Kit Review

Straight build

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki (1/6)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki (2/6)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki (3/6)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki (4/6)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki (5/6)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki (6/6)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - Detail shots (1/4)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - Detail shots (2/4)

Detail shots

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - By swapping out the joint parts, you can choose whether or not to attach the gold s

By swapping out the joint parts, you can choose whether or not to attach the gold structures on the sides of the legs.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - Like the previous releases, you can swap in eye parts with 3 different gazes — but

Like the previous releases, you can swap in eye parts with 3 different gazes —
but the differences in expression are still pretty subtle.. (you really have to get up close to tell them apart)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - Unique bow and arrow/quiver weapons. The sculpt quality is really impressive, as yo

Unique bow and arrow/quiver weapons.
The sculpt quality is really impressive, as you'd expect from Kotobukiya.

Hands come in 5 different forms, 9 pieces in total.

Leftover parts

Those chunky legs only bend to about 90 degrees.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - You can still pull off a kneeling pose, sort of. (1/3)

You can still pull off a kneeling pose, sort of.

A pose that's very characteristic of Aoonihime Shiki.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - The highlight is definitely the archery pose — the soft dedicated hand parts and th

The highlight is definitely the archery pose —
the soft dedicated hand parts and the bow/arrow parts work really well together, so the pose comes out looking great.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - Archery pose. (1/4)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki - Archery pose. (2/4)

Archery pose.

Kick pose.
Those thick legs — getting hit by one of those would be lights out...

Together with Akaonihime Shiki.

Following Akaonihime Shiki, Aoonihime Shiki from "Phantasy Star Online 2" has now been released as a Kotobukiya plastic model. As many of you probably know, "Aka" means red and "Ao" means blue in Japanese — and it's not just the colors that differ, the leg and weapon details are also designed differently.

The legs in particular have been made significantly chunkier and more substantial, and perhaps because of that, the center of gravity sits lower compared to Akaonihime Shiki, making poses noticeably more stable. Akaonihime's feet are bound-foot style, so it's pretty hard to get her to stand without a stand — but Aoonihime Shiki has the same feet and somehow manages to stand just fine, which is a bit surprising.

That said, since quite a few parts are shared with Akaonihime Shiki, the overall poor joint retention carries over to some degree. In particular, the rear ball joint that holds the waist armor in place is still laughably loose and definitely needs some fixing — though just wrapping a bit of scotch tape around the ball before popping it in does help with retention. Either way, since the lower body has better definition compared to Akaonihime Shiki, the joint strength issues feel less noticeable.

Aoonihime Shiki's weapons include a bow, arrows, and a quiver. They pair really well with the soft archery-specific hands, letting you pull off some pretty convincing poses. There have been bow-wielding model kits before, but Aoonihime Shiki feels like the most natural-looking one yet. A well-sculpted bow and arrow set paired with a natural-looking pose alone really goes a long way in boosting the kit's appeal.

The color scheme in the source design is so vibrant that the kit comes with both tight color separation and a pretty hefty amount of seals. Even so, there are spots here and there that could use some touch-up painting — but even without any extra painting, the finished look is quite striking. Also, like Akaonihime Shiki, it comes with bonus items such as a game installation DVD and item codes, so if you're into this game, that's a nice little perk.

Anyway, compared to Akaonihime Shiki whose joints were practically jelly, Aoonihime Shiki feels oddly more stable — and in terms of weapon visuals, finished color scheme, and various other aspects, the overall quality just feels a notch better. It's essentially a fan-service kit aimed at Phantasy Star Online 2 fans, and from a visual standpoint, it's definitely the kind of kit that fans can justify picking up on passion alone. :-)

Phantasy Star Online 2 Aoonihime Shiki | 2015. 12 | ¥5,500

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.