Review EN: Misato Katsuragi (Neon Genesis Evangelion) by New Line.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a franchise that has been used until… oh, it’s still used to sell various tie-ins (one of my friends owns the NERV tie o.O). The anime that I watched on VHS tapes at the end of the 90’s was one of the first “modern” animes that I saw and became a kind of cultural reference for me.
Regarding figures, Rei’s ones and Asuka’s ones are countless (according to some stats on Tsuki-Board, both are the characters that have most figures). I was surprised that figures were still manufactured while the broadcast of the anime was ended for a while. And since 2007 the movies “Rebuild of Evangelion” are produced: this will not slow down this trend xD

This is how a figure of Misato Katsuragi of Evangelion 1.0 was produced by Kotobukiya in 2008:
Misato Katsuragi on Kotobukiya’s Japanese website
Misato Katsuragi on Kotobukiya US
Misato has less figures than Rei or Asuka but I guess she is my favorite character of the anime. By seeing the pictures of Kotobukiya’s figure it reminded me that I wanted the figure of New Line when I was a student. So I just added it in my wishlist and was waiting for a chance to get it. I finally bought it on eBay and received it in April 2009 🙂 The review is about this fig.

General specifications.

Name: Misato Katsuragi (葛城 ミサト) Movie ver.
Manufacturer: New Line
Price excluding VAT: 13,800 yen
Advised price: 200 € ~ 280 US$ (it is rare).
Release date: May 2005
Original: Neon Genesis Evangelion (新世紀エヴァンゲリオン)
Scale: 1/6
Height: 16,5 cm
Sculptor: Goemon
Material: Cold Cast

The box and its content

The box is made of rather thick cardboard. The front and the rear have the same picture: a close-up on Misato’s face. The box contains a polystyrene block. A bit unusual for me: I am used to manipulate thermoformed blisters with my PVC figures. The figure is made of cold cast which is a resin more fragile (and more heavy) than PVC. That is why it is packed with polystyrene (it is the same for the prepainted GK).
Inside the polystyrene there are the figure and the base. There is also a kind of “notice” on an A4 paper sheet.

The figure

In fact this figure is based on a GK that New Line released in 2000. The prepainted version that I bought was released five years later and has the base below as additional item \o/

The base

It is one of the best bases that I have seen. There is only a side that is painted but it finally does not matter because the figure is attached to the base with a little stem: so the figure can be turned around the axis of this stem to find the best position.
This base is detailled until the bullet impacts ! 😀

The underside has little anti-sliding parts and the lettering of the copyright for GAINAX :

The stance

Misato is taking covert. There must be an enemy fire and she’s waiting for the reloading to act. Is it about the “movie” version: so I suppose the figure is alluding to the movie “The End of Eva” during the NERV HQ assaut and when she’s looking for Shinji. There is also something funny: according to the point of view Misato seems to be smiling or not.

While watching her back, Misato does not seem to smile.

The quality

The figure has been produced in 2005 (based on a GK of 2000), so the quality is less detailled than today’s figures. For example the locks are rather fat. For some locations the paintings dribble a bit too. And by looking closely, some details are not so clean as what can be done for current figures: for example the shape of the nose is not regular.

some close-ups

Pantsu shot

Her cross pendant, her earrings and the watch have not been forgotten 😀 Unfortunately, it is not possible to see what time it is but I guess that Misato has something to do anyway (looking for Shinji?) xD
I noticed that the Koto version had a black watch while this one is silver…

Red alert at NERV HQ!

Conclusion
The beginning was a bit personal because as owning all the 12 Saint Seiya Myth Cloth of the Gold Saints was realizing a kid’s dream, getting this figure gave me the same feelings: I got an item that I could not buy in the past.
The stance is the big advantage of this figure. In comparison with Koto’s version where she looks like to have her head in the clouds, the New Line version is closer to the personality of the character (be careful, I did not see Evangelion 1.0 and maybe Kotobukiya’s one matchs with the Misato of the remade movies) and especially there is not any fanservice for a figure of Evangelion!
For being a 2000/2005’s figure, I find that it is still nice, even if by looking closer there are some defaults. Regarding the price, I am aware it is expensive but I prefered to buy this figure that I like than buying another one just because it was easier to find.
Verdict : for Misato’s fans or maybe people who are fed up with seeing fanserv versions of Evangelion figures.