Name of Series:

Naruto Real Collection 1

 Manufacturer:

Bandai HG series

 Date of release (estimated):

March 2003

Price (singly in ¥):

200¥

Sculptor:

Unknown

No. of Pieces in the series:

6

Secret (SP)/Chase:

None

Variants:

None.

Size:

Around 4 cm

Availability (in Singapore):

Ng's Collection, Toys R Us, some local sellers.

Other Remarks:

This Naruto Real collection is one of my earliest gashapons series and still one of my top favourite. A few months after I bought it, the price jacked up tremendously coinciding with the Naruto fever. Some collectors were sore over the fact that they couldn't get their hands on this particular set. Little did they know, this series of gashapons started flooding local market recently again and price returned to a more reasonable state.

Naruto

In this piece, the main character, Naruto unveiling the chara power of the "9-tailed fox" entrapped within him.

Have a hard time assembling this piece, fortunately the parts held together. I believe this is the first piece in which Bandai experimented with the translucent PVC material which can be seen in the DBZ Imagination Part 1 as well. Over time, the material can become a bit sticky after contact with room humidity. I do like the design and I think Naruto is done very nicely, looked really mischeivious with that face, the powers are nicely done as well.

Sasuke

Naruto's arch-rival and best companion, Sasuke blowing a flame shield to fend himself from any imminent attack.

The flame shield takes a while to connect but luckily not as delicate as Sakura's wind shield. Sasuke's pose is cool, ideal for a talented and promising ninja like himself. However Sasuke's face looked bloated, as he was supposed to blow the the flame within himself. One problem though would be that his feet could not hold onto the pegs on the base firmly, so have to be careful of that.

Kakashi

A masterful ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village and a great mentor to the likes of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Here Kakashi executing his ultimate move called the "Raikiri" (Ligthing Edge).

If you think assembling the Naruto piece was tough, I feel this Kakshi piece is equally bad,if not worse. Even till this day, I still think I have fix the pieces up wrongly. I love the design of Kakshi (which was molded again for the Naruto Candy toys series 1), the pose and expression is as per that of the anime or manga. However Kakashi like Sasuke could not stand properly onto the base and I need to apply blue tac to hold him down. The Chakra on his hands tends to fall apart as well.

Sakura

This valiant young female Shinobi is shown here appearing from a wisp of wind, sort of like a reappearance act.

Sakura was nicely sculpted with her sakura pink hair flowing in the wind. However her head falls off way too easy while like most figurines of this set could not hold onto the base and the various parts of the wind falls off easily as well. Despite all these minus points, it'sthe only Sakura figure for the current Real collection line up, so should be well treasured by Sakura's fans. I like the way she held the sword by her side as well.

Iruka

Teacher to Naruto and gang in the ninja elementary school and probably is the only one really shown care and concern for the cursed lad. Here Iruka appeared out of the mist in a suave manner.

Iruka's design is not the best among the rest but I do like how the mist is been made into 3 D form. The mist pieces have a tedency to fall apart as well, which signifies the molding by Bandai still needs to do some brushing up. Iruka himself looked pretty unproportional, but been hidden in the mist it's not that obvious. Once again the figurine could not be held firmly to the base.

Gaara

This dangerous yet enigmatic young Shinobi from the Sand Village is been protected in an egg-shaped sand shield from any imminent attack.

My fave piece of the set. Firstly because ofthe design of the sand shield. Really like the way it is been molded and the rustic sand painting of the shield signified it's hardy despite of the nature. Secondly I really like Gaara's design with a face, looking devilish as ever and a cool attire with that gourd-like bottle he is slinging on his back. Most of all, Gaara is sitting nicely within the shield and very unlikely to fall apart because of the way the bottle is fix on the backdrop itself.