Astro Toy

Nendoroid Mako Mankanshoku

Nendoroid Mako Mankanshoku
Series: Kill la Kill
Maker: Good Smile
Price: $60

This is Nendoroid number 408. Last May, Nendoroid #300 (Miku 2.0) came out. So in about a little under 18 months, the line has produced over 100 figures! With that many figures coming out in so little time, I have found the quality is all over the place on this line. We haven't cracked one open in a little while, so it'll be interesting to see where this one is at.

I'm also really glad, personally, that the wave of Kill la Kill stuff is starting to come out. I won't hide that I loved this show start to finish, and it's exciting to see all the really cool stuff from a show you loved come out. Certainly Mako here is a favorite character for a lot of people. I'm still holding out for the first really nice figure of her in her banchou outfit.

The Nendoroid, as you likely know, is a display figure. The fun of it is switching around all the various parts to create different scenes. Obviously, the very silly Mako lends herself to this kind of treatment and GSC provides a strong variety of different parts to play with. I like this sculpt a lot; you don't have to look too hard inside the show itself to find an SD Mako, and they don't stray far from that. It really looks like something out of the show as opposed to something that's been through the Nendoroid character design “filter” like the other KLK Nendoroids.

You might remember Mako's impassioned, nonsensical pleas from the show; losing the match but winning with friendship!! and so on. This figure doesn't have the “hallelujah” pose (due to stubby Nendoroid proportions, this would probably be too much to ask), but she does have replacement legs in a crouched pose, and delightful bendy arms to replicate that exact frame where her waving arms turn into jump-ropes. The arms actually bend and hold their shape, probably with wire, but don't get too excited and tear them in half.

Mako also has a face for the many gags where she falls asleep while someone's talking: the blue snot bubble from her nose is suspended by a clear plastic part to create the illusion. It's very clever, actually; the plastic bit is lodged inside the front part of the head, and it pops out just a tiny bit to attach to the bubble. You won't notice anything's there unless you go looking for it.

Guts the dog and a plate of the Mankanshoku family trademark “mystery croquettes” are bonuses. Even the plate of wormy croquettes isn't half-assed; these are fully formed and well-painted little minature figures. Often pieces like these are skimped on and not worth it; not so here.

We paid a little bit extra for this figure because we got it from the GSC online store. We don't typically do this, but as you can see above, this preorder-only, GSC-exclusive extra face was not one to miss. If you don't remember, it's from the episode where Mako obliviously chats up Ryuko while being machine-gunned with tennis balls. This prop goes onto the face the same way the snot bubble does (but they don't tell you so!).

Many of the GSC online releases of the KLK figures come with clever gags from the show (like a paper cutout of Mako or “onscreen text” for Satsuki), so keep an eye out when you're preordering.

“Ryukoooo-chaaaaan” isn't here, but you get the idea. By the way, I often complain about Nendoroid stands not working, parts not fitting, and so on, so I'm happy to report that I had zero such problems with this figure, even with the critical component that seems to always be jacked up, the stand. Everything was completely painless. May it continue to be so.

Anyway! If you like Mako, and it's tough not to, this is a fine Nendoroid, absolutely worth buying.

Though we didn't get her there, I estimate that Mako will run you $53 shipped at Amiami right now. A Nendoroid of the heroine Ryuko is out there too, but we are waiting for the figma of her, which should ship this month.

When he isn't killing time on fighting games and mahjong, David Cabrera makes moe 4-panel comics about videogames at Kawaiikochan. You can follow him on Twitter @sasuraiger.