Azusa Nakano Brilliant Stage is quite a well-detailed figure and let’s start from the most detailed part of the figure, which is… Azusa’s guitar. It looks like a real guitar with metal parts that actually look like metal, knobs with black paint that give an impression that they are turnable and the guitar strings are actually real strings.

The clothes on Azusa also look fairly detailed with the way they wrinkle. Her coat sleeve also shows that she has a short-sleeved shirt under the coat. She is also holding a guitar pick on her right hand which is a good attention to detail.

The inclusion of a guitar tuner and two headbands, which are the nekomimi and usagimimi, is a lovely icing on the cake. Of course, we all know we have to put nekomimi on Azusa. She is perfect with it.

I guess the least detailed part of the figure is the hair. You could say it fits how the hair looks like in the anime of the era K-On! was released, but compared to modern-day anime figures that have insane hair details with multiple strands, it is less impressive. Overall, still charming nonetheless.

Azusa Nakano is one of my favourite characters from K-On! However, since the anime is old now, there is no hope of new scale figures coming for K-On! Therefore, I ended up getting this figure from AmiAmi in A/B condition.

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It is interesting to see a figure from a decade ago and I am amazed at how well Azusa Nakano Brilliant Stage’s paint has held up to date.

There are no paint spills at all. The tiny golden buttons on her coat are painted well and the shading on Azusa’s skirt is beautiful. Even her tiny fingernails are painted without spilling over to the fingers.

The vibrant red colour on her guitar is beautifully painted with a more shiny paint. The metal parts of the guitar also look realistic with the way those parts are painted with a metallic-looking paint too.

I like her skin colour have red shading on her joints where they are in action. For example, her right leg bent area has some red shading on it. It is a lovely touch and I feel like more modern anime figures need to do this too. It looks natural and gives more dynamism to the paint.

The downside of the figure would be Azusa’s hair, coat and shoes have no shading on them, just solid colours and her skin colour is a bit on the warmer side compared to some other figures I have.

Azusa Nakano Brilliant Stage figure stands at 21 cm including the base plate. It comes with a cute pose where it looks like Azusa is giving a performance to the crowd and in the middle of playing her guitar.

The pose looks very natural from the way her legs and hands are moving and her hair swaying flawlessly, giving an impression of her in motion on stage. The facial expression also shows a cheerful and cute smile, which I think reflects Azusa’s personality pretty well. The only reason I picked this Azusa figure is because I found the Alter’s Azusa face weird.

My only minor complaint would be her eyes are a little bit sharp on the corners, while Azusa in the anime has more rounded eyes.

Azusa Nakano Brilliant Stage has a solid sculpting overall. Since the hair lacks details or multiple strands, it is a fairly simple sculpt to get the hair done with zero mould transfers.

The face sculpting is excellent, with the right shape and outline of how Azusa actually looks in the anime, and the mouth is not just painted in but actually indented in.

The coat, skirt, shoes and guitar are also sculpted without any jagged edges or mould transfers.

The body, for the most part, looks fairly natural in terms of how it is sculpted. Azusa’s legs are beautifully sculpted and I think they look natural but the back of her knee (kneepit) is not as detailed in terms of how muscle might actuate.

I also can’t help but feel that her body and shoulder area, when looking from the side, look a bit too thin. Yes, I know Azusa has small oppai, but a few more millimetres or difference in body pose might make her look more natural when viewing from the sides.

Azusa Nakano Brilliant Stage 1:8 Review

Figure Type : Scales

Anime Reference : K-On!

Final Score

8.5