I can't believe we're already approaching the end of February! 2021 really is going by quick, and the world seems to be recovering at a steadier pace. Have you been getting enough exercise lately? Today's figure certainly has.
Now before we go any further, I'd like to extoll Alphamax on their adult figure line, SkyTube. Their SkyTube line offer some of the best adult figures on the market—and they happen to be a significant proportion of my entire collection! (one quarter infact). As one of my favourite figure manufacturers, they haven't really let me down. And what better way to mark this occasion than with this figure based on an illustration by Kekemotsu—a highly talented illustrator and doujinshi artist.
Today's figure is from Kekemotsu's late 2018 artbook titled "Egg Sushi". I could spend a few paragraphs describing the defining featues of Kekemotsu's art, but I'll let the book do the talking (for your viewing pleasure, I've included a few upscaled scans at the end of this review).
Need I say more? Let's begin this review.
Standing at a height of 25.5cm, it should be pointed out that SkyTube's scale of Hurdle Shoujo (I'm going to call her Hurdle going forward) unlike the rest of their figures has been sculpted at a scale of 1/7 instead of 1/6. While disappointing, I have a feeling that the size of the hurdle had something to do with it. It helps that the figure itself is in my opinion exceptional, so I'll give them a pass (can't be too hard on my favourite figure manufacturer!).
Let's take a closer look, shall we?
As we move a bit closer, we can see Hurdle's provocative pose—turning her head towards the viewer whilst holding a yellow baton in her left, and clutching her ass-cheek with her right.
As present in the source illustration, Hurdle appears to be slipping out of her track and field jacket. SkyTube have taken great care to accentuate the various creases and folds in Hurdle's jacket (and maybe a few other things) as it begins to succumb to gravity. Newton would be proud!
Before you point out that the jacket doesn't look like it would fit in the first place, please remember that she's also wearing striped thigh-highs and seems to be missing pants, all of which are not conducive for running, throwing, or especially jumping over hurdles. What it is conducive for however, is a visually striking design that embodies Kekemotsu's visual aesthethicc!
Hurdle's expression is pretty standard—grinning slightly as she seductively gazes towards the viewer. I'm a big fan of the consistent use of yellow in her headband, baton, and eyes. There's a real harmonius nature to the anagolous use of colour here, which is present throughout the rest of the figure too.
Her hair is unfortunately nothing spectacular. I would have loved to see some more texture or a gradient in how it's been painted, because it appears a bit flat here, Nevertheless, the sculpt is consistent with Kekemotsu's original illustration and I can't fault it on that front. The hair doesn't detract from the overall strengths of this figure, which we'll now get to explore further!
As we move towards the front of Hurdle, there's something that immediately grabs our attention—well, two of them actually.
A few things to note here—two good, one not so much.
Firstly, SkyTube have done an excellent job in sculpting Hurdle's breasts, which don't seem to have a weld (or one that is visible anyway). Because of the way Hurdle is posing, we don't really get a frontal perspective of them. In this sense, it was highly important that SkyTube sculpted them to a size that would be noticable from the side-back perspective, which they've done so with flying colours.
Secondly, the way that the breasts themselves have been sculpted with Hurdle's bikini further accentuates their heft, especially with how they appear to be one size too small. The glossy paint also looks great and is accurate to Kekemotsu's OC!
Thirdly, it does unfortunately appear that from the front, the jacket lacks quite a lot of detail. The paint itself is quite rough, especially with the zipper. I guess you could argue that this isn't as big of a deal since this part of the figure isn't going to be seen as often, but it's still disappointing.
Tilting downwards, we get a closer look at Hurdle's lower waist and upper legs. Her bikini bottoms feature the same glossy paint as her uppers, which appears to slightly translucent. This black sheen remains consistent with Hurdle's striped thigh highs, which have enough skindentation to feed a small family.
But what about dessert?
Hurdle's posterior is spectacular. Most certainly the star of the show, their sheer size is further bolstered by the fact that they rest on a…
Hurdle! (roll credits)
Ample skindentation is also present here with Hurdle's thong-cut bottoms.
Interestingly, SkyTube chose to add 'KEKEMOTSU' to the hurdle itself, which isn't present on the original illustration. While it would be a bit weird to do this on your own art, I think it works well in the context of an anime figure and I welcome the addition.
Hurdle's base features a track and field design and fits well thematically. I'm actually quite impressed with how detailed her sneakers are—they've even got the yellow mesh!
And that's the end of the revi-
Except it's not, because Hurdle is a cast-off.
For the most part, the same strengths previously mentioned also apply. Except now she's not wearing her underwear.
Unlike other adult figures however, Hurdle does not come with an additional face plate for her cast-off configuration.
Something I forgot to mention earlier is how SkyTube sculpted Hurdle's collarbones/neck area. Considering the way she's turning her head, it's good to see they've kept her neck and shoulders anatomically correct.
Oh, and those are some magnificent breasts.
For posterity, here's a shot of her butt, crotch included.
And that's all she wrote.
I think you'll agree that there's a lot to like about this figure. Kekemotsu drew Hurdle to have curves in all the right places, and SkyTube have happily obliged with their scale of her. Hurdle's pose is very dynamic, and her sculpt backs this all up to create a very solid final product. For me, this isn't what makes the figure so great though—it's the colour.
As of the publishing of this review, I'm currently in the process of writing a series of blogposts about colour theory, and how we can use it in our own creative works.
Kekemotsu's "Egg Sushi" artbook employs what is called an "anagolous" colour harmony. I won't delve into what this means right now, but the end result is an artwork and in this case, anime figure, that is bright, exuberant, and ultimately pleasing to look at.
