For some reason, Kotonoha has always been a favorite of mine, never mind that she’s psychotic (or maybe because she is~). So this figure by Kotobukiya has actually been eagerly awaited by me, which I haven’t really felt that way before for quite a while now for most figures. So is this figure worth the anticipation by me? Personally I think so, she may be another of those plain, school-uniformed figures, but I think I wouldn’t have it any other way since it’s Kotonoha~
She pretty much comes out of the box like she’s leaning already, but that’s more the pose of the sculpt than anything else. She comes pre-attached to her base with a screw through her right foot. Parts that are removable include the cellphone she’s cradling, the two strands of hair flowing out by her sides, an optional face (Kotonoha-sama~), as well as the bag containing the you-know-what.
The normal face which she’s usually like. I prefer this face actually, not because it’s better or anything quality-wise, but more because I find it more comfortable looking into a face like this ^^;
Kotonoha-sama~~~ Not a look you really want on your girlfriend or significant other, unless you like pain and enjoy the scenery of the insides of a bag.
And Kotobukiya didn’t foul up much this time with Kotonoha, granted, there really isn’t much to mess up with a design like this. But I’d wager that it’s still possible to somehow mess up if you really want to. Her hair looks great, the two strands of hair fit in nicely enough and while it may be rather visible from the sides, it looks just fine when viewed from the front so that works for me, though it might not for others.
As mentioned earlier, simple design, so not much to mess up. Colors reflected in the review pics aren’t actually representative since I’ve opted for a warmer tone which I’ve been hooked on to recently :p Cellphone is inserted from below her right hand and wriggled in to fit. The grip is firm enough and doesn’t fall off, though it still might when trying to change her face since it’s kind of in the way.
Really great legs~ =D~ Her panties actually have a pretty sweet design as well, but I’m not going there for this review unfortunately ^^;
With legs like that, I would have chosen Kotonoha over Sekai no matter what and kept my head on and lived happily ever after really. Some men really don’t know what’s best for them :p But once again, no complaints about the finish of her legs.
The white lining along the bag’s edges could have been a little cleaner, guess handling the finer details aren’t really Koto’s strength, but with mass produced stuff, it isn’t very realistic to expect 100% anyways especially if you don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing the figure. The zipper is done pretty nicely though and looks believable enough. The bag is pretty heavy too and makes a great missile weapon if needed.
Two backdrops this time for the two different face parts. Had more fun shooting the Kotonoha-sama mode overall and in any case, I hope you’ll enjoy the shots too.
Pretty thankful that Koto didn’t really mess up with this figure since Kotonoha has always had a special place in my heart :p (Heck, she’s the one I sleep with at night xD) At 6800 Yen, might not be at a price where most collectors would be willing to fork out for a school uniform figure considering more action-packed figures such as the Shuraki series cost that same amount. And well, the bag is kinda morbid as well if you think about it. So I can’t honestly say this is a must-grab, but if you have cash/space to spare, and/or a fan of School Days or Kotonoha, it’s certainly a nice add to the collection.
Series: School Days
Manufacturer: Kotobukiya
Released: July 2009
Price: 6800 Yen
Scale: 1/8 Scale
Availability: In stock @ HLJ & HobbySearch
Started with figures, but am now into JP PC games as well. I hope you enjoy your visit~ (o^.^o)
![『airy[F]airy (エアリィフェアリィ)』応援中！](http://rococoworks.com/airyfairy/img/aid/afa_bnt03.jpg)
I prefer last picture.
Kotobukiya seems to have realized a good figurine. The sculpture is resembling to the character (it frightens) with the telephone and the bag as accessories. Good presentation ! Thank you!
@Leonia: Thanks, Koto definitely produced something better than they normally do, though as stated, she’s a simple enough figure so messing up wouldn’t be too easy ^^; But getting the likeness there is something I’m really thankful for ^^
Awesome figure!!
The figure reflects Kotonoha’s character perfectly. It looks ,cute, beautiful, and somewhat scary.
For some reason, in the last picture, Kotonoha’s face remind me of the last episode of School days in which she goes crazy and kill the other girl (dont remember her name).
btw, to Shino:
Are you fluent in Japanese cause you wrote many review for non-english games and bought many magazines? Unlike other games, VN requires a very good Japanese understanding to play. If you didn’t know Jap than it would be meaningless to play them since most of the are story. So i wonder what is your first language (eng or jap) but i think it’s english since you’re based in Canada as stated in about page.
If Japanese is your second language, how did you learn it and for how long? Sorry for asking this question since im currently learning Japanese (my goal is to be able to understand at least 80% of the story with the assistance of Atlas). Atlas automatic translation is so hard to understand that’s why im studying jap.
Best regards
@Kami99: Yeps, the figure was pretty much done really nice and certainly reflects Kotonoha accurately. That kind of spaced out look is definitely something I don’t ever wanna see in real life for sure unless I have a death wish ^^;
With regards to Japanese, it’s not my 2nd language strictly either and I basically started off with lessons in college at the basic level in 2006 and the rest has been self taught pretty much. The lessons were pretty much for 2hrs daily and went on for a trimester (about 4 months). Fluency-wise, I have to admit that I’m a lot better at reading it than speaking it since reading allows me to take my time (which is also why I usually take a helluva long time to be done with a game) ^^;
It was pretty painful playing my first ever game since the brain wasn’t very used to reading and registering JP characters as it is for English characters, but I like to believe that sticking with it has helped somewhat so things have become a fair bit easier for me now. Though I think it’s a double-edged sword since I’m thinking that if I do speak in Japanese, I’d probably be sounding like some anime or game character -_-;
So in a nutshell, I can’t claim to be fluent and I’m still learning new stuff for every game I get into for sure. Good luck with your studies of the language and hopefully you’ll even be able to surpass your goal of 80% soon =) May you have as much or more fun in your studies as I did and am still having =)
Thanks for the response.
I know what you mean about “the brain wasn’t very used to reading and registering JP characters as it is for English characters” since i have the same problem. I have memorized almost all of hinagara, katakana and some basic vocabularies. However, it’s a pain in the ass to recognize them. It takes me a while to figure out the words even though i have practiced them fairly enough.
I felt and still feel frustration lot of time. But well, im still sticking with it with a hope that someday I will be able to recognize the characters faster.
Besides, Do you have any trick to imprint the characters in to your brain? I know that practice them again and again are sure fire method but it takes a helluva long time to do it.
Considering we pretty much lived using English all our lives, we really don’t have much choice but to suck it up and grind through with JP since the time we’re exposed to it won’t even be a percentage worth mentioning compared to our first language. Doesn’t help that we’re ordinarily not exposed to JP in our everyday lives as well.
Things will definitely improve if you keep at it, so hopefully the frustration you feel now will one day turn into a sense of achievement =) I can’t say I have a method to imprint the characters, but what I do is try to be exposed to it as much as possible, like reading magazines when on the great white throne and what-not, heh.
As long as it’s material you’re interested in, at least it won’t feel so much like practice and you’ll likely retain things you enjoy better =) Good luck and have fun~!
Sorry for the late response.
You’re right, we have no choice but to suck it up and grind through with JP. Actually, i can understand it pretty fast if they were in Roman letter. For example, a sentence like “Sumimasen. Kore wa ikura desu ka” i can read it in less than a second. However, if they were in Japanese alphabets, it would take like 30 sec to a minute to understand it. Probably, 20-30 times longer just to get the meaning of an easy sentence.
Besides, English is actually my second language, and i’m still learning it lol. However, im currently living in America so i have infinite chances to practice it. My mother’s tongue language is Vietnamese. Vietnamese use the same alphabet like English, so i can study English very fast.
I have registered a Japanese class in my college. Hopefully, things will improve after the course.
Besides, can you recommend me some material that you were interested in when you just began to learn JP?
VN is out of question since they are so complicated and bunch of Kanji.
Oh wow, coulda fooled me that English was your first language, would that your Japanese lessons proceed as smoothly as well =)
Roman letters are definitely the easiest, but unfortunately things don’t work the way we’d like them to most of the time =/
I’m probably not the most qualified person to give u advice on learning Japanese, but I mostly got into JP versions of manga as well which contains Furigana to the Kanji which I’d like to believe was a great help all in all. Great practice as well when it comes to grinding through Hiragana and Katakana. But I’m expecting your Japanese class to be the most helpful in the end since you’ll most likely be required to do lots of assignments which will be great practice. All the best with learning and do share tips if you come across any! =)
“bag containing the you-know-what.”
Can u explain in more detail what’s “in” the bag.
I just couldn’t help but smile and laugh along the way. xD
She was on my preorder list for a while until the bills started coming in and I had to see who gets cut. Unfortunately, she was one of them.
I’m hoping Koto will release a Sekai figure because I like her more than Kotonoha (she’s the one i dream about at night xD) but I am a huge School Day fanboy and I hope I will own both in the future.
Well, this weekend there is convention and if she’s there, I might own her sooner than expected. xD
I haven’t seen School Days yet, so this figure’s simplicity turns me off. Rarely do I buy figures based on what I’ve seen. The only time that urge had really come around was with Taiga (but I was too late by then).
Overall she looks like a decent figure. Good quality stuff, especially from Koto. But the signature “Koto stand-up pose” is starting to annoy me. At least it’s not a crappy weird colored base.
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@Optic: Well, in the bag…. in the bag…. contains travel accessories and make up that no girl can do without…. which explains the weight…. and of course, the ever handy boyfriends head so you’ll never have a lonely night -_-;
A Sekai figure would be nice, though for me it’s always Kotonoha <3 :p Hopefully you’ll be able to spot Kotonoha at your convention this weekend =)
@radiant: True, the simplicity coupled with the price would ordinarily turn anyone off I suspect, duffel bag or not.
She’s decent enough, though I can’t honestly say enough to justify the price tag for non-fans. I think I’ve grown used to Koto’s signature style, or resigned might perhaps be the better term ^^;
I was all set to preorder this figure, even though I don’t know much about School Days other than the morbid endings, and then I noticed that it’s listed as 19 centimeters tall. That seemed a bit small, even for 1/8 scale.
Then again, I really do like the skirt and socks and the whole character design as well as the simplicity mixed with the optional undercurrent of murderous menace. Maybe I’ll have to rethink my rethinking.
Ah, Kotohana. I had her on my pre-order list but had to pass since I’ve just got too many other figures and not enough funding to go around. (I don’t even know how I’ll afford the ones I’ve still got pre-ordered…) I really love her simple character design…and I don’t have enough dark haired girls in my collection.
I’ve always been a fan of Kotobukiya since their 1/8 Flonne and Belldandy PVC’s were some of the first I ever got. The only time I’ve been (severely) disappointed in their work is with that limited 1/8 Didi PVC from Jingai Makyo. To this day I wonder what went wrong.
@Tier: Hmm… The 1/8s always seemed to be that size for me though, so I guess I wouldn’t really be bothered by the listed no matter what. Well, it’s Kotonoha anyways so I probably would have gotten it unless it’s made by the more hit-and-miss manufacturers.
It’s a nice grab definitely, but as mentioned, pretty pricey for a figure so simple, even if it’s the simplicity that catches your eye.
@G.K. Sil Kamina: I’m assuming you live in North America, so maybe you could still get her at a cheaper price when the N/A release of Kotonoha is available. So it’s not a bad thing that you gave her a miss for now =)
I mostly go for Koto stuff since no other manufacturers seem to get on the bandwagon fast enough for me ^^; I actually feel their quality is mostly inconsistent but well, no other route i can go for figures of characters I love at times unless I wanna go the garage kit route, which somehow I rather not :p
Was actually pretty interested in the Didi when it was just announced though, can’t say if it was a fortunate thing for me that I passed on her in the end, but I’m guessing she probably wouldn’t be a favorite figure of mine if I did get her anyways =/
SchoolDays is one of those Animes where I really raved and utterly enjoyed the ending.Stupid Prick ^^
Im kinda biased when it comes to SchoolDays.I mainly associate it with bad feelings with the protagonist,not the gore
True, and the protagonist totally made me hate myself as a guy, lol. I felt so sorry for Kotonoha =(
[...] don’t think many people bought this figure. Shino has a review up, and there’s also one up on [...]