Having no idea what Sword & Wizards: The Emperor of Sword & Seven Lady Knights might be, I naturally turned to Google and was discouraged to learn that it’s a series featuring a male student at a wizard school who is markedly weaker than his female classmates in magical talent but compensates for this deficiency with his expertise in some other important ability. Utterly groundbreaking; I can’t imagine that we’ve encountered this premise before. Sarcasm aside, the covers, at least, show quite a bit of ass, which would be promising if not for the fact that it’s a text-heavy light novel series instead of an anime or a manga. Perhaps an adaptation will be forthcoming. But in the meantime, we can admire one particular character – Fuyuka, whose backside we’re looking at here.
This figure is sculpted by Kotobukiya in 1/8 scale and stands about 22 centimeters from base to the tip of her mechanical ear-like protrusions; she’s quite a bit taller if you include her lance. That said, this isn’t a particularly large figure; looking at some of Alter’s Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girl figures, for example, Fuyuka is a little bit slighter in terms of body build.
Curiously, Amakuni is producing a figure of another character from this series; I wonder if it will be of similar size to this figure.
The artist for Sword & Wizards is Niθ (responsible for the character designs of Demonbane, Blassreiter, and Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, amongst others), whose distinctive style is evident here, though not as much in the design of Fuyuka’s face. Rather, her outfit shows a number of his trademark features, such as ribbed straps, knee-high socks, and a strategically-placed cutout that reveals the cleft of Fuyuka’s buttocks.
This is a particularly complex figure, especially from the likes of Kotobukiya, who I can’t recall making many figures with this many parts. A considerable amount of assembly is required to put this figure together but it’s not too difficult to get her ready for display.
Amogst her parts is her weapon, which is something like a lance crossed with a Saturn V.
And she has two little mechanical arms, which appear to hover around her like options in Gradius. Having no familiarity at all with the source material, I’ll refrain from speculating as to what purpose they serve.
There’s an obvious ice theme going on here, and she’s got these little shards of ice which look dramatic and impart a sense of directionality to the figure.
Fuyuka’s wearing a leotard with a plunging cutout in the front and a thong back. It is quite pleasing to the eye, to say the least. Her boots are a little odd-looking, being that the angle of her feet is in line with her legs. The prominent positioning of her left foot emphasizes her distinctive footwear, lending this figure more of an exotic feel.
She’s also got these mechanical ears, which I don’t particularly care for but do look cute, I suppose. One of the ears on my figure is very loose but seems to not be actually damaged, so I guess it’s not a problem.
Fuyuka’s expression conveys stern determination, which complements the wintry motif of her design. Notably, her redheaded counterpart (coming soon from Amakuni) has a more cheerful and friendly expression, so I’d guess that they are meant to be contrasting characters. I wouldn’t be surprised to be wrong, though; the characters from Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls were quite unlike what I expected them to be based on their figures (should Sword & Wizards ever get an anime adaptation, I’d imagine the humor will be slapstick and lowbrow and the characterization to be as substantial as Fuyuka’s skirt).
The pose is obviously a highlight of this figure’s design, giving viewers a good view of Fuyuka’s face, her cleavage, and her ass. It combines sexiness with action in a manner that doesn’t look unnatural or artificial.
On a technical level, this figure is put together fairly well; I didn’t notice any major issues (though as usual, I don’t inspect the figure closely for manufacturing flaws). Her suit has an attractive glossy finish which gives her look a futuristic sensibility while her skin tone has a conventional matte color, unlike a few Kotobukiya figures which have had somewhat shinier skin.
This is a very lovely figure, one that I’m very pleased to have in my collection. I’m a big fan of Niθ’s style (as my collection of Samurai Girls figures attests) and this one is a fine adaptation of his work. It’s a little irritating that the line is split between two manufacturers, one of which is not easily accessible to overseas customers, but at least Kotobukiya did a great job with Fuyuka.
