Wave Treasure Figure Collection Series Hakufu Sonsaku White China Dress
It feels like it's been a while since a notable Ikki Tousen figure was released. That's sort of an odd thing to think, as a common complaint from a few years back was that too many companies were making Ikki Tousen figures. However, most of those figures were of fan favorites Kanu Unchou and Ryomou Shimei; nominal lead girl Hakufu Sonsaku never got that many figures. I suppose that's not that surprising; while she was one of the first characters to be introduced in the manga, she wasn't really all that interesting, and she never seemed to achieve the sort of popularity that the other characters gained. That alone makes this figure peculiar; what makes it even more unusual is its styling. Ikki Tousen's character designs don't stray far from typical anime conventions, but this figure provides quite a different take on Hakufu, so much so that one might not have been able to identify this character at first glance, even if one were familiar with the series.
As presented in the manga, Hakufu is an exuberant, loud, and aggressive female student whose formidable fighting skills compensate for her low intelligence and complete lack of common sense. At least, that's my impression of her; the Tokyopop adaptation of Ikki Tousen is notorious for having taken enormous liberties with its translation, at least in the first few volumes. Hakufu is generally a kind and happy person, but she enjoys getting into a good scrap. She's a likeable character but one can learn everything about her personality in just the first volume of Ikki Tousen, and that makes her rather less interesting than other characters, such as the poised, steadfastly loyal Kanu or the cold and enigmatic Kakouen Myousai.
This figure is manufactured by Dragon Toy, a company that hasn't existed for very long but has already made some very nice figures. One of the things that makes their figures so nice is their size; their products thus far have been 1/6 scale or larger. Hakufu is no exception; she's also sculpted in 1/6 scale, standing a bit over 26 centimeters tall to the top of her head and about 31 centimeters in overall height, excluding the base.
In my view, the face is almost always the most important part of a figure, so we'll start there. Although Hakufu's face incorporates the typical features of anime design, it still looks distinctive. In particular, the shape of her eyes is unusual; they are very round, which makes it difficult to discern her demeanor and personality, and they make her appear younger than she might otherwise look. Her mouth is noticeably small and contributes nothing to her expression.
While the elements of her face don't stray from the usual conventions, her body shape is more realistic than most of her peers, except for the size of her breasts, which are quite large. She has long legs, wide hips, and her head isn't overly large as it is with many female anime characters. Her youthful face makes for something of an incongruity with her womanly, fully-formed body. Not that that's a bad thing; I like the contrast provided by this disconnect.
The discordant appearance effected by her face and body aren't the only contrasting aspects of her design; there's also a contrast in her expression and her pose. Her stance is flashy, closer in effect to a model's rather than a fighter's. Her strongly-arched back and the prominent swell of her hip heighten the sexual undertones of her pose but her face conveys uncertainty, perhaps even nervousness. Her eyes are wide open, giving her something of a hunted, haunted look, and that adds a certain edge to her look. Her pose is compelling but the circumstances of her situation remain vague.
The ambiguity of this figure's appearance is heightened by her torn clothing. She's obviously wearing a typical anime schoolgirl's outfit – albeit quite abbreviated – but the tattered nature of her outfit accentuates the sense of disquiet. (That said, exploding clothing is de rigueur for all female Ikki Tousen characters and anyone that is familiar with this series – or High School DxD, or Senran Kagura, or any of the many similar shows – won't bat an eye at the clothing destruction.)
Most obviously, her clothing is strategically torn to reveal one large, very perky breast. Hakufu is known for her large bust and this is one aspect that can be used to identify the character. (When I first saw the prototype, I thought that the character was Panty from Panty & Stocking, until I realized that her rack was far too large to be her.) Note that there's no way to cover her up unless you improvise something on your own. Also note that there's no way to reveal more, unless you are willing to inflict some damage on the figure; her shirt can't otherwise be removed.
Her skirt can, however; it detaches on the right side, with several pegs slotting into notches cut into the edge. It's a very well-implemented design; I generally loathe this sort of castoff system because it's often highly frustrating to get the garment back on the figure but in this case, it's very easy and it's also quite difficult to tell that her skirt is removable at all. Dragon Toy deserves some kudos for doing a nice job with that.
All of the Ikki Tousen girls wear plain white panties. Hakufu's underwear isn't particularly remarkable, though the sculpting is quite nice, and a little more detailed than the norm, perhaps.
Removing her skirt does provide an opportunity to admire the skillful sculpting, however.
I really do like the sculpting style of this figure. To date, Dragon Toys's figures have generally portrayed their subjects with older, more adult-looking bodies, and while I'm not sure if this is my favorite type of anime character design, I think it looks great. The detail of her legs is particularly noticeable; a lot of care was lavished on her knees, and while that's not one of the body parts I tend to look at (I recall there was an anime that aired not too long ago that caused some people to talk about kneepits, but I can't remember what it was), the intricacy of the sculpt is admirable.
Hakufu's hair is sculpted as flying around in that way that only happens in anime, adding a bit of movement to her appearance. I'm not sure whether it complements or contrasts with the rest of her appearance; I suppose I'd go with complements, as her hair generally appears realistic rather than stylized. Moreover, her tresses provide another example of good sculpting; she doesn't have helmet hair, and the strands whipping around aren't fused in huge slivers as with many other figures.
Overall, this is a really nice figure of a character that I've never been interested in prior to its release. It's a different take on Hakufu, to be sure; she looks both more mature and younger, even vulnerable, and none of those qualities are a good match for her personality and history. Nonetheless, this figure manages to pull this look off exceedingly well; the sculpt is fantastic, the pose is striking and of course, the amount of skin that is exposed is quite high. All of Dragon Toy's figures have looked great and Hakufu is no exception.
Source: https://www.tentaclearmada.com/2014/08/hakufu-sonsaku-from-ikki-tousen-nsfw/
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