Jun Shinbuki and Takara's Least Wanted

ETA: Took a couple of closeups

Yesterday D7ana asked me about my Jun Shibuki doll I used as a shoe model in the last post. I actually bought her over a year ago and never got around to introducing her, but it just so happens I had a post about her in the works.

The real Jun Shibuki is a star of the Takarazuka Revue, the Japanese theatre company where all the roles are played by women. She's one of the actresses specializing in playing men, and (if I remember my research properly) when she retired a few years ago Takara - the company that makes Jenny; no relation! - made a series of dolls depicting her most famous roles. This was the least collectable of them, I guess - the play takes place in present day, so no fancy period costume - which is probably why I've seen it for sale several times. I'm not a Takarazuka fan, but celebrity doll = unique facemold (or at least a realistic one), plus I could tell from the pictures she had some articulation. As I may have mentioned, those are the two main things I look for in a doll. 

My pics of her in the box disappeared in a disk crash and I can't find any online at the moment. She has the Super Action Jenny body, which is pretty ok but not great; the hinged wrists being the main drawback imo. (You can find pictures of it at the dollplanet.ru link above.) Good to have one available for reference, though. I don't know if you can tell from the photos below, but she's wearing stage makeup which I guess is intended to masculinize her features a bit (she also has stars in her eyes which I assume is artistic licence). For some reason I quite like her short-ish hairdo. 

In my doll universe she's (quite fittingly) a retired entertainer and the mother of Anneliese (aka Jenny friend Lisa) who completely failed to live up to her mother's expectations of a showbiz career and instead ended up as ...some kind of PA or secretary or maybe telemarketer? I'm not sure, but her mother is quite disappointed (even if she appreciates her administrational skills). 

The interesting thing about Lisa is she's apparently the least popular Jenny friend doll ever. Seriously: every single google hit is someone talking about how ugly she is. I really don't agree: maybe it's because I'm not really a fan of the more cartoony cuteness of most Jenny dolls, but to me her "ugliness" looks more like realism. Plus most photos of her seem almost deliberately taken to bring out her bad features - compare with the picture of her in this guide to Jenny face molds: http://forum.dollplanet.ru/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=37600# (in Russian but names are in English, scroll down about halfway). Honestly - "ugly"?

Well, more for me then! :) I don't think Lisa has seen that many releases, but the one I got is a simple bathing suit version from Jenny's 25th anniversary. Since she didn't come with much of an outfit, I've been trying to find one separately that fits her story. For a few months now she's been wearing a Jenny office lady outfit, but then I found this Takarazuka school uniform (from the music school that provides the revue with talent) - perfect! 

The outfit apparently originally comes from a special Jenny edition. The Internet tells me there should be a hat as well, and possibly a completely different kind of shoes (these are just a random pair that sort of fit), but I'm not that picky about authenticity. The collar's a bit worse for wear so I might trim it a little bit. 

Anneliese graduated bottom of her year! Her mother was not pleased! Dramatic backstory acquired! 

Instead of digging up Jun's original outfit, I put her in the pinstripe suit that was part of the Jenny office lady fashion pack. The jacket is actually pinned down around her arm, or it would stick straight out in a most unrealistic way. I don't know why she's wearing her stage makeup in private, though. Force of habit?

Anneliese poses with another great find: 1/6 violin case! The violin that goes with it isn't quite as good as some Barbie ones, but I love the realism of a proper case and I've wanted one for the longest time. Along with 1/6 art supplies, violins are my favorite doll props. (Pay no attention to that oddly angled wrist!)

(Jun and the violin case came from Mandarake.co.jp a Japanese webshop which seems to be pretty good for used Jenny dolls. Ordering is a little bit complicated, mainly since all their stuff is also available for sale in their physical stores and sometimes gets sold before they have time to process your order. On the other hand they package their goods really well. The Takarazuka uniform came from FoundinJapan.com which I found just recently. They seem to have mostly older Licca dolls, which isn't really my thing, but there's lots of other stuff too.) 

Obligatory posing without context!