Anime Goods: Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san Nendoroid

In which I get philosophical and then get my heart just melted.

I hate dumb fanservice—like when it’s done at the expense of a character’s dignity or when it’s so clearly the only reason for a series to exist you just want to remind its audience there are straight-out hentai series out there. But I love some good-spirited, cute, consensual fanservice in my anime.

I even have an appreciation for fanservice aimed at a demographic really far from mine, especially the kind that’s more sweet than sexy, and I’m a bit sad when I hear the likeable female characters in some of these series be judged or dismissed by watchers without giving them much of a chance. The fact is, I sort of relate to some of the tropes of fanservicey characters, despite being twice their age in most cases–and one I took quite a shine to was Senko, the kind and helpful pampering fox spirit in Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-San.

Maybe it’s because I myself fell in love with an overworked guy and love pampering the hell out of him. There’s something so nice to me about taking care of someone not because you’re dating or because you’re a certain gender or because you think you’re supposed to, but just because you can’t help it. So I didn’t see Senko as gross, dumb fanservice, but just fulfillment of a certain type of nice fantasy. After all I like doling out huge bowls of fluffy rice and taking care of Mr B, too.

And luckily, her Nendoroid is just delightful! It’s relatively simple in terms of the number of parts:

But as with the best figures, it just does a great job capturing the character, her sweetness and her sense of selfless kindness.

Senko’s tail is central to her snuggly appeal, so I was glad to see it properly wrapped in bubble wrap in the box. Though I initially worried its lightness was an indicator of cheapness, I think instead that’s strategic for balance purposes. Either way, it’s huge and perfect.

To be honest, as I grappled with the decision to buy this figure, the deciding factor was tail-related — the way you can make her pop out of the rice cooker tail-first, just like in the opening!

Sometimes I feel that Nendoroid come in two general types — the gimmick ones (not using gimmick in a negative sense; just meaning these have a major display feature or element like the Doremi series witches and their brooms or the Doctor Strange one with all the arms or whatnot) and those that are pretty much just there to be cute. Senko’s the latter, and for one of these to work, every detail has got to be just right. Luckily, it is.

Her little ear- cleaning pick and her flushed expression are just too cute. They get me every time!

I just can’t find a reason not to recommend dear little Senko. Though she’s sold out at my usual haunts, there’s an active enough market for Nendoroid that she shouldn’t be hard to find. Her pampering ways and cute little smile are just the thing after a hard day.