We’re looking at another telegenic girl in a leotard: this time it’s Kasumi Yoshizawa, one of the newest additions to the Persona universe. I’ve yet to play Persona 5, despite it being a game that I was very much looking forward to, despite the fact that I own two copies of it (the original game and its expanded Royal release), and despite Persona 3 being one of my favorite games of all time (I rank it third or fourth, behind Phantasy Star II, Wasteland, and alternating spots with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic depending on how I feel on any particular day). In lieu of actually playing the game, I can at least appreciate the look of its cast, starting with Kasumi here.
Being that I haven’t played Persona 5 yet, we’ll skip discussing Kasumi’s character background and go straight to looking at this figure. She’s manufactured by MegaHouse under the label name Lucrea. No scale factor was provided for this figure, but she’s about 22.5 centimeters in height counting her upraised ponytail, making her appear to be sculpted in 1/8 scale. Given that the art style of Persona tends towards slender, willowy characters, she’s noticeably diminutive compared to her contemporaries.
One thing I do know about Kasumi is that she’s a gymnast, and thus she’s depicted wearing a rather fetching black leather leotard. Setting off this somewhat risqué design choice (by puritanical 2020 standards, anyway) is a cropped jacket and glossy thigh-high boots, both in matching black. The effect of her ensemble gives her an elegant yet sexy look, tinged with more than an insinuation of fetish styling.
The red of her gloves and her hair provides a sharp contrast to the monochrome of her outfit. Overall, her look is austere yet graceful. I’ve noticed that the styling of the Persona 5 characters is a good deal more provocative compared to the Persona 4 characters; the latter stuck mostly to conventional school uniforms with spectacles, whereas the Persona 5 characters dress in bodysuits, kinky boots, and spiked shoulderpads.
Kasumi’s flashing a playful V gesture over her face, but her look is serious rather than playful, adding to the more mature look of her design.
I found it interesting that her weapon is a sword. There’s sort of an unofficial rule in RPGs that the main character gets a sword and that the supporting characters use anything but a sword but nonetheless, Kasumi has a sword. It looks surprisingly practical; it’s not unusually oversized or ornate for a video game weapon.
Her stance is reminiscent of a floor dance routine, or so I believe, being not all that familiar with gymnastics.
Circling back to Kasumi’s outfit, I would be remiss if I didn’t provide a shot of her backside, so here it is.
Kasumi comes with two accessories, one being this facemask. The front of her face swaps out; the detachment seam in her hair is quite obvious.
The other accessory is a removable hand with the facemask attached, so that she can be posed lifting it up like a visor.
Of course, nothing is stopping you from displaying both at the same time, other than that doing so would make you a weirdo of some sort.
I really like this figure, though the one aspect I would have changed is that I wish this figure were larger than it is. Kasumi has a great design and it’s translated very well here. I really should play this game sometime. It’s unfortunate that my queue of games that I want to play is so extensive.
