I recently received Pullip Keres in the mail from Pullipstyle, my preferred retailer of Pullip. I haven’t really been photographing my dolls very much recently but she was the motivation I apparently needed to get and take some photos for the first time in well… a while!
Pullip Keres was the September Pullip release in Japan, Pullipstyle follows the American release schedule so they didn’t receive their Pullip Keres until about a week ago. Keres has a MSRP of 21,000 yen which is about $203 according to xe.com as of this writing, Pullipstyle had her for a little cheaper. I received my Keres last Monday unfortunately it was bitterly cold earlier in the week so I waited until later in the week to venture outside to take some photos of her. I had really been excited about her just from her promotonial photos but I was really delightfully surprised by how amazing she was in person. In a year packed with great doll releases, I think she is one of my two favorites it’s her and Veverka who while a very different release is also quite lovely and well-made.
A note if you will before continuing; I know photography in cemetaries can be a controversial subject for some, so this is a trigger warning so to speak several of the photos I took of Keres were taken in an old cemetary if this offends you please skip this review.
Please know that I meant no disrepect to anyone and I would never want to intrude on anyone’s grief so I would never personally use a “modern” cemetary. The most recent date of departure I could find was in the cemetary I chose to take photos at was I believe in the 1920s but most of the tombstones were so old that they were no longer readable. I live in New England so there are a lot of really old cemetaries that are just kind of around but forgotten about that no one really goes to anymore, this is one of two that I am aware of within really short walking distance of my home. I spent a lot of time in cemetaries as a youngster “visiting” various relatives so I have always found cemetaries to be kind of peaceful, calm and reflective spaces. No disrespect was meant and this was not consecrated ground ie. not a church cemetary. Anyway on to Keres…
Keres in the box! First impression upon seeing her in the box was wow her wig is much more of a mix of silver/blue than anticipated from the protomotional photos! Well the wig fiber itself feels nice, the construction of the wig is a little weird leading to a bit of a gap in her bangs, I know this will probably vary a bit from doll to doll but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Pullip Keres’ stock outfit consists of a fully lined cloak, dress, neck ruffle closure for the cape, leggings, boots, a belt, pannier, sythe and a vest for lack of a better term. Overall I was impressed by the quality of her stock outfit, her cloak is especially nice and has a good bit of weight to it and I love the detailing of the charm of the back. When I was taking the photos of her initially in my excitement to be outside and taking photos again I missed the neck ruffle in the box so I originally thought the lack of a closure was a bit of a letdown it was in fact operator error in this case ^^;
The only thing I would have changed about her stock is maybe not having the sythe’s blade be fabric, I would have preferred plastic (ideally metal but I know that wouldn’t be practical). I love the detailing of the chains hanging from the sythe but let’s face it she doesn’t look quite as intimidating with a plush blade, it just doesn’t look like she could do much damage with it.
Keres has a really nice face up, her face up has a subdued dark palette but it makes her blue glittery eye chips with exaggerated shines pop that much more. I am especially fond of the ways her lips are shaded and the color, they are just very nicely done with some subdued maude tones sneaking in. I feel like it’s been way too long since we have had a darker themed release like this, I have seen some already heralding her as the second coming of Seila.
A note as I know many people like to rebody their dolls for aesthetics or whatever other reasons- Kere’ skintone while not quite as pale as the MIO pale does have a bit of a pallor appearance and doesn’t match especially well with the standard obitsu tones so she would not be a terribly great candidate for receiving an obitsu.
This is the first shot of Keres that I took after I deboxed her and I think it is also one of my favorites from the shoot, just with the tombstones in the background it adds a bit of a menancing air to the shot.
I really love the cooler toned color palette of Keres, not just her face up but the silver with the icy blue streaks in her hair and I love that her dress is navy colored because it makes the black of the cape and the grey of her vest kind of pop that much more. I think that if her dress had been black a great deal of the detail on it would have been lost and the stock too overwhelmingly black, details would have been harder to discern especially in photos the navy coloring really lets you appreciate the nice little dress she has on underneath.
I love the little bit of almost floral detailing on her cloak, it’s a nice little bit of added contrast. The inside of the cloak has a nice velvety texture, I must say that her cloak is quickly becoming a favorite stock piece.
The dress she has on underneath the cloak is quite nice as well, I love the lace. I am also quite fond of the vest, I especially like the chain detailing on it and how nicely it echoes the chains on her staff.
Whoever designed Keres put together a nice well rounded release, it seems like the designer really thought about each aspect of the doll and they really took balance of both form and color into consideration. Keres just strikes me as a well thought out and balanced release, sometimes with the releases it strikes me that this design aspect could have been changed or that wig could have complemented the doll better but I’m really happy with her as is.
More photos of Pullip Keres can be seen on my flickr, if you find yourself wanting your very own Pullip Keres she is available to purchase via Pullipstyle, JPGroove and Groove’s Official Store . So will this darling little grim reaper make the cut in your collection?
More dark/gothic Pullips please Groove! Or a goth/emo Isul would also be perfection!
. Pullipstyle’s lucky bag offer works a little bit differently than the traditional lucky bag because they are giving their customers choice as to what dolls they will receive, they have separated dolls into three separate categories and you get to choose one doll from each category. I’m really glad that they chose to do it this way as it’s one thing to get a duplicate blind box re-ment or Tokidoki Unicorno but another entirely to get a duplicate doll or get stuck with a doll you simply don’t fancy. 
Pullips and Junk 