Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Whew, finally got this review done! I had the pics taken, processed and uploaded on the server for weeks already. With seven figurine reviews backlogged and 5 more yet to arrive or photographed, I have a lot of material to work with for this period of time.

The Megahouse 1/8 scale PVC bust of Saya and Hagi was hugely anticipated, especially be Blood+ fans. The promo pictures looked exquisitely detailed and romantic. The actual product isn’t too far off, but there are a few inadequacies that proved to be disappointments.

I purchased this for 5040 yen (but stores locally are letting it go at about 58-65 dollars). For the price, it does seem a bit on the small side but this is only due to Saya’s being sculpted rather slimly and her resting on Hagi’s shoulder. The figurine stands at about 12 cm.

Saya is in her school uniform, wielding her custom katana about to perform a downward overhead slash. Her right leg is trailing while her left is supported by Hagi. The katana is a removeable accessory. Hagi’s body is cut off at the waist. The figure is screwed on tight to the red translucent base which bears the Blood+ logo. The entire weight of Saya is distributed evenly across Hagi’s trunk, and fastened in place with a screw and his left stump so there shouldn’t be a likelihood of warpage. The base is typical of the Excellent Model series and hence nothing to shout about, though the colour, a dark red, does go perfectly with Blood+ and Saya’s red bow and red eyes.

For me, the best parts of this figurine are three things - the lovey nature, the katana accessory and Saya. The figure portrays well the close nature of Saya and Hagi’s relationship, with the latter always supporting her. Saya’s katana is also my favourite sword design and getting a replica of it was a large part of the motivation I had in buying this. Finally, Saya is a favourite character of mine and this is the first affordable figurine of her produced. Medicom has an action figure of her as well but that one has a five digit price tag.

Beyond my personal preferences, let’s explore the fig. The painting is totally perfect. In line with Megahouse’s Excellent Model series, the paintwork is unfanciful but totally clean and tidy. Saya’s uniform is a pretty simple design but the creases and wrinkles and pleats are all superbly crafted and shaded for a very realistic feel. Her skin tone is pale beige and a bit too monotone but it’s still within acceptable limits. Saya’s hair is a simple two piece set that’s matte black without anything special. It’s a bit longer than in the anime though and thus looks better.

Hagi, or rather, Half-Hagi, has his bandaged monster arm wrapped around Saya’s thigh, which is rather sexy. His suit is also matte black with white shading for a rather silky appearance. Hagi, as he is in the show, has the skin of a man recently-deceased and his eyes are what we normally call "eyebrows". This is actually a cool thing.

The katana accessory can fit onto the hands of other figurines, like the Alter Nanoha, GSC Henrietta and Alter Rei. Not only is it painted with a gun-metal colouring on the blade and detailed with hilt markings to replicate the grip, the grooves through which Saya’s blood flows are also molded well into the PVC.

Now for the not-so-great aspects of the figurine. Personally, I don’t have an issue with the size but most people have voiced concerns over the figurine being on the small side. I think they are looking at the wrong area because height isn’t the main factor contributing to the smallish appearance. Rather, the Saya and Hagi are both sculpted rather slimly. Saya’s shoulders are thinner than the swimsuit Tessa’s waist! Proportionately, Hagi is also rather skinny. I have no qualms about this because I like petite girls but I do recognise this as the main reason why people think it is small. The slimming of the figure also results in the face being a bit too narrow. Saya has a rather pointy face unlike her more rounded anime version.

As for panty shots, there’s quite a good haul.

To wrap this up, I rate the figurine high in the areas of character (Saya FOR THE WIN), pose (Romance FOR THE WIN), accessories (not reflected here but the sword is the holy grail). Painting and clothing crafting is of high quality as well. Hair and base are average while the face is a bit off. The slightly steep price is not too great for such a physically small figure though.