Unboxing Michiru Hyoudou 1/7 Scale Swimsuit Figure by Good Smile Company

Saekano has three main girls and that really does Michiru Hyoudou some great injustice. The main trio has plenty of figures released for them already. This one is the first figure of Michiru, in a swimsuit no less.

Although late by a few years, this figure completes Good Smile Company’s swimsuit set for the Saekano series. All other Saekano figure sets don’t include Michiru except the limited lingerie version which actually just went up for pre-order. So if you want a figure of Michiru, these are the only two available.

This figure of Muichiru is based on the illustration by Kurehito Misaki and stands at 25.5 cm. (9.95 in.). This comes with a postcard of the illustration on which the figure is based.

The Unboxing

The box is standard but it comes with a large window in front so you can actually see the full figure and the alternate parts. The box sides and the back shows laminated illustrations of the character. The top has a window in the shape of the Blessing Software logo.

Unboxing reveals the main figure and all the parts. By default, she wears unbuttoned denim shorts which gives a glimpse of the purple and white swimsuit underneath. She does come with an alternative part that allows you to replace the denim shorts with just the bikini. The default face wears a sun visor but comes with an alternative face part without the sun visor.

You can basically mix and match how you want to display her. For me, in this case, I believe less is more so I had her displayed with just the swimsuit and without the sun visor.

Unboxing Michiru and taking pictures of her was a real treat especially since she’s actually looking and posing at the camera.

Display Options

As I mentioned above, I chose to display her minus the shorts and the visors. This option shows a bit more skin. It’s sexy but not lewd.

Summary

The sculpt is great as one would expect from Good Smile Company. I did notice one glaring issue though. The ribbon on the swimsuit is not touching the rest of the swimsuit. It’s not very noticeable when you look at her when she is displayed but once you zoom in closer, you’ll probably notice it. I’m not sure if this is just an issue on the one I have or is a predominant issue across all manufactured figures of her. Still, I’d count that as a fail on GSC’s quality control.

I did spot 2 more minor issues on the sculpt of the swimsuit but they are barely noticeable I feel it’s not even worth mentioning here. Maybe if you have sharp eyes you can see it on the image above.

Other than that, the quality of the sculpt is superb. You can simply look at her stomach and back and you can see how toned the muscles are. You can also look at her butt and see that the bikini is wrinkled. This is a great sculpt and just one of the little things that count in terms of quality. The same level of detail can be seen in the denim shorts.

The paint is just perfect all around. No smudges. No stray paint. There is good shading and gradients where needed.

The base also gets a perfect score for me. I think it replicates beach sand quite well. It looks quite convincing.

No gripes on the packaging as well. A perfect 5 out of 5.

As I already mentioned above, the pose is great and I really enjoyed taking photos of her because she is actually posing at the camera. I even brought out the other girls in their swimsuits just to take group photos.

This has been one of the more enjoyable unboxing sessions I’ve done lately but that issue with the swimsuit ribbon did trip me up a bit. Also, I found out that she doesn’t fit on the part of the shelf where I want to put her in. I’ll have to rearrange my collection so I can put her with the Saekano trio.

Michiru and Good Smile Company get a solid 4.5 out of 5 for me. Despite the issues, this has been a delight. Although I am dreading having to rearrange my shelves just to fit her beside Megumi, Utaha, and Eriri.

So now I leave you with the rest of the photos I’ve taken.