BALAMonogatari: Banpresto's Senjougahara Hitagi DX (FIGURE OVERVIEW)
“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”
written by Jon Paik (@igfxbalance)
There’s a charm to possessing a physical piece of art that no digital representation can ever compare to. Often times it is that realization that becomes the prelude to one’s desire to begin collecting figures. Hello everyone, my name is Balance! I am a small blogger from The Little Busterz and I was offered an opportunity to talk about toys here on Lifted Geek! Okay sure, we’re actually talking about figures but hey, they’re still technically toys! Allow me to tell you how I got started into this hobby.
Amongst my small group of friends, we had a guy known as Wizzy. In the IRC channel we would all hang out at, Wizzy would always post links to figures he thought looked nice and ones he was considering purchasing. This was normal and would happen almost on a daily basis. As a result, I was given exposure to what it’d be like to purchase a figure and where some good websites would be.
In 2012, I decided to travel to Texas to visit my friend and attend A-Kon at Dallas. It was a spur of the moment decision between my friend and I. Surprisingly in a short amount of time, we managed to plan everything out very well. It was until I arrived at Texas that my friend gave me something I didn’t expect to receive: a nendoroid petite of Kudravka Noumi from Little Busters! My friend knew how much I loved Little Busters and found it only appropriate to gift me the item. I suppose that’s what triggered my hobby. The story doesn’t end there, however.
During A-Kon, I was separated from my friend to do a bit of looking around in the exhibit section of the convention. Normally I don’t buy much and I just like to look at all the things I can’t get (I hope I’m not the only one who does this!), however something caught my eyes that would change my life forever.
While the name of the stand escapes me at the moment, there stood Senjougahara in her casual clothing. A cosplayer? No. It was a PVC statue standing at 17cm tall. For the first time in my life, a figure captured my attention at its fullest. There’s an aura that surrounds a character like Senjougahara that feels inescapable.
Initially I was able to pull my attention away from her and walk away. However I stopped, contemplating whether or not it was worth to spend 30 dollars on this figure. In a matter of less than a minute, I quickly turned around, asked for the statue, paid the 30 dollars and Senjougahara was in my hands. That, my friends, was how I got my first (scale) figure.
Now that you know how I got started, what better figure to begin talking about than the one I just mentioned above? Let’s get started!
First of all, how can anyone not like Senjougahara? She is an absolute beauty and her long hair only seems to compliment the elegance she radiates. This 17cm (roughly 6.5in) tall figure was sculpted by Banpresto and was released around April of 2012. For what cost roughly around $30, she was sculpted very beautifully!
While it may not be as exaggerated as most of the SHAFT animes, Senjougahara can be seen with a slight head slant as though she were looking at something with a curious gaze. The details in her eyes along with that faint smile not only makes her charming, but pleasing to the eye~
The bag was actually a separate part you had to place. It was a minor struggle at first, however it proved to be much simpler than I had originally expected. After placing it where it was intended to be, the bag almost appears to be part of the sculpture naturally. While I do feel that the saturation of the bag may be higher than I would like, I think it’s still fairly appropriate. Then again most anime characters are overly saturated to begin with.
To be perfectly honest, I think the overall figure just looks really cute. I’m a sucker for black and white designs and this dress does that perfectly. The bows, the short white pants, and black stockings kill me. Which then brings me to wonder if it’s the design of the character that stands out rather than the actual sculpture itself?
After purchasing some other (more expensive) scale figures, I quickly came to realize the indisputable contrast between the quality of name brands and this one.
I first began to notice that her hair didn’t look as detailed as some of my other figures had been. Her pony tail, while still beautiful, seems to lack some luster. There were a few imperfections on the back of her legs as well. The necklace is painted on rather than an additional piece (you can see it cuts off very awkwardly from the bosom to the dress). The shoes, though hardly noticeable at first glance, do have painting flaws. The only problem I face is trying to figure out if these things were a result of my inability to properly take care of her or this was simply a result of sloppy sculpting. However now that I’ve become a bit more experienced and knowledgeable of figure maintenance, I only regret that I didn’t take the time to storage Senjougahara better with the care she needed.
Regardless of all her faults, she still remains to be one of my favorite figures just because she’s so pretty. She also holds some sentimental value as she is also a reminder that Texas is the first state I’ve ever traveled to in my life. While she may have been a precursor to many more figures in the future (and the eventual emptying of my wallet), she is a valuable piece to my inevitably growing collection. If you find her, I would highly recommend purchasing her!
Thanks for having me here on Lifted Geek! I’ll be back with some more toy talk in the later future!
Jon "BALANCE" Paik is a toy enthusiast with a passion for blogging, make sure to check out his own personal blog, The Little Busterz, for more BALANCE related posts! Keep up with Toy Box for more posts from Jon in the near future.
