Strike Witches and Girls und Panzer character designer reimagines the American icon.

As you can probably guess from his name, Humikane Shimada is a Japanese character designer and illustrator. But a look at his resume will tell you he’s a very Japanese artist, having contributed to multimedia franchises that could only have come from the home nation of anime, such as Strike Witches (teenage girls in bikini bottoms put on special propeller boots to become fighter planes), Girls und Panzer (schoolgirls fight in competitive tank battles as an extracurricular activity) and Kantai Collection (real-world historical warships are anthropomorphized as cute girls).

Now, after having added cute anime girls to the concepts of war on the land, sea, and air, Shimada’s latest project is one with thoroughly American roots: Wonder Woman.

In addition to designing characters for anime and video games, Shimada is also involved in figure design work, with previous projects in the Busou Shinki and Frame Arms Girl lines. This time, he’s working with figure maker Kotobukiya on a salute to DC’s, and arguably American comics in general’s, most famous superheroine.

With anime aesthetics often skewing towards more youthful-looking characters than American comics, and Shimada’s work particularly so, the Wonder Woman Humikane Shimada Ver. figure doesn’t look quite as statuesque as her counterparts you’ll find on DC’s pages, and has sort of an anime magical girl team’s big sister-type vibe. That’s not to say she can’t look fierce too, though, especially when one of the figure’s three face plates has her shouting a battle cry.

The 16-centimeter (6.3-inch) tall figure comes bundled with sword, shield, and Lasso of Truth, plus an effect piece that puts a whirling aura of power around the shield.

As with many anime figures, Kotobukiya is showing off the Humikane Shimada Wonder Woman early, ahead of a projected shipping month of January, but on the plus side, if Wonder Woman 1984 makes its current October release date, that means you’ll be able to watch the live-action sequel while looking forward to delivery of the anime-inspired version.

The Wonder Woman Humikane Shimada Ver. is priced at 5,800 yen (US$54) and can be preordered through Kotobukiya’s online shop here.

Source: Kotobukiya via Anime News Network/Kim Morrissy via Mantan Web
Images: Kotobukiya
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