Akiba Blue

Name	Akiba Blue
Manufacturer	Bandai
Toy Line	S.H. Figuarts
Number
Release Date	2012
Materials	ABS PVC
Scale
Category	Super Sentai / Power Rangers Character Toy Action Figure
Series	Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger
Character Design
Toy Design
SRP	¥ 3,200
Fetish	Tokusatsu
Origin	Japan

Comments

Review by SentaiSeiya

This review is brought to you by the fusion of SentaiSeiya and Jmann, which produces another Great SeiyaMann Review!

Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger is the unofficial part-parody, part-homage Sentai show that was produced by Toei. There are three members of this Sentai team. Mitsuki Aoyagi is the blue member of the Akibarangers.

Mitsuki originally joins the team in order to improve her martial arts, but is completely clueless as to what Super Sentai is all about.

She starts getting into the swing of things, however, after she spends a whole day watching Gou Gou Sentai Boukenger. Later in the show she even gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance of learning from Kazuo Niibori, the legendary suit actor who played many of the pre-Zyuranger Reds, including Red Hawk from Jetto Jetto Jettoman! At this point Mitsuki not only comes up with THE most elaborate role call in Super Sentai history, but she also starts kicking extra butt. Although she is the youngest member of the team, she is the most serious and mature of the group.

Akiba Blue comes packaged in a brightly colored window box, which is standard fare for the S.H. Figuarts line.

S.S. Once again, Bandai faithfully recreates another of the Akibarangers in tiny, plastic form.

S.S. Akiba Blue looks sleek, slender and ready to go martial arts on some fools (which sometimes includes Akiba Red).

As with Akiba Red, I really like the clear parts on the chest, showing off what is underneath the suit. No, not boobs, but the technology of the suit.

S.S. For those who have watched the show and are wondering if Bandai has recreated the costume in its entirety, let’s just get this over with. Yes, this figure does have undies with a bear face on them.

JM: Just to reiterate, yes, this figure has bear panties. I think that pretty much sums up the looks of this toy.

JM: Every single detail is recreated in plastic here. I mean, seriously, everything is SPOT ON. The colors are immaculate, and I can't find a single splatter of overspray anywhere. The QC on this thing is insane!

S.S. Akiba Blue has almost all of the great articulation as Akiba Red S.H. Figuarts.

S.S. It is, however, missing the bicep swivels, as her biceps are a single piece of molded plastic. While I liked the figure, I was expecting a little bit more from this figure, since Akiba Blue is one of the most limber heroines to join a Sentai team. I guess part of my slight dissapointment with this figure comes from the fact that I was expecing a figure that was as flexible as the female Saints that Bandai recently introduced to the Saint Cloth Myth line.

S.S. My nitpicking aside, you can still get a lot of great poses out of this figure which are really brought to life by the addition of some very expressive hands. Although the hand count for this figure is fairly high, each hand feels like it was a necessary inclusion in the package.

JM: Exactly. The poseability is great, except for the exclusion of a bicep swivel. I think that the inclusion of that piece of articulation would have made this figure PERFECT. I was still able to pose her in just about every pose from the show, so it is kind of a minor complaint. Plus, the rest of the figure more than makes up for the lack of a bicep swivel.

As for extras, Akiba Blue comes with three scarves and, more importantly, her trusty Moe Moe Z-Cune in gun form.

If you picked up the first release of Akiba Red, you will have also gotten the stand that corresponds to Akiba Blue.

S.S. My experience with this figure was less than flawless. While it is a good figure, I had issues with the head popping off at the neck many of the times that I tried to move the head.

... Then due to the large number of times that I had to handle the head, the ponytails on the back of the hair-met broke off!...Time to look for my Krazy glue.

JM: Akiba Blue is an excellent addition to the Figuarts line, and I highly recommend her for fans of Akibaranger. Plus, it's super rare that we get a female Sentai hero as a mass release figure. Normally they are dreaded Tamashii Web Exclusives (which are disgusting to the wallet). Her small shortcomings in the area of arm articulation don't outweigh the fact that this is a great toy, and fans of her character DESERVE to have this in their collections.

SS: I could not agree more about how great is is to have Akiba Blue be a regular entry in the S.H. Figuarts lines. As a matter of fact, I believe she is THE first female Sentai that you can get without having to pay Tamashii Web prices.

JM: Up next, SentaiSeiya and I tackle someone a little “rotten”.