Review: Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Girls Senhime by Zai

Today I’ll be looking at a figure that was delivered just yesterday, Hobby Japan + Alter’s Senhime from the Hyakka Ryoran: Samurai Girls franchise which I believe is a novel and soon to be anime series.  The anime trailer looks quite stylish and I’ll be checking it out on release but as it’s full of panty shots and uhh.. exploding clothes, it’s probably NSFW. Here’s a link if you’re interested!

Senhime is the 4th of the Hyakka Ryoran girls that have recieved the PVC treatment by Alter and she’s the first we managed to get our hands on. We placed a preorder over at Amiami a couple of months ago for her after seeing her lovely promo shots and she was one of my most anticipated figures as she’s our very first Alter figure and I’d heard nothing but great things about the quality of their work.

After freeing her from her box, I pretty much started snapping photos of her straight away so read on to see the results of what happens when I madly snap photos while still half asleep.

She’s listed at a 1/8 scale and that seems pretty spot on, she’s as tall as most of our other 1/8 figures although she’s a lot heavier than most thanks to her coat. One thing I love the most about Senhime is her curves, she looks to have a lot more meat on her than all of the figures we have and I love that her stomach is sculpted to be a little round and that her legs aren’t the same width as a twig. I like slender figures as much as the next person but yeah, it really is refreshing!

Oh my, that detail! She’s got so much going on with her outfit from every angle. She’s mostly plastic but comes with a couple of ropes parts that I’ll look at more closely soon although the red rope wrapped around under her chest is made from PVC.
I adore the folds in her skirt and they show slight movement in the way they have been sculpted. Thigh high stockings are also always a nice touch too!
I’ve got no issues with her sculpt at all and her paint job is near perfect with a few minor flaws here and there.. most noticeably around the bottom of her skirt. I reeeeally love how the colour pallete they’ve used manages to be somewhat pastel but still very vibrant.

I’ve read of a few people being put off by Senhime’s facial expression and while I’ll agree that she doesn’t look too pleased, I think the frown she sports works for the figure and like that she looks like she’s either about to yell at me or is perhaps considering kicking my arse instead! She’s got a slight blush to her cheeks which looks a little bit cute and whether it’s from exertion or embarrassment, I have no idea! Our Senhime came with a little spot of paint on her nose. It’s hard to see and doesn’t really show in the above photo so I’m not all that concerned but I was rather disappointed to find it.

Senhime even has a lot going on with her outfit from the back view and you can see the gorgeous print on her coat as well as the movement in her outfit well from this angle. I actually didn’t realise her hair was this long until after she was ordered and was looking at a promo shot from the back, her hair looks like it could be short from the front! I do love long hair so I was very much pleased! Her hair has a little shading but generally uses it’s sculpt instead to create natural shadows and it looks great in natural light but as you can see in the photo, shining a lamp straight onto it makes it look a bit shiny and not so awesome looking. Her hair accessories are a nice touch, I’m not what they have printed on them though (eds note: They’re shogi pieces, COOL!)

The blue and white rope you see wrapped around her shoulders in the above photo is actual rope which I thought was a nice touch. The rope in her hand that attaches to her weapon is too although that rope isn’t as nice as the one around her shoulders. It’s a bit thin and looks like it could possibly come apart easily so I don’t like to play around with it much but it does look nice when you get it displayed properly.

You can see how long her weapon actually is in sideview! Almost every time I turn her around she knocks one of the Figma on my desk over with it so she’s surrounded by small petite Nendoroids for the moment! The tassel part and the first loop in the rope is made from PVC and while there is a slight difference the colouring, the plastic and the rope blend together rather well and it’s hard to tell until you take a closer look.
Her weapon itself comes in two parts and you see in the photo where I’ve had trouble getting the hilt into the head of the weapon properly. There are instructions to attach her weapon written in Japanese but it’s pretty basic, you just push the hilt through a gap under her sleeve at the back of the figure and through her hand. It’s a tight squeeze though and I was worried about taking some of the paint off the inside of her coat, even if I wouldn’t be able to see it!

Here is a closer look at the business end of her weapon and the detail here is lovely!

The hand she holds up the other end of the rope with. I adore how they have even painted her fingernails! The rope just sits in her hand though so there isn’t really anything fancy going on here but yeah, Senhime has some very nicely sculpted hands! I love the hands on figures almost as I love their shoes, I think.

Speaking of shoes, Senhime has some pretty awesome boots. Just the right amount of creasing and shading although her laces are a little stiff looking. You can also see the amazing detailing on the longer bottom layer of her coat in this photo, one of my favourite parts of this figure!

Her base looks to be in line with the rest of the girls from the series, white with some gold stars and Samurai Girls written at the front of it. Nothing fancy but a detailed base might be just too much for this figure, she’s already got a lot going on. She stands solidly on her base and although she’s heavy, she seems balanced so hopefully she’ll have no issues with bending or leaning.

Panty shot to show off her skirt again, hah.. I love that skirt!

I was worried about Senhime after seeing some pretty average photos of her but after taking photos of her myself and watching Luth take some test shots too, I understand why.. she looks far better under natural light (which we get next to none of in our apartment!) than artificial light and she doesn’t have a lot of good angles to take photos from making her rather unphotogenic compared to some other figures. (eds note: she has a really good front angle though, boring for photos since there are so many promo shots of that angle, awesome for display)

Having said all that though, she’s stunning and lived up to my high expectations of her. We’d love to get some of the other figures in the same line which include Yagyu Jubei (who also comes in a limited swimsuit version), Hattori Hanzo (who has a limited version with an extra weapon) and Sanada Yukimura (who was an exclusive) and are thinking about getting Jubei who is due to be rereleased in August. Hattori Hanzo is a figure we’ve been after for awhile but haven’t had much luck.

If you’re interested in purchasing Senhime, there are still a few instock at various places. Amiami had 1 in stock at the time of posting for 6,250 yen and HLJ have her listed as instock for 7,800 yen. Thanks for reading!
Eds note: Senhime comes in a surprisingly compact box, so she is most likely SAL-able. Checking Hobby Search, they offer it via SAL, but they’re sold out. We happened to get her via EMS since we got a few other things in the same package