I first got into figure collecting over ten years ago, with prize figures starting it all off. It made perfect sense at the time: I was a broke high student trying to save money, and they were and still are relatively affordable compared to scale figures. There was an inherent trade off: prize figure quality was generally inferior in comparison to scales. Needless to say, since my days of buying budget-friendly prize figures at anime conventions, I’ve turned to buying scale figures: they’re generally more pricey, but usually command more detailed with respect to sculpt and paintwork.
Within the last couple of years, prize figure quality has improved quite a bit. Case and point: Kitagawa Marin, a popular character from the My Dress-up Darling/Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi o Suru series, has many prize figures, like this, that are really detailed despite being a cheap figure you could win in a crane game. Bandai has also gotten pretty innovative: they introduced the PenFure! (or PenLife!) lineup of prize figures, and in this post, I want to showcase a couple of figures from the 2.5D no Ririsa (2.5 Dimensional Seduction) series. I watched the anime adaptation when it aired in Summer 2024, and I liked the character designs so alas here we are. 🙂
As this figure series’ name sort of suggests, these figures are designed to hold pens. In my recent trip to Japan, I wanted to get a couple of these figures because they were pretty unique and different from the other figures in my collection. Given I’m not really a crane game person (I’d rather spend that money on rhythm games instead), I actively searched for them in second-hand shops like Mandarake and Lashinbang.
Ultimately, I ended up bringing back Ririsa in Liliel cosplay, Mikari in Miriella cosplay, and Nagomi in Ikora cosplay. I was also trying to look for Mayuri in Lustalotte cosplay, but didn’t find her in time before I left Japan to complete the set. I’ll be on the lookout at some point.
The boxes measures 20.5 x 15.5 x 10 cm, with each one showcasing their respective figure holding a pen:
Mikari and Ririsa are technically a set, as well as Nagomi and Mayuri, so there is also a photo depicting how they can be showcased together. Personally, the former is more like a set rather than the latter. More on that later.
Taking the figures out of the boxes, they look pretty good for the ~$30 CAD total I spent on them. I had to glue back Nagomi’s left boot to her leg, as it broke off. Thankfully, the break was inside the boot itself, so you couldn’t tell that it was glued back unless you looked really closely at it. Ririsa also had some run-off glue from the factory, so I had to also clean that off. But yeah, they’re definitely not going to be scale figure quality (so there’s no use trying to compare them apples to apples), but generally speaking, they look decent and are definitely unique in my collection!
Taking a closer look at Nagomi, there are still nice pieces of detail, like the “fabric tightness” sculpting in her chest area, as well as the yellow/gold pieces that contrast the black. Generally, there weren’t any bleeding paint anywhere.
On to Ririsa. She’s in her Liliel cosplay, which is pretty revealing. Generally, from like a metre away, the sculpt looks pretty good. If you take a closer look, there are some details that are just missing. For example, the ring portion that holds the skirt and panties together is just non-existent. Additionally, she doesn’t really balance that well on her own with a pen, so Bandai included this weird clear plastic mould to keep her up. Yeah, it doesn’t really look that great.
But, thankfully I also got Mikari. Before I talk about them together, Mikari actually sits and balances on her own. When she holds the pen, it actually leans counter to her weight distribution, and frankly it makes her more stable. Likewise, I can appreciate her from a metre or so away, but as you start looking closer, there are areas that are a bit patchy. For example, the black straps going around her body are not all clean cut: some have paint bleeding. The paint on the inner parts of her hand are also not well defined. Like with Ririsa, the ring parts around her panties are non-existent. With all that said, given the price of this figure, it’s not a terrible compromise. She still looks good from a distance and has a unique pose that blends with stationary.
Putting Mikari beside Ririsa, it’s pretty evident that Ririsa balances very well with her while holding the same pen. Their arms so of lean together. It’s this exact pose that made getting these figures worth it: it just blends figures with stationary on my desk! I can forego the plastic mould and just display the two together. I think if you only got one of Mikari or Ririsa, it is a must to get the other. Not only does the pen that they both hold will stay in place better, but I feel the contrast of the white and black and the pose they have complement each other. They just look so much cuter together.
In closing, for the price point, the PenFure! line is pretty decent, and unique in that there’s some utility for holding pens with a non-articulated figure like a figma. Compared to some of the prize figures I got from ~10 years ago, they’ve gotten pretty damn good. These figures aren’t anywhere close to scale figure quality by any means, but they are definitely giving more value for your money. I would like to complete this set at some point, that’s for sure.
Anyways, that’s all I got this time around. Until next time!
~Lui
