Moé Moé Rabu

Another ARIA figure to add to my wonderful collection. This time it’s the 2nd figure from the Solid Works line of ARIA The Natural line, Aika S. Granzchesta. With it being the Australia Day weekend and most of the celebrations have died done, it was time to head to one of the most famous places in Sydney.

When I was a budding ARIA fan, Aika really wasn’t a character I favoured that much. Though after watching the anime many times over, reading the manga many times over, listening to the OSTs like nearly on a daily basis, I grew to like her as much as Akari and Alice. She is seen to be the most serious and strictest of the three undine girls. But deep down she is a cute caring girl who is a bit of a crybaby.

This arrived quite some time ago, just before Christmas I think. So it has been a while but I’m catching up on my figure backlog in terms of the ones I buy and for review. I still however have figures from my dearest Roobar which I want to do some gallery photography. But after having done the Akari photo shoot, I have plenty of other places for the other ARIA figures that are to come.

Aika’s pose is both a good and bad aspect. It shows a powerful and defensive stance, but it also gives a challenging gesture with her holding the oar in front. Though it makes her look as if she is giving a lecture on how you should be rowing your gondola. The one bad aspect is that depending on the angle (like the picture below) her arm is blocking her face.

Although the uniform is somewhat similar to ARIA Company, Himeya’s uniform still has it’s differences. Firstly is the company logo but the prints on the front and back, the ribbon, the hat, the Single’s glove and shoes are all different. With Himeya opting for high heels, it gives the undines a feminine touch, but makes me wonder how difficult it is to row a gondola in high heels.

Solid Works has done a good job on hiding the seamlines on the top part of the uniform. However the skirt is when you start seeing the flaws. In various places there are small blotches where the molding is evident but are only viewable upon closer inspection. The edges of the skirt are also quite rough as well as the inside of the skirt, though the paint work is done exceptionally well. There are hints of blue shading but not as much as compared to Akari. This is a good thing as red is the dominant colour here.

The biggest downfall of this figure is definitely the face. Though this version I believe to be worse than Akari. The way that Aika’s hair is molded looks and the lack of grooves make her hair seem unnatural. Her eyes are too sharp and her lips are nearly non-existant as they appear to have been drawn on. So far this is the one major flaw that holds this back from being a great figure.

One thing that you may note as well is that the oar is an accessory which is removable. But due to the nature of Aika’s pose, without the oar she just looks too weird.

Of course what kind of ARIA figure would it be without the company’s president. Hime-shachou is more of a second half rather than an accessory. Gracefully wearing the Himeya hat and ribbon, she stands proud and elegant.

Since this is ARIA The Natural version, we also get a different head for Aika. It’s the short haired version and I like this one better than the twin-tail version. Her hair has more volume, her eyes are softer, and you can actually see her lips.

Product: Aika S. Granzchesta
Produced by: Solid Works
Sculptor: Shikanaru
Scale: 1/6
Material: PVC
Release Date: November 2006
Price: ¥6980
Available: HLJ (in stock at time of posting)

Personally I find the Akari figure to be better than Aika so far. I guess it would be because it’s rather difficult to capture how Aika really is. Aika is somewhat a more complex person where she is both a serious and a crybaby. The pose in this one is neither. Don’t get me wrong, I like this figure, but it just doesn’t seem to be Aika. So far from what I have seen of Akari and Aika, the eyes are still the major let down. I think what Shikanaru was going for is a more realistic look to the undines. Though if they went for a more anime-ish look I think this figure would true rock.

The next ARIA figure is the lovely Alicia Florence. Hopefully I can do that photo shoot really soon.

Photography Notes:

Yes you guessed it, the location for this is none other than the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The actual location is called The Rocks and is one of the few places I went to during the pre wedding photo shoot. This was done on the Sunday at around 5 p.m. Although it was still 2 hours from sunset, it was a nice amount of lighting, but still slightly sharp. Luckily as well that most of the Australia Day celebrations were on Friday so there weren’t many people around, meaning less people to come up and tell me it’s illegal to make fake photos.

Anyway, this time I set the camera to Program Mode (P) as I realise now that using a high F-stop value means the foreground loses focus as well. Somewhat similar to how the human eye works. I am really pleased on how these photos turned out as the colour of Aika is vibrant, but not too saturated. Skin colour is looking more natural and I don’t have much of that shiny glare for it to scream “I’m made of PVC!!!”.