Yui Kotegawa by Orchid Seed
Project details
Many times overshadowed by her bubbly female cast, Yui Kotegawa battles bottled up emotions that carry the affection for the male protagonist in Saki Hasemi’s harem comedy manga To Love-Ru.
While Alphamax went with the more popular girls from To Love-Ru in Golden Darkness and Momo Belia Deviluke, Orchid Seed’s decision fell on Yui Kotegawa out of the 15 something possible candidates. A curious but also welcome choice, next to Haruna Sairenji (featured on the left, Yui on the right) she was one of few memorable characters.
The figure allows for semi-castoff, one may display Yui holding either of two pairs of included footwear in some elegant white sandals or a tad more plain shoes in brown while in her school or bikini outfit.
SCALE
1/7
ART DIRECTION
Distrust
PHOTOGRAPHY SETUP
Flash, diorama
BioToxic
Can’t wait to get my Yui, she’s currently in transit. Yui is one of my favourites from To Love-Ru, although Mono has become really interesting since Darkness.
Her school clothing looks a bit baggy and the visible joins are a little disappointing. But you’re definitely in for a treat once you break that outer shell. I really like the soft blue colouring of her bikini plus the way it’s gripping her figure. I also love the way her hair has a sense of motion about it, as if she’s quickly turning her head around.
It’s been a long wait but she certainly looks worth it :D.
Loving the mini pool you made. Having the ripples in the pool looks amazing too. The last image is probably my favourite – having Yui slightly offset from the centre of the frame and the sandals visible in the back.
Nightmare
I know that feeling very well, in particular with Yui following her never-ending delays. It took two episodes of the anime version of Darkness before I dropped it due absurd censoring next to what I felt was an almost non-existing plot. Waiting for the Blu-ray volumes to drop won’t solve my issues with the story element so my hope is for the manga to carry the story far better than its animated adaptation.
The larger clothes may be a precaution to avoid paint transfer during shipment or removal but Orchid Seed have been very generous with space in this case, especially in the chest area. Go figure. Still, this isn’t exactly a traditional Orchid Seed figure where you’re subjected to nothing but violent growth. You mentioned the flowing hair, which I like as well, together with that semi-serious expression slapped on her face. Not to mention the shades of blue, one can never go wrong with the color blue.
Jenn
Wow, I had zero interest in this figure until I saw your review. She just doesn’t look very good in promo shots, but your pictures really redeem her. I love the set up you have for your photos, by the way. The white mini pool looks so chic.
What a difference her cast off makes! She looks so bulky with her normal uniform on, but her bikini is lovely. As usual, it looks like Orchid Seed did a wonderful job on her body. Such generous proportions! The way she holds her sandals gives her a sense of delicacy that I really like. And her eyes are gorgeous too.
Nightmare
Anything devoid of shadow is not very appealing to look at though that was never the intention of promotional shots in the first place. That said, I do appreciate the kind words.
This is one of few occasions where I prefer the dressed down version of a cast-offable figure. The trade-off with cast-off is usually that with each part removed things are getting less and less interesting. That’s how it goes for me, anyway. With Yui it feels like they started off with a great bikini sculpt and ended up adding a slightly bloated version as far as her clothes go. It looks alright, just not anywhere near the secondary appearance.
Orchid Seed and generous proportions go hand in hand, consistently in the chestal area. Here, it’s all been poured into those wide hips instead. Not exactly a thing of nature but spectacular nonetheless. I’m with you on the eyes though I would’ve liked to see slightly brighter scleras to accentuate the eyes just a little bit.
wieselhead
I haven’t watched Darkness so far, but To Love Ru was always good ecchi comedy. Yui and Nana are actually my favorite characters
Wohoo the pool setup looks amazing, how did you do that. Is it for sale ^^ ?
This figure has a great looking body and the pose is totally nice with the sweep in her movement.
What I really like is her backside in these pictures. Too bad that the face doesn’t live up to her body, I really expected more in that regard, well not the whole face is off there is just something with her mouth.
Nightmare
I’d suggest waiting until all the Blu-ray volumes are out before venturing down the Darkness path. The standard censoring renders it more or less unwatchable.
Plywood, white paint, a plastic bowl and patience.
The face is nothing special but I think it works well in conveying an emotion within Yui. Looking at their 2013 lineup I doubt Orchid Seed’s priorities are in facial features, though I am liking what they’ve done with Asmodeus.