Figure Name: Millhiore F. Biscotti
Figure Maker: Good Smile Company
Retail Price: ¥7,429
Buy at: Hobby Search | AmiAmi | Play Asia | Plamoya

While I was waiting for Princess Millhi to show up in the mail I kept thinking about what background color I should review her on. Maybe blue, or green or yellow? Hmm ...

While pondering this I thought about the Dog Days animated show, and how it had so many beautiful outdoor scenes. While I had no experience with outdoor macro photography, it felt like this figure was calling to me, that only an outdoor photoshoot could show off her true beauty. The call to shoot her outside only grew stronger once she finally arrived at my doorsteps. Without further delay, here she is!

When I ripped open the brown cardboard mailing parcel she came in, I found a blue box! Somehow I was expecting a pink box but I'm glad it was a blue one. The box itself was simple, but I find the styling of her name on the scroll and other patterns to be rather charming.

You can see her quite well through the box's window, but really I just had to break her out of her prison as fast as I could. A little sunlight on her goes a long way to bringing her colors to life.

In her box are just two pieces, her figurine and her base. The first word I blurted out when I saw her pink base was "ka-kawaiii"; really it is quite cute. At first I thought it resembled a dog's head with ears, until I noticed the etched pattern of her house crest on it.

Some figures require a bit of fiddling to set up, but not Millhi! She is super easy to attach to her base, it couldn't be easier! Just line up the two pegs on her base to her foot and it's done!

Even though Millhi stands on only one foot, it's important to note that she has a very good sense of balance. I do not feel like this figure would lean at all, and she feels really extra sturdy.

Enough about her base! Millhi herself is adorable, almost to a fault, but anyone who is into this strawberry colored dog-eared-and-tailed princess should expect no less from her. She really took my breath away. She has such an interesting sculpt that it almost makes me wish that she and her clothing were real so I could see what happens next!

Her dress flutters up a lot behind her and the, "ahem," view that it can easily provide from certain lower angles worried me a little bit, though it's kind of necessary for her to look so dynamic from any other angle. Also, about the up-gown view: you can check the gallery for it, but she doesn't show much up her dress, just her white stockings.

One little problem I have with her sculpt is how rigid the triangles at the end of her dress seem to be. It would be nice if they didn't seem so spiky and uniform, perhaps if they had a fold every here and there to change their shape.

It's easiest to see from above, but the whole dress has this wonderful spinning motion to it and no less than four distinct levels of frills. In this writer's opinion, Millhi looks especially adorable when looking up at me like this. She is happy, twirling, and free without a care in the world.

Here we get a good look at Millhi's face; her eyes are really huge! I don't own any other figure with eyes this big! I imagine this was a challenge for the designers to try to bring a character that was supposed to look best on a 2D plane into a 3D model and keep her looking this good while maintaining the right proportions, because a lot of 2D art styles look good from specific sides and angles. A figurine though has to look good from all angles.

I don't know about you, but I have always had a weakness for pink hair, and I love how her hair strands flow around in front of and behind of her neck. Oh, and for those who are worried about the durability of her ahoge, it seems to be made out of a semi soft plastic, so it is not as inflexible as some that I have ran across.

You can't talk about Millhi without talking about her doggy features, so I have a confession to make, you all. Ready for this? Okay here it goes! In most figurines of Millhi, her ears have never satisfied me. Sometimes they look too thin; sometimes the ears just look tacked on. That said, these ears are at least believably thick and you can see the little tufts of white fur lining them. This was a good attention to detail and a major reason why I wanted this particular version of this doggy princess.

Hair accessories are always cute to me. While photographing Millhi, my eyes were repeatedly drawn to these ribbons. I'm no expert on ladies' fashion so I do not know what they are called; generically, let's just call them "hair buns", but these hair buns and ribbons are adorable. Coupled with an ahoge, it's almost too much cuteness! Of course, that's what fans of Millhi and Dog Days are looking for. Good Smile did a great job here.

Pictured left, as you can see, close up her skirt has a lot of layers and frills. The paint job is very good. Considering all the folds and sculpting, I can't imagine painting that by hand. Honestly I am kind of curious as to how she was painted and the exact processes that were involved.

On the right picture you can see her hand, nothing special there, but her detached sleeves are awesome. I love how they puff out near the shoulders.

Well, I can't talk about Princess Millhi without talking about her tail. I like her tail a lot! However the texture seems a little off to me. Most of the time when it was drawn for the anime, it was either frizzier, or simpler, this is somewhere in between. Not a bad thing, but I guess I need to remember there are limits to what plastic can do.

The craftsmanship of her boots is really top notch. There is a subtle swirl of shading to them which makes them resemble the slightly uneven color of leather. More impressively, her boot strings are a darker color and are laced up and tied into a perfect bow.

I still marvel at how dynamic her dress is; it looks good from about any angle. I'm not sure if the photographs can bring this out well, but her large dress gives her quite a presence, especially in this market where short skirts tend to dominate.

In the end, I do love Millhi, and she was worth purchasing! It's kind of funny when my biggest complaint is that she isn't real. Sure, there are really things, but her princess look and clothes are just, so cute that it's impossible for me to not like her. Her face is also so bright with a beaming expression, it feels like she is constantly sending cheerful feelings out, almost to a fault, though that is what I love about her.

What do you think of her Tomopeeps? Were any of you lucky enough to pick up this lovely puppy princess? Did you like the outdoor photos, or should I stick to a photo-box? Let us know in the comments, but first one last photo for you all. Can't say no to this cute face.