Last time I did Show and Tell I was 13 years old. It was my first year in High School and we all had to bring something that was important to us. I was a big animal fan back in the day and collected RSPCA magazine which is basically a magazine you get subscribe to annually and donated to the charity, I was too scared to take my Games to school in fear of being bullied and so thought that taking a magazine about poorly animals would be the best bet. How ironic! Now lets talk about something completely different, make that someone - Junko Mizuno.While graphic artists all how their own unique style, no one has ever caught my attention as much as Junko Mizuno. Her combination of super cute and gothic gore has never been portrayed so vividly to me, and for that I love her! Born in 1973 in Tokyo, Japan. Junko has been a fast manga success story. One of my personal favorite works is "Pure Trance" (1998) which was originally showcased in CD inlays from Japanese Techno-pop label Avex Trax. You can check out her other work such as; Cinderalla-chan, Princess Mermain, Hell Babies, Hansel & Cretel, Fire Works, Fancy Gigolo Peru, Yokouhan Yousei Zukan and a whole many more.

What do I have to showcase then? Kaori the Nurse from Pure Trance. As you can tell from the pictures she's stunning. While the detail is simplistic, its rich and vivid. Originally created via request from Kidrobot for Vinyl figures, Kaori stands at a approximately 7" tall and comes with a pill, baby and a rather adorable yet frightening looking chainsaw. I love big beautiful figures like this as most of my collection is filled with mini detailed toys, which are adorable but only appreciated fullest close up. She's a great conversation piece and probably one of my most expensive toy purchases, but she's too awesome. So where are you going to get your Kaori? Good luck. Ebay has some going for $150 (her original retail was around $70+) and I was lucky to pick her up for a cool $60+ in New York's Toy Tokyo. She is no longer being produced however, so it would be a challenge to find her. I nearly screamed when I saw her at TT, and put her behind for collection the next day.

If you want to find out more about Junko Mizuno, check out her news page, the wiki and keep your eyes on Kidrobot. She has t-shirts and more art coming soon and she's definitely someone to keep an eye on.