Honolulu from Azur Lane (Light Armed Version)

So after a protracted delay, we’ll take a look at another figure from Azur Lane. Today’s figure is USS Honolulu, the sister – both in terms of ship class and in-game portrayal – of USS St. Louis. Honolulu is, unfortunately, one of the less powerful shipgirls in Azur Lane, being of blue rarity, or the second-most common type of unit. However, in spite of her gameplay irrelevance, she’s one of the more popular characters in terms of artwork – and figures, with at least three existing. This one depicts her in her standard outfit, which is my favorite look for her.

Like St. Louis, Honolulu is manufactured by Alter in 1/7 scale. She was released in May of 2023 in two versions – a much more expensive figure that includes her ship rigging, and this one, which omits the gun turrets and ship hulls. Alter figures have historically not had much in the way of different display configurations, but surprisingly, Honolulu’s hat and jacket can be removed.

While St. Louis is depicted as flirty and amiable, Honolulu is portrayed as a sullen, self-conscious tsundere type. She’s subject to teasing from her sister, often in the form of trying to get the player character to hook up with her, which serves only to discomfit Honolulu further. However, underneath her prickly exterior is a gentle girl who enjoys the commander’s company.

Honolulu is one of the oldest units in Azur Lane and her design reflects an aesthetic sensibility when Eagle Union shipgirl outfits were vaguely patterned after real-life naval uniforms. Her outfit consists of a double-breasted microdress that struggles to contain both her breasts and her backside. She also has dark stockings – contrasting with the white stockings that St. Louis wears – with garter straps, high heels, and elbow gloves.

Her jacket is actually removable, though I totally forgot to take photos of her without it. Her hat is also removable and I did remember to take a picture of her without her cover.

Personally, I don’t think she looks quite right without her jacket or her hat, so I prefer to leave them on her.

Although Honolulu and St. Louis are essentially complementary designs, Honolulu has a noticeably different breast shape compared to her sister. Honolulu’s breasts protrude forward to a much greater degree, making them look rather larger, even though I think they’re supposed to be roughly the same size. Honolulu also has a much paler skin tone and her hair is translucent at the tips. I think it’s supposed to add sort of a fiery effect to her hair but I have to admit I’m not a big fan of this sort of special effect.

But those quibbles aside, there’s not a lot that I want to criticize here. Honolulu looks fantastic, as one would expect from an Alter figure.

Here is her hat; a few other Eagle Union shipgirls wear this type of naval cover, but the developers have really moved away from this style towards a more futuristic aesthetic replete with mechanical halos and headgear, giant jackets, and rigging designs reminiscent of sci fi mecha.

One of the more pleasing aspects of this figure is the rear view. We never do get to see the back views of most of the characters in Azur Lane, being that most characters are basically just one PNG image with an animated chibi model, but it’s certainly a treat to be able to see what Honolulu and St. Louis look like from behind.

Like St. Louis and Baltimore, Honolulu looks superb. Alter has created an awesome rendition of a character that doesn’t see much use in the actual game, but is nonetheless still a fan favorite – and one of my favorites as well. As an Eagle Union fan, I’m really happy that Alter created figures of the two sisters; they could have easily chosen more relevant and more popular characters, but these two are amongst my favorite characters in the game. This is probably the best figure Honolulu fans could have hoped for.