Jay's Toy Shelf : S.H. Figuarts Sakura Haruno

I'm super excited to reintroduce new figures for the Naruto line! I didn't know this would ever happen, so thanks to one of my readers for alerting me to this earlier last year. To be fair, most of them are figures we've seen before, but with entirely new engineering, facial expressions, and prices. They initially released Shippuden versions of Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, and FINALLY SAKURA. It only took forever to release female character. With this, I finally complete an original team 7. I don't know why it took so long to make a female figure, especially considering how easy it is for some of their builds and accessories, but here we are. SH Figuarts ALSO is making kid versions of Naruto and Sasuke, which I have preordered out of Japan.

This is fantastic stuff, and the very first I want to go over is Sakura Haruno. Sakura's parents and origins aren't featured much in the original two parts, and this is mostly because Kishimoto is 1) Bad at writing female characters and 2) Thinks they are secondary to males, so they never get as much screen time or good fights. Sakura DOES get one or two good fights in Shippuden, but mostly she's around to beat up Naruto, have interrelational conflicts with Ino, and swoon over Sasuke. Gross! This is a shame because as one of the new Sanin, Sakura is absolutely a powerhouse.

Early in the series, she is a genjutsu sensory expert and learns early on from Tsunade the art of healing and concentrating chakra so pointedly she can break through the earth with her punches and kicks. Later on, in the Boruto series and the light novels, it becomes clear Sakura is even stronger than that, and can completely regenerate using the same principles as Tsunade by banking chakra into a diamond seal on her forehead. They definitely do female characters dirty in Shippuden and Part 1, but at least Sakura is featured more than most, what with being a crush on Naruto and a main team member of Team 7.

The figure is fairly simple, but very well done. The proportions are nice, and the articulation they've put on all these figures is also very well done. Sakura has some good engineering, and while she doesn't have a ton of accessories, it's enough for her character and what she does in the show.

Sculpt&Paint: 3/3 The sculpt is very show accurate for this figure. Really good proportions and the paint is well done. This is a perfect 3D representation of Sakura from the start of Shippuden. I have no criticisms here, except for this figure and all others the type of plastic they've used for their skin tone is a bit translucent, so it catches the light a bit funny at certain angles.

Articulation: 3/3 (30+) I really love the new articulation they've put into these figures. It's just overall a far superior range of motions, especially in the diaphragm area. The neck base and head have a double ball joint, and the waist and diaphragm joint move really well, except for maybe not as much side-to-side motion as I would like. The shoulders are a strange mix of a balljoints and a vertical half-cut swivel! It's strange looking but it works pretty well. Double joints are great on this figure because there's not a lot of extra pant or other clothing sculpt to get in the way. The wrists and hips work really well and the little skirt part doesn't really impede much for range. The ankles are just crazy mobile, and go just about anywhere.

Accessories: 1/1 Sakura comes with 3 other face plates, which is great! I love the comically angry anime expression. The rest is just the extra hands, one of which has a chakra-focused energy effect (very cool). I will have to buy a Bandai Tamashii Nations earth shatter effect to get some better themed shots later!

Fun Factor: 3/3 Just love moving this one around. It's well-balanced, very flexible, and has some great expressions to go along with it. Plus completely team 7 is just so great!

Verdict: 10/10 I think this gets a full score because I was so excited about both completing the set, and how well they did this figure. It's also a lot cheaper than some other figures that have come out of the same (or worse) quality, so this is a great deal too. If you're a Naruto fan at all, you'll love this one for sure. I know I do!