One of my favourite characters in the Naruto franchise is Kakashi Sensei, though to be fair every character is so damaged in one way or another it's hard not to find one that you root for. I know he's known as the guy who has an incredibly tragic backstory now, but back in the day, he was the mysterious dude always reading a book, never revealed his face, and had the ability to basically learn anything by seeing it.
With the new Naruto Figuarts line up came a figure for the man himself, one that I eagerly preordered. To be honest though, I have so many fond memories of Naruto characters, I might end up with more of these than any other series - it could be my Fate franchise for the Figuarts line.
Kakashi retails for about 5,700 Yen, which puts him at the average price point for a Figuarts release. Noting particularly fancy about the box. Like the Dragonball stuff, it's a photo of the toy, but with a fancy Instagram filter applied to give it the look of being draw with a brush.
Contents aren't bad, but again this is an average priced Figuarts release:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 2 x Head Sculpt (Covered Eye, Uncovered Eye)
- 6 x Face Plate (Neutral, Suprised, Smiling, Eye Close, Sharingan Effect X 2)
- 14 x Posing/Gripping Hands, including a dedicate "Thousand Years of Pain" Hand
- 1 x Novel
I feel the only things that could have been added are a Chidori effect, and a Kunai or two.
Out of the box, the figure is very much resembling the man himself. Technically, the figure is actually bulkier than he is in the upper torso, but Kakashi wears a vest and he's so slim to begin with he just looks normal.
Id say that heads and faces worked out generally well. For whatever reason, the right eye seems to be a bit off, but even then it's only on the faces with both eyes.
Articulation continues to be a strong point and is the same as that of Naruto, who features a very similar body style. I've begun to appreciate the subtle changes this body has over the Dragonball 2.0 bodies, such as the extra joint above the ankles that allow for a more natural looking wide legged stance, even down to the level of almost horizontal splits. I do wish that they had kept the floating groin piece on the figures though, as that would let the figures achieve higher angled kicks - on the plus side that area of the figure does look a lot cleaner.
In terms of performance, with the exception of aforementioned legs, you're in good shape. The shoulders are always going to result in some poses looking a bit weird, but at least you'll be able to achieve your desired effect.
Paint wise, things are perfectly fine from a general glance perspective. No significant overspray or unsmooth textures. Colour of the plastic generally handles the bulk of the work. Flesh tone paint is a bit thick, most likely due to the amount of paint needed to block off the underlying plastic colour. Some panel lining would have helped make some of the details pop out more, such as the Konoha Village emblem and the bandages. Decal work remains at the consistently good Figuarts level.
Build Quality wise I only have one real complaint - for some reason the socket on my one eyed head sculpt is slightly large, resulting in the head not staying on the body as easily. Otherwise, there's really nothing negative to say about this figure, as posing and parts finishes are as expected.
I'm quite happy with the way Kakashi turned out, as I am about most modern Figuarts. Great articulation, very good overall aesthetics - I look forward to when they announce other characters I'd love to get my hands on like Jiraya and Ikura Sensei. Like with Dragonball, I may not like or want every release in the series, but at least I can be relatively assured that if I pick one from the line up at random, I won't be disappointed in the final product that has benen shipped to customers.
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