Live from Mayonaka Arena! (Taito's P4U Kanji Tatsumi)

"C'mere, Take-Mikazuchi!"

I've never been a big fan of non-articulated PVC figures; I've always felt that if I want a stature, I'd rather it be made of something other than plastic.  But then I saw Taito's Persona 4  tie-in series (Full title: P4U The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena - they're designed around the spin-off Persona 4 Arena fighting game rather than the core RPG) and I was ready to make an exception to my rule.  I was tempted to pick up 5 of them, but cooler heads prevailed (They seem to range in price from $28-$50USD, depending on the source) and I started with the one that had the lowest price (although admittedly it was only lowest by less than $1).

Despite the lack of pose-ability, what attracted me to this series is the sense of action that these static figures manage to convey.  The figure that I picked up is Kanji Tatsumi, and he's posed in the stomp position of his final combination attack move - knees bent, coat flying up, necklace whipping back, the whole bit.  It may be a permanent position, but it conveys movement well and is such a perfect replication of the in-game pose that it makes me smile and quote taglines whenever I walk past him.

The windowless box

The figure was well-packed for shipment, with the three separate pieces all wrapped in bubble wrap inside a solid cardboard box (a very colourful cardboard box, I might add!).  I was surprised that the box was solid.  There have been figures from the main Persona 4 game, and when I've seen them in shops they've always had a plastic window on one side, so the change for this series is an interesting choice.


The sculpt is well done and reasonably well-painted (there are some missed bits in a couple of places - noticeably on top of his head), but overall it's an attractive figure (and it looks exactly like the character).  The chair (which he uses to deliver beat-downs) comes off, and while it feels flimsy it's been solid so far (and I did have to force it into his hands when I put it together).

"Now's our chance for a beatdown!"

The stand is a thin plastic, and is the part of the whole that I'm least impressed with - it really seems cheap in comparison to the rest of the figure.  That said though, it's an eye-catching even yellow, which is in-line with the game design and the feet of the figure fit into the pegs well.  It's also of a design such that the stands of the other figures could fit together like puzzle pieces.

Overall though, this is a great figure.  Even though I'm still on the fence about the static pose,  I'm seriously considering picking up another one or two figures from this series (maybe Chie and Yu.  And Naoto.  And maybe Yosuke...).