Design allows owners to mix and match upper body art, and also has a practical purpose.

By their very nature, anime figures represent a sort of blending of 2-D and 3-D art, taking the designs fans have seen on the flat surface of a TV or monitor and converting it into a physical, contoured statuette. But a new line of products being sold by Japanese company Bell Fine is mixing 2-D and 3-D elements within the figure itself.

It’s no secret that many anime figures like to accentuate the curves of female characters’ upper-body physical assets. Bell Fine’s Keitai Shojo figures, though, are completely flat (literally a flat plane) above the waist. Instead, they save all their copious curves for their protruding posteriors.


The reason for the unusual design is that the figures double as smartphone stands, and so the upper portion needs to be smooth and stable. Once that task has been taken care of, though, the figure’s interdimensional navels serve as the transition point into 3-D space.

While you could leave the flat portion blank and admire a pair of disembodied legs, the figures come with pieces of character artwork that can be slipped into the upper section. Three models are being offered, and though each comes with an identical navy blue pleated skirt, hard-core collectors will still want to pick up all three, which are differentiated by their pantie color.

Even by anime merchandise standards, the Keitai Shojo line is a bold design, and so the figures aren’t immediately being offered for sale in regular retail stores. Instead, they’ll be sold at Bell Fine’s booth at the upcoming Wonder Festival model and garage kit event in Chiba’s Makuhari Messe convention center on July 29, priced at 2,200 yen (US$20) each.

Related: Wonder Festival Summer 2018
Source: Bell Fine via Dengeki Hobby Web via Hachima Kiko