Groove recently announced a new Pullip to be released in collaboration with Junichi Nakahara via their blog.  Junichi Nakahara was a famous fashion illustrator and artist, he created the Himawari magazine as well as a handful of other magazines aimed at women and young girls. Himawari translates to mean sunflower in English and was meant to inspire young girls, it featured many illustrations by it’s creator Junichi Nakahara as well as other contributing artists. Himawari was published from 1947-1952 and a total of sixty seven volumes were published, due to popularity and age  volumes of the magazine are quite pricey on the secondary market especially as this year marked the seventieth anniversary of the magazine. Even now, seventy years later Junichi Nakahara’s characteristic style continues to inspire and be relevant today! Many believe that his illustrations of large eyed innocent girls helped to inspire the shojo manga artstyle.

Pullip Himawari was inspired by an illustration from the magazine’s first year, I believe the illustration is called Midori cold song. Pullip Himawari is to be released in March of 2018, April for those of us in the US. She has a MSRP of 22000 yen which is about $193.65 as of this writing.

I know the work of Junichi Nakahara is still popular in Japan but I wonder how familiar western fans of Pullip are with him and his works? I only knew about him before this release because I have a fashion obsessed friend who collected the magazines. Even if you are not familiar with Junichi Nakahara’s work she is a cute release that seems to exude an old fashioned kind of charm. 
Livelying the skirt on the wind that blows and blows….I will wait for you under that tree trunk…While listening to the song of Midori’s Cold….Feel Like So.

Groove very faithfully recreated Junichi Nakahara’s original design, giving us a Pullip with some country charm! I love her oversized oversized bows and braided hairstyle though I am also kind of anxiously curious how well her hairstyle will actually maintain, I’m always worried about the braids coming out and my potentially having to redo them. I really appreciate the fact that she was so meticulously recreated down to the hat and the fact that she seems to come with a musical score like in the original illustration. 
While I think of the spring timing of her release is perfect for Himawari, I almost feel like it was a disservice to Himawari to release her alongside the new Cinnamoroll Pullip, Cinnamoroll is a character that is very popular and known all over the world and I feel like Himawari’s release may end up overshadowed by Cinnamoroll (at least here in the west) which is a pity as she is such an amazing release in her own right.

Back view of the outfit! There has to be a pretty impressive petticoat hiding underneath that dress to make it appear so full and voluminous. In general about the unseen elements, I am very curious what sort of shoes she is wearing and whether or not she is wearing tights.

Is it just me or does she look like she is a lot younger than normal Pullip releases? I feel like Groove did a nice job and translating the face up from the illustration, the Pullip retains the illustration’s wide eyed innocence. Make up is kind of minimal but she is supposed to be a young girl it wouldn’t make sense for to be overly made up with a dramatic face up. I love the dainty little eyebrows and the minimalist way her eye makeup is done, I think my favorite thing is her peachy orange lips as I absolutely love the color!

I will be sure to update when more details become available!