Alter 1/5 Souryu Asuka Langley MyFigureCollection.net
I reviewed Alter’s 1/5 Ayanami Rei item/945 previously blog/16026, so now it’s time to show you the 1/5 Asuka that goes with her. Like the Rei, this Asuka is unique and lovely, but I will concede she is the less perfect of the pair.
She has the same delicate painting that makes the Rei so lovely, especially in her hair, which was clearly painted by hand with a paintbrush and not airbrushed; in fact, it has what looks like a few visible brush strokes. Like Rei, it has the “skillfully done garage kit” feel. Not a style that’s to everyone’s taste, but I like it a lot.
The hair color of Asuka figures tends to vary pretty widely from a very dark almost brown/auburn to a bright orange or even awkward yellow shade. This figure opted for a darker shade with the right orange tone, not far off from my hair color actually (I’m a natural redhead.) Due to the shading style, the head seam is almost invisible.
The fine details of the plugsuit are all there with no stray paint marks to be found. Honestly she’s got better quality than some figures from 2014.
She’s taller than Rei since she is sitting up straight (and Asuka is canonically taller than Rei anyway), but even at 1/5 she takes up little vertical space. Like Rei, her base is a simple colored disk, red to match EVA-02. My Asuka’s base is an even red tone so this tells me that the mottled yellow of my Rei’s base probably is due to fading or age. Unlike Rei’s, I don’t think you’d find anyone who felt this one clashed with the figure. If anything it blends in too well. She can sit just fine without it though, if you prefer.
Her facial expression looks a bit anxious, fitting with Rei’s melancholy look. Asuka looks best displayed at a slight angle and to the left of Rei so that she appears to be looking nervously at her. I think it captures NGE Asuka well in a moment of isolated emotional vulnerability.
An aside. Most figures of Asuka are smiling sweetly, or look coy and inviting. I suspect this is because many Asuka fans would like to believe deep down that for them, Asuka would drop the harsh exterior and be sweet and friendly, and figure manufacturers have caught on to this. It doesn’t fly with me (it’s out of character) but evidence indicates my opinion is unusual. Consequently, I don’t have any figures of Asuka that are smiling. The only smile I would really accept would be a cocky and challenging one, but that’s very uncommon in figures of her as well.
This desire to strip Asuka both of her strong will and all the flaws and weaknesses that make her well-rounded in order to reduce her to a cookie-cutter soft-hearted tsundere stereotype says a lot about the Asuka fanboys that engage in it. To sum up without going into detail, it means they like the “idea” of Asuka, on the surface level, more than Asuka as a complete character.
Ok. Moving on.
From straight forward, her mouth sometimes looks odd, so keep that in mind. Because her open mouth is sculpted into the figure rather than painted on, lighting also makes a huge difference. Don’t light her too harshly or from directly overhead or it will cast a strange shadow.
Actually, the biggest thing I took away from making this review is that she’s a figure that looks lovely in person but isn’t very photogenic and was difficult to take decent pictures of. So please keep that in mind. She is not perfect and I wouldn't place her on the same level as her companion figure, but her good qualities outshine the odd parts when you look at her in person.
Like Rei, her eyes have been perfectly hand-painted, and aren’t decals. This is probably an aesthetic choice to match with the rest of the figure, as my other figures of roughly this age do have eye decals. Though this Asuka wouldn’t normally be on my must-get list, she matches the 1/5 Rei so I sort of had to get her. As expected, they look great together:
One last note. Something I’ve seen mentioned by everyone else I’ve talked to about this figure is that for some reason the head will be a bit loose, and wobble around when the figure is moved. Mine is not different, and in fact, with a slight upward tug, her head is easily removed.
Now you can see the details of her back that are normally hidden by her hair, though. You can see the long, thick peg on the head. However, try as I might, I can’t get it in there firmly enough for it not to wiggle a little. It isn’t really a problem but I may try filling in the slot a little at a later time. Just be careful never to pick her up by the head.
My ultimate recommendation is that you should definitely pick this girl up, but be sure you also have Rei to go with her. Especially since 1/5 is an unusual scale, she will be lonely otherwise!
That's all for now. Happy Year of Evangelion!
ncG1vNJzZmilqZu2qMHRnpqopJyasLW1zqdlp52kZK%2Btu8appqysX2aGc4CV