This week, I have a special treat courtesy of my friend Molly: a review on the new Senjougahara Hitagi figure! Nope, not that Hitagi figure, but the Kotobukiya version that seems to have been booted far from the spotlight by its Good Smile Company counterpart. Disappointed? Well, you shouldn’t be, as the figure is no slouch against its intimidating competition.
In case you’ve been living underneath a lock this past year, Senjougahara Hitagi is one of the protagonists of Bakemonogatari, an anime adaption of Nisio Isin’s light novel of the same name. Thought she may not look exceedingly special on the outside, Hitagi has a razor-sharp tongue which she uses to frequently verbally abuse and tease the hapless vampire protagonist, Araragi Koyomi. After helping Hitagi in ridding the crab oddity that causes her strange weightless condition, Araragi becomes closer to Hitagi, eventually entering a romantic relationship with her. Not that the abuse ever stops, of course.
Despite being a labelled as tsundere by Oshino, Hitagi is a rather unique character. Her brand of verbal abuse is different from the usual angry shrieks that we’ve heard from tsundere characters all over the place. If the tongue of a regular tsundere is a machine gun, then Hitagi’s tongue would be a sniper rifle – calculated and precise in its ability to reduce a man to a worm. But while her abusive tendencies may seem similar to sadist characters like Maria from Arakawa under the Bridge, Hitagi also displays moments of genuine affection that few could resist. By combining traits from various character archetypes, along with SHAFT-tier fanservice and a good backstory, the sudden boom of Hitagi figures should come to the surprise of no one.
In this review, I’ll do my best to judge the figure for what it is, rather than compare it against GSC and ALTER‘s unreleased counterparts, since comparing a real product against display prototypes is kind of unfair. I will scribble a couple of things down on that subject in the end, so without further ado, let’s a-go!