Parabox Otohime 80cm Vinyl ABJD Anime Doll Unboxing Review

About 3 weeks ago I saw Parabox Otohime on facebook in a doll group where members share photos or post buy/sale posts or ask questions about asian ball jointed dolls. Someone was asking a general question about Otohime. I had never seen or heard of this doll before, although I’m no stranger to Parabox, with my first Parabox doll being Obitsu Gretel back in 2006(ish). I was immediately intrigued because she’s so big.

Fast forward to today when my Parabox Otohime arrived. I decided to spend most of the evening after work, photographing my new doll. I did a box opening video that you can watch also if it ever finishes uploading.

At the end of this review, you can see size comparisons between Otohime and my other vinyl dolls. And sprinkled throughout this review are some photos of my Otohime. You can see many more photos on my instagram.

There are other asian ball jointed dolls that are just as big, or even bigger than Otohime, but they come at a high price point and not only hefty price, but hefty weight (due to being made out of resin instead of vinyl) that makes them awkward for taking to doll meetups or posing for photos or dressing them, etc. Most of these bigger dolls belong to a company called Dollmore which you can visit at dollmore.net.

I have some of their dolls too, but not their big ones. The biggest is Trinity at over 100cm tall, but there’s also Lusion who is about the same height, but thicker width as Otohime. Dollmore’s big dolls appear to fit human clothes better than Otohime, because again Otohime is so thin relatively compared to how tall she is. Otohime can wear newborn clothes for 0-3 months old, but they will be baggy especially around the shoulders and chest area.

It’s not just Japanese dolls that come in this massive size either. I own 2 “Masterpiece Dolls” which are I believe vinyl also like Otohime. They are from a German designer, and I believe they are no longer produced. I have seen knock offs or possible recasts of these dolls on amazon and aliexpress. I have 2 of them, a boy and a girl.

There were numerous boys and girls released over the years, ranging in size from being able to wear size 3T (toddler) to 5T (toddler) (USA sizes). They are much bigger than Otohime and more perfectly proportioned like a human child and can for sure wear human clothes. The downside is they are extremely heavy. And for me personally, another downside is they definitely don’t have that anime aesthetic which I prefer over the more “reborn” looking dolls.

There was a highly sought after very limited released “Smartdoll Plus” from culture Japan. Some lucky people got their hands on them somehow. But they’re no longer produced. They also cost a pretty penny around $4,000 USD. Compared to Otohime’s $400 approximately USD price tag, that’s quite steep.

I have never handled a Smart Doll Plus (sadly) so I can’t say for sure, but judging by photos – they are better made than Otohime. Nothing really wrong with Parabox Otohime for the price. She has about a dozen different hand painted faceups to choose from (I chose T1) or you can buy her blank to do your own faceup. There’s also 2 completely different heads at time of writing, with a 3rd on the way soon. One head is more realistic similar to how Smart Doll has both anime and “semi real” looking dolls. It is pretty too, but I prefer the more anime looking girl.

She’s large, and her accessories, eyes, wigs, etc seem really high quality. But she’s hollow and can’t hold even small props very well due to her hollow limbs. She’s also stiff and inflexible. Notoriously bad at “looking up” (although after playing with her for literally 6 hours, she began to get more loose and flexible). Some people don’t like her hands. (Parabox listened and is releasing a new hand pack of posed hands next month) Also the material used to make her is rough and bumpy and lumpy… I don’t know if it shows up in my videos or photographs but it’s visible to my eyes.

Another thing to note – that’s hard to miss – about Otohime, is her very childlike appearance. Unlike Smart Doll Plus or Lusion Or Trinity dolls, Otohime has strange body proportions. She has a huge bobble head and almost no shoulders and very flat chest. I think she is cute – but ideally would like to see future releases with a larger bust and/or smaller head. If the head was about 3 or 4 inches smaller it could also wear trinity and lusion dollmore doll wigs which would be a plus as well. And if the shoulders and chest were a bit wider, she would fit more easily into the human newborn 0-3 month old clothes.

Parabox seems to listen to their customer’s feedback and is investing a lot of time and money and effort into this new large doll size. Next month they are releasing a new boy head and new boy body (different chest piece I believe). Furthermore, they are improving the existing female body by fixing issues with the knees and elbows (maybe then she can better hold small props and things).

Parabox’s shipping was extremely fast. I ordered it around first week of January, and it’s now the last week of January. The faceup was fantastic. It’s hand painted and very detailed. You can see each stroke of her eyebrows. Her (glass? resin? not sure?) animetic eyes came pre-installed. I selected Green at checkout. I really like her eyes.

Some of the photos in my review are with Parabox wigs and others are with wigs bought from american suppliers. One supplier is Factory Craft Direct – which is very cheap and affordable. You will want to always buy size 16 wigs. They fit perfect. I bought 8 wigs, half from parabox, some from Factory Craft Direct, others from Etsy and Ebay.

Parabox themselves are sold out of a lot of the wigs and clothes and other accessories (like the stain prevention body tights). (vinyl dolls get stained easy by picking up colors from clothes and wigs). I was able to snag their wig cap but to my surprise when I opened it, it was a monique wig cap, so Parabox didn’t manufacture the Otohime wig cap. I wonder what will happen now that monique is (going) out of business? Monique is another good place to look for wigs. Remember size 16. Although they are shutting down forever in a few more days/weeks so stock up now if you’re interested in anything there. You can currently get 35% off orders of $100 or more from Monique.com

I have done size comparisons with all of my other dolls to show how big Otohime really is. Check out the size comparisons below. PS: She can kinda hold the Azone dolls (sometimes) – but the bigger dolls she can’t really hold unless they’re both wedged against a wall or some other support structure.