Hentai Watch

Sage Horo is with us in a special limited edition Blu-ray box set, and to see just how much detail it is now possible to ogle her tail in, 2channers have provided this fine comparison image.

The top is the Blu-ray, below that is the terrestrial digital, below that the “up-convert”, and finally the abominable up-sized standard definition. Obviously you will need to scrutinise this completely expanded.

You can see the 6mb png here.

A little bit of caution is needed in looking at the three below the BD; the artefacts around the labels indicate they have come from a jpg source (though this comparison is saved as a lossless png, and the BD is clearly pristine).

However, you can easily make out the differences in any case. If not, get a bigger monitor: I can say it is night and day on a 27.

Refer back also to the Index BD comparison…

This appealing figure of Ikki Tousen’s mizugi-clad Kanu Unchou from Kurushima has flown under the radar, reaching its release date with relatively little fanfare.

There are countless Kanu ero-figures released thus far – this figure’s niche is in displaying Kanu in a “mizugi” so small as to be nearly nonexistent and by being a Cold Cast figure, rather than the usual PVC. As this is the first Cold Cast figure covered here, I have included a brief description of the process…

The 1/6  figure, optimistically named 関羽雲長（水着）/ Kanu Unchou (Mizugi) comes from the lesser known Kurushima, which specializes in the making of high quality Cold Cast or Resin garage kits.

The difference between Cold Cast and the much more typical PVC figures seen here and most everywhere else is something that isn’t widely known at all, so I will attempt a short explanation…

Cold Cast / コールドキャスト

The name is a bit of a misnomer, as Cold Cast, strictly speaking, refers to the production process and not the actual material used in the making of a figure. The key difference is that the epoxy used is poured into the mold while cool and allowed to set slowly, as opposed to most other sorts of casts (including PVC) that use temperature molding to help set the mix.

Figures made from the Cold Cast process tend to have cleaner lines, less of a “plasticy” appearance than PVC or ABS (the two materials used in almost all popular PVC figures nowadays), and theoretically are more durable.

PVC

PVC is one of the most commonly used plastics in the world, used from all sorts of things from clothing to pipes. Its relative low cost, speed of molding, and ductability (bendability) makes it the material of choice for almost all modern figures, along with the more expensive and stronger ABS plastic routinely used in the legs/bases of figures to prevent the “leaning” problems so common in older figures.

PVC is the baseline from what all other figure materials are judged, and can vary quite a bit in appearance, but generally it has more of the “plastic” appearance than Resin or Cold cast.

Also, due to the myriad plasticizers used to soften the mix, PVC degrades faster than other materials because the plasticizer compounds tend to be unstable. Supposedly this can lead to a health risk as the compounds can leak into the air and could be carcinogenic (hopefully these claims are exaggerated, or else I have been living in the ero-version of Chernobyl for the last decade).

With that out of the way, let us examine the Kanu figure…

The appearance of her bare skin tone is quite lovely – fortunately the micro mizugi does not interfere or get in the way much at all.

The lack of any prop probably spurred the sculpting of Kanu’s hair into this whip-like formation that I think came out beautifully.

The face’s sculpt is very attractive, despite the fact that it may not be a perfectly accurate representation of Kanu. Certainly many could easily forgive that, if the thought even came to mind.

The upward facing angle of her head does mean it would be difficult to get a full look of her face if she were to be displayed at head level.

The hair’s sculpt is plain from this angle, but the lovely blue color makes up for it.

A wonderful shitapai shot.

The Kanu Unchou figure from Kurushima is, as its Cold Cast process would suggest, significantly more expensive than an equivalent PVC would be – expect to pay upwards of ¥17,000 for it.

It came out earlier this week, and is available now at Hobby Search.

See the rest of the review photos at hobby – toy – web.

Good Smile Company have made this rather striking special Good Smile Nendoroid Hatsune Miku version as a prize for “Photocon”, an event dealing with photography and the like.

Very striking indeed. It’s a one-off, so weep. They promise some other “special” versions as prizes too.

You can see the messy making of at the source: Good Smile.

Those wanting a Nendoroid Miku they can actually buy will have to go with the latest, Kagamiku, not an unpleasant compromise…

Rie Kugimiya’s innumerable tsundere roles converge in this chaotic and amusing MAD; she is not known as the Queen of Tsundere for nothing, and this is well evident from this video…