Figma Sae Review

Why do I have this figure? I haven't seen Hidamari Sketch, I have not heard of the girl named Sae before owning this figure either, nor do I find her really attractive (although she is kinda cute). Maybe it was the glasses that drew me? The simple yet effective and iconic design? The blue hair? I dunno, but I don't know why I bought this figure at the time of reviewing this, and that was the same mindset I had when I actually held the box in my hands for the first time. Regardless, I have this now, and I'll review it to the best of my ability despite my lack of knowledge on anything related to Hidamari Sketch or this character.

Box:

The box is your average modern figma box. With colors that match Sae's hair, it looks clean, formal, and displays the figure through a clear plastic.

On the back we get some product shots showing off the figure and the things it does.

Product:

After googling how Sae looks and the show she's from, I gotta say that figma once again pull off her appearance spectacularly. Her plain appearance is captured well, and the most distinguishable part of her appearance (her face) is printed as well as figma always print them. The sculpting is also pretty good in the dress, there's a folded, asymmetrical sculpt on the apron and even the sleeves which makes it look like a proper wear, otherwise there's really nothing to say about the figure. It's plain and that's the point, nothing wrong with it, but nothing else to say either other than the fact it portrays the character well.

Articulation:

Her head is on a ball joint as average figma have.

Shoulders go up decently but not a lot, same can be said for the inward movement.

The swivel joint on the shoulder doesn't do a whole lot which is a bit disappointing, but the elbow joint has a bit of swivel so you can try to use that. Bending is also quite decent, but also nothing amazing.

Hands are on the old style peg and hinge style joint, not great but they work.

She doesn't have much of an abcrunch or waist mobility at all due to her apron.

Her skirt is flexible so it doesn't hinder movement much at all, and her knee bend is also pretty damn good.

Feet are a bit tricky (sorry for the bad photo), they don't really rock or move back that much, but they work decently well. Overall poseability is pretty average for a figma with some small limitations due to age and design.

Accessories:

For accessories, we really don't get much aside from the standard figma stuff.

You get a plastic bag for storing the accessories like always.

You get a stand on 3 joints like always and it works like a charm.

You get an adaptor for some reason which is really not needed when you already have a stand like that.

You get 5 pairs of hands. Widespread open hands on the figure, fists, holding hands, victory pose hands, and relaxed open hands.

You also get an alternate face expression, but only one. Asides from the default smiling expression, there's also an embarrassed expression you can use by pulling out the hair fringe and swapping the faces like all figma. On top of that, Sae actually includes two pairs of glasses that fit onto two notches in her hair fringe piece. One of them is see through, and the other is opaque to represent the lens for the types of poses where you might want to see her eyes from certain angles.

You can even take the glasses off if you choose to.

Sadly there aren't any real ways you can get a proper pose for adjusting glasses, so this is the best I could do.

The final accessory is an alternate head part which allows you to change the character to Nori. Yes, this figure is a 2 in 1 technically. Personally, I would've preferred more accessories and facial expressions instead of this, since you'll only display one in the end, and if you want both, you need two figures anyways, so there's no real point in the end.

Still it works, and while the face is swappable, there are no other faces to use it with.

Her pigtails are also moveable, but fall off really easily.

Size Comparison:

Average figma size, not too big, not too small. Just under the size of a standard 1/144 Gundam.

Verdict:

Reviewing and messing a while with this figure, and I've come to the conclusion that really this is just a barebones figma release for the fans of the anime and characters of Sae and Nori, absolutely nothing more. Poseability and appearance are average for a figma of it's time, and while the factors don't do anything too wrong, it doesn't do anything really amazing either. Accessories are a bit lacking, and while it can be argued that it's because she comes from a SOL show where not much happens, I feel like some art tools like a paintbrush or notebook could've done nice. Adding to this, Nori's head is pointless and should've been a separate releases, because in the end you'll be displaying only one, and in any case, you'll just be buying one figure unless you want both, in which case, you need to buy two anyway. If it weren't included, we could either have an extra accessory, or just a cheaper figure, no loss IMHO.

In the end, I bought this figure for little reason, and in turn, I got an average figma by the definition. It doesn't do anything bad, nor does it do anything good. It has little things to offer, and doesn't stand out from the rest. So why did I buy it? I think it was just mild interest and a cheap-ish price that pushed me over the edge to buying this, but also a mixture of wanting to review more stuff of larger variety and experiencing more figma. In any case, I still have no solid reason to why I bought this, as this figure really isn't anything special. I only really recommend this to fans of the character, because really, there aren't any alternatives. But for anyone else, you're better off buying a figma that has a more exciting design or even accessories.

Pros:

- Details are well sculpted and character is well captured. 

Cons:

- Little to no accessories included.

Neutral:

- Nori head is included, despite the fact there was no reason for it to be so.
- Everything else about the figure.