DIMIC

Way back somewhere in 2007, we walked into a (then) local game shop to see if they had anything interesting. And my, did they have something! This figure started our love for Kotobukiya’s Venus on the Beach line and it hasn’t stopped yet!

Too bad that they have yet to release three more characters in this line but it has been quite over there for two years now… Ah well, I won’t stop bothering them and when you’ve read this review and seen these pictures, I doubt you’ll disagree. Especially when you’ve seen the rest in this line!

The first they released was Ayane which is a natural choice. She is one of the best known and loved characters. Next to Kasumi of course. But it would be years before we’d finally see a Kasumi… Aaaaanyhow, this line is based on the characters, outfits and stages/mini-games of the Xbox360 Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 game which was a sequel of the Xtreme Beach Volleyball game on the original Xbox. We’ve both loved the first game (Xbox one) but didn’t particularly like the second one (360 one) mainly because of the simple fact that they scratched the co-op option in that one. If anything, they should have made it to be playable for four people instead of the original two (you have two girls in your team). Kinda really disliked that part. So I never really played the second one a lot but that doesn’t stop me from admiring these amazing PVC figures!

A little background story on Ayane for those not familiar with her.

Ayane is the half-sister of Kasumi and Hayate. During the events of DOA2, she is ordered by Genra to hunt down and kill Kasumi who had been considered a runaway shinobi because of her departure from her village. However, Ayane fails her task and is defeated by Kasumi in the final rounds of the tournament.
She has followed Kasumi all the way to New Zack Island but for what purpose remains unknown.

And now on to the figure itself. First of, I absolutely love the base! In that time, we didn’t really collect such large PVC figures or any kind at all and clear PVC wasn’t that wildly used as far as I know, so the base is really something. It still is in my opinion. I just love the way the water splashes and that you can see her foot underwater. It looks really good. The pose itself however is a bit meh. It’s not bad but not exactly thrilling either. It’s still one of the least interesting ones in the line-up together with the much later released Kokoro. But apart from the little bit boring pose, the rest is absolutely wonderful. A bit weird, but wonderful.

How so ‘weird’? you might ask. Well, let me tell you. The two outfits you can display her with are not hers in the game… Her normal outfit (Scorpion) is actually from Hitomi and her bikini (Alphard) belongs to Tina. Kinda weird… Not that it really bothers me since she looks good in them and hey, maybe she just borrowed them for a scroll on the beach.

Yes, you’ve read it well, you can indeed change her outfit! Isn’t that nice? The Scorpion one is the one she’s wearing while in the box. There are two things I dislike about this outfit. One, the skirt is a hell to get right. It just doesn’t seem to close enough so you don’t see the seem. Maybe if you’d apply a hairdryer on it… It just might work because when I took these pictures it was really hot outside (for this stupid country at least) and her skirt closed better when I put her back together and in the box. Didn’t take a picture of that I’m afraid but a hairdryer (or a hot day) might just work.
The second thing I dislike is the way it’s closed on her back. That bow there has a pin that you have to put through both ends of her shirt and into the hole in her back (see picture 6). Yes, that’s really annoying to get right ’cause you absolutely don’t want to break that little pin. But that’s about it. For the rest, I like the outfit enough to display her in it. But here comes the though choice… Do I display her in the Scorpion outfit or in the much sexier Alphard bikini?

When you pull of her head (it’s safe, don’t worry) you can start to disassemble her skirt and shirt. The shirt is easy except maybe for that bow with the long pin but the skirt is a disaster. You really have to be careful not to really scratch her with the ends because it happens real quick. But when you’ve stripped her of everything that can be stripped, the real ‘fun’ begins… Her bikini outfit contains four bows, two longer stick thingies and one teeny-weeny short stick thingie. Two bows are for her side and the other two are for her lower and upper back. Then you have those stick thingies. The teeny-weeny short one is for the front between her breasts as a connection piece and the longer two are to connect the breast parts to her neck. Especially the latter have a though time staying on their spot. Kind of annoying. But the end result is just jaw dropping. At least for me. I actually adore this bikini look. I actually want one for myself. It also goes well with her sweatband, a lot better then the Scorpion outfit at least. The bikini also does a wonderful job at displaying the nice sculpt that goes underneath the clothing. And as you can see, she also has a little camel-toe effect which is wonderful because it’s real. And as is usual with the Dead or Alive female characters, she has big boobs! Really big, round boobs. It might bother other people but luckily, I’m not bothered by it. Hooray for me.

Conclusion:
This wasn’t only the first figure released in this amazing line, it was also the only one that got a re-release which explains why you can still find her here and there. Also Kotobukiya started this line well with this well known and well executed character despite making weird, but not annoying, wardrobe choices. I absolutely love almost everything about this figure apart from the bit boring pose and the bow on her back but both are just minor annoyances.
If you haven’t started with this line, good luck since this is one of the only ones that can be found rather easily. And don’t forget, they still haven’t finished this line…

Keep watching DIMIC if you’re interested in the others of this line!

Pictures:

Item reviewed: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 – Venus on the Beach: Ayane
Type: PVC
Manufacturer: Kotobukiya
Variations: there’s a Tecmo Webshop exclusive (other outfits: “Colt” and “Bellatrix”)
Rarity: since there’s a re-run of this figure, it isn’t that hard to find. The exclusive can still be found on the US Tecmo shop