Goods: Come over here, you sexy thing - Kirihara Naoto (Night Head Genesis)
This is one yummy, sexy action figure from Medicom’s Real Action Heroes (RAH) series, released in 2006. Night Head Genesis ナイトヘッドジェネシス, Kirihara Naoto 霧原直人 ^^ The character was designed by mangaka You Higuri-sensei 氷栗優 who was also responsible for the character designs in BL game and anime, Gakuen Heaven 学園ヘヴン.
Naoto has good joint articulation, lovely face sculpt and well-made outfit. I love the shoes! All the clothes can be removed. And erm… he wears a pair of socks but NO UNDERWEAR!!! *sweat drop* Yeah yeah… I know Naoto is probably concerned about visible panty ahem~ bikini brief lines under those skinny jeans? Lol~ The figure comes with an extra pair of hands in fist pose.
The damage: 14,800 Yen (w/o tax)
Summary
Night Head Genesis anime (2006) is based on a live-action science fiction series “Night Head” (1992). It is said that 70% of human brain capacity is unused thus scientists strongly believe that incredible power lies dormant within this region, known as “Night Head”. The Kirihara brothers, Naoto 霧原直人 and Naoya 霧原直也 are abandoned by their parents who are afraid of the psychic power they possess. Taken custody by scientists, the boys grow up in a research centre that is designed to contain them within a barrier-protected forest. Fifteen years later, they escape from their captivity and find themselves to be pivotal in the upcoming revolution, “Upheaval”.
Naoto, voiced by Morikawa Toshiyuki 森川智之, is an over-protective, older brother with a brother complex. He is a very powerful psychokinetic who can move and destroy objects. Naoya, voiced by Ishida Akira 石田彰, is tormented by his ability to see and hear other people’s thoughts and memories. He is often rendered helpless from the shock of traumatic visions. Naoya is the only person who does not trigger Naoya’s abilities thus the younger boy often hides behind him in order to be shielded from physical contact with other people. The brothers can communicate with each other telepathically.
The anime was a hit in Japan when it was first telecast in 2006. Well, watching this anime feels rather like watching a BL fan service because the lead characters were voiced by Morikawa Toshiyuki and Ishida Akira, who worked together in countless BL dramas. If you’re a Yaoi fangirl, your imagination will probably go wild over the brother x brother potential. The fact that You Higuri-sensei has done brother x brother BL stories like “Zeus” doesn’t help either lol~ ^^
I’m not a fan of the Night Head Genesis anime whose plot took too darn long to build up. I gave up after 5 episodes *falls down* partly because I got too busy.
The characters are good looking and worth drooling over but at the end of the day, the story is still a lot more important than eye candy, well, at least to me. It is a pity tho’ cos it had a lot of potential. Or maybe I should be more patient and finish watching it before passing any judgment *shrug*
Anyway, I also found this review which gave Night Head Genesis 86 out of 100 points, commenting that the mystery series really becomes awesome towards the end. That’s rather encouraging cos I fell into the group who lost patience with it, so I’ll try to pick up this series when I can 
Update 18 August 2008: I finally completed the series ^^ and yes it does get better later in the story. So yeah… do give it a chance We get to see what a lady killer older brother Naoto is and amidst all the seduction, he still sticks with Naoya because he wouldn’t know how to carry on living without him (serious brother complex lol He is very strong yet at the same time emotionally weak.) And I also started to like Naoya more as he begins to wield more control over his abilities. The brothers are definitely good for each other, so yea, they should stay together forever 
Read the manga too if you want more details and references to the backstories, inner thoughts of various characters with clues about their motivations. [End Update]
What do you think of the series?
Media Blasters has licensed them in February 2008. It isn’t available yet but I wouldn’t mind getting the boxed set during a discount when it is.
Hmm… okie just one more shot before we go…
Yeah baby yeah! 
Yes, my dear, you’ll have your brother soon… *smirk*
Love the shoes and love it more coz the clothes can be removed.
I imagine this kinda RAH will arouse hubby’s jealousy XD
Yea! The shoes look good! He wears black socks btw. As I was posing and shooting him, he really made me feel like he was modelling. He is by far probably the most handsome anime bishonen RAH I’ve come across. Following a close second would be RAH Yagami Light whom I collected yesterday XD I ordered the re-issues of Light and L in February this year and they just arrvied! The boys are still inside their boxes tho. Lelouch RAH is a bishonen too but he is “pretty” rather than “handsome” in my opinion
Crows x Worst RAH have good looking men but I wouldn’t classify them as bishonen. I like the accessories included in those RAH. if only Medicom sells accessories separately too (-_-)” I don’t want to buy the whole figure just for the accessories. But knowing how they squeeze $ from us, they probably would never do that. ^^”
Hahaha… jealous hubby!!! *better go hide the RAH somewhere* XD The photo shoot was rather fun to do… cos we can play with the clothes as well. I should probably go and read more fashion magazines for inspiration.
I think Lulu is sweet instead of handsome…
If Medicom sells accs separately..that would make RAH like an expensive Barbie. Sure you want that? Ha Ha Ha
Maybe you can do some DIY costume for Naoto or Light, the measuring session shouldn’t be so tough compared to the sewing session kekekeke~
Yup, should look for more inspiration and don’t forget the props eh?
Not only he made you feel like he’s a model, but you feel like pro photographer nee?
Good pictures anyway, maybe you should create an online photo album for your figurines? Must be cool.
XD How true… yeah Lulu is a sweetie.
Oh my… you put it really well. I never thought of it that way (o_O) Yeah, it is better not to go down the Barbie path *sweatdrop*
Indeed, measurement is easy… just strip em! wahaha~ but they really do look better with clothes on
Gaaah~my sewing skill is… ^^” I’ll update if anything good comes out of it but I don’t see myself doing it anytime soon.
Pro-photographer… not really la…
but fun hehe. I want to use more props too. Would make it more interesting huh… Maybe also can get inspiration from Kiss of fire illustrations and see what other shots I can make out of it. Yummy~ I don’t understand why there aren’t K & I figures since they are so popular. It is probably not so easy to make them look good? Hmm…
Yup, tht illustration book can inspire you a lot.
Hmm..i think i’m going to have a ‘high-expectation sydrome’ if K & I finally licensed for RAH/figures.
Of course i still hope that it would happen (cannot imagine how expensive).
It’ll be great if Bl figures are planted with voice chip, therefore we can press the button and enjoy the yummy voice of the seiyuu.
How about naoto vs light? hahaha…
Btw, does Light and Naoto have same body type? i mean can they exchange costume?
Yea~ judging from the usual pricing range of RAH, I think if the day comes for RAH K & I, they’ll probably be about at least 20000 Yen each? I’ll definitely buy them if it happens. And they better throw in a Fuyu no Semi version too lol~ I think it is likely they’ll look pretty good
Like Naoto and Lulu’s head sculpts look great in my opinion.
Mmm I’ll try some Kiss of Fire poses when I receive my Naoya RAH ^^ It’ll actually be quite nice if I can get a Naoto face with a different hairstyle/colour but… that’ll be like the Barbie syndrome right *dies* Gaaah… but but I think they look more “harmonious” since the face design is similar (T-T) However, if we really think about it, that shouldn’t be an issue cos in real life, people can look as different as night and day. I think I’m just too used to seeing similar faces of different characters in most manga. *sweatdrop*
Naoto vs Light… hmm I don’t know. I’ll try and see if it looks good. They can share clothes cos they are of the same body type using RAH 301 and both standing at 30cm. I think it is possible to unscrew and detach their heads, so they can swap bodies… but I haven’t tried that yet ^^”
So far, only Lulu’s body is different, that’s why he is from the ProjectBM line while the other boys are from the RAH line.
I definitely will buy them too…
and they better be equipped with lots of clothes and shoes.
*caught the barbie syndrome*
I hope this is not just a wishful thinking, there are too many big-boobs female figurines (with peeking white panty) to satisfy the guys, we (girls) demand hot guys made into fabolous figurines/RAHs.
Have you ever owned a barbie? i think i have one+couple of shoes+self-made dresses…
but during i’m 14 y.o i cut my barbie hair short and no longer play it.
Im always the tomboy -type heehee
Hahahaha XD I hope so too
I never owned a barbie… my auntie offered to buy me one when I was a kid but I chose a stencil art set… I do like to play with dolls… I had one (not barbie) I don’t know what came over me that day. I regretted a little after that ^^”
I have a lot of soft toys tho’ like care bears and such. I think I was a girly girl until I started attending school
I didn’t like to lose to the boys and I became tomboyish lol~
I still buy plushies up to these days..(competing with daughter?HaHa)
Barbie have many accessories and props, right? and not cheap either..be glad you don’t fall into the trap of barbie-collecting syndrome. rather fall into ‘collecting figure’ hobby now XD because you already earn paychecks per month
Because i’m the first kid in the family, i have many toys (gifts etc etc), and yea i have stencil art set too.
Hahaha… yeah some things don’t change. We are still kids at heart
I’m feeling a bit alarmed about the figures accumulating steadily over the months ^^” Running out of the already limited closet space.
And on the topic of finding inspiration from fashion mags and Kiss of Fire… Nitta Youka-sensei is recently involved in a controversy where she is accused of copying the poses and layout of fashion ads for her illustrations o_O Quite shocking when I saw some of the comparison photos. Although some are still debatable since certain poses can be quite common but a couple of them were almost exactly the same. She has apologised in her blog. I guess it is ok to reference the composition and poses but to trace everything…
She should have known better. Sigh. Quite sad loh.
her ‘apology’ is okay but i think it’s etched on fans mind tht she was copying.
Not very creative and kinda gives her bad image.
Still, i’m not sorry for having Kiss of Fire book.
Yeah… I still love her characters and work… indeed it takes years to build a reputation and just one mistake to tarnish it
Mistakes instead of mistake hee hee
I have same reaction as you. surprised to see the similarity.
This sorta controversy happened to Inoue Takehiko, related to SLAM DUNK. He claimed never copied from the real deal but turns out there are some pics (from basketball games) have strong similarity.
but unlike Youka Nitta, Inoue Takehiko moved on and the issue just died and the guy proven himself he can draw.
(and im still his hardcore fan)
I still love K & I, but i gotta admit there’s some sorta nagging feeling as if she deliberately disappointing me (and her fans) and thinking as if nobody won’t find out about it.
Ah well, this should be a momentum for her to create something else, something original to change our (recent) impression about her work.
Yea… since it just happened recently, I guess we’ll have to wait and see… the bad thing is… Libre withdrew the next chapter of Haru and other works and will hold it until the issue is resolved.
I believe she’ll continue to create good work. This is a good reminder again to all artists not to take the easy way out, thinking that nobody would discover it. The information revolution on the internet has indeed changed everything huh…
Well, if she’s truly a great artist, she’ll bounce back
My friend and i argue about this issue, at some point im a bit pissed off at her because she told me, “what’s the point of having all tht thorough investigation? Does the person have better things to do?.”
My scalp prickled when she said, “I think it’s her own business/right to copy those photos. Don’t overreact.”
i was like -_- hell yeah, what are you? her lawyer?
Do you think Youka Nitta will face lawsuit? it’s a possibility but hopefully not.
This issue sorta ironic because (you remember?) we once talk about how her book appeared like photobook instead of regular illustration book.
Well, Youka Nitta still have my support and i’ll be waiting for her next artwork.
Yea, I hope she’ll give us great stories and art. Yup I remember our discussion
both of us thought the photobook concept was really cool right? I believe she would’ve been able to come up with beautiful poses without having to copy those magazine ads. It is definitely not ok to copy those ads, especially when they are almost exact copies x_x
Hmm… lawsuit… its hard to say. People are saying that if you have big enough influence, maybe you won’t get in as much trouble…
Yea and she’ll be more careful next time.
I hope this issue won’t traumatized her (which will badly affect her artwork and story)
What does exactly she said in her blog? besides the apology-part.
I agree those are almost exact copies and that’s what makes it tough.
I dun claim innocence in copying and i realize “heavily inspired” can lead into imitation.
Is there any mangaka making comment regarding this issue?
Maybe there’s some sorta code or ethics in the line of work of a mangaka which makes their opinion quite different with ours.
The apology was something like she wasn’t aware of the seriousness and will be more careful in the future. But I think she can’t say too much in case she really gets sued and it is used against her.
Well, the arguments posed by her fans/readers is that if she wanted to use the designs or items that she traced (for example the motif, clothes, etc), she should at least have wrote in to ask for permission or get the rights to publish it because her artwork are used for commercial purposes. Intellectual property. When I design layouts for clients, I pay for the stock photos too. We also have to explain to them why it is necessary cos they can be quite naive, you know? Like… oh~ I downloaded this photo from such-and-such website. Can we use it on ours? I was like… well you are a company so you might get into trouble if the photo is not royalty free. It happened to someone I know cos they overlooked it and the owner of the photo came knocking on their door to ask for compensation.
As for tracing/copying the poses… well, it is debatable cos certain poses can be similar. But with an almost exact trace, it makes things more complicated.
I’m not following the development closely so I’m not sure if other mangaka made their views known. If I come across anything, I’ll keep you updated