One of the things I bought for myself for christmas was an art statue based on the work of illustrator Shunya Yamashita. My first encounter with his art was playing the PS2 game Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria, but it turns out he did some work for Final Fantasy X and other games I had played as well. Although his subjects are typical of most contemporary Japanese genre illustrators (ie. mostly cute girls) he has a unique style which isn’t as blatantly stylized as most anime-type artwork. Click on the middle link on his website (which contains some nudity) to see a gallery which includes his interpretation on some classic characters such as Chun-Li, Yuna and Morrigan.
Anyway, about a year ago Kotobukiya started doing a series of statues based on his art. At last years New York Comic Con I was entranced by the unpainted prototypes of some of these, and couldn’t resist buying one when I saw it in a store just before Christmas.
The character is named Shii Airugawa, and she is (apparently) a school girl. Here’s a shot of the front and back of the box which shows the illustration the statue is based on:
And here’s what she looked like prior to unpacking:
I was needlessly careful as I was removing her, since it turns out whatever the statue is made of it is both very strong and surprisingly heavy for it’s size (about 7 inches tall, including base). The detail of both the sculpt and the paintjob is astounding, but I suppose this shouldn’t be too surprising since companies like Kotobukiya mastered this art some time ago. Here’s a detail of her without her glasses:
The glasses (and sword) are a separate item, as shown here:
They are made of metal, and I had to carefully cut out one pair and shape it to fit her face. This required bending the side back, and also bending the bridge a little to better fit on her nose. They fit perfectly, and after using a little trick (a tiny piece of weak adhesive putty) to hold her sword in the desired location here she looks all finished:
< Shii Arisugawa
Now she’s standing proudly just below my computer screen, no doubt waiting for the day she may have a friend…
