Sorry to keep you waiting folks! Introducing our first licensed Smart Doll - Miho Nishizumi who is the heroine of the hit anime series Girls Und Panzer. This is a huge milestone for my company and marks the beginning of an exciting era where Smart Doll once again changes the fashion doll scene.
The reason why I'm releasing photos of her just a week before her release is that not only Bandai Visual but the anime studio for Girls Und Panzer were also involved in the supervision of the first ever fashion doll modeled after the characters.
Another reason is that I have a policy of only taking orders on actual product photos and not of prototypes. As a consumer, I know what its like to order something online based on prototype photos only to receive something that looks nothing like what I originally put my money down for. Now as a manufacturer I never want to put somebody through the same first world ordeal. These photos are taken on the Sony RX1R II and are completely unedited.
Read on to find out how to order your Miho Smart Doll.
Learn more about Smart Doll >
I got no time to read the rest - take me to the buy page >
If you have not seen Girls Und Panzer check out the PV below.
Not only do we make Smart Doll in Japan, we also employ Japanese design principles in its creation - there are 7 zen aesthetic design principles known as Wabi-Sabi of which we focus on three:-
FUKINSEI (不均整) Imbalanced. Beauty in imperfection, asymmetry.
SHIZEN (自然) Naturalness. Absence of pretense or artificiality.
DATSUZOKU (脱俗) Unworldly. Unconventional.
Wabi-Sabi (no not Wasabi!) states that beauty can only be achieved if there is a correlate amount of imperfection. Smart Doll is beautiful because it has imperfections which have been factored into the design not only on the 3D modeling level but also because we decided to use a traditional casting method called Slush Casting which by its nature introduces imperfections.
If you are working in design then understanding these values may inspire some of the work you do.
Make sure you read the Welcome Guide - actually it would be a good idea to do so now. Miho comes wearing her bikini but you need to put on her school uniform yourself. Proceed to put on her blouse by removing her arms and head (gulp).
Smart Doll was designed to be a fashion doll - so much so that KADOKAWA uses Smart Doll in their schools as a sketch reference, Sony uses them in their showrooms as a photo subject and Smart Doll has even walked fashion shows and is in fashion schools too. With Smart Doll by your side, your creativity can be further stimulated!
I've saved the most important thing for last - not only will Miho egg you on while you work - with Smart Gear, Miho can also turn into a mobile battery, the worlds cutest USB hub or even a desktop computer.
Because we don't make apparel big enough to fit various dolls on the market - our apparel is specifically for Smart Doll and fits perfectly around the body enhancing the model-like silhouette. Choose from a ton of apparel items for Miho to don when you take her out n about.
Smart Doll is leading the fashion doll scene - the leading fashion department store Isetan chose Smart Doll to be their campaign girl and even starred in one of their commercials.
These stickers are issued by Bandai Visual for products released to the Japanese market - we only put these stickers on domestic orders. Hakuhodo manage the license outside of Japan and I managed to get it for all regions.
Previously I said I wouldn't make anime dolls - I lied Muhahahahaha!
Only joking - its because we didn't have the resources to do so but now our production capacity has increased and we have much more routes to develop apparel in Japan. To let you know that I only develop Smart Doll for titles where I can get the worldwide license.
Now I am working with Bandai, Sunrise, KADOKAWA and various other publishers on licensed Smart Dolls.
There is no change however in the vision for Smart Doll which is to lead the fashion doll market and we continue to do so by working with brands like Isetan and are now in talks with beverage makers, automobile manufacturers, theme parks and so on.
I'm only going to cover just a part of the making of Miho Smart doll in this post - for a more detailed insight read the other post (albright slightly old). The video below provides a more visual compact insight into the making.
While we use the current 60CM tall Smart Doll body - the apparel has to be developed from scratch. In our Gotanda office, we develop the patterns and samples before sending off instructions to the factories that we use in Japan.
For Miho's uniform, we teamed up with Tsuji-Yosoten in Tokyo Nakano who handles production for brands like Jun Ashida - they also did the production for the Isetan Smart Doll uniform too.
The cross symbol is silk screen printed by Happy Printers in Harajuku.
Our molds are made by mold maker Kamijo who's family has been making slush casting molds in Japan since 1907.
Many moons ago I worked with my father Jimmy Choo in his studio making shoes - for this reason, the footwear that we make for Smart Doll is made in the same was as we make human shoes. We include Lining, Toe Puff and Stiffener into the manufacture process - the only bad thing about this is that our shoes are a bit hard to put on at first - but loosen up after time - just like human shoes!
We will start to display Miho at Mirai Store from 2016/10/17 - avoid lunch and check opening times before coming.
Online link is here https://shop.smartdoll.jp/products/smart-doll-miho-nishizumi
You may want to pick up some goodies fitting for Miho - especially in the military department. Extra hand parts would be good together with the Air Stand.
Miho Nishizumi Smart Doll is the first product to be released from the Bandai Visual X Smart Doll collaboration - what do you want the second one to be?
©GIRLS und PANZER Film Projekt