Awesome life-size anime figure display exhibition opens in Tokyo this month

https://ift.tt/2IUtxFE Casey Baseel

If gigantic anime figures are your idea of fine art from Japan, you won’t want to miss this free event in Akihabara.

If you’re an anime fan, odds are you want a figure of your favorite character decorating your home. And, naturally, if you’re a really big fan, you want a really big figure.

So in recent years, with the otaku culture boom showing no sign of slowing down, Japanese companies like Figurex have started producing life-size figures of popular characters. However, once you get past a certain point a figure stops feeling like a figure and starts feeling like a statue, and so wouldn’t it make sense to display them for the public, just like museums do with fine art sculptures?

Figurex agrees, which is why later this month, it’ll be holding an exhibition of its life-size figures in Tokyo. Rather than the art museums of the Ueno neighborhood, the event will take place in otaku mecca Akihabara’s Radio Kaikan, one of the district’s most venerable venues for anime figure display and shopping.

Figurex has yet to announce which exact figures will be on display, but its life-size Kuroneko/Ruri Goko, from My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute, seems like a shoo-in, considering that pre-orders for the 139-centimeter (54.7-inch) statue just started in June. Only 10 unites will be produced, priced at 1.48 million yen (US$13,580).

Among the other display candidates are colorful maids Rem and Ram from Re:Zero−Starting Life in Another World, who stand 149 and 154 centimeters tall, respectively.

Figurex has one more My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute character on its roster: Ayase Aragaki, who at 162 centimeters is tall even by life-size anime girl figure standards.

162-centimeter vocaloid Yukari Yuzuki has gotten the life-size treatment twice, once in kimono-style waitress garb, and once dressed as a policewoman.

▼ The kimono version is even equipped with a speaker so you can hear her virtual idol voice.

Rounding out Figurex’s life-size lineup are Ichimatsu Matsuno, of Osomatsu-san and anthropomorphized electric razor (seriously) Izumi Matsumoto (exact heights undisclosed)…

…and pint-sized Kanna Kamui (from Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid) and Renge Miyauchi (of Non Non Biyori), both 125 centimeters tall.

The Figurex exhibition is scheduled to take place at Akihabara Radio Kaikan from July 28 to 30, and admission is free. It’s your best chance to see so many life-size anime figures in the same space, unless you happen to be friends with this guy.

Event information
Figurex Exhibit
Venue; Akihabara Radio Kaikan 10th floor/ 秋葉原ラジオ会館 10F
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Soto Kanda 1-15-16
東京都千代田区外神田１丁目１５−１６
July 28-30
10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Source: Twitter/@figurexjp via Jin
Top image: Figurex
Insert images: Figurex (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ,8, 9)