My personal world of figurine worship has just become a whole lot more awesome with the arrival of the Kotobukiya figurine of Haruhi Suzumiya. I have had my eyes on this figurine ever since she was released to the drooling market in October of 2008, and indeed my initial thoughts are “She is awesome”.

How awesome, do I hear you say? Well straight out of the box this figurine scores highly, and not just because she is very curvy and wearing a bikini. Firstly, her skin tone is perfect and with my closely prying eyes and camera I can only find little niggles that you would not otherwise notice. Secondly, her pose is drop-dead gorgeous, kneeling down with her hand in her hair, she could easily be at the beach within one of the many iterations of Endless Eight, vying for Kyon’s eyes. Not that she would need to do much vying, for she is clad in a bikini with a removable shirt that is very alluring.

Another highlight of this figurine is the choice in outfits; you can either have Haruhi with the full swimsuit experience, or keep her torso covered with a cute tank top. Of course both are highly appealing, but I prefer Haruhi with the shirt, which suggests more rather then revealing all. Good god, did I really say that? Well before you all breath fire at me, it is only a matter of removing her head (god forbid) and unclipping her shirt and hey, presto! Swimsuit eye candy galore! Replace her head and try not to drool too much, because that might disturb others around you.

Moving on from her figure, Haruhi’s facial proportions and expressions are top notch and very true to the anime, which is important. While she does seem to have a lot more hair then I expected (especially from the back) and some unwanted seams on her head, this is easily forgiven if you line up with her gaze, since she is looking in a particular direction. Despite this the sculptors have done a good job on Haruhi from all directions, and she certainly is not a figurine for viewing only from the front. Her rear is quite nice as well….

Back to the face, Haruhi’s eyes are well painted, hair in the right place complete with hair band, and again all are very true to the art style from the anime. Other ‘minor’ things like her nicely shaped arms, midriff and legs are also very (very) good.

In conclusion, this figurine of Haruhi Suzumiya is one I highly recommend if you can get past the risqué-ness. Overall build, paint quality, paint tones, and sculpture quality are very pleasing, with my only gripe being slight paint blemishes on the headband.

So if you are looking at some photos of this figurine, and wondering if she is indeed as awesome as they depict, I can safely say: Yes, she is epically awesome. Now go get.