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The Striking Pose of MaxFac Ryoko Asakura

Just slightly late to the party but slightly late was still almost too late when it comes to pre-orders, or so I thought, so I resorted to Ebay to get my hands on Max Factory's Ryoko Asakura - also via a Japanese reseller but, thankfully, without having to pay any significant premium over the release price. My guess is that the seller's margin came from the 20-30% discount that Japanese online shops often give so, potentially, this was a pareto-efficient outcome where everyone got a good deal out of this situation.

The delay (and non-pre-order during the pre-order window) had a lot to do with my belated conversion to Ryokoism. Though, of course, I stress that my allegiance is still first and foremost to St Nagatochi. And you can see both of them together towards the end of this fantastic digirama [add: and review post]. Here's the link to a Yuki gallery too. This type of figurine photography is simply the stuff of legend!

Between her two modes, 'Humanoid Interface Mode' or, more prosaically, 'Knife Mode' wins over 'Class Mate Mode' (i.e. the one with the school bag). The hands holding the knife and bag were interchangeable parts and the ball joints were harder to fit in or pull out than, say, MaxFac Yuki's head and torso joints to change between Cardigan Mode and Witch Mode. I tend to be impatient and rather rough in terms of handling my stuff so I was worried that I'd yank off the school bag by accident. Thankfully, the principle of detachment-attachment was similar to MaxFac Yuki, just needed to level up a bit to manage it in the end.

The knife is definitely a great detail that gives the figurine that extra oomph. Particularly because of the incongruity between the deadly intent of the weapon and the coyness of her pose. But the knife doesn't have the same figurine-defining quality as Good Smile Meido Saber's blue ribbon.

In this case, IMHO it's the pose that maketh the figurine. There's just an air of come-hither (and be disemboweled) playfulness in this quietly dynamic pose. Simply inspired sculpt since it doesn't directly copy any scene from the anime. I love how there's a lot going on here - one bended knee, sideways with the hips, the ever so slight cocking of her head, all going in opposite directions as the eye moves up or down.

While Ryoko's Evil Psychotic Lesbian (TM - Erica Friedman) stalking of Yuki, in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, did make me see her character in a different light (anyone who loves Yuki can't be *all* bad LOL), I'm not at all keen on a Ryoko x Yuki pairing in the canonical universe or the alternate universe of the fourth novel. It's kinda like how Mai HiME Shizuru x Natsuki look good together but the relationship was hardly a healthy or balanced one, especially when compared to their Mai Otome counterparts. Nonetheless, one has to give credit to Disappearance Ryoko for being very open with her creepy stalking of Yuki, making hardly any attempt to hide it. I honestly can't wait to see if and how it will be animated in the second season.

In conclusion, another quality figurine from Max Factory's Haruhi line which continues to set the standard and bring happiness to fans.

Related posts:

1. Max Factory 1/8 Yuki Nagato
2. Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody
3. Figure impulse ~ MaxFac's 1/8 Suzumiya Haruhi