Tag: Japan

Review of nanoblock Sumo Yokozuna NBH_138

May 1, 2025August 11, 2024shygal

This post is a review of the nanoblock Sumo Yokozuna build. Sumo Yokozuna is part of the nanoblock Sights to See collection. Wondering what else is part of the Sights to See collection? Click here for a list.

Number: NBH 138

Country: Japan

Number of Pieces: 300

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Yokozuna is the highest obtainable rank for Sumo wrestlers. I’m not sure why there are 2 people on this build, but I’m guessing the guy in purple is an aide or an assistant.

This kit is labeled as Bic Camera Limited. Bic Camera is a shop in Japan so I’m guessing the set was only available there.

This kit has 3 different sections. There is the base, what I am calling the assistant and the sumo wrestler.

The base is very straightforward. I simply layered bricks around the outside of the 20×20 base plate to create the idea of a stage instead of just having a flat base. I also added the detail bricks to the top, along with bricks that would eventually hold the people in place.

The second section is the assistant. He begins with a layer of purple bricks. Overall he is very straightforward to build. There is some very unusual brick usage to create the idea that his arms are bent. This is achieved by using corner pieces and attaching bricks to just the ends of the corners. This creates a lot of movement in the arms.

The next step is to build the front of the mawashi (the traditional Sumo outfit). It begins with a simple stack of red, blue, and yellow bricks. Then, white ribbons are added in front of the rainbow stack, covering most of the colors.

Next is the actual sumo wrestler. He begins with a single white brick for the bottom of the mawashi. Then, skin tone and white bricks are added to the build to create the body. The body has some unique bricks, which are quarter circles I have never seen before. These unique bricks do a great job of creating curves for the stomach and back of the sumo wrestler.

Once the body and mawashi are completed, the head is built and attached. Then, the legs are attached. The legs are somewhat posable because they are attached to the body with ball and socket joints.

Once the legs are attached, the Sumo wrestler is attached to the front of the mawashi on the base.

The final step is to build the arms. When I was looking at the instructions I was a bit confused because it wasn’t super clear that there are 3 different ways to finish the build depending on how the arms are placed. All three poses are shown on the box but I had completely missed that until I was trying to figure out the instructions. I went with the first option for how to pose the arms.

Things I liked:

I really like how the unique bricks look and how they create the curve of the body

Things I didn’t like:

I’m not sure why the assistant is there, so I think I would rather it was just the sumo wrestler

Review of nanoblock Hina Dolls NBH_171

April 24, 2025August 11, 2024shygal

This post is a review of the nanoblock Hina Dolls build. Hina Dolls is part of the nanoblock Sights to See collection. Wondering what else is part of the Sights to See collection? Click here for a list.

Number: NBH_171

Country: Japan

Number of Pieces: 430

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

This build is for the emperor and empress dolls from the traditional girl’s day doll set. These dolls traditionally sit on top of the stand of dolls.

There are several sections to this build, including the base, the empress, the emperor, and the final details.

The base begins with 3 10×10 red square bases. The row took up most of my nanoblock pad, but I was still able to lay out the bricks. Then more red bricks are added to the back to create the entire base layer for the bricks. Next, the details for the pillows that the dolls sit on are added. These details are still visible on the final build so it didn’t feel like a waste adding the details.

The second section is the empress doll. She is built directly on the base in layers. There are a lot of details that make up her kimono, so I needed to be careful when adding each layer to make sure the stripes lined up. Other than the detail, the build was fairly straightforward other than the head. The instructions for the head were clear, but it was a bit challenging to see where the finished sections would end up.

The third section is the emperor doll. He is built off the base and added to the base once the doll is complete. I had a lot of trouble with the emperor. This is because of the Dark Blue bricks. The bricks looked black when I was building the kit, so I kept needing to take sections apart when I noticed I had used the wrong color. It was also very difficult to tell which shade of blue I was supposed to use when looking at the directions, and not every brick had a color pointing to it.

The emperor begins by putting the spine and upper torso together. Then, the legs and hips are built and attached to the main section. Finally, the head is built and attached to the body. I had a bit of difficulty figuring out where exactly the emperor went when I attached him to the base, but I think my final build looks fine.

The last set of steps is to build the details of the platform. This includes lanterns, bonsai trees, and mochi. Each section is very straightforward. The hardest part was moving the finished build once I attached the lanterns because they were so delicate.

Things I liked:

I really like the amount of detail that is added to each of the dolls in this build

Things I didn’t like:

I didn’t like how the multiple shades of blue were handled in the directions

Review of nanoblock Five-Storied Pagoda NBH_088

February 27, 2025August 11, 2024shygal

This post is a review of the nanoblock Five-Storied Pagoda build. Five-Storied Pagoda is part of the nanoblock Sights to See collection. Wondering what else is part of the Sights to See collection? Click here for a list.

Number: NBH_088

Country: Japan

Number of Pieces: 320

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

This kit is labeled as Bic Camera Limited. Bic Camera is a shop in Japan, so I’m guessing the set was only available there.

The Pagoda is built on a clear base and has clear blocks throughout it, which means that if the build is put on one of the LED plates, the entire pagoda will light up.

The build begins by laying the base layer of bricks on the clear 20×20 base. This includes the walls and the base of the pagoda. Over the next few steps, the wall is built, and the larger base story of the pagoda is added.

While building the base story of the pagoda, there are some clear green bricks added. In the instructions, they appear to be clear kiwi green instead of the dark green bricks that were provided. I was very confused with this instruction, and it took me a while to figure out to use the dark green.

After building the base story, the 4 additional stories are all identical and added using large steps showing about 5 layers of bricks in one step. Even though there are lots of layers, there is a lot of space, and the printed arrows are clear, so the instructions are easy to follow.

After building all 5 layers, the roof and roof decoration are added. Both are very straightforward.

This kit did come with 3 nanoids that I chose to not include because I’m not sure if they are in scale with the building. A lot of time, nanoids are not to scale.

Things I liked:

I like the use of the clear blocks so that the pagoda can be lit

Things I didn’t like:

I wish the color in the instructions for the clear green had been closer to the actual brick color

Review of nanoblock Umeda Sky Building NBH_172

October 26, 2023August 9, 2023shygal

This post is a review of the nanoblock Umeda Sky Building build. Umeda Sky Building is part of the nanoblock Sights to See collection. Wondering what else is part of the Sights to See collection? Click here for a list.

Umeda Sky Building is one of the tallest buildings in Osaka Prefecture. It is 2 towers that are connected by bridges and escalators. For more information, check out the wiki page.

Number: NBH_172

Country: Japan

Number of Pieces: 680

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Umeda Sky Building was a kit I bought open; I ensured there were bricks and instructions. Before starting the build, I pulled the kit that arrived apart and split all the bricks into reasonable piles. I then started the build.

This build has 2 major sections there is the building and the roof.

The first thing I noticed about the build was that starting from the base layer wasn’t symmetrical. This made me excited to see how the final build would look.

The first step is to create a base layer on the 20×20 base. There are a variety of colors in the base to create the various textures around the building.

The next step is to create the base of the building. Starting in step 4, the actual windows on the outside of the building are outlined and begin creating the walls of the buildings. The building goes up in layers over the next 20 steps. Each layer is different from the previous one and needs to be carefully tracked.

The trickiest part of building the main section of the building is creating the elevators. This is because it is a chain of 1×1 bricks that can easily snap as you are adding bricks. It is also easy to miss adding a brick to any given layer since the new brick just hangs out separately from the large chunks in the directions.

After building most of the building and locking the elevators in place, it’s time to add the escalators that go across the open area between the towers. I really like that this detail is included and how the escalators are created.

The main building is completed with a few more layers of bricks that create the top of the building

The roof was very straightforward. I could lay the roof out on my pad to create the roof. Finding enough round clears took a while because they were hard to see and like moving.

After building the roof, the final step is to attach the roof to the building.

Things I liked:

That the build isn’t symmetrical
The escalators in the center of the build

Things I didn’t like:

I’m not sure what all the details at the bottom of the building are supposed to be