Pullip started releasing anime collaboration models back in late 2006, since then there have been several different anime collaboration dolls released some were a better match for Pullip than others. I think I can safely say, I never expected to see a collaboration Pullip based off a character from 009 Cyborg. 009 Cyborg was originally a manga that started in 1964 and ran all the way into 1981, it has since been made into two different anime tv series and two different films over the years. The Francoise Arnoul Pullip was released to commemorate the newer of the two films that was released in fall of 2012, 009 Re:Cyborg.

Historically the premise of the series was nine humans were kidnapped by an evil organization and then turned into cyborgs with special powers, the cyborgs then band together to defeat the evil organization that made them into cyborgs and have continued adventures fighting other threats. 003 Francoise Arnoul is the only female on the cyborg team. She is originally from France and was a ballet dancer before becoming a cyborg.

I have not seen 009 Re: Cyborg movie yet as it was just licensed for distribution in the US by Funimation over this past summer but I have watched all of the newer of the two of the tv series and watched the original movie. While the 009 Cyborg series is massively popular in Japan, I still feel it was kind of an odd choice to do a collaboration with Pullip she is a really pretty doll though.

I’ve actually had Francoise Arnoul for a while now,  I bought her some time  around June, I think. I assume I bought her from Pullipstyle because that is where I get most of my dolls though honestly I can’t quite remember where she came from ^^; . I do remember that I had put her on my shortlist because her promo photos had looked promising but there weren’t many owner photos of her floating around just yet.

Francoise comes with two different outfits, her normal military-esque uniform with knee high boots and trademark over-sized scarf as well as a dress in the same color plus stockings/heels (also a rather scandalous pair of panties :O) to match. Quality is pretty decent though the placement on the buttons of the military uniform is a bit off on mine ^^;

I love Francoise’s face up, it’s lovely if a bit plain but different than anything we’ve seen a while. Her face up is also a great representation of her character.  Her eye make up is stylized like her anime character design. She has almost a nude lip with just the slightest hint of color. Her eyes are a wonderful shade of greenish blue, they are very striking.

Francoise’s scarf is wired so it is poseable, it really helps to facilitate some action-y shots and makes Francoise look very dynamic.

Francoise is a very faithful adaption of the character in doll form, it isn’t surprising to find out that Groove has gone on record as saying that the creation of Francoise as a Pullip has been fully supervised by the director of the 009:Re:Cyborg film, Kenji Kamiyama.

With her face up, Francoise looks like she would be amazingly versatile outside of her stock. She looks like she would make a great tomboy!

Francoise gives a perky little salute!

Francoise’s sexy red dress seems to be a faithful adaption of an outfit from the new movie, I don’t recall ever having seen her in it in the newer tv series.

More pictures of Francoise Arnoul on my flickr.