Higurashi When They Cry

The fact she’s MDD is just devastating as it means Rika is very unlikely. I was really thinking we would get a DDP and MDD combo here. This feels like Kud all over again, but when Kud was out they didn’t have the DDP option. 

The size does match if we go back to original art I suppose.

I really love the doll though, she’s giving me kinda Kud and Arle vibes and those two are both adorable. I need to think on her though just cause of the size if nothing else. If I bought her and then Rika somehow showed up later I feel I may regret it too since I can’t justify buying both so it’s a bit of a risk. 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Beani
Misread some of Volks News

1 hour ago, Beani said:

The fact she’s MDD is just devastating as it means Rika is very unlikely. I was really thinking we would get a DDP and MDD combo here. This feels like Kud all over again, but when Kud was out they didn’t have the DDP option. 

The size does match if we go back to original art and Volks News mentions the original creator was involved in the design so he thought it best I guess!

I’m not sure if it rules out the shorter characters, especially if the creator was involved. Maybe he wants them all to be MDD for a kind of unified chibi look.I guess if you think of it like nendoroids....they’re all the same height regardless of the character. But it does rule out the dolls looking ‘right’ together.

A DDP body could...probably wear her dress? I think? I’m sure someone will try it.

1 hour ago, Monty said:

especially if the creator was involved. Maybe he wants them all to be MDD for a kind of unified chibi look.

If Ryokishi was involved, it actually bugs me a bit more, because the minifig photo I posted on the first page of this thread, those figures are based on the original doujin release VN chunky art, and there is a clear height difference between Rena / Shion-Miyon and Rika / Satoko.

There's really no doubt as to the dress going onto a DDP body .. its just the hem of the dress is probably going to end up way too high for comfort, as seems to be the case with most MDD outfits on a DDP

On a speculative afterthought:

Spoiler

There is the possible troll factor, of making the doll look as a cute and sweet as possible.

Considering how broken Rena is as a character in series.

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by finnleo

I'm still on the fence about Rena. I was hoping Volks would do the whole cast, but now I'm not shure I want that🤔. I know Cherry Milk did clothes for Higurashi in the past that would be size approprate. Specifically Satoko Hojo, Mion Sonozaki (uniform), Rena Ryugu (plain clothes), Angel Mote Uniform. I saw them on yahoo auctions last year when the new anime started up, and now I wish I bought them😭. I do agree that they were going for the old chibi style that looked chunky, but for me it doesn't look like that style. Maybe an in store photo will change my mind. 

It took me a while, but I found a blog that has photos of the cherry milk Higurashi outfits. They look nice, and I wish they were still for sale. 

http://taitan-no.net/archives/2007/05/05/0430.php 

https://www.cherrymilk.jp/index_past.html 

 

@Monty @finnleo I was looking at Volks News again and believe I totally misread the part about the original creator. It was just saying it’s based off the original designs by him and not that he was involved with the doll. I’d be surprised if he gave no input though really..

Her dress does seem long enough to go on a DDP and look alright but I’m not really willing to drop another chunk of cash for a body swap that may not look great. I think the alternate outfit would be too short for DDP though given Kud’s default is too short.

The idea of them all being Nendoroid like (same height) is a cute one. It doesn’t feel right for dolls but gives me hope ha.

Edit: Adding some quick phone shots of the pages from Volks with different photos included. 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Beani

She is very cute, gives me Arle vibes. But I had also expected her to be on the DDP body 🤔 

Welp, Rena being an MDD is really unexpected. She is cute though-

3 hours ago, Beani said:

I totally misread the part about the original creator. It was just saying it’s based off the original designs by him and not that he was involved with the doll. I’d be surprised if he gave no input though really.

Well I'd imagine there would be the final product sign-off before release, so there should be at least that level of effort involved on a official thing...

But that interpretation would allow that volks just saw an opportunity to make an MDD without actually digging into the source material enough, the end result looks the part quite well (I especially like the frazzled wig, though I am guessing owner units will be absolute nightmares to setup as has been a thing with my last volks wigs), although maybe a tad young looking to be Rena, but that'd be nitpicking from a pure figure stand point.

I havent really been looking at figures lately so dunno how the situation is currently, but if I recall the Higurashi stuff in the olden days it was more or less a Rena / Shion-Miyon pair without much attention to the rest of the cast, apart from a odd Hanyuu thing every now and then. so could be thats the same base charter now, since they only did Maria and Beat out of Umineko.

although as a option Miyon-Shion outfit the Angel Mort uniform on a MDD seems ... wrong ... unless they do the Junior version which was a school swimsuit with the frilly bits tacked on.

(Although probably will be Miyons general outfit as a default, and Shions school uniform as a secondary).

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by finnleo

8 hours ago, Monty said:

I’m not sure if it rules out the shorter characters, especially if the creator was involved. Maybe he wants them all to be MDD for a kind of unified chibi look.I guess if you think of it like nendoroids....they’re all the same height regardless of the character. But it does rule out the dolls looking ‘right’ together.

A DDP body could...probably wear her dress? I think? I’m sure someone will try it.

I wholly agree here. The announcement page noted that this would be an ongoing collab (2021-??? or something). Seeing as Rena is not the main character of the series, but is very present in marketing and Onikakushi-hen because that's what readers/watchers are going to see first, Rena makes sense. I was tbh expecting Rena to be DDP but seeing as the tweet mentions this collab is based more on the cute chunky original designs by Ryukishi, I don't think heigh difference necessarily matters much here. 

If Rika/Satoko/Hanyuu are released as regular MDD without any sort of height adjustment it's actually a pretty simple mod to shorten the legs slightly, which I'll definitely do for them. 

All that being said, Rena is ADORABLE and an amazing start to this collab. I don't personally like larger dolls so I'm PUMPED that she's in a size I actually like to photograph and play with.

7 minutes ago, Kotone said:

I was tbh expecting Rena to be DDP but seeing as the tweet mentions this collab is based more on the cute chunky original designs by Ryukishi, I don't think heigh difference necessarily matters much here.

I'm with Monty on the whole "Volks needs to make more DDP" thing. Its kind of frustrating that we haven't seen things like different busts or hands for DDP, and so far no long pants for DDP.

If you prefer her on DDP, you could always get her and then sell the MDD body and buy a DDP body. Nothing about that outfit makes me think it won't fit a DDP body. The hem line of the skirt will ride higher up on the legs, and the top of the socks will sit lower.

6 hours ago, Beani said:

@Monty @finnleo I was looking at Volks News again and believe I totally misread the part about the original creator. It was just saying it’s based off the original designs by him and not that he was involved with the doll. I’d be surprised if he gave no input though really..

I don’t know about Volks News but I was actually referring to the tweet he made that Volks RTd where he was mentioning finally being able to talk about it now and praising how cute she was He didn’t say outright that he was supervising the design like the Slayers artist did with Lina, but there did seem to be the implication that he’d been following it.

My opinion echoes most of the others I've seen here and out in the wild. MDD Rena, while cute, is a weird choice. The logical choice feels like it would be Rika and Satoko as MDD, Rena as DDP, and Shion and Mion as DDS...but who knows?

As much of a ryukishi07 nerd as I am, I don't know if I am totally sold on this iteration of Rena. I am looking forward to seeing more Higurashi dollies though, if they are in the pipeline. 

She's cute but I think I'll be safe for now, I'm reading the manga currently and I'm much more into Shion/Mion 😄

I would guess that part of the reason Volks went with MDD was to make the parts/accessories more accessible for DD noobs - sort of like choosing DDdy for 2B instead of giving her a custom bust size that wouldn't fit a lot of standard outfits. That's just speculation on my part, though.

2 minutes ago, jadepixel said:

I would guess that part of the reason Volks went with MDD was to make the parts/accessories more accessible for DD noobs - sort of like choosing DDdy for 2B instead of giving her a custom bust size that wouldn't fit a lot of standard outfits. That's just speculation on my part, though.

That's a good point.

I sort of wondered if they haven't been making up for the lack of MDD collabs over the last few years.

2 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

I sort of wondered if they haven't been making up for the lack of MDD collabs over the last few years.

mm, well.. they still have the tohou MDD twosome coming out later this year, so that will be three MDD releases this year, while the DDP is still stuck at Iori and Yayoi as the only collab items that are around four and a half years old now. Granted there was quite a long time between MDD releases, with Prisma illya in 2014, first Arle in 2016 and then three-four years before re releasing arle in 2019/20

though in terms of accessability the DDP is weird, but oddly enough I've had more success in making photo sets happen with it than I've had with my Yoko ...

but if there arent any dolls in the size to get, how is the size going to become a supported thing.

 

38 minutes ago, finnleo said:

while the DDP is still stuck at Iori and Yayoi as the only collab items that are around four and a half years old now.

Totally agree with this. They did add the two standards, but nothing since. 

The only thing about collabs is the license holder has to agree, so maybe MDD represented what they wanted better. 

Lina could have been DDP too. I mean, Lina is shorter than Zelgadis, who is shorter than Goury. When mine arrives I’ll probably try her head on a DDP body just to see how she looks. 

i mean... if 07th threw a Tweet out too.... Can we kinda guess they must of been very ok with MDD of the cutest adorable type

 

7 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

The only thing about collabs is the license holder has to agree, so maybe MDD represented what they wanted better. 

Mmm, well it is probably mostly a case of people that have been long time fans of the IP in question, and the same people knowing the possobilities of the product manufacturer, and the fanbases perception of what would suit things best.

I mean this isnt the first time a Ryokishi collab with Volks has caused indigestion with fans in the doll community ... I mean after announcing  the Umineko collaboration they released Maria first, a character who is to say the least very difficult to understand untill you get to her side of the story, at which point she goes from an annoyance to at least understood. But you knew damn well that everybody wanted Beat -- Only for Beat to came out second -- and with very little pre-emptive fanfare if I recall correct.

Higurashi is probably a bit more dividing in terms of characters. Because of the more splintered structure.. As in Who is the main character after all? .. Rena ended up as a bit of a mascot character for Ryokishi's doujin house , because she was featured in the free for all chapter of the original visual novels, and at the same time is the first glimpse into the madness it brings (Who else started to chop up their meatballs before consuming after the first arc?). Or is it Rika who knows it all ... or Hanyuu who's wager with Takano started it all.

So the main thing i've been reading into the other opinions here is the same as mine, is that Rena is probably a MDD because future releases out of the series collaboration wont see this as a major issue... so no Size correct Hanyuu (personal favorite, because Yui Horie doing her usual thing) or Rika ...

I still want this though...

Edited March 9, 2021 by finnleo

She looks cute, but I agree that the choice of a MDD body for her is a bit odd.

I believe that the outfit would look great on a DDP though, and this would solve all the troubles :3

As far as longtime fans of Ryukishi's works go... I wonder if I'm in the minority for loving her in this size (and not just because I'm biased hehe). I see a lot of people upset, which is understandable, though it's obvious a lot of care went into her sculpt and fullset (her wig is adorably and appropriately fluffy). 

This whole Volks News in general seems really divisive tbh.

7 hours ago, finnleo said:

So the main thing i've been reading into the other opinions here is the same as mine, is that Rena is probably a MDD because future releases out of the series collaboration wont see this as a major issue... so no Size correct Hanyuu (personal favorite, because Yui Horie doing her usual thing) or Rika ...

It will be interesting to see how these heads look on DDP and DDS. Her head looks big enough to work on DDS, but the chubby cheeks may not. I see no reason that she couldn’t be easily swapped to DDP, but having to buy a DDP body and sell an MDD body sucks if she really fits DDP out of the gate. 
 

7 hours ago, finnleo said:

they released Maria first, a character who is to say the least very difficult to understand untill you get to her side of the story, at which point she goes from an annoyance to at least understood.

Sounds a bit like Yuri is My Job. The two main characters are detestable until you get halfway through book two, and only then do you see where they are coming from. 

She's absolutely adorable, love the new sculpt! But as some of you said, I see her more like a cute girl cosplaying Rena than Rena herself. 😆

getting a tad sidetracked, but...

22 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

Sounds a bit like Yuri is My Job

Not familiar with that one, but the other very similar Aha character moment I know in sort of alike setting is Shoko's mother in the A Silent voice manga, and the manga especially since the movie doesent really touch her past as much, especially why she'd lash out so rashly (In perticular to the person she does, since they actually had a previous clash, which is just cut down to a glimpse of the leadup to this first event) as she does at the end of the childhood arc.

Amyways... Carry on...

Edited March 10, 2021 by finnleo

when is this being released??

16 minutes ago, [Chichi9521] said:

when is this being released??

Volks USA pre order starts April 19th and Volks Japan has a lottery starting April 18th I think 🤔.