Pinky St: D.C. Nemu Asakura Cell Strap

Product Information/Specifications

Introduction

This is an official Pinky St. D.C. Nemu Cell Strap.  I got this from a Japanese hobby store two cities down.  It was interesting how I found it.

When I first saw this in the white box in a display window, I didn't know what it was.  Looking at it from all sides outside, I couldn't make out what it was; despite the sticker of a Nemu strap in front.  When I went in the store & ask about it, I was told it was just a cell strap & a booklet with no Pinky inside.  Hoping there were some DC Pinkys inside, it disappointed me a bit.  When I came back the second time a few weeks later, they had another box opened to show the strap.  Seeing it & knowing how rare it is, I decided to buy & was given a sealed one.  The price I got it for was a bit pricey.  But knowing how rare & lucky I was to find it, I felt it was worth it.  Out of all the Pinky fansites I saw, no one talked about this strap.  I assumed no one has really heard of this strap outside of Japan, but it seems some people had hear about this.  It's just nobody seems to want to talk about it.

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

The Review

The Pinky D.C. cell strap box package

Click on the first thumbnail above & you'll get the actual size of the box.  That's how it looks like as I saw it for the first time.  Looking at the Japanese text & using the little knowledge I had, I had no clue what the heck it was.  I was hoping it was Pinkys since the sticker shows them.

Open the seal & you'll see that the box is actually all white.  The sticker is sticked to the bag & that big pinky background picture is actually a booklet.  The booklet has six pages in total.  The booklet has interviews with CIRCUS, the maker of D.C., & VANCE.  I think it covers how the collaboration came about.  Also in the booklet is pics of Pinkys that were available during the time this strap was made.  It covers up to PK012 from series 4, the EVA Pinkys, & the first tencho Animate Pinky.  It ends at PK006A from series 2A.  Judging from the timeline, I think this strap was made in the summer of 2004 before the production of series 4 & 2A.  At the time of writing this review, that's really a long time.  Also included are drawings of how the Nemu Asakura & Kotori Shirakawa, will look like as Pinkys.

Some contents from the booklet

If you have been following the D.C. Pinky development, you would know that those drawings are the same ones that are still shown at the time of this review.  It looks like VANCE & CIRCUS have decided to use that design.

Now for the main course: the strap.

When you open the box & take the strap out, this is what you would see.  The strap is basically the same kind of cell strap you see with other straps.  The only difference, I think, it has from other straps is the quality of the materials used to make it.

The strap itself is a kind of rubber that I rarely see from other straps.  The rubber is like those clear smooth children rain boots.  The "D.C." logo is etched in.  The other side of the strap is nothing.  If you have the 2005 Winter Festival Pinky, that strap is basically the same as this one I think. 

The metal parts of the strap is gold plated.  It really makes the strap shine.  It's so nice that you would probably won't use it on your cellphone.  If you do, you may scratch off the coating.

The Nemu & sakura petal fasteners are crafted very nicely.  Personally, I have never seen a cell strap using fasteners of this quality.  In fact, I don't think I've seen a strap use fasteners like that.  The only thing close to it are those discs with pictures in the middle.  The paint job & engraving of the designs of Nemu & the petal are very beautiful.  The paint really stands out.  You have to see the strap in person to get a feel for it.  The pics here don't do justice.  The fasteners are really of high quality, made with the utter most care.

To prove this is an official Pinky D.C. product, look at the right pic for the company logos.

Overall Conclusion

The Pinky St: D.C. Nemu Asakura cell strap was truly an amazing find for me.  The strap is no doubt beautiful & well made.  My mother asked me about it was when she first saw it.  When I told what it was & she still didn't know, I demonstrated it to her by putting the strap on my cell.  The strap is actually too big for my Motorola V220 phone since it's a flip phone.  Nevertheless, that was the only time I "used" it.  I have kept the strap in its box & placed it in my bookshelf.

Cell straps are usually evaluated based on personal preference since workmanship is ignored because there is usually no quality workmanship involved.  This one I'll make an exception since it's different.  The D.C. strap gets a perfect ten.  The perfection comes from the high quality of workmanship done on the fasteners & the nice touch of gold plating on the metal parts.  If there was a downside to the strap, it's basically cause it's too large to be used on a flip phone & you probably won't use it since there is a chance for the gold plating to wear out due to everyday use.

If you really want to get this Nemu strap, I wish you luck.  I really never heard of this item until I actually saw it for the first time.  This strap is extremely hard to find as not much, or if any, information about this strap is given.  I had no idea how this strap was sold.  I discovered that there was a Kotori strap as well.  It's the same thing except it has Kotori instead of Nemu, the strap is pink, & the sakura petal is blue.  There is only one place I know where they still sell the Nemu strap with the Kotori as well.  But, you need to be a resident of Japan to get it.

But when are the D.C. Pinkys coming?

That's it?!?!?!?!

That's the answer given from the back of the strap holder.  The collaboration project has been going on for years with no official news of when it will be released.  Rumours have it that it would have been released sometime in November 2005 or sometime in 2006.  However, VANCE has never made any official prototype molds up to the time of this review.  Therefore, it's probably safe to say the D.C. Pinkys will probably never be released.  Right now, D.C. II is already out as well as some spinoffs from both games.

Photos were taken using Sony DSC-F828 digital still camera & HP scanjet 4470c scanner.

Last updated on May 21, 2008