Figure Unboxing and Review: Kiss-shot Acerola Orion Heart Under Blade/Oshino Shinobu (Good Smile Company)

By TReina - Tuesday, February 23, 2016 - No Comments

To All,

I'll apologize beforehand for the recent increase in this week since it's been nearly two weeks since I last posted this many articles. For all who are familiar with Monogatari Series, you would have came across this voluptuous vampire dressed in flashy clothes whose name alone is a terrible tongue twister and painstakingly difficult to remember from first glance.

To put it in simpler terms, she's just the "grown-up" version of everyone's favorite doughnut-loving vampire loli, Oshino Shinobu; or more accurately, the version of her before she met Araragi Koyomi (main character, and got regressed into a child).

So anyway, let's take a look at the figure!

She's still in stock on Amiami, though she isn't with a discount anymore. If anyone is interested in getting her after reading this review, I'll recommend grabbing her fast before she sells out or her price increases more!

Box and Packaging 8/10

Let's take a look at her box from all angles first!

No matter which angle you look at her box from, it fits the character perfectly. It's eludes the aura of being dark, mysterious and dangerous; which is similar to the first impression Kiss-shot is supposed to give.

Next, her packaging was really snug and I'm impressed that when I shook it, nothing in the blister actually moved.

Base 7/10

This low score of her base is mainly due to the difficult assembly for it. If I were to just rate this base based on looks and contribution to the figure, as well as function, it would be a whopping 9/10 instead.

Firstly, we'll look at the rocks and water effect.

Apart from the angular rocks, which could be a possible texture for them, I find that the water effect (white lines) look quite comical up close. However, I promise you that they look glorious when she's all set up, provided you don't attempt to find fault with her base as you stare at it closely.

It does look impressive enough and gives me the illusion of Kiss-shot partially in the water. However note that there are no pegs to hold this figure in place though the huge base gives it quite good stability. Also, I've just mentioned it, but her base is huge, more than 15 centimeters in diameter.

Posing and Assembly 6/10

Don't get me wrong, I love her pose. I like how she seems to be in the middle of battle and how her clothes (the hem of her dress) appears tattered to further accentuate this fact. Her sword being used as an aid to possibly help her stand back up also helps to further enhance this image.

However, no matter how much I like her pose, I cannot bring myself to overlook her difficult assembly. This is all that she comes with.

Her body can be split into three parts, upper body, dress, lower body. These three parts come together, as seen in the blister. However, her base is the main problem for the assembly. The beige part with stones is used to prop up the other two red discs, which are supposed to be the water effect this figure comes with.

This is the instruction sheet Good Smile Company included with the figure to help collectors assemble her. It helps a lot, but doesn't actually make it any easier, especially for a perfectionist like myself.

I have no idea why Good Smile Company didn't just make it into one base or at least the into two pieces only -- stone base and water effect. The three pieces make for a less than satisfactory water effect, especially when the gap between the two water-base pieces is obvious (since the two don't match up well) no matter what angle I display her at.

Sculpting and Painting 9/10

I can't disagree that she is a very pretty piece with nice detailed sculpting and painting with few errors, making her a figure I'm very proud to own. Maybe the three years of wait from her announcement to her prototype coming out had a role to play in this?

Her hair is detailed and each individual strand that is sticking up, a trademark of Shinobu. is excellently sculpted. It manages to catch the light and shadows perfectly and that adds to the sculpt, making it look better than it actually is! I applaud Good Smile Company for their efforts, especially when it comes with blond hair as I find that that's the most difficult color to shade in.

Taking a look at her sword, it has texture which makes it realistic. The sword is also meant to have its end in between the two water pieces. Maybe that's why they needed to make it as two separate pieces for the base, though I still can't comprehend why they didn't make it one whole and then added a gap for the sword tip to enter the water.

Other than that, the hilt is also appropriately detailed and makes the sword even more realistic. The sword and hilt can be detached and you are required to do so when assembling her. Just ensure that the roughness of the hilt doesn't scratch the paint on Kiss-shot's white gloves when you slide it in place!

Her dress sculpt is really beautiful. The tattered holes at the hem adds to the atmosphere of the figure. Also, the amount of folds and dark shading on her dress, especially in between her thighs as she crouches down is realistic and detailed. I can almost sense the amount of thought and efforts Good Smile Company put into this!

The only problem which I'm likely to have with her, as well as what other collectors seem to have with her is her breast size, which appears quite ridiculously huge in this sculpt as opposed to the sheer feathery-like fabric seemingly covering her up.

But honestly, Kiss-shot is featured as a woman that's well-endowed so I can close one eye to it. Perhaps the fact that I like Monogatari Series a lot has a role to play in this as well?

Enjoyment 9/10

I would definitely recommend this figure to anyone who's looking for a nice figure that can hold her own, or simply a figure of this series. Not only does she look amazing, have superb details, she is also kneeling on the ground, thus giving a good variation of heights among your figures. However, the only drawback of displaying her would be her large base, which would take up quite a significant amount of space although she would definitely make your collection look more impressive!