20–39cm Dolls Kinoko Juice Kiki :3

Spoiling the story as it got long~

Spoiler

Kinoko Juice Kiki Munyukuchi is one of those dolls that I've been taking notice of for years. Long before I ever had my first piece of resin, I remember finding that adorable :3 face on Google images and thinking they were the cutest dolls ever. That was around 2013 when I was a very broke 18 year old college student living in my car while hoping for a better life some day. Practically a lifetime ago. Back when the only way to get a Kinoko Juice doll was in Japan with a lot of luck as only a handful were made every year. When secondhand Kinoko Kuice dolls would go for $2,000+ prices. They seemed so unobtainable back then.

Fast forward to 2015 and Kikipops appeared. A more affordable way to get a Kiki in ABS! But still, I never obtained one. I was still one day hoping for that resin. What followed is that these days Kinoko Juice sells their dolls on Etsy for affordable prices. Even Kiki can be purchased in resin from there, though stock is limited and more popular colors can be harder to obtain. I've almost pulled the trigger on a Kiki from Etsy mutliple times. It just never felt like the "right" time.

Until I recently obtained a grail. Another :3 expression doll. And I just knew I finally needed a Kiki as well. So I checked the etsy only to find the color of Kiki I wanted was sold out. I had planned to wait until there was a restock. Buy a blank Kiki from Etsy when she was available. That was until I checked Mandarake and happened upon this interesting looking "basic Kiki". She was priced lower than resin Kinoko Juice dolls tend to be. So I though she was maybe one of the newer Kikis from Etsy in rough condition? Maybe an ABS Kikipop? But then I noticed the little card on the corner of the photo that reads "Kinokojuice Special Edition Kiki 1/1". Zooming into the image with the back of this card I could barely make out that it had the year 2012. So I searched! And I found her! First an old blog from the Kinoko Juice website with broken images calling her Kisekaedoru "Kiki" Munyukuchi. The blog listed eveything she originally came with. Then an image collection from the same website. Meaning this "basic Kiki" is actually a fullset from 2012 that sold at auction in Japan, and she includes everything!

I snatched her up along with a few more items from Mandarake and eagerly awaited her arrival. About a week later she was at my doorstep, which brings us back to here~

She came in an adorable pink box with a sticker on the front. Has a note (in Japanese) along with a COA card. Also included was 2 pairs of hands, a hoodie with horns, tights, jean shorts, sneakers, eyes installed, and a wig.


Back of the COA card shows her to be from June 2012. She has a very neat eye mechanism I've never seen before. Reminds me of Dollsbe's eye mechanism. One of her lashes had fallen off but was included.


Believe it or not, her head is actually smaller than I expected. I'm so used to massive heads these days. Her face is quite small for her egg shaped noggin. She is also very floppy. The elastic might be the original elastic from 2012.


I had hoped these two could be sisters. Seeing them both together now, they look more like cousins. Same family still so I have no complaints. I am calling her Kiki for now as a placeholder until a better name strikes my fancy.


Thanks for viewing~!

 

The Enfant Ai line didn't come around until 2011 and my Cho is from 2013. The first Enfant Ai sculpt (Mong) wasn't so anime-looking. So I kind of assume Cho's face was inspired by Kiki. Cho even has sculpted lashes, though they are a different shape than Kiki's. Cho's face and head overall is much bigger as well. One day I hope I can unearth a blank photo of Cho's face so I can compare the blank head with Kiki's. I really do not want to wipe my Cho though as she most likely has company faceup. But there might not even be any more Cho's out there for all I know.