Shibajuku Girls - New Big Heads On The Blog!

I got a wonderful new type of a big head doll for a Christmas present! She's a Shibajuku Girls Shizuka and I got her from my mum. She knows how nuts I am about the big headed dolls these days. Mum had equipped her with the cutest little Chi Chi Love puppy too. Together they make the most perfect pastel package deal. I LOVE them both and they're all the more precious, because they are from my mum.

A Little Review...

The Shibajuku Girls is an Australian brand by Hunter Products, but the inspiration for them apparently come from the Harajuku style from Japan. The Shibajuku Girls first series has 5 different characters:

Their website: www.shibajuku.com has little introductions of each girls and already a preview of series 2. The overall impression of the presentation of both the box and the website is a bit messy. They're definitely not quite as well done or finely designed as say the Monster High franchise. The ideas here are good and there's a lot of potential in these dolls, but kids these days are demanding. Little girls can tell quality stuff from mediocre, and in order for the dolls to sell, there would need perhaps to be more to choose from. Already I'm not sure how many kids would want both the pink haired or blond dolls in their collection. The dolls need to be different enough for kids to want to have more of them and there need to be clothes available for them. A doll with one single set of clothes is not a fun doll.

In order for this line to really take off, the line would need more variation: more skintones for sure, clothing and prop sets sold separately and variation to the make-up styles as well. The line might benefit from a couple more head sculpts as well. Now all the dolls in series 1 and 2 have pretty much identical faces, only with different colours. They're all caucisian, all with same length hair... This will not sell multiples of these dolls to one kid/collector.

I'm pretty impressed wih the quality of this Shibajuku Girls doll. Her body is better engineered and made of more solid and durable materials than Pullips. She's about Pullip size, with a very slightly bigger vinyl head and without the eye mechanism. There is probably some inspiration that's been drawn from Groove dolls, behind the Shibajuku Girls. The comparison is inevitable. Her posing ability is very good! She's fully mobile, jointed wrists and all. She's got a one piece torso and no ankle joints, but that's actually a good thing in my opinion. She holds her poses better than Pullip and the joint action is quite a bit smoother, without the squeeking sounds that Groove dolls make. Hehe! Her hair is rooted and very nice quality, probably something akin to high quality nylon fiber, but it's thinner denier than most nylon hairs. It's very easily stylable. Her eyes are her most striking feature, that sets her apart from other dolls. They're anime style and they glow amazingly. They're probably acrylic and inset there, with applied lashes that are not glued on the top, but fabulously come from between the eyeball and the eye lid.

Shizuka's already re-dressed in these pics, but she brought some quite lovely clothes. This pretty white cardigan in the photos here was one of them. Her dress was a pretty light pink one with a pink shoes and nice quality socks. She fits into most of the Pullip and Blythe clothes I have and some Barbie items as well. The socks are the most fun on these dolls!

The first series at least is marketed with hair funky hair pins that the owner and the doll can share. Each of the dolls brings a bunch of them and there are accessory packs available separately as well.

The conclusion I'm quite excited about this doll. I always enjoy exploring new types of dolls and I'm definitely already hoping for a friend for Shizuka. I wish this new type of doll the best of luck on the market. I think she's a great addition to the doll scene. I'm convinced this doll can hold some interest value for collectors as well. I can see some customizing potential there and even just as they are, they provide a nice and affortable option for Pullips or Blythes. I would warmly recommend these dolls for both kids and collectors. They are a lot of fun!