Anime Figures Toys | PVC | Figma | Nendoroid | Manga

Every K-On! fan would definitely desire this Nendoroid Mio Akiyama PVC figure (けいおん! ねんどろいど 秋山澪 (PVC&ABS塗装済み可動フィギュア)) from Good Smile Company. Most of us who love the K-ON! anime are also avid Mio fans and already, this Nendoroid Mio has proven to be a huge hit. GSC did not even anticipate the size of the demand they would really get and the first shipment sold out promptly. Many did not even manage to get their preorder in in time but thankfully there is a second shipment that was out earlier this week. Quite a few places still have them and the prices have gone down to normal retail prices (you can see a comparison below) so do not end up paying more than what you should be doing so for a Nendoroid Mio figure. She might become more expensive when this current shipment become extinct, but not for now.

Not much more I can say about Nendoroid Mio and this figure line in general because I simply love these little deformed cuties. Most of us would love the crying Mio face in Nendoroid form:

The rest of the faces available are just as adorable and you also get a Nendoroid-sized bass guitar and amp for the left hand bassist. Pretty useful for some exchangeable poses with the other figures in the series. Can’t wait for the other three to come out, especially Nendoroid Yui whom I absolutely adore. Yes, I know she’s an airhead but a really cute one!

Price Comparisons for Nendoroid Mio Akiyama K-ON! PVC figure:

Amazon Japan – 4,480 yen
HobbySearch – 3,167 yen
Play-Asia – Pre-order

Some of you might be wondering how to get hold of the Nendoroid Puchi Hatsune Miku figure (初音ミク -プロジェクト ディーヴァ- 特典 ねんどろいどぷち 初音ミク Project DIVA 特典 ver. & Amazon.co.jpオリジナル オープニングテーマ “The secret garden” クリア歌詞カード付き) – the good news is that yes you can get your hands on it. The bad news is that it will come only packaged with the Hatsune Miku Project DIVA PSP game. Similar to the Toradora PSP game which comes with the Aisaka Taiga Nendoroid Puchi, the Project DIVA psp game will be bundled with the Hatsune Miku nendoroid petit figure. The game itself will be released on 2 July, 2009 so there’s still a bit of time before fans will get to have a taste of both the game and the figure.

There might be fans who will be satisfied with the Hatsune Miku Nendoroid that was already released eons ago, as the two do look similar. However, for me, I cannot resist nendoroid PUCHIS! The smaller a figure is, the cuter I find it. So it was another case similar with the Taiga puchi – I decided to place my pre-order for the Project DIVA PSP game in order to get this Hatsune Miku Nendoroid Puchi. The game will come in Japanese as usual, and my Japanese is not up to scratch at the moment. Even though you won’t likely need to know it well to actually play the game, I can still use it as another form of learning or practice.

Since this is a pre-order Japanese psp game, I got my copy from Amazon Japan. They have it at 23% discount (a huge discount, in my opinion) off retail price, and with free shipping, it comes to 4,698 yen. Because of the free shipping PLUS the discount, even after you use Tenso.com (or your favorite international shipping forwarding service), you should probably still pay at retail price or lower. Furthermore, the PSP game and a nendoroid puchi combined are light so the handling charges from Tenso.com are low too. That’s why I get quite a lot of my pre-orders from Amazon Japan especially since they have substantial discounts for those products.

I also came across Play Asia that has the Hatsune Miku Project DIVA psp game bundled with the nendoroid puchi. They have a Japan version and an Asia version. The former is slightly more expensive at 5,881 yen and is the one I got from Amazon Japan. The Asia version is 4,896 yen which is still slightly more expensive than what I paid for.

Photos courtesy of Mikatan’s blog and Amazon Japan.

For fans of Toradora, this Tenori Taiga Nendoroid Puchi figure will be available together with the purchase of the Toradora PSP game, to be released on April 30th, end of this month. This is an exclusive bonus only with the game and can’t be bought anywhere else unless you buy the Toradora PSP game. I’m a huge fan of the anime and really adore Taiga, so it was a no-brainer for me about getting a copy of the game just for the Tenori Taiga Nendoroid Puchi figure. Yup, will struggle with the game itself because I don’t know Japanese yet, but could probably help me in learning the language in a fun way as well. Not to mention having lots of fun with the figure! The caricature of Taiga with her hair in two small buns is also extremely cute and comes from one of the series’ highlight moments.

Picked up my copy from Amazon Japan which has it at 4,183 yen with free shipping. For fans outside Japan who want it directly from the country, then you’ll need a forwarding service in order to get yours from Amazon Japan when you buy the Toradora PSP game. I use Tenso.com, after all the additional shipping charges it should be just over 5,000 yen or so I assume (small package). Anyway, anything for a Tenori Taiga Nendoroid Puchi!

Here check out some preview pictures from GSC’s Mikatan’s blog for tsundere at its adorable best:

Photos courtesy of Mikatan blog