Shii Arisugawa

2008 was rung in whilst in the company of the beautiful 1/7 Shii Arisugawa from Kotobukiya’s Art of Shunya Yamashita series. Shii presents a double entrée of my own personal penchants, both megane and shimapan (glasses and stripy undies). In fact, Shii is a veritable pick&mix assortment of fetishes. As a plaited pigtailed school girl in stockings with a removable pleated skirt, this sword wielding wonder is a one stop sugar shop to serve a diverse palette.
Curiously, I held back on this figure for a long time. Why, when the entire ensemble of Shii is a powerful parade of moe motifs? It may have been my complacency towards Kotobukiya’s middle of the road production standards, or that her vapid expression falls short of Yamashita’s original sweetie. Nevertheless, to tilt her about in her packaging, affording a better view at her greater structural attributes, Shii’s virtues won out.
After experiencing the giddy joy of placing a pair of steel-rimmed spectacles on a model once before, I can confirm that this addition is what makes this piece. After all, for the megane enthusiast, beauty is not in the eye of the beholder but rather, on the eyes of the beheld beauty.
Where the sculpt triumphs is in the interpretation of Shii’s curvaceous design, which is supported by a delicious bone structure. This is not a figure that needs her token garments. Her hips are subtle play of full curves of flesh that hint at the underlying bones, snapped into the teeniest shimapan. Get rid of that skirt! Guild not the lily! All at once, this image girl makes me recall both School Days's Sekai and Mao-neechan of Kimikiss… KYAAA!
To a new year of Figure Mania KANPAI!