Despite how hard it is for one who does not know Japanese to find their way around the Licca Castle website, it is a very fun website to browse. There are many dolls, outfits, and accessories to look at. You can even mix and match face paint, hair colours, and hair styles on certain dolls which makes for even more variety. For someone on a budget it can be quite heartbreaking too. I had a list of at least twenty dolls I wanted, but I could only afford these two.
Licca Castle does not ship internationally and therefore anyone living outside of Japan will need to purchase their dolls through a third party. I used the "purchase helping service" offered by Chiemi Takeda of foundinjapan.com* . This is a paid for service but when considering the work and cost that is involved as well as how quick and easy that transaction is, it is most definitely worth it. With fees, taxes, and shipping costs added, the dolls came to around $86.54 each and the outfits came to $55.31 for the Uniform and $31.88 for the Kimono**.
So now that I have my dolls I am going to see whether they lived up to the reviews I had read, as well as my own expectations.
Are the dolls anything like their promotional picture?
As much as could be realistically expected. I have noticed that the dolls photographed on the Licca Castle website are actually the dolls that are produced and sold, they are not hand painted hyper stylised prototypes. This is a big plus for Licca Castle! Jenny's hair was more curly than expected and therefore looked shorter than I had hoped, but a quick dip in boiled water and comb through and it was much straighter and longer (but still very curly at the tips). Jenny also came in an elasticated swimsuit rather than a night gown as pictured, but I find the swimsuit to be more useful and versatile so it was more of a bonus than it was a let down.
Are they attractive?
Many people have remarked about how cute, sweet, and beautiful these dolls are in appearance and I have to agree. They aren't realistic, they are more like three dimensional cartoons which is really cool. They are much paler than expected, and slightly translucent but I wouldn't say this is a bad thing.
Are they well made?
Licca Castle dolls are manufactured at Licca Castle in Fukushima, Japan which is a museum and factory. The dolls produced at Licca Castle are for sale only in the castle itself, at it's events, and a few select other stores in Japan [2]. Many people have remarked that the hair of the dolls is remarkably smooth, soft, and silky [1, 2]. I have also found the hair to be extremely soft. They have hair similar to that which was used on the very early superstar Barbie dolls. The dolls also have that greasy feel that the original superstar Barbie's had (which I assume is to keep the hair from going static or crazy in the box?). The dolls also have a strong plastic like smell. It is hard to explain but for those of you that had a Dollarmites wallet as a kid, they smell like a Dollarmites wallet! The materials used to make the dolls seem to be of very high quality. The simple clothing they come wearing is not very attractive but it makes de-boxing less of an issue, as one must remove them to dress them in the more attractive clothing.
How are they to de-box?
I see their packaging as another sign of quality. The are packaged much like my vintage play line Takara dolls were, in a simple windowed cardboard box and they are attached to the cardboard liner with two covered elastic straps. This makes de-boxing and re-boxing a breeze. I would suggest that everyone keep and use the box for storing the dolls, but if you do not wish to do so (or do not have the room) all one needs to do is remove the straps and separate the plastic window from the box to recycle.
My final thoughts?
Licca Castle dolls are more expensive than the Licca Playline dolls but they are definitely worth it. They are cute, they are well made, and they are unique. I leave this post with a video of me de-boxing these two dolls. Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you enjoyed this post. <3
* All opinions expressed in this article are my own, and I have not been paid or gifted anything to express such opinions.
** The prices quoted in this article are in Australian dollars (AUD) and have been converted to such from Japanese yen (JPY).
[1] http://hannahsminiatyrer.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/my-first-licca-doll.html
[2] http://jane-cherie.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/licca-castle-dolls.html
