Akari Mizunashi Figurine

Product Information/Specifications

Introduction

When this Akari Mizunashi figurine was released, I didn't have much interest in buying it since I didn't know what ARIA was about.  It was only until I saw the anime & the character that I started to gain some interest in it.  I totally forgotten about this figurine until I saw it on eBay almost a year after it was released.  Seeing that no one was bidding on it & the price was pretty low, I decided to give it a shot & won.

The Akari figurine has been sold out for a long time now & there hasn't been any announcements for re-releasing it again.  This is pretty common for all of Yujin's SRDX figures.

Some of the pictures aren't clear & good.  If I have time, I'll redo the bad ones & repost them.

The Review

Akari Mizunashi in package

This Akari Mizunahsi figurine became the first ARIA figurine in Yujin's SRDX series with others to come.  The packaging is pretty nice as it has an Italian feel to it.  Or should I say Neo Venezia?  One thing I hate about the packaging is the fact it's a blister card.  Removing Akari out of there would wreck the card.  So, I've decided to keep her in the package instead.

Akari comes with a small amount of accessories.  She comes with her ARIA cap, her gondola paddle, a clear blue base, & President Aria.  There's hardly assembly require with the exception of putting the paddle together.  I'm not sure how secure that base is to the figurine & if Akari can stand on her own without it.  By the looks of it, I think the base is a must.  Also, I'm not sure how the secure the cap is to her head. 

The pose that Akari is performing seems like it's in motion or static with the wind blowing.  It's kind of hard to tell really.  But, it has the gentle side to it.  Now for the details.

The paint job is very good & well done.  The amount of paint bleeds is very minimal, but sometimes it's not enough.  One example is the blue stripes on the helm of Akari's dress.  You can see where the molding is shaped & the blue doesn't reach the edge.  Personally, I prefer this over bleeds provided the amount of incompleteness is not too much which isn't the case here.  Overall, it's very clean.  The letters are pretty straight, but I assume they are etched in.

The colours used here is very good.  It's colourful, but not in a bright way.  The bronze on the paddle is very good too.  It looks pretty real & doesn't give you the impression that it's a toy.  But the rest of the figurine & the accessories, the colours does give you the impression that it's a toy.

President Aria is well done in terms of the molding & paint jobs.  There is hardly anything to paint on him since he's pretty much white all over.  But his clothing is cleanly done.  Also, that facial expression he has matches his anime counterpart, which is a good thing for those familiar with the anime.  I'm not too sure about the manga though.  But those yellowish-brown thorns seem to be a bit small & placed a little high.  Now for Akari.

 
Ha-he! ^^

Although it doesn't resemble like the anime, Akari's facial expression is still gentle.  Thanks to the nice etching job on her eyes, the expression is very soft.  It really fits Akari's character, although the face isn't something I was used to at the beginning.

Overall Conclusion

The Akari Mizunashi figurine is quite a nice & soft figurine.  It's well made & fans of ARIA would probably be over this.  I'm pretty glad I brought this at a low price & love this figurine.  However, she's a bit small.

The Akari Mizunashi SRDX figurine receives a grade of 8.5/10.  The paint job is very good & the pose is quite lively.  Also, the figurine captures Akari's gentleness in it.  However, there isn't a lot of accessories & she has the height of an action figure.  It would have been nice that she was a bit bigger, but that would up the price a lot & make it into a 1/8 scale figurine.

Finding Akari will be a challenge.  Any popular Yujin SRDX figure tend to be hard to find when they sell out fast.  Also, the prices on them really go sky high.  Although Akari is a hard to find item, the price for her isn't too high.  At least outside of Japan that is.  I assume it's priced much higher there since the popularity of ARIA is higher than outside that country.

Photos were taken using Sony DSC-F828 digital still camera.

Last updated on February 12, 2008