Moé Moé Rabu

Well its been a while since I’ve done some figure photography. This time it’s the 2nd Shana type figure release by Solid Works, striking a new pose, but like the previous release, there are two versions. A Flame Haze (red hair) version and a Tendokyu version (black hair). But how does this compare to the previous Shana release? Well read on to find out.

At first when I saw the promo pictures for this figure, I didn’t give a thought of pre-ordering it. It probably wasn’t until a few days before HLJ removed it from its Early Bird Special when I placed it. Well it arrived at my doorstep a few weeks ago and I hadn’t even bothered opening it, until now.

Produced by: Solid Works (sub-branch of Toys Works)
Sculpted by: Yoshiyuki Nakamaya
Scale: 1/8
Material: PVC
Release Date: November 2006
Price: ¥4980
Available: HLJ (in stock at time of posting)

Shana is clutching onto her encased sword (possibly the Nientono no Shana??) in a protective manner. Clothed in only bandages, she may seem defenseless, but with that fiery glister in her eyes, she stands strong. Although appearing petite and fragile, Shana is ready to take on anything and anyone.

As you can see, Shana can stand on her own. She did come with a fairly chunky, round black base which I find crap as it takes up room. So more than likely I’ll be placing this in the cabinet without the base. Although it doesn’t mean that Shana is very stable. On the contrary, she can easily fall over with a slight touch. But once settled, she stands fine.

From a far away distance, the figure looks fantastic. It’s only when you have a closer inspection do you notice the flaws. One obvious one that you can see are the seamlines on the bandages and on her hair. You may not see it in the pictures above, but it can be easily seen on her right butt cheek. The paintwork on Shana looks rather rough especially on the bandages around her arms, with a slight look of it being dirty. Though you could say it was rather intensional. If you have watched the TV series, then you know her fights are never clean. So think of it as battle marks. Plus compared to the Flame Haze version of the exact figure, the Tendokyu version gives a good contrast with the cloth covered sword making both Shana and the sword stand out.

The hair is probably the best feature of this figure. The flowing of the hair by far is WAY better than the Flame Haze version from before. But in this case, the top and fringe look rather flat than rounded. It doesn’t give it a natural look, but more that it was slapped on. Her face actually looks good, with the large eyes, but due to the hair and fringe, it just ruins it.

So far this figure is about an average, or just below, quality. But so far I prefer this one to the first Shana release by Solid Works. This seems more closer to Noizi Ito’s artworks visually, but feeling as well. But then it’s actually quite hard to produce a figure that gives the same kind of feeling as Noizi Ito’s artworks. This will probably be the last Shana I buy, unless I see something truly amazing and calls for me to purchase it.

Photography Notes:

Well it pretty obvious you can see what I have done. The idea I was going for here was when Shana made her contract with Alastor. Now trying to do something with fire is not exactly easy. I actually wanted to use something larger, but due to the fact that if I used a large fire, Shana would be attached to the floor, melted (and not to mention there is a complete fire ban in my state). So tea candles it was.

So with the use of tea candles, it gave a better effect than I thought, especially the light up look in Shana’s eyes. But of course, shooting in a dark room requires a slower shutter speed. But with remote shooting via the laptop, camera shake was eliminated.