Despite being an avid consumer of all manners of news concerning the coronavirus epidemic, somehow it escaped my notice that Japan Post has suspended the delivery of parcels via EMS to the United States and that means I will not be getting any new figures until perhaps next month. As such, the only thing left to do – aside from abandoning this site, which I already feel pretty badly about and do not wish to perpetuate – is to review some older figures. Let’s begin with one of the biggest and most in-your-face in terms of callipygian excess, Erika Kuramoto from the doujin series Zettai Junpaku Mahou Shoujo.
First, a bit of background: Zettai Junpaku Mahou Shoujo is an original doujinshi series created by noted anime artist RAITA, who is perhaps better known for being the character artist of Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles series and for designing Fate/Grand Order’s Minamoto no Raikou. Mahou Shoujo is, as far as I can tell, about a relatively hapless guy who happens to have some special powers that enable him to help out a cast of young girls, who putatively battle lecherous beasties and occasionally get raped by them. That said, the story seems to focus more on the romantic experiences between the various protagonists. As for Erika herself, she is depicted as a popular idol as well as a traditional tsundere type, traits which are not readily apparent from this particular figure.
This figure of Erika is sculpted in 1/4 scale and stands approximately 44 centimeters in height. It’s manufactured by BINDing, which I assume is the ero-figure manufacturing label of FREEing, and if you have ever seen one of FREEing’s bunnygirls you already know what you’re getting with Erika.
As part of the Native product catalog, Erika’s appearance is played up for maximum sex appeal. Accordingly, she’s bent over a stool with her backside proudly thrust towards the viewer. The somewhat unlikely body proportions characteristic of Raita’s style is evident here, though somewhat played down compared to his illustrations; Erika has a gigantic ass, long and prominently tapered legs, a wasp waist, and huge breasts, each easily the size of her head. Erika’s arms are rather short and slender, and I feel like if she were in a more conventional and less dynamic pose, her stylized physique might diminish the overall effect of the figure. As it is, her positioning turns what might be a distraction into a benefit.
FREEing has been re-releasing some of their older bunnygirl figures sans fishnet pantyhose, often at a cheaper price. As nice as the fishnets look – and they are real fishnet material – I think the bare-legged look is more attractive and doesn’t run the risk of staining the plastic skin underneath. I would not have minded if they had dispensed with them here.
Her breasts are equally impressive and are too large to be contained by her leotard. There’s no way to cover her up unless the owner improvises something by themselves; her breasts are freely visible with no castoff system implemented.
I’m not a fan of the tsundere trope, and I think the prevalance of this archetype is one of the reasons I haven’t really watched a lot of anime in the last few years (other reasons are that I generally loathe both light novel adaptations and isekai stories). You wouldn’t really know that Erika starts off as a tsundere girl by looking at her here, though; she looks quite cheerful and friendly.
The magical girls from this series feature small wings such as these. They’re a bit difficult to install since the gaps in her hair covering up the insertion slots are not very wide, but they look nice once they’ve been properly placed.
I’m not actually sure what this is but it fits into a slot in her left thigh.
Erika comes with a nicely-designed stool that does look like something one might find in a nicely-appointed bar or casino. She also comes with these little plastic cards, presumably meant to show a poker hand. The obverse is printed with the ace of spades on the top card.
She also comes with this drink tray and a beverage. This is perhaps less well-designed than I would have liked; the tray fits on her fingertips with nothing actually securing it, so bumping the figure will likely send the tray and the drink toppling down. The drink actually comprises three parts: the cup, the simulated liquid, and the ice cube, which are each loose pieces. I lose figure parts with some frequency so I put these pieces back in the box to keep them safe.
I think this is the first BINDing figure I’ve reviewed (though it’s not the first I’ve owned – I think that was Olga Discordia, and I still need to take her out of her box someday) and while Erika is not vastly different from most of the FREEing bunnygirls I own and have photographed, I think this might be my favorite one of the product line thus far. The giant size of these figures is still something I enjoy and the additional appeal from the explicit lewdness enhances the attractiveness of this figure. This is – I’m sad and a bit embarrassed to admit – the first figure I’ve photographed this year but I think Erika is already a strong contender for my list of favorite figures of 2020.
EMS may be cancelled but DHL and FedEx are still going (for now at least). Though those shipping options cost an arm and a leg. That said, good to see you’re still with us!
Yeah, I’m a little anxious to see what DHL shipping bills looks like; Hobby Search notes that they’re better for smaller, heavier parcels rather than larger, lighter boxes and my figure orders definitely fall in that latter category.
Thanks very much! I’ve uhh, been playing way too much Epic Seven in the last few months. This may have something to do with them having re-run the Guilty Gear collaboration so that I could get Dizzy on my roster after waiting for a full year.
I read Raita’s mahou shoujo for years and it’s still continue today lol,more girls are added but seems only the first 4 for being made into figures and unfortunately mostly are only misa.. ,I think saw the other but only as garage kit and art displayed during wonfes.
I assume you also have Binding’s bunny Misa and Sasaki , I also seems saw pre order for nitta yui for next year release, a while back, so yeah at least these 4 can have bunny form together
now that you mention it seems back then these fishnet are freeing signature ahaha since native adding more manufacturer company that they doing the distribution for , I do a bit wonder whether these company also .. “Erotic faction” of another manufacturer as well
I glanced quickly over the newer volumes and I did not recognize the newer characters. Hopefully they get some love and recognition from figure makers in the future.
Erika is the only bunnygirl figure I have; I didn’t get any of the other ones, though I did buy the Orca Toys Misa figure, and I’ve been meaning to review it since I’m curious as to how it turned out. I also have Native’s other Erika figure in her normal work uniform (such as it is …). I need to buy fewer bunnygirls since they’re so big but I can’t seem to stop.
It would be interesting if any of the other groups that Native is handling distribution for have a prior history making figures; I haven’t actually looked at who their sculptors are and what they’ve done in the past. That’s an interesting idea and I should probably take a look.
Ah it’s the pretty Erika, I’m rather surprised it’s not the super lewd cheerleader version you reviewed XD
I had to look up what callipygian means (having well-shaped buttocks) ahaha.
Mahou Shoujo is a little boring, there always seem to be the same kind of sex and not even sodomy is part of it ;p. But well the characters are cute, I really Erika’s character design a lot. In this figure adaptation and the other Native one, that I own she looks like a happy girl. Her smile is great in combination with her dynamite body, I’m a big fan of her wide hips and very big butt, nicely highlighted in this figure. Binding did a good job with her, 1/4 scaled figures often lack in details, but this one not. At first I thought it is a 1/6 scaled figure.
The thing at her leg is a chibi version of her weapon, actually
Are there any plans to review the Ade-sugata II figure? There are hardly any pictures of her .around
The cheerleader figure is the one that I don’t own! XD I was going through Native’s website (while looking through which figures I’ve ordered and won’t be receiving soon, since they only ship by EMS and no EMS shipments are going from Japan to the United States right now …) and I was surprised to see that they’ve done three figures of Erika already. I own the other two but not the cheerleader one, oddly enough.
Ahahaha, yeah, I read through a few translated volumes and while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t exactly the most enthralling stuff I’ve read. The characters are pretty much as stereotypical as they come,though perhaps that changes in the later editions.
Nope, no plans to review Ade-sugata II because I never bought it, which I kinda regret now. I think I bought Ade-sugata 0, III, and V, but not II or IV. But I’m not actually sure since I haven’t yet opened the shipping boxes.
This is a great figure, thank you for this review and photos
You’re welcome!
I’m smitten with Erika. Of all the Mahou gals, I got her “angel version. I’m expecting her “action figure” this month (depends how EMS fast sends her that is).
Oh wow, I didn’t know that they made an action figure version of her, so I guess Native has sold four different figures of her? That’s pretty impressive. Hopefully you get your figure soon; Native is still holding one of my figures (the one designed by the Udon-ya artist; the names of both the character and the illustrator slip my mind) in Japan until Japan Post resumes shipping stuff to the US by EMS.
The action figure is from Second Axe’s “Hentai Action” series. This https://native-store.net/en/CATEGORY-ROOT/Second-Axe/SECOND-AXE-type%e2%9d%a4HENTAI-ACTION-Shizue-Minase–the-SECOND-AXE-official-cosplayer–Ichiru–x–Shizue-Minase–collaboration-photograph-book-set-/p/NA_CR_WD00031_S?site=NATIVE_EN&lang=en was the first (released January 2019), Erika https://native-store.net/en/CATEGORY-ROOT/Second-Axe/SECOND-AXE%e2%9d%a4HENTAI-ACTION%e3%80%80Erika-Kuramoto/p/NA_CR_WD00070a?overRateChecking=overRateChecking is the second (just released (July 2020)), and this https://native-store.net/en/CATEGORY-ROOT/Characters-Selection/SECOND-AXE%e2%9d%a4HENTAI-ACTION%e3%80%80Asagi-Igawa-Figure/p/NA_CH_WD00045a?site=NATIVE_EN&lang=en is the third (scheduled for December 2020). They’re pretty small, about 16 to 17.5 centimeters tall, which makes them about 1/10 scale.
Native / Second Axe are asking full price however (14 – 17k), and according to comments on MFC on the first release, quality seems to be a bit so-so… I think you’re better off passing on them XD
On another note, you recently mentioned that you started collecting wristwatches. I’m not a watch collector at all, but I got a rather pricey watch the other day, after my trusty 25-year old Swatch passed away. My new acquisition is an automatic one because I don’t want to be bothered with winding it up each day. However, this thing is running away 10, or even more, seconds per day. (Apparently it depends on how physically active I am, or on temperature, or which mood it is in, or whatever…) Is there any consensus in the watch collecting community on how much “off” is tolerated in a watch?
That’s good to know about quality; I buy action figures every now and then and it feels like I’m disappointed more often than not. I remember those Actsta figures were kind of lame, and I recently bought a Kaiyodo (I think) action figure of Psylocke which was pretty lousy, particularly for the price point. I haven’t ordered any of the Native action figures and I don’t think I’m planning on buying any in the future.
Ahh, yes, mechanical watches are unfortunately far less accurate than quartz watches, or smartwatches, or a phone, which leads to a lot of people wondering why they cost so much. I honestly don’t have a great answer for that except that they’re more for projecting fashion and status than for telling time. One person the watches subreddit said that they’re more for telling your relationship with time than for telling time, which I think is a reasonable way of putting it, if somewhat affected. Depending on what watch you have, a ten second deviation is pretty reasonable; Seiko asserts that something like +40/-20 seconds per day is in scope with what their movements can do (they’re usually better than that, but not always). Omega coaxial movements typically gain or lose a few seconds per day. I’d say that anything in the range of +5/-5 seconds per day is doing pretty good.
QC issues? I hope I don’t get the bad batch!
I just received the figure. Short version, an Xrated figma meaning, well figma looks awesome but durability wise, a notch or two down compared to figure arts/revoltech. Handle her with care. She also comes with a gravure cosplay book of Erika. Trouble is, just a bunch of risque poses with nothing really that nasty (surprised that it’s lables R-18, the book that is).
Content wise, she has two pairs of bewbs, one simulating a see thru costume while the other is the actual exposed ones. 3 faces aside from the default, variety of hands and her weapon. She aslo comes with a stand and an art/post card.
Have you considered platformto a format that requires less effort to post, i.e. Twitter/Instagram?
I actually have not; I know that they’re probably the most popular ways to distribute content but I’m actually trying to get away from social media. I don’t really tweet much now, I don’t think I have an Instagram account, and I’d like to close down my Facebook account.
Hello,
hope you and yours are doing well,
sorry, i know this isn’t exactly related to the figure but i guess this is my best chance to reach out to you. i’ve also sent an email just in case.
i’d like to inquire, how’s your magician caroline from e2046 figure holding up? i’ve read that some resin kits deteriorate over time. is the paint ok?
i’m about to buy one and would like to know if the figure maintains its integrity over time
thank you and regards
Hello, thank you for the kind words. I think it’s holding up okay, though I may have misplaced the ahoge part of her hair. The paintwork and glue for all of my E2046 figures seems to still be pretty good and I have not noticed any deterioration or inexplicable damage to any of them. None of them appear to be leaning, which is more than I can say about some of my PVC figures.
sweet. thanks, tier.
guess i’ll go and buy it after confirming the shipping costs. hopefully everything is still intact including the ahoge.
best regards