Back in 2006 I attended my first Otakon. It took a year of saving, but I was able to hop on a plane and get in a hotel with my cousins and buy everything my large geeky heart desired. Walking into that massive dealer room nearly made said heart explode with glee and believe me, buy everything I did.

I was walking around half way through the second day when a bright pink box made me stop and look closer at the booth it was stationed at. Now, those that collect PVC statues should be adjusted to brightly colored boxes, but it was more who was inside of the box and less the color itself. In the box was a ridiculously cute ninja girl holding a yellow blob with wings. This ninja's name was Shinobu and she is from a show called Ninin ga Shinobuden (Ninja Nonsense to those that purchased the English DVDs.) I didn't hesitate in nabbing Shinobu and she is still one of my favorite statues, and you'll see why after the jump.

Shinobu was originally released in July of 2005, so considering how niche Ninin Ga Shinobuden is, it was a shock that I could find her period (Hobby Search has listed on this statue, a set of trading figures and two resin kits for the series, to give you an idea of how niche it is.)

First thing you'll notice with the statue is the fairly dynamic pose. From what I remember of the toy scene back then, you didn't see a lot of figures that were posed off-center like she is, for fear of the dreaded LEAN. Even up to two years ago you most figures that weren't standing straight up would eventually topple over in disgrace. While I wasn't so familiar with my dread foe LEAN back then, even my noob eyes could tell that there might be some problems once I took her out of the box. Lucky for me, Kotobukiya thought that through and did something quite clever.

The figure is designed with a screw to hold the figure onto the base and keep it balanced. Several years later Shinobu still stands without a problem and has held up better than some of my more recent acquisitions (unfortunately, see my Nia Show and Tell for an example.)

Any way, back to the figure. Shinobu here is shown balanced on a pink base her master Onsokumaru floating in front of her hand (holding quite the cute little heart.) Onsokumaru is held in place with a tab that is inserted into a slot at her wrist. Once again, I thought that this would prove problematic over time, but despite how flimsy it feels, he has never once fallen from his place by her hand.

Sorry Onsokumaru, as excited as you may be, the folks over here want to see the cute ninja girl, not the perverted transforming yellow blob.

Despite the overall simplified design, there are a few nice details that are worth pointing out.

The glossiness of Shinobu's hair is achieved through a difference in material. While the rest of the statue is a delicate-feeling PVC, her hair is a softer plastic. This was probably done to balance out the figure and keep her away from the LEAN. It doesn't look tacky either, probably due to the before mentioned simple aesthetic.

Besides that, I like the rumbles on her backside, since I like fabric wrinkling on figures and nice booties. Both of those are present here, thus making me a happy bear!

So besides the cute figure, I'd suggest watching Ninin Ga Shinobuden, especially if you've been watching anime for awhile. It's self aware in a different way than most other self aware comedies and it does it in a way that isn't insulting to the viewer. For those that are bothered by it, there is the occasional bit of fan service, but usually only exists in the mind of Onsokmaru and Shinobu's fellow ninjas (all named Sasuke.) Consider that my daily plug.

Besides that, Shinobu has consistently remained one of my favorite figures in the three years I've owned her and has a permanent spot on my desk next to my Uplark Nia and Lordgenome.