Sawatari Izumi PM Figure Review
Hello everyone! This is my first figure review ever on my own personal website. They will be reflections of the figure reviews that I post on my MyFigureCollection.net account, but I hope you will appreciate them all the same!
Despite her age, she is looking absolutely fabulous!
Personal History of the Figure
I have owned other figures before my lovely Sawatari Izumi, however, those figures have unfortunately not managed to stay with me through the years for various reasons. All the same, here is the story of how I obtained this particular figure.
In the early summer/late spring of 2008, I was on my very first trip to Japan with my fellow American students. This trip is usually reserved for the most senior Japanese class in High School, Japanese IV, however I won my spot thanks to a contest by my sensei.
As I was traveling through Akihabara, also known as Akiba, I saw her sitting on a shelf in one of the stalls that line the streets. Now, I am not usually a gun-toting maid kind of girl, however, I actually read this manga and owned most of the manga up to this point. In fact, I am still only two books shy of owning the entire series.
This maid had a backstory like no other maid before her. You see, Izumi has hopes and dreams of living the average middle school girl life, never once wanting to look back on anything else. Izumi and her sister, Mitsuki, have run away from home. Why? Because Mitsuki absolutely loves their pet alligator named Pochi and her parents were thinking about getting rid of him! Izumi can’t leave her little sister all alone in this. So they went out to find a new home and maybe a job.
Shamelessly stolen off of the He is My Master Wiki
Izumi finds a big beautiful mansion with a sign that says that the master of the home is looking for young live-in maids. Of course, big-hearted Izumi thinks that the place is possibly run by a kind older gentleman or something, but that could not be further from the truth.
The real master of this mansion is an orphaned middle school millionaire, Yoshitaka. Yoshitaka is a creative, skilled, and mischievous pervert.
This particular figure’s design comes from much further along in the chapters and many hijinks later. An unusual moment on its own, Yoshitaka and Izumi have banded together to save Mitsuki from some people who have decided to take over the mansion!
Despite first appearances, Izumi is not wielding a bullet-shooting weapon, but a model Heckler & Koch HK94 Carbine that shoots paintballs! He is My Master is a comedy at its heart, so even though Izumi gives him a few shots for good measure, there are absolutely 0 deaths.
This figure freezes the moment in time when Yoshitaka first joins up with Izumi and gives her hope that they can save Mitsuki. She’s just finished getting herself equipped and ready to go!
With this scene still freshly in mind, I knew I had to get my hands on this figure, my first purchase in Japan. Soon there was only one classmate ahead of me and it looked like that Izumi was going to be mine… until you guessed it… that classmate purchased the only copy of her that the stall had!
I was a bit sour toward the poor guy. He had no idea who Izumi was, where this pose came from, or any of the small details that made this figure so amazing at the time. I was one of the few girls on this trip, but not only that, I was the only girl that was purchasing figures alongside the boys. So when their capsule figures had mismatching parts, they would trade/take mine. So I had all of the ugly parts and they were in the clear. Any time they got a boy figure, they would practically toss it at me to get my lovely girls’ pieces! So please spare my feelings as this was a rough time for me as a teen.
A few months after the trip and all of the feuds had been buried six-feet under, that same classmate gave me my own copy of this beautiful figure for me on my birthday! She was purchased from a local reseller, but she is absolutely legitimate. That classmate and I do not talk anymore, but I like to imagine that we are still on good terms. (Can’t see why not anyway.)
Lets get past this long prelude and get straight into the review from here now, shall we?
Sculpting
Great details, but not perfect. Could use more work in some areas.
She is a fabulous figure from her time, however, this is an honest review. The points on the figure where she was broken off from the mold are extremely visible like the point on the back of her arm. The surface of the figure itself isn’t exactly smooth all over either.
Thanks to the beautiful evening sunlight, you can really see some of the deformities on her skin. There are also some mold lines visible and some of the long sock lines do not add up properly.
You can see the wobbling details on her head, the not quite well cut bangs, and the molded, but not quite properly cut out arm band that she is wearing. I love this figure to death, it is still a beautiful figure to have. I mean I can still see some fantastic detail such as the ligaments in her hands.
I’m happy that I have her, even now over ten years later!
Paint Job
Did a great job, very detailed, not flat colors!
Back in 2008, paint jobs were often super basic and horribly flat colors. You took what you could get back then. What you could get was often not a lot, so I am very happy with what was given to me in this figure.
Today this figure would have accented the apron with gray-blue shadows, but they made the conscious decision to go with an awkwardly bright purple. It looks a bit weird when you can see it, so I try to not think about it too much.
This figure does have a really nice matte to glossy ratio on the finish. She’s glossy on the socks and shoes, but matte on her body, face, and hair. Everywhere where the glossy counts is glossy and everything else is nicely matte.
Where the paint job really shines and where I am putting most of this score into is the legs. Realistic stocking paint is super hard to come by, but not only did they manage to do this back in 2008, they did very well overall!
They accented the knees, where the folds are, the back of the knees, and where the material would be double folded over at the top.
Pose
Perfection.
I am going to acknowledge that by today’s standards, this pose can seem to be overall boring. However, as a fan of the character herself, this figure is excellent.
This particular pose makes me want to say to the world that this IS Izumi. This pose embodies everything that Izumi is.
Lets skip the over sexualized poses and the random fluff with the peace sign. This figure digs itself out of the manga and makes itself known. Izumi isn’t here to be pushed over and she will make her dreams come true with style and maybe some exasperation.
Base
A bit boring and uninspired.
For all of the awesomeness that this Izumi is, this base is nothing. The only positives it has over the basic base is that it has some height, it’s not perfectly white or clear, and it is semi-transparent, which leaves a nice effect on my desk.
Packaging
Boring. Uninspired. Slapped together.
I did not have her original box anymore to take pictures of, so I found one online. It clearly has the people on the box that posted it online. It was just a piece of blister just glued on a random He is My Master Photo. There didn’t seem to be much if any thought behind the packaging.
Enjoyment
She isn’t a noodle stopper, she isn’t a figma, a nendoroid, not posable in any way. That doesn’t stop how much fun can be had with her.
If you’re looking for a figure to take photos with, you found her. She has beauty and a powerful silhouette.
Scores
Overall Score
Fabulous figure that really immortalizes an amazing moment in the manga.
FAQs
Do you have any tips on caring for this particular figure?
This figure gets dusty very easily and that dust will cling to her hard. Be sure to gently wash her in water once in awhile to prevent dust build up.
She is an old style figure, so if the peg that holds her leg in place breaks off like it did on mine, she will start to shrink a bit. Try to keep her on the base as much as possible without moving her to prevent this break off and shrinking.
Where can I purchase this figure?
Honestly, I have not seen her for sale anywhere online. She’s an old figure, so at this point it is particularly hard and rare to find her. I wish you luck!
Do you recommend scale figures?
I recommend scale figures to anyone who likes 3D artwork of anime characters, especially if one does not care if they are interactable. There are other figure types out there such as Figma or Nendoroid if you want a figure that you can really play with and change out poses.
What scales have over Figma and Nendoroid, is that they tend to have higher sculpting and painting scores overall. Because scales are not meant to move, more detail is able to be packed in, and paint can be made with a more stable assumption of lighting.
I have more Nendoroids than I do of any other type of figure, but that is a personal preference. I also have quite a few scale figures and my collection is only growing.
What is the average price of a scale figure?
There is no average price really for scale figures due to huge discrepancies in quality and at what scale the figure is. I will write an article about this range at another time, however, do know that scales usually range between $20 - technically infinite.
