Super Sonico After Bath Time Version Review

Hello everyone and welcome to another figure review on Tiro Finale! With the preview and unboxing done and dusted, we will now be taking a closer look at FuRyu's Super Sonico After Bath Time Version. Let us go over some basic information you would want to know about the figure before jumping straight into the review.

• Manufacturer: FuRyu
• Series: Total Lifestyle Coverage Series, Super Sonico
• Price: NA (~1,200 - 1,500 Yen)
• Release Date: 02/2014
• Scale: Non-scale (~160 mm)
• Material: PVC

Front View

As part of the Total Lifestyle Coverage series, these figures encompass the various mundane activities of Sonico's daily life. In this case, we have Sonico drying off her hair after taking a bath. With a yellow towel wrapped around her shoulders, Sonico is wearing little more than a gray sports bra and panties while crossing her legs over a green stool.

Rear View

From the rear, we can see Sonico's hair blowing out in a dramatic fashion emulating the strong gust of wind that is coming from the hairdryer. It really is quite a sight to behold with absolutely magnificent sculpting especially for a prize figure, more on that later in review.

Right View

Despite being seated, the figure is still rather tall and large measuring roughly 160 mm in height. There is no mention of scale but, Sonico's proportions and size are very similar to the other figures in the Total Lifestyle Coverage which would have her fall somewhere around the 1/8 scale size. Definitely impressive value for money here when you consider how many prize figures lean towards the smaller size as a cost saving measure. 

Left View

Sonico's crossed leg pose was of a slight concern for me when I first unboxed the figure. When having to make such a dramatically angled pose, manufacturers often resort to increasing the amount of plasticizer within the PVC mix to make the limb more flexible. While it does allow for the desired pose, the long-term issues are rather problematic including disfigurement and melting as the plasticizer begins to ooze out from the surface. Fortunately, there are no such issues here. It is certainly good to see FuRyu learning from their past mistakes.

Now that we have covered the four general views, let us zoom in to take closer look at the finer details. An area where most prize figures start to reveal their flaws and cutbacks in an effort to save cost. After all, these prize figures (when not won in arcades) are often sold for less than 1,500 Yen.

We start with Sonico's facial detailing and expression which I must say is absolutely spot on. Gone is the usual cute and innocent smile of Sonico's poses. Here we have Sonico looking rather candid with her slightly opened mouth and dropping eyelids while still maintaining a slight blush. It is almost as if she has had a long hard day and really could not be bothered with striking a cutesy pose anymore especially after taking a bath! 

From a technical stand point, there are also no complains with the matte eye decals being applied nicely and Sonico's mouth being appropriately sized. It also helps that all the other complementary factors are well executed too such as, her signature headphones and soft pink hair. Speaking of hair, have I mentioned just how spectacular Sonico's hair is for this figure?

Because it is. Every single strand flows as if brought to live by the strong gust of wind from the hairdryer. Yet, there are portions which are still clumped together hinting at the wet nature of her hair. Coupled together with the subtle color gradient, one truly gets the impression that Sonico's hair is still wet following her bath.

Even her fringe is lifted ever so slightly over her forehead yet, retains its signature parting and style. A subtle touch that helps to maintain the immediately recognizable image of Super Sonico. 

Note how the strands of hair closer to Sonico's left hand side are not so dramatically lifted as it does not come in direct contact with the wind from her hairdryer. This is especially apparent with the locks of hair that rests on her left shoulder which hardly move because they are directly beneath the blower portion of the hairdryer. It is such minor attention to detail which makes even the cheapest prize figures enjoyable both to admire and collect!

Towards the back we can see Sonico's hair lifting up slightly towards the left hand side as the wind overflows around her back. 

But, it is towards the right hand side where her hair is truly blown dramatically by the gust. The careful transition of wind source from the left towards the right would likely go unnoticed by many especially if your focus is onto other parts of the figure.

With many FuRyu manufactured Sonico figures, my favorite parts are almost always the hair and it is no exception with this figure. Every strand of hair playfully dances in the wind whilst being complemented by the lovely color gradient transitioning towards a lighter pink as it approaches the top.

Understandably, it must have been a pain to both sculpt and manufacture this intricate hair portions for the figure. As such, we do not see many prize figures sporting such intricate sculpting solely on the grounds that it would cost far too much. Which often leads me to wonder how FuRyu does it, is it the economy of scale and the sheer popularity of Sonico figures which allows them to make up for a smaller profit margin?

From this angle, Sonico even looks rather annoyed! "You again photographer-san?"

Economics aside, let us shift our focus back once more to Sonico. Complementing her flowing hair, Sonico is also using her right hand to toss and separate her hair to make it easier to dry. For a figure with such a simple pose, it is functional movements like these which help to sell the pose even more. 

Before we move further down, let us cast our spotlight for a short while on Sonico's headphones. Even after a bath, she has them on being an integral part of her character. 

The headphones are standard FuRyu affair, the silver finish is rather rough but, neatly painted within the borders separating the black and silver components appropriately. The large wide headband of her headphones also serve to cover up any head seams which have always been a big plus point for me and one of the trivial reasons I continue to collect Sonico figures.

Moving on, we shift our focus to Sonico's outfit which I am sure many of you have been wondering about too. For this figure, we can see Sonico dressed in a gray sports bra which is obviously several sizes too small for her! Would it kill to let poor Sonico wear properly fitted clothes every now and then?

On top of her ample cleavage on display, there is also a significant amount of under-boob owing to her under-sized bra. To further accentuate this fact, the stretches and creases in the center of her bra showing that the fabric is being stretched to its limit. It certainly looks really uncomfortable.

Wrapped around her shoulders and her ample bust is a yellow sports towel. The towel is finished with a textured surface and is made slightly thicker to give it the appearance of fabric. I cannot say that I am fooled but, it is a worthy try.

Surrounding the edges of Sonico's sports bra is a thin strip of pink tracing the otherwise entirely gray garment. These strips are very thin and likely, very difficult to paint too. As such, the delivery is often inconsistent with the thickness of the lines varying as it moves along the border. While I can appreciate the move to add some femininity to the design, this is perhaps my biggest critique of the entire figure despite not being visible from afar. Little inconsistencies such as these remind you that it is indeed a prize figure and FuRyu too needed to make the necessary cuts to save cost. 

Towards the back, we can observe the large bands and straps that are consistent with the design of a sports bra. While normal sports bras are designed for maximum support and comfort, I do not think these meet any of said criteria. 

Rather, I am glad FuRyu did not decide to go with an even skimpier outfit such as a string bikini or swimsuit as that would make even less sense. Picking the lesser of two evils, I suppose.

The only accessory that Sonico comes with is her hair dryer that can be removed. Normally, it slots right into her left hand which provides a snug fit that is neither too tight of loose. 

One interesting point about the hairdryer is that it actually has buttons sculpted into the holder portion. These buttons are not visible once the device is held in Sonico's hands but, it is still an impressive amount of detailing for an otherwise simple accessory.

Oh, is that so? That sure is interesting.

Done with the top half of her outfit, we now move to the lower half of her torso which I am very happy to report that FuRyu has very carefully maintained Sonico's proportions. Gone is the slim Sonico in favor of the more rounded body proportions in respect to Tsuji Santa's original design. In case you did not know who Tsuji Santa is, he is the original designer of Super Sonico. You have him to thank for this festival mascot turned company mascot and worldwide phenomenon.

Sonico's larger proportions are especially apparent in her waist and thighs which are notably larger than what you would see in most bishoujo figures. She may not be sporting any excessive belly fat but, she is also a far cry from what we are used to seeing depicted from typical female anime characters.

Sonico's figure is even more apparent when viewed from the back with her torso being relatively straight, no hourglass figure here. The one thing I absolutely love though, is the arc in her back! Despite all the extra weight up top, Sonico still knows the importance of maintaining a good posture. 

No muffin tops here. For that, you would have to refer to Super Pochacho.

You may have noticed that Sonico is actually wearing normal panties which carry over a similar design as her sports bra. While her sports bra may be several sizes to small, there is no such nonsense here with her panties. The creases and stretches on the fabric serve as a reminder of Sonico's - often forgotten - ample assets in her lower half. 

Unlike her bra, I am happy to report that the pink borders for her panties are actually painted much better with more consistent lines throughout. This could be attributed to the fact that this area is indeed much easier to paint. The conservative undergarment design is retained throughout the figure and I am really glad FuRyu had the restraint to not go overboard with the sex appeal.

Approaching the final part of the review, we will now take a look at Sonico's legs. An area that is often overlooked but, should never be forgotten. 

Sonico has her legs crossed with her right leg over the left. Fortunately, there are no manufacturing problems this time and both legs neatly cross over. The stool that Sonico sits on has a specific mold to fit her bottom and does a fairly good job of keeping the figure in place without the use of pegs. There is also an added bonus of being able to transfer Sonico onto another chair or platform if you desire. 

Being a gravure idol, Sonico is often portrayed with long legs and slim calves. All of that cycling sure helps to keep her legs in good shape. Figure wise, the sculpt is the usual standard issue affair with no notable flaws or highlights either.

Sonico's toenails are painted peach color with each toe, even the small toe, receiving it. 

It is the same for both of her feet. This feature may be unheard of in prize figures last time but, it is steadily becoming the norm among various manufacturers. 

At the end of the day, if there was anything I could change about this particular Sonico figure, what would it be? For me, it would probably be her sports bra. Changed to a larger size to fully cover her ample bust. Sonico is a busty character and I can understand her having ample cleavage but, under-boob is both impractical and unnecessary. 

That being said, I can fully understand that the intention of doing so was to highlight Sonico's sex appeal as is the case with most of her figures. Nevertheless, there are times where less is more and I believe this is one of them. FuRyu could have gone with a full coverage sports bra and the effect would still have been the same, in my opinion.

That being said, I do not take anything away from the figure. Just because I may not be a fan of the under-boob implementation, does not mean that I am not able to appreciate it either. For the most part, the sculpt is perfect with no signs of boob seams or glue marks. 

As far as prize figures go, this is under-boob done right. FuRyu has plenty of experience placing Sonico in compromising and revealing poses and it definitely shows here.

Despite my two major complaints, I still find myself coming back to this Sonico figure with heaps of praise. For starters, her hair is absolutely marvelous and her body proportions are impeccable. If you are looking for a Sonico figure with her going about her daily life, this is it. And this is also probably my favorite figure, thus far, from the Total Lifestyle Coverage series. 

What may appear to be a rather perverted figure at first with a setting taking place after a bath, actually turns out to be a figure with a surprising amount of depth and detail. I would not be rushing to my trophy cabinet to crown this as the best Sonico prize figure but, I will admit, it has certainly left a very lasting impression on me. As such, for Sonico fans, this figures comes highly recommended!

With that, we come to the end of our review of Super Sonico After Bath Time version. I hope you have found this review helpful and if you have any questions, do not hesitate to let me know in the comments section below. I would love to hear what you have to say. Until the next time, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!