Clouds Studio Kakuzu 1/8 Scale Statue Review

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Kakuzu and Hidan had my attention from the get go. The fact that they disliked each other made them quite the humorous pair. Until you saw them fight, and you were no longer laughing. As far as Akatsuki partnerships go, these two were one of my favorites to watch, so I knew I wanted to get statues of both.

Like Hidan, I chose to go with Clouds Studio over Surge Studio. While I chose Clouds Studio Hidan over Surge Studio, because I didn’t like Surge Studio’s concept, for Kakuzu, I would have been happy with either studio. After I purchased this statue, Surge Studio came out with a statue of Kakuzu that I also really like; However, since I went with Clouds Studio for Hidan, I decided to go ahead and purchase Kakuzu from the same studio since I wanted to display them together.

This statue shows Kakuzu in a battle-ready stance and it showcases the Earth Grudge Fear as shown with his arm, which is being held together in two different sections by those grey tendrils or threads. His four masks, fire, lightning, water, and wind are also present on this statue. These monstrous “creatures” of his are surrounding him and his Akatsuki cloak, which is flying up behind him. Like most of Clouds Studio’s statues, this one shows off his abilities well and really showcases the power of Kakuzu.

With that said, let’s get into the review! I’ll be reviewing this statue in the following areas: Packaging, design and concept, and paint and sculpt.

Clouds Studio Kakuzu Statue Specifications

Scale: ⅛ scale

Dimensions: Approximately H44 x W38 x D30cm or H17.3 x W15 x D11.8in

Packaging

Kakuzu came shipped in a cardboard shipping box with the artbox inside. Inside the artbox, was a thick foam insert that housed all of the pieces with each piece being placed in their own individually cut out compartments. Each piece was wrapped in tissue paper as well to further protect them during shipment.

The artbox is relatively simple in terms of its look, but I honestly don’t care what the box looks like as long as everything gets here safe and sound. This is the second statue I’ve received from Clouds Studio and both have arrived completely intact and undamaged and I’m really happy with the way they ship their statues so far.

Design and Concept

The overall look of this statue is incredible. While it has a smaller footprint in terms of its overall size in comparison to other statues, like Surge Studio’s, I really like that Kakuzu is in ⅛ scale. I love larger pieces that make a statement, but I feel like this one with its concept and design makes just as much of a statement. They included a lot on this statue in addition to Kakuzu, including all four of his masks.

The way they positioned them all around Kakuzu looks menacing and since each are in their own unique poses, the statue is that much more dynamic. And of course, they placed Kakuzu front and center in a badass looking pose. He has one arm flying back with his cape and the other is splitting apart into different sections, showing the threads or tendrils that hold his body together.

One of my favorite parts is the cape, which is lifting up behind him as if he just pulled it off his body to get ready for battle. Because of the way the pieces are positioned and the design of this statue, it has a lot of dimension, and while there’s a lot to take in on this statue, they expertly planned where everything would go and how all of the pieces would work and flow together.

Paint and Sculpt

Since there’s a lot going on in this statue despite its smaller footprint, the paint really helps break up things. Without shadowing and highlights, this statue could have easily been a muddled mess, but the way that Clouds Studio painted this statue and how they created a gradation of colors on each piece, was expertly done. There’s a lot of darker tone colors amongst other darker colors, like grays and blacks, such as Kakuzu’s outfit and cape and the bodies of the face masks, and they really did a great job at varying these colors so they don’t blend in with one another.

The paint looks even better than it does in the promotional images from the studio. The colors of the statue, especially on Kakuzu, the four masks, and his Akatsuki cloak are much more vivid than what is shown in those photos. The areas that are colorful are bold, but the rest of the statue is painted more realistically in darker, more muted tones, so the areas that need to pop out at you do, but the rest of the statue stands out just as much with how well it is executed.

The base itself is more simplistic as is commonly seen with Clouds Studios pieces and this is something I really enjoy about their statues. It has a matte black finish but there is a band around it further featuring his stitches, and in its center, is a metallic silver circle with the kanji for hoku (北), which I believe means north. This is the kanji character seen on his Akatsuki ring. It really blends in well with the top of the base, which is sculpted and painted to look like rocky Earth.

Kakuzu’s head and body sculpt are spot on and the shading they added on his body add definition to his muscles. The stitches they added on his body are also done really well. They painted shadows on his mask and sculpted it in a way that you can still see his features, particularly his nose, underneath it. One of my favorite parts about his head sculpt are his eyes, which are painted in this vibrant green color. They really stand out and look just as piercing as they do in the anime.

The cape is sculpted in a way that makes it look like it’s torn and tattered and they added folds to make it look like it is moving. This piece really looks as if it is rising upward and floating up in the wind. The Akatsuki clouds are painted in a bright red color and they added a white outline around them, which allows them to stand out even more on his cloak. The only thing I will say is that their are some small bubbles on this pieces, but they do not stand out from afar.

And finally, we have the four masks and their bodies, which I expect aren’t easy to sculpt or pull off, but they really achieved the effect that they are made of the grey threads from Kakuzu’s body. Each one is sculpted phenomenally with some flying or rising up above him and others perched upon the ground in these nightmarish poses. Everything from the masks to the bodies are painted and sculpted really well and I’m thoroughly impressed with how well they pulled these pieces off in particular.

Clouds Studio’s Kakuzu is my favorite statue I’ve seen of him to date. On top of that, it features some of the best paintwork I’ve seen on a Naruto statue so far.

Final Thoughts

I picked up Kakuzu from FavorGK, but he is currently out of stock now on all of the sites I trust. With that said, I still highly recommend checking out all of the other Naruto statues they currently have on preorder from Clouds Studio on their site! At the time of writing this post, they have the following statues from Cloud Studio’s Akatsuki line still available for preorder: Pain, Zetsu, Deidara, and Orochimaru. I currently have both the Pain and Deidara statue on preorder, so keep an eye out for unboxings and reviews of both of those when they ship out sometime this year!

You can check out all of the details on Clouds Studio’s Kakuzu below. In the video, we take a closer look at all of the pieces that come with this statue, assemble the statue, and then do a showcase of the statue put together!