Extra-curvaceous One Piece anime figure is here to plunder fans’ hearts and wallets

05:04 cherishe 0 Comments

op-0

One Piece may be first and foremost a kids’ anime, but this sexy figure is definitely for grown-ups.

The One Piece anime and manga franchise is in sort of a unique position. Eiichiro Oda’s original manga began all the way back in 1997, and it, along with the anime adaptation. has continued non-stop through the present day.

Other long-running series, such as Dragon Ball or Sailor Moon, had official conclusions, and survive today as either reruns, sequels, or reboots. But even One Piece’s newest content is part of the continuous, ongoing stream of the original series, and so fans who’re invested enough to have stuck around since its beginning are now at least in their 20s, if not their 30s or 40s.

As such, the One Piece marketing machine serves two groups of masters, one of which is kids with some pocket change to blow on cheap toys. The other is full-grown adults with adult-level cash and adult desires, and it’s for them that this new One Piece figure is being made.

op-1

op-2

Curvaceous character Carifa, known to some fans as Kalifa, serves as the muse for this one-eighth-scale figure that measures roughly 12 centimeters (4.7 inches) in height.

op-3

▼ Carifa’s eyes (and glasses) are up here.

op-8

The figure is part of the One Piece Portrai of Pirates Version BB line, with the BB standing for “bathing beauty” (the shapely Boa Hancock was also given the BB treatment a while back). High-end anime retailer Premium Bandai seems to understand that Carifa’s outfit is somewhat different from ordinary swimwear, however, describing it as “a bondage-style swimsuit” meant to evoke the uniforms of the secret organization Cipher Pol Number 9, of which Carifa is a member.

op-4

The figure is priced at 9,720 yen (US$86), and Premium Bandai is limiting each customer to three units. Furthermore, only one unit can be ordered at a time, so if you want a copy of Carifa to hang from your ceiling, and one on each side of your bed for when you sleep on your side, you’ll need to place three separate orders.

op-5

Furthermore, Premium Bandai’s website says the figure, which is scheduled to ship in late July, is recommended for customers 15 and up. Whether that’s because of fragility, its high price, or simply the belief that pre-pubescent fans won’t be able to get the full enjoyment out of the figure is unspecified.

op-6