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Lylibellule鷹守ハルカ Takamori Haruka
Posted by meronpan on November 9, 2008
As with (surprisingly) many things in the otaku world, our story this time begins with an eroge. Thanks to Alicesoft‘s February 2008 release of 超昂閃忍ハルカ (chou kousennin haruka, Beat Blades Haruka), we have this lovely offering from Alter. I’ll assume readers are well aware, but just to be sure, the links to Alicesoft’s site are nsfw.
Though some eroge focus on story and can be quite moving, Beat Blades Haruka definitely focuses on the ero aspect.
Haruka’s box is nice and windowed so you can get a good look at her before deciding to buy… if you’re lucky enough to live by a store that actually has Alter figures in stock.
Are you familiar with the term くノ一 (kunoichi)? Basically it means female ninja, and in this case, applies to the 3 main heroines of Beat Blades Haruka.
If wikipedia is to be believed, kunoichi were different from regular ninja in that usually they went undercover as geisha, servants, prostitutues, etc. to approach their target, using their relationship to easily poison the victim or gather information. Combat was more of a backup.
Haruka’s design is more along the lines of the more popular portrayal of kunoichi… a sexay skilled fighter ^_^ She wields a pair of… hmm daggers? Perhaps they’re tanto’s? I’m not very familiar with ninja weapon vocab ^^;
The daggers separate at the blade and so you can fit them into Haruka’s hands.
I love how her ninja scarf thing was done.
‘course being the Alter fanboy I am, I love pretty much everything about this figure ^^;
In the past it seems a figure like this would most definitely be a leaner but supposedly abs and whatever other manufacturing wonders have eliminated this problem.
Coincidentally two other recently unboxed figures share the balancing on one leg pose.
I admit it does put me a little bit ill at ease… are the manufacturers sure they’ll hold up? ^^;
Looks great though and there’s no way I’d be leaving these babies in their boxes ^^;
Concealing pantsu is not a priority for haruka.
‘course for a kunoichi who gains her powers by doing naughty things, what do you expect? ^^;
In Japanese, the word, ‘girigiri’ means ‘just barely’, as in, she just barely keeps her pantsu from view from this angle.
Was toying around with the lighting in this pic, alas I don’t think I have the proper setup to create it naturally. Well, maybe I do, will have to experiment more.
Here’s how it was originally.
いい胸~ ii mune~
Unfortunately as with most figures, the base is nothing to write home about.
I guess it’ll have to do since I don’t make custom bases ^^;
And now, welcome to the first manekko theatre~
manekko means ‘copycat’ (…i think ^^;;).
Something about lulu’s face seemed a bit off, so I’ve left him in mask mode for the time being…
覚悟！ (prepare youself!)
Anyone else enjoying kemeko? I love the OP.. and the ED for that matter ^^
Lulucopter attack!
original lulucopter
kagamin hires a new bodyguard
In my book, another winner from Alter.
Glad they went with her kunoichi outfit rather than her seifuku or shitagi.
Though her shitagi mode is rather appealing, I think her kunoichi outfits makes for a better display piece ^^;
Haruka was released in September so there’s bound to be a ton of coverage already out there… lessee… wcloudx, happy soda, and exelica meteor to name a few.
2nd 2 cg from the game, box image from official site.
以上！
James said
Your pics are awesome !
Did you made a little setup to make them ? it’s great !
And Haruka is cute , and yes Alter is awesome , fanboys FTW !
Blowfish said
Nice Pictures! Getting better every time!
My Naruto Vocabulary tells me that those Daggers are called Kunais but i ight as well be totally wrong ^^
Shes very nice but out of reach for me….No monies,no figures ^_^
I love Kemeko DX just the right amount of Randomness with pretty girls.Exactly my thing.And the OP is just “MARVELOUS!”
sonic_ver2 said
NIce shot, i see improvements each time you tried a shot. For now you might want to try Photoshopping to edit contrast, brightness, histogram, or RGB level. It might be fun and it can turn your photos into something else.
I never heard of her before this figure was announced. Too bad her sexiness couldn’t grab my attention unlike Chua Churam.
meronpan said
@james thanks ^_^ it’s amazing what a difference a tripod and piece of poster board make ^^; next i’ll have to work on the lighting and different bg’s…
@blowfish ah yes kunai! totally forgot about those ^^;
in the pool episode, i
@sonic_ver2 i do mess with those settings a little already, but generally just use the auto-level feature because I’m trying to get through 30-40 photos ^^;;
i may have heard about her first at danny’s site, she definitely got my attention :P
Q said
Your photoshoots now have a very different feel compared to the early ones I saw back in late summer. This one must have taken you a long time to take. Very nice photos indeed!
lol at Lelouch’s random 介入
Optic said
The original lulucopter is hilarious. lol
The figure looks superb and those blades look very detailed. I preordered her on an impulse when she was first out but canceled a few days after. I realised I was breaking my “don’t get any unknown figure’ policy. (Not that I haven’t broke it before lol)
Still, a figure I might consider for the future. ^^
meronpan said
@q yeah, definitely a big change from my previous set up… i think my biggest motivating factor was to get rid of the shadows from using a flash. still have some shadows since i’m just using ambient light in my room but at least it’s not such an eye sore (i think) ^^;
@optic aww too bad ya canceled her. i know where you’re comin’ from though… i probably wouldn’t have gotten her either if i wasn’t familiar with her character.
Rin said
Do love the shoot!!!!!!
But looking at the figure, I wonder if the base will hold the figure in the right position…
LOL at lulucopter!!!!!!
meronpan said
@rin thanks ^_^ so far she’s holding up just fine, i pray the proper research was done to ensure the stress won’t eventually break anything ^^;
lovelyduckie said
sigh…I just had to cancel mine. I think this figure has a gorgeous face and I love the fact that she looks like such a strong female ninja.
5p. said
@meronpan, Rin: Don’t know about Haruka, but if you dig around in Vita’s box a bit (ok, that sounded really wrong), there’s a little piece of clear plastic packing which is just the right size and shape to support her other foot. It looks kind of ugly and covers up the text on the base, but as long as nobody’s looking at it, it should keep the figure in good condition a little longer.
meronpan said
@lovelyduckie my condolences again for your cancellations. i also love the way they did haruka’s face. really fits her character.
@5p hmmm totally didn’t notice that. where exactly was it? I’m looking at the packing pics @ foobarbaz and i’m not seeing that piece at all. was it attached to the underside of the base or something? gah, now i want to go home and check her … errr *the* box. :P
Shihoudou Narika, Choukousennin Ver. ~ 四方堂 ナリカ 超昂閃忍Ver. « WAWAWA 忘れ物 said
[...] like how haruka looks… makes me want to redo my old review [...]