NAME: Ryuugu Rena
SERIES: When They Cry – Higurashi (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)
SCALE/CREATOR: 1/8, by MegaHouse
RELEASE DATE: January 2007
Hooray! Someone finally licensed the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni visual novels! Too bad they’re going to offer the games as download only. I’m the type that enjoys owning physical copies of things, so this new age of digital-only content is seriously rubbing me the wrong way. The day figures go digital only…it’ll be like my worst nightmare come to life. (Let’s completely ignore the illogical parts of that last sentence for now)
Haaauuuu~, omochikaeri~!
MegaHouse has been SUPER awesome lately with their Queen’s Blade and One Piece figures. I was expecting similar quality when I got their two Higurashi figures…but boy, I was letdown. Ryuugu Rena and Sonozaki Shion’s quality is mediocre at best.
Despite what you may think, her main use of that cleaver is to dig up a trapped Colonel Sanders statue. Yes, the KFC guy.
I’ll keep things brief since I really hate having to speak poorly about anything related to Higurashi: Visible seam lines, sloppy painting, hair color is incorrect (it’s supposed to be a bright orange-ish color, not dull brown), and the cleaver falls out of her hand easily. She’s also really…plain…but that’s mainly thanks to her original design.
By the way, what exactly is she wearing? I’ve never seen a dress like that. The lopsided hat is also kinda goofy. Then again, Higurashi does take place in the 1980’s. And when I think 80’s, I think questionable fashion. *winks*
Typical MegaHouse base. It is sparkly, though…
Rena comes on a pearlescent grayish-white plastic slab with the Higurashi logo on it. The pegs, however, are transparent red…the same color as Shion’s base. This leads me to believe that Rena’s base is Shion’s, but with a coat of paint. But why in the world would they bother to paint the base, but not the pegs?! C’mon, MegaHouse.
OVERALL: 6/10
+ Comes with a cleaver!
- Mediocre quality
The Higurashi figures came out back in 2007. They were in stock for a while but have since sold out at most retailers. I can’t really recommend them to anyone but diehard fans of the series, though. The original designs are a bit plain…and the lackluster quality doesn’t help at all.
- G.K. Sil Kamina
Observer Extraordinaire said,
July 7, 2009 at 11:01 am
I’ve definitely seen that dress before…I see what you mean by the hair. Her face doesn’t look quite right to me, but maybe it’s just the angles (no offense). Anything with Higurashi kicks arse, even if by concept alone
G.K. Sil Kamina said,
July 7, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Nah, you’re right about the face. It doesn’t resemble any incarnation of Rena I’ve seen: anime, manga, or the visual novel version. All other figures of Rena have her with the orange-ish hair, so I wonder what made MegaHouse go in a different direction.
The new Higurashi figures from Wave (Hanyuu and Rika) look pretty awesome. Don’t know if I’ll get Hanyuu, but I’ll probably get Rika.
Observer Extraordinaire said,
July 7, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Oh! I’ll check those out
Nipah~
Kanon said,
July 7, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Too bad the figure isn’t that great, love Rena but going to have to pass on this figure ^^;
I really like the first and last pictures, looks really coool and mysterious!
G.K. Sil Kamina said,
July 7, 2009 at 4:29 pm
I really like how the first one came out. At the time this was the only Rena figure on the market (aside from the little Max Factory trading one) so I decided to get her. I’m surprised there aren’t more Higurashi PVC’s given how popular the series is.
Kanon said,
July 8, 2009 at 2:34 am
I’m surprised, too. Glad the Wave Hanyuu and Rika are coming out soonish ^^ I hope a good Rena figure comes out sometime, though.
shino said,
July 8, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Saw this figure back when it was released, and since I just started back then, I thought it looked pretty sweet, and I didn’t even have a clue about Higurashi back then too and maybe that could be why I thought the figure was nice (that said, I still don’t have too clear of an idea about the series ^^;) I guess back then, we weren’t too spoilt for choice and so every other figure looked nice. But heck, back then, prices were a lot more consumer friendly too :p
Totally with you on the “having to own physical copy” aspect. Though I suspect a lot more blogs would pop up if ever figures could be downloaded and that “illogical” statement of yours is probably a secret dream harbored by many :p
G.K. Sil Kamina said,
July 9, 2009 at 12:13 am
Oh man do I miss those days. Back then I bought any figure I thought looked nice, and often didn’t pay more than 4500 yen for ‘em. But nowadays you can’t get much for that kind of money. I can’t believe how high figure prices have gotten. It’s madness. MADNESS!
I pray the digital figure day never comes!
Observer Extraordinaire said,
July 9, 2009 at 1:28 am
I know! I’ve been seeing digital figures in my nightmares! D:
Andrew said,
July 10, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I can’t wait for digital figures so I can torrent them all.
I think that comment also makes me the first official EmencyBlazer Works troll.
Observer Extraordinaire said,
July 10, 2009 at 10:51 pm
lol d(^ ^)b
G.K. Sil Kamina said,
July 10, 2009 at 11:09 pm
You horrible little man, you. I have a fist and I’m shaking it!