Friday, July 22, 2016
Review: Ranko Kanzaki -Anniversary Princess Version DX-
| Figure Information | |
| Manufacturer: | Phat! Company |
| Origin Series: | Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls |
| Scale: | 1/8 |
| Height: | Approximately 24cm tall (base included) |
| SRP: | 15,800 yen (first release) |
| Packaging: |
Phat Ranko DX's box is ridiculously huge and as far as the box design goes, I love it! The spread of the feathers through out the front, back and top of the box really help put an appeal to it as this is something people can easily relate to Ranko if they do know her. On the most part, the box is pretty much just white with product shots here and there but definitely, good enough to help sell the figure if it's on shelves.
Additionally, you can find a chibified art of the figure inside the box as a bonus and Ranran's totally cute here. XD
| Details: |
Like usual, I'll go through the details section from head to toe and there's no other better start than discussing Ranko's face! Now, depending on DereM@s arts, Ranko's face changes but Phat definitely did a standard Ranko face and it's quite spot on to her standard confident chuuni look.
Ranran does wear quite a number of head gears such as a Tiara and a Hat with a giant rose. The Tiara is really well detailed as the jewelry details are all carefully painted and there aren't any particular paint spills on my figure which a total plus; accompanying the tiara are beads that's sculpted in a dynamic manner and while they don't really give any wow factor, each bead is coated in a pearl finish which actually gives out a nice realistic feel to it.
Next up is the hat, it's okay at best since it does have some frilly parts but the molding on the frills doesn't stand out too much and I feel they could've done better. A nice thing to note is the flow of the ribbon as it does sync with the beads and Ranran's hair and easily one of the best features of this figure is the roses found through out her outfit, the sculpting work on these roses is easily eye pleasing in every possible way and the fact that they added in some shading work really makes the roses pop out a lot and I just love it!
Ranko's hair details and layering are all spot and her drill tails doesn't look stiff at all which helps add to the dynamic feel that the figure is emulating. Much like the roses, her hair has a good mix of shading in it and it looks really great!
The body outfit pretty much shares my previous comments with the roses and the frills. Ranran's outfit is your typical Goth attire and again, there's quite a nice mixture of paint and molded in details in there but I guess the white parts in the front could've used better crease details but that's just me nitpicking.
Next up on the figure's detail highlights would be the back of her skirt, generally, Ranko's skirt is made up of your regular skirt at front but the back is truly a sight to behold, the entire back section is made of clear plastic and that this part is molded to emulate feathers, something which Phat as totally nailed in this figure, each feather is uniquely sculpted and if you noticed the upper half is following the same movement flow as that of the her hair and head gear while the lower half presents a more rested state; this totally makes a good concept and display of movement in a static figure and that, for me, deserves a good praise of attention to detail.
Last but definitely not the least in details is Ranko's stockings, while the mold is as simple as it gets, the rose and thorn pattern inscribed through out her stockings is executed nice and clean and this certainly makes the somewhat lackluster molding detail stand out on its own.
| Base: |
The main highlight of Anniversary Princess Version DX is, like any other DX releases by GSC and the likes, of course, the figure base, the non DX one just features a transparent base and that's it; the DX version, however, is in a whole different level as this completes Ranko's characterization in every possible way. Aside from having a checkered base, the fences at the back of the base heavily compliments Ranran's gorgeous gothic outfit; the fences share a general paint scheme but you can definitely how well these have been molded.
The biggest compliment and actually also the biggest pulling factor of the DX base is that the base actually has this really gorgeous flame effect included and that definitely completes Ranko as a character and figure since she's definitely doing chuuni stuff based on her pose. The flame mold itself is ridiculously good, it's very dynamic and that the flame tips don't look cheap at all; additionally while the entire is casted in clear plastic, it doesn't feel brittle and there's also a nice color transition from the bottom.
Lastly, Ranran also comes with a cross mic stand which also shares a great molding detail and none of any paint errors; holding the mic is yet again another set of roses; while mic definitely compliments the figure even further, it's also the weakest part of the entire figure for me because the mic simply doesn't have any proper locking mechanism aside from resting its bottom tip in the roses' visible socket; this leaves it easily falling from time to time and I definitely they could've made setting this up more secure.
| Gallery: |
The figure's appeal is definitely great and every RankoP will probably agree that the pose is definitely spot on as well as the outfit. Of course, given her pose, her strong angles are definitely those from the front and tilting your angles also does make the captures great; additionally, panning a good enough of light source on the flames definitely makes it illuminate and this definitely adds to the figure's overall appeal. Anyway, below are just different angle shots I took from the figure, hope you enjoy the shots!
| Final Thoughts: |
Ranko Anniversary Princess DX easily had me ordering it during its first pre-order run
even though I still wasn't that much into Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls
back then and up until now, I still have no regrets doing so as I consider this Ranko to be one of my Grail-level figures among my remaining scaled figures now that I've pretty much streamlined a lot. Anyway, going back to the figure, her price point is definitely justifiable for me since I definitely think this is the best Ranko figure out there at the moment and I don't think any other Ranko figure will be able to beat this soon enough even if WonFes is basically just days away as this writing.
Would I recommend the figure? The answer's an obvious one, so yeah, in case, you've missed out on her, she was just announced to have a re-release earlier last week, so you can definitely order her right now if you want to. I promise the figure won't disappoint! Before I end the review, this figure's yet again from the awesome folks at Onegai Onii-chan!
I give the fallen angel a 5 out of 5.
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Just perfect
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