Happy International Women’s Day! These days, the anime industry is the light novel and mobile/web/card game adaptation industry, and thus it shouldn’t be a surprise that the character that this figure portrays comes from one of those categories. This unfortunate reality is a major reason why I don’t watch much anime at all anymore, but at least they typically have attractive characters. Such is the case here with Umr, this unusually-named little girl with a most peculiar sartorial sensibility. We’ll observe this auspicious day by taking a look at this most dignified and well-dressed little girl.
Umr comes from the card battle game WIXOSS, which received an anime adaptation called selector infected WIXOSS a few years ago. I didn’t even know such a show existed before looking it up, but the title’s idiosyncratic capitalization and banal composition of three unrelated words thrown together already biases me against it. At any rate, I know nothing about the card game, the anime series, or Umr herself, so I’m not going to bother writing a character biography.
This figure is manufactured by Amakuni in 1/7 scale. The figure and base are around 32 or 33 centimeters tall, but Umr is pretty small; in terms of stature she’s smaller than most 1/8 scale figures, even those with a similarly petite physique. Assembly could not be simpler; Umr is already grafted to the massive key that comprises the backdrop, and so all that needs to be done is to attach that piece to the base. Some sort of trading game card with the source illustration was included with the figure; it looks nice and I’m sure people who play the WIXOSS game will enjoy having that.
Umr effects a youthful, cherubic look with her round face and placid expression. Her blue eyes provide a striking splash of vibrance amid an otherwise muted color scheme. Her look is inscrutable, her parted lips suggesting that she is about to speak or has noticed something of interest, but what might say or what she’s seen is left to the viewer’s imagination.
There are a couple of growths sprouting horizontally from her head; I’m not sure if they are horns, ears, or something else. As usual I’m not a big fan of such things on anime characters but being that they’re not obviously animal ears and they blend in reasonably well with her blonde hair, I can disregard them.
Umr’s is wearing an interesting and rather racy outfit. Her only real article of clothing is a tattered scarf. Otherwise, she’s wrapped up in a series of black leather straps that don’t do much more than cover up what needs to be concealed. It’s something of a bondage-style outfit but Umr doesn’t seem to be too bothered about it.
The straps curve around her buttocks like a thong, which is a nice touch. Generally, the sculpting and painting of her straps looks pretty good; it’s not perfect but considering the complexity and randomness of how they’re applied, I’m not going to be too critical of any technical issues in this regard.
One odd aspect is that her bangs are very nicely done, but the rest of the top of her head is flat and featureless, like a bowling bowl, or perhaps a peanut butter-colored Whopper candy.
Umr is leaning against a very elaborate backdrop. It’s actually a gigantic key, tip planted into the ground like a sword.
The key motif continues with these parts, which are made to appear as if they are floating.
The key is very ornate and does a fine job of accentuating the enigmatic look of this figure. That said, the key is very clearly made of plastic, which detracts a bit from the overall impression of the product.
The base is a little weak as well. The rock looks quite nice, with several rusted eyelets surrounding the central key, but the remainder of the base is nondescript gray plastic. It does the job of keeping the figure stable but the look is wholly incongruous with the ornamentation of the rest of the figure.
Personally though, I’m not too bothered by either of those things; this is still an excellent figure. I like Umr’s serene expression and her ethereal pose. And of course, I am quite fond of her outfit, which leaves her all but naked. Really the only thing I would have preferred to be different is the figure’s size, as it is quite small (to accommodate the large base and backdrop, I presume). But then, I prefer every figure to be larger. Amakuni did a fine job with Umr and I’m glad they made this figure, as I would have had no idea that this character even existed had they not.
