By
TReina -
Friday, April 19, 2019
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With Shaman King's anniversary, Kotobukiya came up with the figures of the Asakura twins to commemorate the event. The first figure to come out is the main character of Shaman King, Asakura Yoh. The box is simple, with some retro-feel to it, suitable for this series.
The back of the box shows a glimpse of how the figure would look like after it is assembled. Yoh is standing on a grassy lawn with the start of a wooden bridge before him, as he gazes at a stern spirit-ball of Amidamaru that materializes next to his stone grave.
Yoh is packed in a tight and sturdy blister, with an extensive amount of plastic and bubblewrap to prevent any mishaps and paint transfers during mailing. The blister also has a cut out at the front for collectors to view Yoh's facial features clearly without any obstruction.
Right out of the blister, you will see that there are three parts to this figure. Amidamaru's spirit ball, his sword, and Yoh who is connected directly to the base.
A simple 360 of the figure shows that the sculpting is similar to the series' artwork. The base is also incredibly detailed as you can see each blade of grass sculpted realistically and optimally positioned. The bridge also has the wood grain pattern sculpted into it, and shaded with a darker brown to add depth. Even Amidamaru's gravestone has detailing to make it look rougher and aged. The engraved kanji for Amidamaru's name is properly etched into the stone.
Other than the base, these small details are also visible all over the figure. The first thing I'll like to point out is Yoh's orange headphones. They are sculpted to look soft and comfortable, with the plush parts adequately wrinkled. The small metal parts for adjusting the height of the ear parts are painted in a metallic paint, yet there are no paint transfers between this silver and the matte orange.
The second point would be the accurate depiction of Yoh's hairstyle and shading. The lighter brown on the upper half of Yoh's bangs is exactly how it is typically colored in the manga and Kotobukiya has replicated this similarly in their figure.
Other than this, the strange method clothes are depicted in the series as well as the slim limbs and large appendages and accessories are also fairly accurate!
The sculpt and paint work on Yoh's sandals are similar to that at the bridge, and the lifted right foot also allows you to appreciate the effort placed into the sculpting and painting of the sandal better.
There is even a smooth pebble placed at the edge of the base to add more dimension and textures to the figure on the whole.
The sword for Yoh can be split into two parts to increase the ease of equipping Yoh with it. The procedure is extremely simple as well - where you just push the larger half into Yoh's hand and follow up by attaching the front half to make it into a full sword as well.
The other part that needs to be assembled would be Amidamaru's spirit ball, which is to be attached to Yoh's hand with this irregular peg.
Amidamaru's sculpting and painting is delicate. His hairstyle is kept accurately and cleanly despite his size. His hair also has a gradient from green at the upper tips, to yellow at the main body, o white at the ends.
His eyes are drawn sharp and cold where he returns Yoh's gaze with a cold glare which is really characteristic of how Amidamaru was when they first met.
Amidamaru also comes with red armor and purple accessories, where his hair tie and sword hilts are both lilac in color while his armor is mainly in a glossy red.
The underside of Amidamaru comes with a peg that you join to Yoh's hand to make it appear as if Yoh is cradling the spirit ball.
And last but not the least, since Yoh's figure is completely assembled, let's take a slow 360 to showcase Yoh in his full glory!
Enjoyment
This figure should be crowned as a must have for any fan of Shaman King. It looks marvelous even without Hao, but I think it would look a lot better with Hao to complete the look and bring more of the Shaman King universe to life!
While the figure is crisp in terms of sculpting and painting, it is rather small (~20cm) compared to the size of figures recently (>20cm) and the artwork of Shaman King differs quite a little from the newer series which might make the figure appear awkward next to other figures.
~ Reina
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