So if you saw Pururun on the site and instantly recognised her as Polly Ester, congratulations, you're old (just like me!) The Samurai Pizza Cats was a bizarre answer to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, radically re-dubbed and thrown into the cartoon slots to fight for the attention of kids everywhere. They never made the same impact as the green team, but for many of us, these distinctly Japanese characters were vibrant and zany enough to embed themselves into our memories.
Originally, the cartoon was called Kyatto Ninden Teyandee, and while still played for laughs, was nowhere near as off-the-wall as its Western counterpart. Polly (or Pururun in her native show) was a strong, no-nonsense kinda gal who ached to be taken seriously as a girl despite being a brawler. Think Brienne of Tarth with whiskers.
So what's on offer?
This ES Gokin rendition of the character, constantly delayed to the point I ordered her twice because I'd forgotten about the initial order, is finally in my hands. Is she everything I'd hoped for? Well, yes and no.
There's no denying that the little figure, standing at 4.5", looks every bit the part. The plastic is super-glossy on the armoured parts, every conceivable extra is thrown into the massive box, from hands, faces and weapons to the super armour parts that make up her Toriotsukken form. The core body is die-cast, giving our little cat some much needed extra heft, but the head, arms and lower legs are all plastic. There's also a stand, but I don't tend to use those in my displays - nice that it's included though.
Articulation is only limited by her chibi-style - she has all the angles for a two-handed sword stance, but not the reach. Similarly her legs bend at the knee 90 degrees, and there's ankle tilts on a ball-joint, but everything is more limited than you might like in order to maintain the lines of the figure. Similarly, while everything pops on and off for swapping out parts, it's not as smooth as it should be.
The sword is held in place at her hip by a clip on piece that sits nice and securely, and as a neat extra touch, her flute can be clipped to her back. I always appreciate easy storage of accessories when they're not in use.
Trouble in Paradise
There are several issues here, but most are related to tolerances or clearances. As a basic figure, Pururun is fine, but once you start adding pieces to her, the choices seem bizarre to say the least. To start with, the helmet wraps around her face, so removing it to change the faces requires bending the plastic to avoid scratching the paint, and it's not always clear where the connecting points are because you can't see them. This, however, is a cakewalk compared to her super armour.
In order to power her up for her Toritsukken mode, you have to utilise tabs, ball joints, replacement parts, magnets and friction dimples. It's such a pain in the backside to do, and to top it all off ,these super parts don't have the hi-gloss finish as the base figure, so it actually looks cheaper and less impressive with everything attached - argh! For some reason the only die-cast piece on the armour is the chest, and that's held in place by a weak magnet, so it rattles in hand as well. So many daft decisions...
Once you realise that the huge box, only made necessary for the copious amount of extra parts, is largely redundant, it takes the shine off in more ways than one. At £90, you're essentially paying for a £30 figure (max) with a lot of extras you aren't likely to utilise, at least not often. Anime figures are often an expensive game, and £90 doesn't seem that expensive in light of your average Bishoujo or Figma cost, but in this case it's hard to justify the expense for what you'll actually use long-term.
But on the other paw...
Lets wind back the negativity a little - okay, we have the base figure, but what an adorable little cutie she is! Every inch a full realisation of the cartoon design, packed with character, loads of display options even if you limit yourself to hands and faces... basically it's about as good as a 3D representation of the character is ever going to get, and she does balance brilliantly on one foot, mainly due to the fact she isn't weighed down by too much die-cast.
I can't in good conscience suggest that the figure is worth the asking price for anyone but the most dedicated Pizza Cats fan, but if you love these characters, then they'll certainly liven up whichever space you put them in. And just watch the reaction of your fellow office workers when you have one on your desk!
This figure was purchased from Curibo (and also Anime Export - d'oh!)
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