Tomopop Review: Orchid Seed's 1/8 Seena Kanon from Shining Wind

9:00 PM on 12.30.2009   |   Jonathan Tubbs

I'm sure I've said it a thousand times. I love the art of Tony Taka and I really love Seena of Shining Wind. When it was announced that Orchid Seed would be releasing a figure of her based on another piece of art by Tony Taka, I immediately jumped on pre-ordering her.

After more troublesome delays from the post office and the holiday sneaking up, I am finally able to bring you a review of this figure. How does Seena hold up to the original illustration? How is the included base? Does Orchid Seed do a fair representation of the art or is it just a half-hazard job to make a cheap buck?

Hit the jump for the full review and plenty of photos.

I was a thrown off for a second when removing the figure from the shipping box. It's not common to see a figure that has the front as the shortest length and the side as the longest length. It only makes sense for this figure as it includes a base and Seena has her leg stretched out.

It's a great feature when a figure includes their own environment base. It gives it more character and a higher value of appreciation. And I definitely appreciate what sculptor Arai Kosuke did with etching every detail of the broken stone that Seena sits on.

The base is very light weight and hollow on the inside. The drawn out area on the front of the base makes me wonder if a name or plaque was originally designed to go there. The various crack lines and chipped stone is wonderful. My only complaint about the base is that clock backing. It's a on a very thin piece of PVC so I have a bad feeling if this is dropped it will break easily.

What can I saw about this figure outside the obvious? She's stunning. Her pose perfectly replicated from Tony Taka's art. Her flowing hair, beautiful. And her outfit, very attractive. Also, the pig tails add major cuteness points.

It took me a couple of tries to seat Seena in the right position to get her sword into the same position as shown on the box. You will need to be gentle with her and make sure she is in a stable area. I accidentally bumped into my table while doing the shoot and Seena fell off her base. 

Almost every angle of Seena is a sight to see. I will always be fond of folds as they are an accent mark on attention to detail as evident in her uniform jacket. A short skirt displays enough of her thigh to make it tantalizing and just enough uplift to tease what's underneath. The stockings give her legs definition from the paint job and the reflection from the lights.  The shine on her classy dress shoes and the gold buckle add a level of realism to the overall figure.

Faces. They make or break a figure in my book. And with Tony Taka being the illustrator, the importance of the quality of the face is doubled. Orchid Seed and Arai Kousuke have my approval.

The shape of her face is perfect when compared to the original illustration. The eyes are sharp and the nose is round and cute. No matter the angle, I see a face of innocence. Lips are normally given more definition by gloss or lip stick but this is the first time where I have seen lips given that detail with just a simple outline. I actually like it.

I did lie earlier about what I said in regards to her outfit. Yes, it's attractive. Until you look at that oversized clown bow. It's got to go. I would have settled for a neck tie but that's just me and my love for women in a suit.

Seena's lower half of her body brings plenty of thigh that may entice some to stare for a while. Ignore that for now and look at her uniform jacket. The thin, gold trim is painted with great precision and does not have any rough edges. You can get a closer look at the natural folds on Seena's elbow. The shape of her hand is well done. You can see the realistic shape of her palm from the shadows of the light.

Of course, there is the hard to overlook legs of Seena. It's almost comical with the well placed position of her hand to block out the up skirt view. It's practically teasing you with her legs spread apart as they are. Of course you can just change your angle and get a perfect glimpse of a more private area of Seena.

The sword is a major part of the centerpiece since it dangerously rests in Seena's hands. The hilt is very reminiscent of a military sword. The blade is rough on its edges giving a used, worn look. Whether this was intentional or not is hard to say.

Due to Seena sitting on her base, you don't have the pleasure of seeing her long flowing hair or the details put into it. Again, the pig tails are very cute. 

As you can also see, you get a glimpse of her butt and underwear which you are normally not going to see. Please excuse the paper she is sitting on. Seena refused to balance without her base.

NOTICE:
The next section is strongly considered NSFW as it will be focusing on the cast off feature and underwear of Seena. If you are in an environment where this may offend others, you may choose to end the review here or quickly scroll down to the conclusion.

As stated in the warning, Seena does feature a cast off feature. Only her skirt can be removed which is good. It would be close to impossible to remove her from the school uniform. This now allows you to view her from any angle to get a clear view of her underwear. As always, I find it rather silly for something like this. Perhaps if the top would remove to match the bottom it would make sense. But when they are just in their underwear, it just doesn't work.

As this is not an ero figure, you won't find defined areas in her underwear other than the areas where one would assume is the elastic trim. The common trait of short underwear in the back is present allow for a view of her butt crack.

Orchid Seed and Arai Kousuke did a marvelous job in taking Tony Taka's original illustration and converting it into a 3 dimensional piece. There isn't really much more I can add on to tell you how excellent this figure is. If you are a fan of Tony Taka, the Shining series or just beautiful sculpts, I cannot recommend this figure enough.

If you're interested in owning this figure, you can pre-order her from domestic retailers Entertainment Earth and RightStuf. Both have her estimated to ship at the end of January/early February and retailing for $100. That sounds about right after you would add EMS shipping if you were to order directly from Japan.

What I would love to see next is short haired version of Seena in her yukata from Kousuke and Orchid Seed. Well, one can dream.