Ah, Persona 4. How you were able to bring me more virtual ladies to swoon over and hook up with. It's like playing a dating sim without having to admit you are playing one. Oh, Chie, how you were my personal favorite. Such a spunky lass. Even though playing the pimp in Persona 4, I never thought much of the other ladies. Chie owned my heart.

So, what would possess me to purchase Rise? For the purpose of reviewing her for you. At least, that's what I thought at first. The more I photographed Rise, the more my opinion changed as I captured the beauty of this figure. Read on and see for yourself why Wave's 1/8 scale Rise Kujikawa has me breaking up with Chie.

 

Rise's box of course has the trademark Persona 4 style with the color bars and hypnotic television dive featured in the game on the side. It also has that Rise charm with the purple tone and flower splashes. On the opposite side of the crazy TV warp is a full body drawing of Rise from the official artwork with her stats.

The first state listed is her sex which makes me question why? Do you plan on releasing MALES, Wave!? HUH!? I would love you if you did! You know... like... KANJI! ... Excuse me. I apologize for that outburst. The other stats include her age of 16, birthday of June 1, blood type of AB, height of 155cm (5' 1"), and weight of 41kg (90 lbs). For those interested, sorry. They don't have her measurements.

The back shows you how Rise looks as well as the feature of her glasses in the cheaply drawn TV.

 

Rise comes attached to her base out of the box which is something I never had before in a figure. The base is like any other figure base. Round, featured series logo. Nothing to write home about. The mesmerizing screens on the base is an unintentional reflection and is not really a part of the base.

There is a reason why Rise comes attached to her base out of the box. If you look at the photo, you will see the screw and peg covered in black vinyl. Due to Rise's pose, she had to be glued and screwed to her base. I had to rip her out of the glued peg for your photoing pleasure.

 

And here is Rise for your viewing pleasure. Again, I originally found myself not that interested in her since I'm all Chie but the more and more I looked at her, the more and more I feel in love with her. She is a very beautiful woman and Wave did a tremendous job developing her PVC form. Well, when looked at from a distance.

 

Rise includes the fog penetrating glasses found in Persona 4. If one is not careful, these minuscule spectacles could easily be lost. I did have a heck of a time trying to slide these onto Rise's face. If you don't go in at the right angle you will find yourself fighting Rise to get them on. Normally I would be swooning over a girl with glasses but I feel Rise is far prettier with them off. I'll put the blame on the design of the glasses for that. 

The more I have worked with photographing figures, the more I have become attracted to the lips. Rise is no exception especially with her lipstick emphasizing the shape. Rise's hair is a mixed bag which is where the "looking at from a distance" comment comes into play. Her bangs look great and much of her hair come to points. Her pigtails on the other hand bother me. They come off like blobs which is disappointing when the rest of her hair looks so wonderful.

 

Even with the 1/16 inch frame Wave was able to get the color bars on the side of the glasses. It's the minor attention to detail that adds to a figure's quality. Yet they have globs of pigtails. How?

With these closer head shots, you can see her generically sculpted ears and earrings. What you can also see is her gorgeous face without the glasses, her beautiful eyes, and those lovely lips. The profile picture shows you how petite her nose is.

 

Looking at the back of Rise's head you can see the globs of hair I discussed earlier. The detail in her parting hair is greater than the poorly molded pigtails.

 

Here's an image that will surely be embedded in your memory. Not really a page of out the Exorcist but the photo demonstrates a pivoting head that is a feature of this figure. Her head can be turned 360 degrees all around and about 10 to 15 degrees up and down. It doesn't seem like much but can add a lot to the way Rise stands on your shelf.

 

The school uniform looks excellent. I love how they used the stitches to go along the seams of the mold to blend to pieces together. I'm also amazed at the shape of the uniform for the way it folds and bends around Rise's body. It doesn't just cling to her like tights giving her body a more natural form. She looks like she has meat on her and is not starving. Because of this more natural look, her breasts look more natural, too, pushing inwards on her body and not looking like balloons. 

 

It's amazing what the machines of today can do especially in the world of PVC figures. The pattern of the skirt is perfect, following every bit of movement the skirt takes.

 

Even the shoes needs some love. Rise's shoes come off very realistic looking with the shape of the mold, reflective, leather-like coating used for the color, and silver paint used on the buckles. More attention to detail can be found in the folds of her stockings with the cuff of the shoe pushing it up and creasing around her ankles.

 

And one of the reasons I removed the base from the figure was so I could get this shot to show you the painted nails on her hand. The other reason is, well... For those who are at work and in a place that can get you in trouble, let me finish my review first.

In sort-of-closing, I was not expecting myself to fall in love with Wave's Rise Kujikawa being that I was all over Chie. Once I was done with this review, I had every intention of selling her. But, again, my opinion for Rise has taken an 180 and I cannot believe how I could have overlooked her beauty. Though there are some faults with the figure, I still have to give Wave kudos for pulling off such an elegant figure. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Persona 4 to play again as I vaguely remember her having an amusing personality after she joins your party.

Wave's 1/6 scale Persona 4 Rise Kujikawa figure is now rare with only a couple of weeks after her release. These are the only trusted sources I could find that still have her available for order:
[ Right Stuf | CD Japan | YesAsia ]

 

Now for you naughty folks, keep on scrolling to see what's under that skirt. To hit the gallery, just speed that mouse on further down.

 

 

 

 

 

Keep going...

 

 

 

 

Ta-da~! Are you satisfied?