The Monogatari series has been very successful for Good Smile Company. And while they may have exhausted their line up of girls from the Bakemonogatari anime series, there was no doubt in any collector's mind that once Nisemonogatari hit the airwaves, the Fire Sisters would be getting their own GSC figures. And never one to disappoint, here comes !
Just like GSC's Bakemonogatari girls, Karen's pose was taken from the DVD/BD cover illustration of Nisemonogatari's first volume release. The artwork was done by Watanabe Akio, who handles all key illustrations and character designs for the anime series. So if you get the feeling you've seen this figure before, that may be why.
Then again, Araragi Karen isn't exactly a forgettable character. With her tomboyish personality, martial arts training, and signature bright yellow jersey, Karen is somewhat of a celebrity in her town as one half of the Fire Sisters. And GSC has done a great job making sure this 1/8 scale figure of the self proclaimed "seigi no mikata" looks nothing short of spectacular!
Standing tall and looking dominant, Karen is wears her yellow jersey jacket over her sholders and a black top underneath. With the wind blowing her pony-tailed hair and the sleeves of her jersey back, every detail of every wrinkle looks amazing. You would expect nothing less from Good Smile Company. The level of detail is really something to behold. It really is the small things that stand out. Things like the drawstrings on her shorts, the trademark egg charm that Karen wears as a pony-tail tie and on her zipper chain, and that unmistakable Araragi ahoge, are the things that separate good figures from amazing figures.
And how can we not talk about what is perhaps the most impressive aspect of this figure -- the base! What looks like the front part of a steamroller, this base may just be the coolest base we've seen all year. And though the details like the short railing on top, the headlights, and especially the non-slip tread where Karen is standing look incredibly cool, it's the coloring that really has us raving. The small imperfections, scuffs, and pock marks on the roller and the shading on the joints, bolts, and edges of the machine itself gives the steamroller an aged look so it doesn't look fake and new. Truly outstanding work.
From behind, you can see more of the wrinkles and creases from the wind blowing through Karen's hair and jersey jacket. And even here you can see a lot of the shading work around those creases and wrinkles done by GSC. The hood looks really nice too. We love how it doesn't look totally flat nor is it too puffy.
And the man responsible for all the great sculpting is Tokunaga Hironori. If that name sounds familiar, that may be because you already own some of the other Bakemonogatari girls. Boasting a very impressive resume including GSC's Saber Triumphant Excalibur, Konjiki no Yami, Lala Satalin Deviluke, and Makise Kurisu, just to name a few. And that's not even including the Senjougahara, Kanbaru, and Sengoku figures. Oh, and he's done figures for other companies, like Max Factory's Aisaka Taiga, Alter's Rindou Rina, and Kotobukiya's Kazami Mizuho. Honestly, this list just scratches the surface of what Tokunaga has done, but this gives a pretty good idea of how much experience he has and the quality of work that he's done.
You can get your own Araragi Karen by Good Smile Company for $109.99 by sending all your order details to . If you'd like to see all of Karen-chan's photos, you can do so by checking out .
We know we've been MIA for most of the month, but we've still been busy on eBay. We know there's a lot of sketchy people selling figures, so if you feel safer purchasing off eBay, please check out all of our listings there. You can check out what we've got by clicking on Nagi-sama talking about eBay on the right, or simply by clicking .
Be sure to stay updated on all our latest and greatest on our page as well as all the latest delays on our page. There's been a lot of delays, so be sure to take a peek to see if you're figure is coming later than you initially thought. That's all for now folks. As always, if you have any questions about Karen-chan or any other figure, you can drop us a line at . Until next time...
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