobukiya’s Yui Takamura figure. Like some of Kotobukiya’s figures, she comes with a special base; in this case, a soft, circular cushion.
In keeping with the Christmas motif, she also comes with a fuzzy Santa hat. It’s a bit oversized – though it probably has to be, given the bulky nature of anime hair. I like its large size; it makes it look a lot cuter on her.
Speaking of cute, the original artwork shows her looking very cute, with doe eyes and a shy smile. The figure, however, offers a slightly different take. Cryska looks like she’s trying to strike a pinup pose but isn’t really into it, as if she can’t quite overcome her inhibitions. She looks very sexy and given that she seems to not be a very personable individual, her look is more faithful to her character.
The figure comes with a couple of fuzzy white lengths of pipe cleaner that can be wrapped around her neck. Her head actually comes off to make them easier to apply. One length is shorter than the other so you can pick what sort of look you want Cryska to have. They’re supposed to look like a fluffy white scarf or boa or something but personally, I think they look very much like pipe cleaners so I put them back in the box.
Cryska – and Yui – are known for their killer bodies, with narrow waists, big boobs, and shapely buttocks, and all of that gets emphasized on this figure. She’s proudly displaying her breasts, which are perhaps this figure’s most prominent aspect. They are certainly impressive.
Her backside is also highlighted, and it also looks great. I like her high-cut style of bikini bottom, much more than I like the low-rise style a lot of anime girls wear. Also, it’s nice to see that her swimsuit actually fits her; a lot of anime characters seem to wear swimsuits that are two or three sizes too small.
Personally, I’d prefer that she be wearing her pilot suit but beggars cannot be choosers. She does fill out that bikini very well, though, and I can’t even say it’s an inappropriate look for her, being that the anime has already dressed members of the female cast up in a catgirl maid outfit and Japanese school swimsuits. There was also a curious incident where, in a bit of chain of command-sanctioned sexual harassment, Yui got put into a bikini herself.
Taking off Cryska’s hat reveals the navy blue clips that she and Inia wear on their heads. It also makes the up-turned ends of her hair much more noticeable.
This figure of Cryska is very sexy, and her clothing hits on the swimsuit-with-thighhighs fetish that I have. Actually, Cryska’s design hits on a number of fetishes I have and so it’s a figure that I like a great deal. Her evident discomfort combined with her skimpy costume make her look adorable, even though her look and personality suggest that she’d want to kill you afterwards. I’m looking forward to getting Kotobukiya’s Inia soon.
If anyone is interested in getting her or Cryska, and if you’re in the United States, I’d get her from a US retailer like Big Bad Toy Store or something; she’s a lot cheaper there than ordering her from a Japanese store. Plus, Kotobukiya’s US branch always writes the best ad copy for their products.
For another review of Cryska, check out Biotoxic’s Blog.
Here is Cryska together with Yui.
And here’s Kotobukiya Cryska with Alphamax Cryska.
Merry Chri-… wait a minute. It’s still early but wow that was a really nice set. This is probably just me but I think her bust is too big. I love the backdrop that you used for this shoot, makes it really… Christmas-y. And damn, I kinda want to get this figure just for that oversized santa-hat LOL. I should get around to watching Muv-luv now… And I’ve noticed you haven’t used your tentacle stand for many shoots Tier… that’s a sacrilegious to your site name!! Great photos as usual though!
Total Eclipse is … a curious show. There’s not really a consistent tone; even the characterization has been haphazard. Then again, being that it’s a two-season show, the producers have the luxury of going slowly, which I guess is not an entirely bad thing, given how fast a 12 or 13-episode harem show has to go to get everyone introduced before wrapping everything up.
Funny that you mention the tentacle stand … it is not for nothing that I mentioned half-naked dolls in the post.
This is off-topic but, that stateside site you linked has Bunnygirl Charlotte available for preorder and cheaper than what I paid-for already. How trustworthy are they?
Kotobukiya has a presence in the US so there was always a strong possibility of Charlotte coming over here. You can still pre-order her from Anime Island which is cheaper than BBTS.
http://www.anime-island.com/products/is-infinite-stratos-charlotte-dunois-1-7-scale-ani-statue-figure.html
They have pretty good reviews on mfc if I remember correctly. BBTS also seems to be regarded pretty well.
Thank you for the heads-up, kinda too late though, I already pre-ordered her since I had limited knowledge about stateside-based sites. Yay for learning something new everyday!
I do not order from BBTS too often, as I buy most of my stuff from Japanese stores, but they’ve generally been very reliable. I ordered some of my very first figures from them (Kotobukiya’s Rachel and GSC’s Mishiro Akatsuki, for instance, both of which cost around $45 each … those were good times), and I most recently got Solange from them. I will say that they are the only store I’ve ever preordered an item and had it cancelled because they couldn’t fulfill it, but to be fair, I was expecting that to happen (it was MegaHouse’s Mizuki; I really wanted it because it had a castoff feature. Back in those days, it was pretty tough to get figures with removable clothes.). However, since there’s a product blurb from Kotobukiya, I’d assume that they’ll be able to fill orders for Charles.
Thank you for the information. While I’m at it, may I ask (out of curiosity) where do you order the more explicit pieces that you own? Amiami has some but is really limited. I’m sorry for being a newbie and thanks in advance! (Also sorry if this isn’t the place to ask for it)
Tits too big and she’s a tsun shit character anyway (… or is she? Hard to tell with the pingponging the story seems to be doing without managing any real development).
I like the shoot, though. Faux christmas setting is nice. What is the white stuff you’ve used as a base? In some it looks like polyester pillow stuffing, but in 18 particularly, a bit on the base there looks more like desiccated coconut. I assume the tree is just some dollar store mini plastic christmas tree?
She is … I dunno, wacky. Is there a term for a girl who wants to kill the guy at the beginning of the relationship before wanting to get into his pants? That seems to be a more extreme variation of the typical tsundere archetype … I was going to write “yandere” in the post but that’s not right since that archetype seems to require a girl who wants to kill the male after falling in love with him.
That is correct on both counts; the white stuff is Polyfill and the tree is a little Christmas tree my parents got me back when I was in school. They worked great; the best setups are the ones that require no work to build.
I think Kuudere (cool and appears emotionless/ruthless I think) fits Cryska better since Yui more of the Tsundere type 😀
Tits to big? Normally I am not into extra large breasts, but I think it works really well in this figure and they don’t look way too large to me.
With that being said, this is a nice figure. I like the look that Kotobukiya went with on her from the red bikini to the pink/pearl thighhighs. The Santa hat is adorable on her head. I don’t really like her mouth though. To me it seems like she is in a moment of ecstasy (the position helps with that look too), but since there is nobody or no thing underneath her it seems a little weird.
Good call on not using the pipe cleaners too. I saw the first picture and was trying to figure out why you were wrapping her with pipe cleaners. To be honest I thought you may have been prepping the shoot for some type of bondage using the pipe cleaners.
Great photoshoot this time. I like the Christmas-y feel that you put out with the tree and fake snow. With her little pillow she looks like she is trying to be the naughty present under the tree. I loved photo 15. Number 17 makes me think of animes where a girl has fallen down and she doesn’t want some person to look at her down there.
Some people have peculiar preferences. I know people who have a very narrow set of bounds as to how large a character’s breasts may be (typically more on the small side of the scale rather than large). I must admit I do not understand such requirements, but then again, I would not be surprised if other people could not understand my fondness for tentacle hentai so it is all good.
Her look reminds me of an inexperienced model trying to look sexy but failing badly. I recently spent some time with friends and convinced them to let me take their picture, and I found it very difficult to direct them. I have no experience directing people while photographing them, so the fault was largely mine, but I also had the sense that they were very uncomfortable in front of the camera, even though I had no agenda in taking those pictures. Cryska kinda reminds me of that; I can imagine a photographer saying, “All right Cryska, give me your best sexy look” and Cryska going, “Is this sexy?” and the photographer shaking his head.
Yeah, the pipe cleaners were not too impressive. Speaking of bondage, there’s this Daiki Kougyou figure that I was kinda interested in that featured a bondage theme, and I was sorta thinking of ordering it, and then I realized that I only really liked it because of the bondage theme, and that nothing’s stopping me from trying to make figure-sized restraints for my other figures. I was kinda thinking about Cryska when I thought of all of that.
swimsuit-with-thighhighs *highfive* Its a hot combination
I actually like the anime, ok I would like to see some more dramatic Beta battles instead of training, but its not bad that they have a cast like this, with some tensions between the characters. The tension between Yui and Yuuya is interesting. Haha he gets pissed so easily. I expected they would do it in the hangar to let out some steam XD Oh, and the girls look damn hot with this animation style. Its a 20+ anime show so I will get some Beta action for sure.
The figure looks quite appealing with her mighty cleavage, man how I love to look at her nicely shaped boobs and the bikini bottom accentuates her beautiful (I feel like writing ass today) ass. Because of the angle of her neck her face expression doesn’t work from every viewpoint, but that is no real problem, cause the overall impression is that Cryska is a sexy and fine women. The body sculpting looks great. I love picture 01, 06, 21 and 30 ^–^
It’s funny to see a slightly santa related figure when there are 36°C outside *sweaty mouse*
Being hit by two ugly delays this month I’d consider to either get Inia or “super cleavage” Cryska, ahh she’s so hot (｡◜◡â—｡).
I am a big fan of the swimsuit-with-thighhighs combo; buruma with thighhighs, too. For some reason, you don’t often see anime girls in gym uniforms wearing thighigh socks very often. There was this H-anime called 15 Bishoujo Hyouryuuki which had a girl wearing buruma and thighhighs and I thought that was really cute.
Yeah, I’d like to see more fighting too, but I guess I was expecting a Macross Plus-style show since I knew it involved Project Prominence. I’m still enjoying it, though in a different way than I expected (I thought it’d be a hardcore military show, given the emphasis on military hardware the literature has; now, I’m hoping that Yui and Cryska get into a catfight for the right to make Yuuya’s children). I wonder when Chinese girl Cui Yifei will show up? (She’s shown here on the upper right.)
The timing is indeed a bit odd, though I guess it’s better to release the figure during the anime run, unlike MegaHouse, who chucked out poor Satsuki Shinonome a year before Love, Election & Chocolate got its TV show and so nobody bought her.
I think she’s shown in a short shot during the briefing room scene in the latest episode. (The part where they were introduced to the Elite Sovient TFS Platton Leader, close to the end of the episode)
Yeah, she was there. I thought it was funny she showed up right after I wondered when she’d appear.
Wow, “Christmas creep” on a figure blog. Never thought I’d see the day. Of course, Kotobukiya is the real culprit behind this.
Cryska’s looking lovely. Can’t say the “red swimsuit, lavender hair” is the greatest color match-up, but who cares about colors when you’ve got a half naked woman with giant knockers in your face? My god, those tits. Look at them dangle. HOW THEY DANGLE.
Can’t wait for your eventual review of Inia.
Indeed! They are impressive. Beautiful. They know how to raise them right in Stalinist Russia. Though I guess the rule of Muv-Luv is that every woman has to be hot. Even Yuuya’s mom is hot.
“My god, those tits. Look at them dangle. HOW THEY DANGLE.”
they’d make lovely christmas tree ornaments. or stocking stuffers. =D
Hooo, that’s some steamy x-mas outfit in a middle of summer. The motherland sure is one hot mama, no wonder he has a lot of male “comrades” on the follow. I haven’t watched the anime yet, but it seems interesting with all the mecha stuff along with sexy girls. Your shots are excellent as always, not too bright nor too sharp. Now I wonder, how do you display your stuff? We haven’t seen your collection stash or the so called “personal figure altar” of sorts.
The anime is … curious. It started off very strong and then became something else very quickly. Kinda like Ga-rei Zero, now that I recall.
Uhh, how do I display my stuff … the short answer is, all over the place. A year or so ago, I found out that there was an American television series about “hoarders,” or people who seldom (or never) throw anything out. I was surprised that such behavior was noteworthy because I’ve done something like that for most of my life.
But when things are organized properly, it will be an awesome sight. I could imagine your place as one big museum of girls…….deadly girls.
That would be pretty cool. Unfortunately, I am a very disorganized person. Glancing at the shelf over my computer desk, I have gangsta lean Saber standing over my Meiya Mitsurugi and Yomi Isayama Figmas and my Gigapulse Mikoto Shiratori figure, who was missing a leg without me knowing about it. I’ve also got a bunch of extra parts, like Saber Lily’s extra sword, Imari Kurumi’s orgasm face, and a bunch of extra parts that I think go with the Nanoha actsta. I probably should clean this mess up.
Well now, THIS is a figure I can get behind. Rack, ass, bright red colors, subtly sensual expression…yup. This is probably going on my “to buy” list. Speaking of “to buy,” I need to take it down a notch, but I’m finding a lot of long-wanted figures for sale at MFC for incredibly reasonable prices. I mean, Odin Sphere’s Gwendolyn, Alphamax’s bikini-maid Tamaki, and that blue-haired Kurumu Kurono figure that I missed the pre-order on. But I do need to tone it down; these things might be cheap(ish), but they DO add up.
The only thing about Cryska here that seems off to me is her leggings. Are they separate mold pieces? Because they look like they’re just slightly off-center from the upper parts of her thighs. Maybe it’s just me. Otherwise flawless–a real beauty.
Yeah, I’ve been thinking the same thing; my preorder list is at around thirty figures and being that my collection is already at several hundred figures, I wonder whether I really need thirty more. I’ve been telling myself for a while that I need to stop ordering figures that I only marginally desire, but I’m having a tough time resisting temptation. (It’d be easier to resist if I didn’t take pictures, I think.)
They could be separate pieces; I will check when I am able. I guess her left leg does look a bit crooked, but you would never see that unless you’re looking through a magnifying glass; the entire figure isn’t more than a few inches in length.
I share much of your frustration against the Total Eclipse anime. Going from the grim conclusion of episode two to that Nepalese’s girl’s bratty antics in episode three was a real turn-off for me. My expectations for the series went into free-fall from that point. I was able to overlook or grit my teeth through most of it, but visual presentation of the show is just sooo bad. It seemed that the characters’ appearances would noticeably vary from scene to scene. It’s a real shame — between the pilot suits and swimsuits, there’s no shortage of eye candy in Total Eclipse, but the anime doesn’t seem to have the production value to capitalize on that goldmine.
Anyways, onto the figure. A communist wearing red clothing and Santa’s hat? Makes perfect sense to me. Nothing like displaying the party’s colours with pride while paying tribute to comrade Saint Nick’s socialist agenda. Cryska has a nice ass, and the way she’s spreading her legs is damn hot. Oh, and I love how you positioned her hat to cover her left eye — real seductive. =)
The thing that gets me about the show’s presentation are the insert songs; it is really, really weird to hear an insert song almost every episode. I wish they’d taken the money they allocated to audio and gave it to their animators instead.
The Fatherland is well-served by having its defenders celebrate the most overtly capitalist holiday in the world by dressing up in what amounts to their underwear. I have to admit that being that it’s twenty years after the dissolution of the USSR, it is pretty weird to see Soviets make a comeback in a sci-fi show.
Christmas came early…and so did I…
Hmm very nice… Am now quite tempted to get her myself. So do you have a final verdict on which is better the Alphamax/Skytube version or this? (The santa hat does add alot to the appeal)
On the anime don’t remind me of the 2nd ep X-P the one thing I hate to see is cute girls getting eaten/killed and I still get the shivers whenever I get reminded of the eating scene. (I also curse my morbid curiosity in rewinding that part X_x! and I have to keep myself from seeing that part in the proably uncensored BD version)
Although overall I’m still watching it 😀
I think the Kotobukiya figures are way, way better than the Alphamax ones. Maybe their Inia figure will be better, but I am not too impressed by the lingerie Yui and Cryska figures now that I have the Kotobukiya ones.
Those characters looked pretty tasty. Yeah, I don’t like it when cute anime girls that I like die, either. The first episode of Ga-rei Zero is still really tough for me to watch. It’s sorta like what Rance says in Sengoku Rance, cute anime girls are a precious national resource that must be protected (though I can think of more than a few female anime characters that I wouldn’t mind seeing offed).
Sexy sculpt indeed
I have to say that I AM regretting every seconds of my life right now for not pre-ordering her. I remembered back when I saw the promotional pictures and I thought “Bah, this is way too mainstream, plus she’s made by Koto”, and now I’m left wondering why I even said that in the first place.
Love every bit of her – her breasts and especially her face, which is starting to creep slowly into my mind. That perplexed-yet-seductive look of her is really hard to ignore (apart from her glorious body features). But I do wonder what is it about her breasts that makes them look normal despite their humongous size. Truth be told, I was actually put off by their size in the promo pictures since I’m not really a big fan of girls with breasts sized larger than “Large”.
On a completely unrelated note, you just got SpeedDial-ed on my browser. Fantastic reviews and of course, photos 🙂
If you are in the United States or nearby, she’s pretty cheap at BBTS. Relatively, I mean.
Yeah, I really like the look on her face; it’s a lot more nuanced than on a lot of other figures. Her breasts seem to have a more realistic shape that I think makes them appear more attractive; Alphamax’s Cryska, in contrast, doesn’t fare quite as well, I think. That Cryska’s breasts look kinda puffed up like water balloons.
Thanks for the kind words XD
Wondering what to do with a bit of accumulated AmiAmi points so decided to come here. And this catches my attention. Moreso I learn you’re a Korean into tentacles (no difference with me I guess). Anywho…
Question, in regards to the Santa hat, photos 22 to 28. Is there something in the hat there? Perhaps something metallic like the pipecleaner (ie scarf)? Those photos all show the hat with the same exact slant / shape, hence my curiousity. If so, potential for damage (if I, say, play around with the hat such as ‘reshaping’ it numerous times)?
That aside, this is going quite cheap on Neowing (CDJapan for those in the west) and even at AmiAmi. Though heck, I might skip this and go for the Miku Racing figure for 1000 yen extra… Quite spoilt for choice this month with some nice preorders due early next year as well.
And as always. Cheers for the review and excellent photos.
Nah, her hat is rather stiff; they used a somewhat thick material (relative to the size of the figure) which holds its shape by itself. In fact, you can stick it straight up vertically like a dunce cap without any problem, which might be appropriate given the way the Soviets act in the anime. I would guess that playing around with her hat wouldn’t cause damage, though; it’s made of real fabric, almost like a faux velvet or something, and it should stand up to handling about as well as any fabric garment would.
If you’re in the US – and by your phrasing, I am guessing you are not – I’d get this figure from BBTS, since it’s $63 there and that’s a helluva lot cheaper than Amiami. Though since you’re probably not in the US, that’s probably academic. There’s a 5,000 yen Cryska up on Mandarake right now that might be a cheaper option, too.