Hello, my name is Alexandrea Marie Anna Bunitorisua and i am reviewing "Ami". I think that this doll is very ugly and wrong. What are toys trying to teach children these days?!? That it is fine to graduate schools? Girls should stay home and help their mothers until they are four teen, and then they get married and have children at fifteen. These dolls are very bad for young girls because they make it seem like girls can particapate in sports, which they cannot. That is my opinion and i hope you follow by it. its true!
One preface: Mattel tends to underestimate the age range on dolls. Just as they say age 3 and up is o.k. for Barbies which wind up being chew toys for children under six and wearers of torn clothing for owners under eight, these are not really suitable for five-year-olds. These are listed as suitable for age 5 and up, meaning that age seven is really more the bottom line. These are slim and delicate little ladies more suitable to upper elementary and junior high school (and adult followers of Japanese doll fashion trends). They are even smaller than Barbies -- slimmer and harder to dress.
My remarks are geared more toward adult collectors, kit-bashers, and makeover artists.
"Cute" doesn't begin to describe these dolls (Ami & Yumi, the two girls with one brain): a closer description would be a closer translation of the shared Chinese and Japanese "Ke-ai:" "can love," or simply, adorable.
Mattel really hit the mark with these cuties. They are very hip, dressed like the singers, who dress like the "fashion victims" on the streets of Tokyo, whose style has spawned numerous magazines documenting the particular post-modern ensemble-ization that is a form of self expression, a public form of art there. ("Fruits" "Street" and "Goth Lolita" are the three biggest magazines that I have been able to have shipped to me here).
The facial sculpt on Yumi is particularly wonderful, with the "big nose" (a high bridged nose) that is a mark of beauty in Japan and China, and which is commonly seem on pop star cover photos from both countries.
Their arms, wired with magnets to produce sound when touched and when touched together with each other, leave something to be desired in terms of natural posing and, considering that the arm pose is compromised for the high-five pose to each other that causes them to sing a duet, I would wish that their vocabulary -- in English and Japanese both -- were a little larger. That said, the rest is Adorable with a capital A.
They both have slim and petite little bodies with hinged knees and nicely shaped feet: larger than Barbie feet, and wear very hip "fruits street fashion" clothing. Yumi's haircut is tops, and both have abundant rooted hair. They also each have an extra hat with extra braids attached for more funky fashion fun.
High quality materials in the doll bodies and heads; heads are nice and soft and, as mentioned at the beginning, the facial/head sculpts are superb!
I'm having fun just having them sit around here and there and be cute, every once in a while encouraging them to say "Hi Hi," introduce themselves and then sing a bit of a duo. Other than their hats, I didn't unpack other accessories (their guitars and purses and buttons [a.k.a. pins]).
I haven't seen any of these advertised -- a friend picked up a pair, and I fell in love with their faces and had to have a pair myself: I had assumed that "Puffy Ami Yumi dolls" would be the cartoon characters, but these are representative of the two girl singers themselves and am so glad that I had a friend who found them and shared them with me before they are all cleaned off the shelves.
I would certainly put these at the top of my Christmas wish list if I were 40 years younger; as it is, I treated myself to an early Christmas present. Can't wait to start trying different clothes on them. Too darned cute -- er, ah, that is one word that grates on my nerves, so I'll stick with "adorable."
When they grow up, they just might be Absolutely Fabulous.
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