S.H. Figuarts Ranma 1/2 Akane Tendo review

I never understood this whole tendency of most current anime characters (but not all) to simply depict themselves as being one-note and either being obsessive, very hateful, or overly animated while constantly being in love with a seemingly self-insert male character. At the very least with someone like Akane Tendo, she manages to be a lot more meaningful whe. It comes to her depiction as being initially distrustful towards someone like Ranma yet at times being in the right, on top of her caring about her sisters as well as P-Chan. And while she is 50/50 on Ranma, she does at least contrast the more outgoing Shampoo when it comes to having a whole obsession over male Ranma yet dislike female Ranma. Now with that said, here is my review on this hard to find Figuart.

Here we have Akane Tendo in-hand. This figure depicts hernin her signature white shirt and blue dress combo that is a reoccurring outfit in the series. While history of articulated figures with skirts reminds me of how ones with longer skirts may limit articulation severely, we will get to how Akane's outfit affects her leg articulation. Otherwise, this figure matches the way she looks in both the manga and the anime. The bulk of the sleeves and the puffiness of the skirt are thankfully proportionate, not making her appear too bulky while wearing them. And the fleshtones for the legs as well as her face are consistent. Overall, she looks great like both Ranmas do.

Her head sculpt does diverge a bit from the way she appears in the anime, mostly aiming to better resemble how she appears in the manga. Granted, she does diverge somewhat between lead animator or animation company, but it could be from Tamashii trying to amalgamate both appearances together. Her accessories include P-Chan (in actuality it's Ryoga), a briefcase that Japanese students usually took with them to schools instead of the backpacks commonly seen in North America and most of the other continents, four alternate faces, a huge mallet, four pairs of alternate hands, and a flight stand with a clip and base included.

The articulation is about standard for the Figuarts line, though Akane's skirt does hinder leg articulation. She includes two points of rotation at the head and neck as well as a hinge moving up and down, two shoulder joints (one on a rotator cuff a la the McFarlane DC Multiverse line and another attached at the arm), past-90 degree bends at the elbows, and similar joints at the wrists like with the neck. The diaphragm and the torso are each on a ball joint, as are the hips. The knees bend past 90 degrees, ankles rotate, hinge, and pivot. The biceps should swivel yet the arms detach whenever I try it out, and I wouldn't want to risk it on a figure this hard to buy. She can use her accessory holding hands to carry her bag, her more gestural hands to hold P-Chan, and even use her thwipping hands to have her look all cutesy with the example alternate faces shown.

She also has a temper in the series, meaning she can have her fists clenched and threaten to beat Ranma up (which she does comedically so don't try to make some dumbass essay, Sarcastic Chorus, or else I'll get MagicMush on your ass!). At times, Akane can randomly pull out a big mallet, Looney Tunes style, and use it to whack whoever pisses her off. While the mallet seems durable, I still advise being careful with it more than the average Hasbro or McFarlane product. It's also worth mentioning that the previous owner has cracked one of the peg holes meant for the clip, so it can be more difficult to keep her in place unless there is a replacement.

For a size comparison, here she is next to not a character from the Ranmaverse or even the Rumic World, but instead the mighty Avenger, Thor. Being teens during the series, all of the Ranma Figuarts should be around the same scale, though male Saotome should be taller than all the female characters. In all honesty, Akane is a figure I wouldn't recommend hunting down for a good price unless you're willing to spend nearly $500 for her. Some listings can be lower than $200, but good luck finding those. I was lucky to get mine from a seller that sold her for $180, but even still it will be as much of a risk for you as it was for me.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐