Tsubomi Hanasaki

An irresolute, worrisome, yet noble girl, Tsubomi Hanasaki is a young lady of fourteen living in the small town of Kibougahana, running a flower shop alongside her parents. Hoping to become a more outgoing, courageous, and active person, Tsubomi tries to help everybody she can to learn how to act and react to everyday troubles.

With this, Bandai gives us the Chibi-Arts Tsubomi Hanasaki, the main character from the Toei animated magical girl show Heartcatch! Precure. The figure is mind-numbingly adorable and a great representation of said character (albeit in chibi styling).

Let’s review:

Packaging:

The box that holds Tsubomi is well themed to the show and the character; it’s covered in pink and hearts (most of my favourite things). The heart-shaped opening on the front shows off the figure quite well.

The sides promote the figure in words and pictures.

And the back – as per regulations – has all the warnings, how to play instructions, and some really cute pictures of Tsubomi showing off the figure and the gimmicks for said figure (which will be talked about later :3 )

Aesthetics:

This toy is adorable – have I said that before? ‘Cuz I’m gonna say it again: this toy is adorable. I always thought that Tsubomi was cute and lovable in the show, and this figure takes all those attributes and intensifies them via the chibi style.

CAN YOU FEEL YOUR MIND MELTING?!

Overall, the toy is very well painted and constructed. Everything is clean and tight; no amount of overspray is present and the toy’s colors just shine... in a muted, pastel way, of course. It really makes you want to pick it up and marvel.

The eyes are tampoed on and everything else is painted or dyed. Quite a few spots (mostly on the hair) have a few airbrushed details to simulate shading and color differentiation. A nice touch that makes the figure have a warm look to it and more represent the animation model.

The sculpting of Tsubomi is clean and intricate. The pleats on her uniform are present and she sports cuffs, a bow, and buttons, all sculpted in.

Her pigtails also have slight troughs cut in them to better promote the particulars of her animation model. Another thing to point out is her Heart Perfume. For being so small, it is intricately detailed.

Articulation:

If standing there and giving you diabetes isn’t enough for this figure to do for you, then you can pose Tsubomi in different poses – imagine that. Being her size, the articulation is limited, but she’ll get the job done… and still give you diabetes.

See what I mean?

Tsubomi sports peg-jointed shoulders and hands and swivel-hinge-jointed legs and neck. Her pig-tails also sport a swivel-hinge, so you can pose it to emulate emoti-hair (or whatever that’s called). Not a lot to work with, but if you know what you’re doing, then the limitations are not as heartily felt.

Oh, and she looks great with your other toys, too.

Tsubomi stands about 3.5 inches tall, more along the lines of 3.3 inches.

Accessories:

Tsubomi comes with a lot of accessories.

A lot.

Included with her are two extra faces: a placid and calm face and a, well… very appropriate Tsubomi face, one that is perturbed and nonplussed. Along with that are two extra “peace” hands, two arms and a body for mid-henshin, two extra leg joints (for reasons unknown), and two hairs, one with glasses affixed (my favorite of the two).

Included in the myriad is a stand for her, a stand for speech bubbles, and speech bubbles. These speech bubbles say things. I don’t know what they say, but I have a feeling it’s a whole bunch of character specific things that are cute and whatnot. With them, you can do this:

… and to some of you, this may make sense. All I know is that that speech bubble has a heart on it, so I picked it.

Gimmicks:

The gimmick of the chibi-art in general is to be cute (I think I have made that point quite clear).

Tsubomi and Erika are able to interchange parts (whether that be heads, hands, and such) with their Pretty Cure counterpart figure i.e. if one were to own both Tsubomi and Cure Blossom – like myself – then parts can be interchanged in-between the two.

Closing Remarks:

Chibi-Arts Tsubomi is a very solid toy. She has nice heft, a great sculpt, is cleanly painted and presented, and will give you contact diabetes. Though she may suffer from a limited amount of articulation, her size and styling negate those points. If you’re a fan of Heartcatch! Precure, Tsubomi, or interestingly cute girl characters, then this figure is for you.