Hello friends we finally come to reviews of last months releases...*grumbles about delayed shipments*

Ahem now then putting the massive 1/5ths in the past we move back to the more familiar and less wallet destroying pleasures of 1/8th goodness here with this lovely rendition of Isoroku!



Yamamoto Isoroku (Aka Yamamoto 56) like Kenshin from my previous review comes from the history inspired Eroge/Tactical RPG Sengoku Rance.

Although she is one of the main characters of the game having her own path she tends to get overshadowed by others in the game as evidenced by how many others have gotten a figure from Koto before they finally made her. >_<

For me personally though I love her to pieces...She has a wonderful personality and just what'd you call a "Good Woman" through and through. I guess she needed a few more Moe Points or something to rack up more popularity...bah anyway she kicks ass and I love her route for alot of reasons.


"She can shoot me anytime!" <3

Now as far as I know FREEing is only associated with GSC? I only ask because her box bears a striking resemblance to Kenshin's...Again we have the familiar Sengoku Rance logo and pattern used over most of the box with a small shot of her particular country in the game.

Oh well it's a serviceable look overall, but seeing it for a second time now doesn't do it any favors. The inside is obnoxiously full of empty space to the point that you'd think this thing was also designed by Alter...Thanks for helping to increase my shipping fees Koto. >_>

One word of caution her bow is taped to the OUTSIDE of her plastic enclosure inside the box for reasons beyond me and as such be extremely careful not to damage it while taking the plastic innards apart as it is strung with a bowstring and everything.

The inside isn't much better...You get to have fun dealing with extra tape, extremely clingy plastic and my favorite...twist-ties. On the upside though if your ordering from a shipping service that tends to treat your packages like soccer balls they'd probably be hard pressed to even scratch her if they wanted to...


"Absolutely lovely hair!"

Alright now that she's out and about finally you'll have a few pieces sitting about...Thankfully Koto was kind enough to provide some instructions.

Firstly is her hair...Her lovely long tresses interestingly enough attach not only at her head but two points on her back. One thing of note you might have to put abit of force into getting the top connector to fit in her head. Just make sure to properly support her head to prevent damage and it I'll go in eventually...The other two are pretty hassle free and find their groove with just abit of fiddling and wiggle.

A word of caution on her hair...Because of how it attaches to her and has contact with her skirt be extremely careful handling her as she's really vulnerable to paint transfer from the deep purple of her hair onto the pure white of her skirt.

Lastly are her bow and arrows. The bow sits abit loosely in her hand (Too loosely for my taste personally...) without much fuss. The arrows just sortof sit in her hand...This looks pretty good for the horizontal one, but I wish they'd made the second one sit further inside her hand so she looked like she was holding it properly. If it wasn't her signature style to wield two arrows I'd probably just ditch the second one honestly.

Well was all that bother worth it in the end? Hells yes!

The nagging issue with the arrow not withstanding she's damn impressive looking.


"Beautiful outfit suited to our Archer Goddess"

She has got some flat-out incredible sculpting work here. Her hair swirls and cascades down around her back like a beautiful flowing ribbon and then theirs her outfit...oh god her outfit...The detailed folds in her skirt and sleeves are incredible. All the layers and details on her top are well done aswell as the folds in her forearm protectors all the way to the little balled tassels hanging lovingly bellow her bustline.

The same goes for her weapons too. As I mentioned before the bow is strung and looks every bit the same as the massive Yumi she wielded in-game. Her Katana has been lovingly rendered aswell with alot of attention payed to the handle of it especially, which has a little dangly bit on the end that really shows me they went the extra mile with her. Hell even her arrows are fairly well detailed.

Then ofcourse theirs the crown jewel...Her face sculpt. No silly insipid cutsey smile for the camera here my friend...Isoroku is a no nonsense kinda girl and damn if it doesn't show here. Her stern eyes peer out from behind her long bangs with enough bite to put the fear of god in you. She also has a great nonchalant look to her mouth that means all business...Yeap this is a Warrior ready to put a couple arrows between some poor bastards eyes thats for sure!

Oh did I mention her shoe/socks are awesome too....yea ok you get the point the Sculpt kicks five kinds of ass I'll move on now...


"So gallant..."

While the paint isn't perfect I'd say it's about as close as your going to get with a mass produced piece. Theirs the usual bit of mess on the trimming, but the larger areas that your actually going to see without standing 2 inches from her all look fantastic.

Their isn't much complex shading employed here, but theirs a certain art to the simplicity of it for me just the same...Not sure how to say it properly all I can say is it works. They used some gloss on her forearm protectors that's a nifty touch though. Her skin tones are gorgeous though...I'm not usually one to stare at a ladies bust, but damn if the sculpting, paint, and design of the outfit doesn't make it one of the most subtly seductive things around!

With all this goodness I'm loathe to get to the last part...The base in all of its horrid glory...craptastic clear pink base with that damn heart on it...I mean comeon Koto throw me a bone here eh? I know why its colored pink with a heart, but seriously you know that design was by Ashikaga in-game so why in the hell do you think she would want to stand on such a thing.

Tragically she comes pre-attached to this..."thing"...using a screw on one foot and what I assume is some sort of adhesive...Seeing as I REALLY don't want to damage her I guess I'll just have to live with this ugly piece of plastic under her....I wonder if I can paint part of it...

Final Score

Sculpting - 10 - Seriously aces sculpting here...They completely nailed her look with some nice little bits of detail to boot. You aren't going to find much better then this at this price in this scale.

Painting - 9 - Discounting the usual little bit of mess on the fine detailing theirs no real complaints here...It's alittle basic in areas admittedly, but imminently suits her I think.

Posing - 10 - Oh god yes...She looks fierce, capable, and downright sexy in this pose...She is fully ready to get things done.

Base - 2 - Ugly damn thing...Near ruins an otherwise incredible figure. It is well crafted technically and secures her down nicely (Which nets it 2 points), but still....pink clear plastic with a heart...GAH KOTO!!!

Packaging - 6 - Boring as Kenshin's was...Throw in some annoying packaging choices and you end up with this score. Built like a rock though so I'll give them some credit for practicality.

Enjoyment - 10 - In-spite of the hideous base I still love her...I'll either get used to it or figure out a way to replace it without harming her...Putting that aside though she's <3 through and through.

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Well like most things she has her flaws, but overall this is one incredible figue that's lightyears ahead of Koto's Kenshin made last year as far as I'm concerned. She is everybit the embodiment of my arrow spamming archer goddess and as soon as I dispose of this godawful base she shall be as close to perfect as I think a mass produced PVC of her can get.

From her flowing hair to that gorgeous expression right to her trademark two arrow pose this IS Isoroku to the core...Nice job Koto.

I can only hope this won't mean the end of their Sengoku Line...I know with this figure they've covered most of the main and popular secondary characters, but just for some theorycrafting bit of extra fun I'll throw out my top three girls yet to be figurized...


Aki-hime - This ones never going to happen I know...Shes an extremely minor character and not very popular, but dangit if she doesn't have a gorgeous character design (What can I say I have a thing for the "classic" Japanese look...Especially the eyebrows). Plus her personality is just so deliciously bitchy I can't help, but love her.


Yamanaka Kojika - Again another very minor character, but she's so loveable in how no matter how much bad luck hits her she keeps going...Plus she's a loli with glasses and a sword...Whats not to like?

3rd would be...Well damn any of the other girls to be completely honest. Seeing as the only two girls that I really flat-out dislike already have figures (I laughed at Ran's bad end and Sen-hime is just an annoying bitch...And not in a good way) that any of them would be welcome in my collection. ~_^

*On the photo's*

Ya know between almost falling off my roof at home during the last shot and almost falling in the lake for the others I get the feeling Mother Nature is telling me to stick to indoor shots I dunno...

Ah well the greenery ones were taken at Morikami Gardens. Specifically at their nifty Museum...It's pretty nice sadly its also being renovated so it limited the angles I could use it as theirs yellow caution tape and junk everywhere. T_T

Managed to find a rock to sit Isoroku on, but it had about two inches of ground to fit me on before you got to the lake thus I spent most of my time balancing to not fall in...Sure the nearby sunning Iguana had a good laugh at me...

Also REALLY sorry theirs no back or close-up face shot...Due to heat induced idiocy I completely forgot to take shots of that...I'll be so happy when winter comes...Also the third photo looks crappy because I forgot to adjust my settings before shotting...Then forgot to reshoot it after I fixed it later... *facepalm*

P.S. This is going to be my last review until December as theirs nothing really going to come out between now and then that I think warrants a review really. I may reconsider if I get a specific request, but otherwise I'll be on break for awhile. Probably going to work on my Photography and writing so I can hopefully get yall some even better reviews in a few months time.

So for now I look forward to lots of others stepping up to the plate and doing their own reviews. ~_^