Moeyo's Best of V-Zone 2013

Gushing, flowing praise

The best PVC breasts and butts of the year are one thing--one can almost explain away a curvaceous and scantily clad maiden to a potential mate and live to tell the tale.  The ten figures that make up Moeyo's Best of V-Zone 2013, however, take a certain kind of dedication to the pursuit of otakudom and complete abandonment of any non-ecchi pretenses.  Like War Emblem or Charismatic winning two of the three Triple Crown races, we find one figure appearing on two of Moeyo's Best Of lists, and two different presentations of the same character appearing on different lists.  Maidens birthed by the hand of one particular unrivaled god of the business take up seven of the total 30 spots on all three lists combined.  The v-zone banzuke:

1)      Special Military Policewoman Kozue Sakakibara from Tony Taka, 1/6 scale by DRAGON Toy. 

2)      Princess Milk, 1/7 scale by Orchid Seed.

3)      Celia Cumani Aintree from Walkure Romanze, 1/6 scale by Daiki Kougyo.

4)      Love Bitch Kaori Lingerie Version, 1/7 scale by Q-Six.

5)      Ai Saeki from Fault!!, 1/6 scale by Alphamax/SkyTube

6)      Rika Shiraki from Bible Black, 1/6 scale by DRAGON Toy.

7)      Cat Lap Milk, 1/7 scale by Native.

8)      Perrine H. Clostermann from Strike Witches, 1/8 scale by Alter. 

9)      Maya Kamiwazumi from Fault!!, 1/7 scale by Alphamax/SkyTube. 

  10)  Konome Kiritani from Pisuhame!, 1/6 scale by Okayama Figure Engineering. 

De-tennising Unboxing--Ai Saeki by Skytube

I've just received a box from the good people of AmiAmi, and it's none other than Ai Saeki from Fault!!.  A proper figure review is still to come; for now, let's unbox!

Saeki's box is a blunt, desperately workman-like affair, completely devoid of anything that could be mistaken as "styling" or "package design."  There is, quite literally, almost nothing done to entice the buyer to pick up the box other than the very simple fact that an ecchi figure from Tony Taka is contained therein.  I would almost prefer a Dharma Initiative-style white box with "Ai Saeki" in black Arial to what we've been given.

To further eradicate any semblance of mystery or excitement about the figure, the top flap of the box is affixed with a simple circle of velcro to allow an immediate, full-on view of Saeki in her reclined splendor.

If you listen very carefully, you can hear a very faint "Let me out of here!"  As you can see, she comes fully composed with all the cast-offable bits made obvious by extra plastic wrapping.

After removing the top plastic molding, she's practically ready to go.  It's at this point that you really get a sense of what you're in for with the figure.

I've found my wife in a similar position after losing a battle with a plastic painting dropcloth:

After extracting Ai from her molding and taking off the necessary bits to remove the extra plastic wrap:

But wait, there's more!  There are very nicely hidden clasps at the hook of her brassiere, the left hip of her panties, and the underside of her skirt...

Now that you have your nightmare fuel for the evening, something a little kinder:

It must be said; there are few figures with a vulva as detailed as Saeki's is.  I'm not sure it says anything good about me as a man when I can say with complete confidence that labia minora on an anime figure is exceedingly rare.

As remarkable as Ai looks completely cast-off, I prefer her with her clothing still on, and it's certainly more faithful to the original illustration.

A proper review shall be forthcoming.  Until then...

Whose Fault!! is that face? News from Ciel & Alphamax

Saeki Ai from Fault!!, September release, thanks to Hobby Search.

When Alphamax announced back in late February that they'd be producing a figure of Saeki Ai from Tony Taka's 2009 eroge, Fault!!, I had figured it was just a gift, an opportunistic mining of the creator's backlog to release a heretofore unheralded heroine onto the shelves of Tony's figure-buying faithful.  And what a gift it was--a gobsmackingly sexy pose,  a spot-on Tony facial expression, a character rescued from obscurity into the must-have lists of collectors across the globe. This is a move I'm completely in favor of; generally speaking and within reason, I will buy anything that Tony has anything to do with, 2D or 3D.

I love a well-executed lob shot--Fault!! by Ciel, character designs by Tony, released in July '09.  Thanks Hobby Search.

And then, calloo-callay, Alphamax announced that in addition to Saeki, they'd also be releasing a figure of Date Wingfield Reiko, also from Fault!!, in October.  Great news!...that is, until you see it.  That shredding sound you hear in your head is your anticipation wrought useless.  Unlike Saeki, I certainly did not find Reiko to be an instant pre-order candidate; the face of the figure is just too far afield of the original illustration, or, rather, of anything that even vaguely resembles a Tony Taka character design.  Observe:

As I mentioned in a previous article, Tony Taka's detractors state that all of his character designs look the same, that he has exactly one face in his repertoire and all he does is change hair and eye colors as needed.  I am of the position that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that when the end result is the illustration on the left.  Now, never mind the original illustration's exposing her breasts, look at the figure's face--who exactly is this girl, and what has she done with my half-Japanese, half-British senpai?  The eyes and the mouth are tragically incorrect, and I simply don't have the disposable income or the shelf space to accommodate her with such flaws.  Somehow, she lacks the youth and the athleticism and the spunkiness of the illo. 

Her upcoming release did, however, immediately enter a more interesting question--what exactly is going on with not one but two Fault!! figures all of a sudden, three years removed from the game's release?  Assuming Alphamax didn't just cherrypick Ai Saeki for figuredom, could this mean some 3D Sugiyama Mio sis-con coming up?  Maybe get Hayama Rika in there for the greatest Women's Doubles teams since the Williams sisters?

A new challenger appears!  Image from Amazon.co.jp

It looks like the answer came today; according to Akiba Blog, a follow-up to the original game will be released in June.  Almost three years after the release of the original game, フォルト!!S～新たなる恋敵～ (Fault!! S ~ A New Rival In Love) goes back to the academy for more volleying, smashing, and fuzzy balls.  Probably some tennis, too.  The box art features our lovely Reiko alongside newcomer Mayo Kamiwazumi.

No complaints about Alphamax getting a previously unheralded group of Tony's girls back into the otaku consciousness, but I do hope that if more is to come, they're rendered better than Reiko is.  Also, I suppose this means that I'll have to continue to wait and hope for a France Shoujo figure in the future...