My Growing Azone Collection (Pureneemo, Picconeemo)

I started in this hobby by getting DD Towa back in the Autumn of 2020 and since then I've been hooked. Whenever I order anything from Mandarake I have a look and see if they have any interesting Azones in the same store.

Now I have a lot of them!

Here's some photos of Pureneemo Advance Aika. I think she dates from 2007 and is *very* creaky, but her outfit is in decent condition.

I've only got one girl on this body type but I think it was designed so the lack of unsightly knee and elbow joints made them good display girls. The downside of course is that they're less poseable than the other Ex Cute or Flection body types.

Like more recent Azones, she doesn't come with many accessories. In fact the only accessory is her headwear:

I really like her boots, and they're in great condition given her age. By contrast my Mia witch from 2012's boots fell apart when I tried to put them on her, and I ended up having to find her some replacement boots on etsy.

One more photo of Aika:

As I mentioned earlier, her knees and elbows aren't jointed, so she's not nearly as poseable as my other Pureneemos. Her legs are really stiff too - and it's only today that they've finally loosened up enough to be able to move her legs.

I really like her turquoise thigh-high socks and this is initially what caught my eye in her Mandarake listing.

Oh, and she was only (!) 5000 Yen which was a pretty good price for what I believe might be a first generation Pureneemo.

Another beach photoshoot, this time for Magical Cute Happy Shiny Koron. Does anyone else have Koron? She's totally adorable!

I really like how Pureneemos stand up well on their own two feet. This is something my Dollfies can't really do.

Koron is my second magical girl - my first was Flora Louise Miu. Here they are together:

I'm not sure if there are other girls in this series but I'll definitely keep a look out for them.

These girls are too cute 😍.

Super cute! I have Koron too (with Aika on the way), but not this version of her. You can see her with Sahra in this topic I made many moons ago:

And I apologize in advance to your wallet for informing you of this, but there are SO many other cute girls (and boys!) in this line (called Ex-Cute). Your magical girls are from the 13th series:

https://www.azone-int.co.jp/?sid=exc500

FYI your Flora Louise is actually supposed to be Floral Ease, but Flora Louise sounds nicer hehe

Another series I like, which you might like too, is the Sahra’s a la Mode line of dolls:

https://www.azone-int.co.jp/?sid=shr200

They have gentler facial expressions, giving them a more delicate and feminine feel.

@Xiongmao wow i love your azones. 

Thanks both.

Yes I am confused about green haired girl's name but the box does indeed say she's Floral Ease Miu. Flora Louise is definitely better though! I think the original Mandarake listing might have said this.

Anyway, whatever her name is I took her out for a late evening photoshoot. I'm trying to get used to people seeing me photograph my dolls outside... it is a BIG deal here and something you don't see every day, especially a Dollfie sized doll!

I think this will become my new favourite Pureneemo photoshoot location. These photos came out better because I increased the ISO rating from 100 to 400. Now if only I can tame the girls' hair but it is windy here and also I think the sea air is affecting their hair.

Oh and I didn't realise just how many Pureneemos there are! I think this one is going to be one I hunt from - she kind of looks like Dollfie Towa. Of course I also need Re:Zero Emilia to complete my trio. I'll also do a photoshoot with my two Love is War character girls and I also have 3 Picco's now (only two of which are unboxed).

In today's DollDreaming Zoom meetup I showed off my doll sized 3D printed bucket and spades.

Here's the Pureneemo sized versions. I took them to the beach and confirm they really do work...

Incidentally these girls are Pureneemo character 122 Kaguya Shinomiya (black hair) and character 123 Chika Fujiwara (strawberry blonde).

First Piccoshoot!

Mandarake described her as: Picco Sahra's A La Mode - Sweets A La Mode - Sahra - White Strawberry Shortcake - Regular Sales Version.

Is her name Sahra? Does she have a name?

1 hour ago, Xiongmao said:

Is her name Sahra? Does she have a name?

Her name is Sahra, but you can rename her if you want!

10 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

Her name is Sahra, but you can rename her if you want!

Thanks - I use their default names if they have one but I did name my custom MDD.

Incidentally are the Piccos smaller versions of the Pureneemos? I noticed last night that it's possible to get a Picco Yuzuha, so I wondered if she was a teeny version of regular Yuzuha.

3 hours ago, Xiongmao said:

Incidentally are the Piccos smaller versions of the Pureneemos? I noticed last night that it's possible to get a Picco Yuzuha, so I wondered if she was a teeny version of regular Yuzuha.

So there’s a few different kinds of Picconeemos, but the two main ones that show up on the forums are Lil’ Fairies and Picco Sahra’s a la Mode.

Lil’ Fairies are the tiny maids and they’re their own thing. There are no larger versions of those.

Picco Sahra’s a la Mode are tiny versions of the Sahra’s a la Mode Pureneemos. So your Picco Sahra is a smaller version of the Pureneemo Sahra, and yes, there’s tiny versions of your Pureneemo Yuzuha.

8 minutes ago, ragnamuffin said:

So there’s a few different kinds of Picconeemos, but the two main ones that show up on the forums are Lil’ Fairies and Picco Sahra’s a la Mode.

Lil’ Fairies are the tiny maids and they’re their own thing. There are no larger versions of those.

Picco Sahra’s a la Mode are tiny versions of the Sahra’s a la Mode Pureneemos. So your Picco Sahra is a smaller version of the Pureneemo Sahra, and yes, there’s tiny versions of your Pureneemo Yuzuha.

Cool that explains everything. I have one Lil’ Fairy (Pitica). I haven't done a photoshoot with her yet. I think I prefer them to the a la Mode ones.

It seems I'm missing a Pureneemo Sahra, so I'll look out for one when I next shop for dolls.

I just updated my blog with this pair... These were my first Pureneemos, and largely why I became interested in collecting them in the first place. Sadly I've still not gotten around to putting their hairpieces on. Maybe I'll wait until I hopefully acquire Re:Emilia.

I'm constantly amazed by the prices of the food-related Picco's but I reckon the Re:Zero Pureneemos will be highly sought after in the years to come.

On 11/3/2022 at 7:12 PM, Xiongmao said:

I just updated my blog with this pair... These were my first Pureneemos, and largely why I became interested in collecting them in the first place. Sadly I've still not gotten around to putting their hairpieces on. Maybe I'll wait until I hopefully acquire Re:Emilia.

I'm constantly amazed by the prices of the food-related Picco's but I reckon the Re:Zero Pureneemos will be highly sought after in the years to come.

They’re really cute. I had some struggles with adding the cross hair pieces. The way discribed in the instructions actually didn’t work. I used the tape over the first layer which holds a lot better. 

I have a new batch of Pureneemos. So far I have unboxed Asuna (from Sword Art Online). Her photo is below. She kind of reminds me of the lead character from Love Hina.

She's quite a nice doll although I'm disappointed she doesn't have inset eyes like the Re:Zero girls.

Also I don't know if it's cost saving measures but she only came with one spare set of hands and she didn't have a mini-anime story booklet or a doll care booklet. I don't know if the doll care booklet was missing when I bought her although I believe she is brand new.

I did also unbox a Mia from 2011 but sadly her legs are too loose for her to stand up, so no photos until I find something good to sit her down on. Also her arms are very stiff. She's this Mia (Limited Store version).

the older PNs have printed eyes, like my Squid Girl from the early-2010's.

i don't know about newer PMs, as they appear to have smaller heads (i think?)

but older examples, -such as my Squiddie- transfer over to the fantastic OBITSU BODY 26cm. very well indeed, YMMV;

 

ORIGINAL P.N.

OBITSU 26

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by Tasuke

I've had this pair for a while but haven't got round to taking photos of them.

First up is Sword Art Online Asuna:

She's quite nice but like other recent licensed Pureneemos doesn't come with a lot of extras. She does have some different hands though. So now for completeness I need the Pureneemo Titania version of Asuna, and the regular Dollfie version of her 😆.

Next up is a Sunday Direct Store version of Mia.

This is my first Mia. Like many older Pureneemos she doesn't stand up properly and of course those boots don't help. Also those laces are annoyingly fiddly to tie up. That skirt is really nice though and it would be nice to have a Dollfie sized one.

I do have a lot more Pureneemos but they're still in their boxes due to a shortage of shelf space to display them on.

I haven't bought a Pureneemo for ages, but when a grail appeared on FB Marketplace I snapped her up. I definitely overuse the term grail but although a few of this girl are listed for sale online, they are seriously expensive. I bought her for around 85 euros including shipping. She has some issues which I'll come on to later, but after dealing with a house full of Dollfies they're not major issues for me now.

So the Azone I bought is No. 127, Kamado Nezuko from Demon Slayer.

She has a few unusual features:

• The Bamboo mouth piece which the seller was worried was broken. It fixes using an elastic system and I'm not entirely sure how it's meant to work. The instructions are all in Japanese but they're pretty brief for this part of her. I just fixed her up with a couple of blobs of blu-tac.
• She has a removable head cap! I've not seen this in a Pureneemo before. I think the elastic is meant to fit inside her skull.
• Her wig is removeable! Again this is something I've not seen a Pureneemo have before.
• Her neck stem is different to those used with regular Pureneemos. I think it's a 1.0 version of something, because it's not terribly good.
• Her box is bigger than usual, maybe because they had to include her wig, but also because her clothes are quite bulky. You also can't see the doll herself, although the box artwork is really beautiful.

Size wise she's the same as other Pureneemos. She's on the less flexible body type the Ex Cutes use, rather than the super bendy one Rem and Ram and Chika and Kaguya use. She also has inset eyes... I really wish they'd use them on all their Pureneemos.

Some more bad news... her head is stained from the wig. It's not really a major issue because it's beneath her wig cap. I might try to benzoyl peroxide it off at some point but again her wig is so big it's not noticeable.

I am hoping and praying that Volks release a Dollfie version of her, because her outfit is fabulous and it would be interesting to see how they did her mouth piece. Needless to say she would sell like crazy.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Xiongmao

1 hour ago, Xiongmao said:

I definitely overuse the term grail

Understatement of the year! 😆

What does her mouth look like underneath the bamboo?

3 hours ago, ragnamuffin said:

What does her mouth look like underneath the bamboo?

She has a very small o mouth 😵. She's definitely the most interesting Pureneemo in my collection.

I now have Pureneemo Emilia. If anyone else wants her then bear in mind this is new release #143. Like Rem and Ram she's been rebooted and there is an earlier version of her, so check which version you're seeing on YJA/Mandarake/elsewhere.

This version is enormously cute! I really like her round face and her inset eyes are awesome. If only more of the Pureneemos had them.

On the downside she doesn't come with any accessories (except for some hairpiece accessories with VERY complicated-looking instructions). Also I'm not sure how long those vinyl boots will last. Some collectors were also disappointed with her hair.

She's on the really flexible body type. Mine has loose hip joints but that might just be mine. They seem to stiffen over time - I have a old Aika who can only stand.

Oh wow, your Azone collection is adorable! I think my favorites are the magical girls, but they're all lovely!

Jintan! Jintan!

Introducing somebody VERY special...

I've entrusted Shin Sato with the task of looking after Azone Pureneemo 044 aka Honma Meiko aka Menma.

I'll take some better photos of her when there's more light.

Menma was one of my very few actual grails. I thought she was unobtainium but @ragnamuffin spotted her for sale. Buying Menma was a bit of a hassle as the first order was rejected because she was repriced then I had doubts that Neokyo would stay in business long enough to send her here.

Strangely for a grail she wasn't that expensive, and cost no more than an average Pureneemo.

She comes with a pink flannel, not many instructions, about 10,000 hands and for some reason a spare waist bodypart.

I think they have done a terrific job of capturing her face and her dress is pretty good too. At some point I'll commission a DD sized Menma.

So all in all she's a beautiful Pureneemo from a very iconic anime.

Next up will be Anohana's Anjou. I narrowly missed out on her a couple of months ago, so I hope she will appear again.

Menma with her mom Raili.

Raili is Ex Cute Crystal Bravery Raili. I might turn her into Bocchi, because she has the perfect hair for that cosplay.

I realise Menma is much smaller than regular Pureneemos.

This is not helping my growing Azone obsession haha!

On 1/30/2024 at 1:42 AM, Xiongmao said:

I realise Menma is much smaller than regular Pureneemos.

She uses the Pureneemo Flection XS body, which the Alvastaria line uses. I don’t think any of the dolls in the Ex Cute or Sahra’s a la Mode lines use it so you may not have seen it before.

Edited March 24 by ragnamuffin