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Many collectors of Japanese anime merchandise may have noticed that it can occasionally be more than a little bizarre, and this Love Hina Again toy range most definitely falls into that category. Based (obviously) on Love Hina Again, the three episode straight-to-video sequel to the Love Hina anime series, these figures are unusual in that they are actually moving toys. The range consisted of cute cartoonish versions of four of the shows female leads - Naru Narusegawa, Motoko Aoyama, Mutsumi Otohime & Kanako Urashima - all sitting in the titular Moving Bathtubs. The square Japanese-style tubs are all on wheels and are toys of the 'pull back and let go' variety, which allows you to pull back and race them against each other! The four figures are all really cute, standing at just 6cm (2.5") high with cheerful and simple squashed-down design. The best thing about them though is that when you pull them back and let them go, boy do they go! All of the figures will travel quite a few metres on a flat surface from being pulled back a few centimetres, and they go at a fair speed too. As they are moving toys you don't expect extreme detail or high quality sculpting, and it is true that join lines are visible on the tub and on the characters' hair, but the simple design means that the figures look good despite this. Besides, they are not intended for display and as toys they are great fun, although the small Keitaro parts (see Extras, below) that comes with it means that it wouldn't really be suitable for young children. It is rare to find Love Hina merchandise that can be played with rather than just put on a shelf and admired, and in this regard I highly recommend these Moving Bathtub toys. They are fun, very random and look really cute, plus they go miles when you pull them back and let them go! They were originally available as prizes in Japanese arcade machines but can be found second hand, and they are well worth picking up if you do find them. Extras: Each figure comes with one of four parts of Keitaro Urushima, Love Hina's male lead. The four parts are put together to form a cute figure of a distressed looking Keitaro tied up in a duvet, which can then be used as a target for the bathtubs! The figure lightly clips together so can be smashed apart when hit, and then rebuilt for round two. Great stuff, but a shame that you have to get all four figures to build him as they are quite hard to come by. Ratings Product:
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