Recently, I have owned both the R and SR versions of Doki Doki’s Shinobu Kocho cosplay. For those of you who have not heard of Doki Doki Cosplay, I highly recommend you check them out! I myself came across them on Instagram, and decided to take a chance in ordering my first cosplay ever from online. It turned out to be a wonderful experience, and I’ll definitely be shopping more from their store in the future!
I was Shinobu for Halloween, and at the time (late September) only the R version of Shinobu was available for purchase and would arrive in time so I bought it. I wore it once to try on, and then all day for Halloween. Here’s a comparison between the product listing and what I received:
link to cosplay itself !
link to this cosplay as well!
The SR Shinobu came looking much more accurate to the photo than the R one (yes the top has four buttons, I’m just so short that the pants cover it). This uniform comes in black, not dark blue like the R.
There are a lot of differences I noticed in the R verses the SR, but both are perfectly good options! I’m just here to give you my honest thoughts on both cosplays, and hopefully help you pick which one you may want to purchase in the future! Let me break it down in different sections from the top to the bottom:
Butterfly Pin — This was made differently for the R and SR versions (personally I liked the R one better). The butterfly pin for R Shinobu is printed onto fabric, that I am 90% sure was ironed on to a facing to make it stiff. Then a metal piece and alligator clip are glued on to it so you can attach it to your wig/hair/head. While I liked the look of this one more, the clip broke off while I was walking around and the printed fabric wasn’t completely ironed down so there was a nice gap near the top of one of the wings. Still, this butterfly pin worked much better than the one that comes with SR Shinobu. Like the R one it is printed onto fabric, but it isn’t ironed onto a faxing or anything making it super flimsy. The clip on this one is also much smaller and sewn onto the butterfly, vertically in a way that makes it hard to attach to anything. This isn’t too much of a problem for me since I plan on making a new butterfly anyways, but to see that this inferior butterfly clip came with the SR version was a little disappointing. Also this may just be due to the fact that I have a large head, I shall make note that both versions of the butterfly clip are pretty small and cannot be seen from the front/side well as Shinobu’s does in the anime/manga.
Demon Slaying Corps Uniform — While constructed the same, the two uniforms are vastly different from each other. The biggest difference being R Shinobu is dark blue and SR Shinobu is black. The second main difference would be the fabric. R Shinobu felt very comfortable, like pyjamas in my opinion. It was also a little thin, but I was still warm enough on Halloween to go out without any extra layers. The SR Shinobu is made of a thicker, heavier fabric. It definitely keeps me warm, and had me breaking a sweat after wearing it for a while around the house. The collars on both uniforms differ as well, with R Shinobu’s collar kind of just chilling there while there are little hooks in SR Shinobu’s collar to keep it in place and standing. I found that if my top wasn’t tucked all the way into my pants while wearing the R uniform, the collar would get messed up and wouldn’t stand. Another difference in these uniforms in the amount of buttons. R Shinobu only has three (plain, golden buttons that I had to resew into my uniform since they were a bit loose) whilst SR Shinobu has four (also golden buttons with a fun design on them, and didn’t need to be fixed). The white part at the warm is like a fooler t-shirt style thing, making the top a single... top. The pants on both are basically the same, with the main part being very big and pleated, ending with a stretchy material around your calves that gets covered by the leg warmers. I’ll note here that while I got the XL size of R Shinobu and the L size of SR Shinobu, the tops fit about the same but the bottoms for SR Shinobu were much longer on me than the R ones. Another note! SR Shinobu’s pants come with white belt loops and a side zipper, whereas R Shinobu’s belt loops match the colour of the pants and the zipper is in the centre front. The destroy kanji on the back of the uniforms looks the same, I am pretty sure it’s just iron on vinyl.
Leg Warmers — The leg warmers are vastly different from each other in every way possible. R Shinobu’s leg warmers are like tight, stretchy socks (with no feet, of course) that you just slip over your calves. The bow on the back isn’t really a bow, and is more so a shape I assume is meant to resemble a butterfly just hot glued onto the back (one of mine fell off after a day of wearing the cosplay, but was a quick fix with even more hot glue). SR Shinobu’s leg warmers are god. They are made of the same material as the haori. The top part that sits below the knee has an elastic, and the bottom is velcro to fit around whatever your ankle size is. And the bow... is a literal cute bow that is sewn in to place! Honestly, these SR leg warmers are one of my favourite parts of the cosplay because they’re so gosh darn cute and I love them aahhhhh,,
Haori — Now last, but certainly not least, the haori! The R haori is made of a thicker, more lustrous material. It also has a white lining, making it feel more heavy when worn. The SR haori is made of a thinner material... I assume. Or maybe it feels lighter because there is no lining like inside the R haori, with the insect pattern printed on the front. I already mentioned the differences with the white spots, but some of the lines on the R haori were a bit faded. Not sure if that was for effect? But I haven’t noticed any of the same sort of faded/fuzzy lines on the SR haori, so who knows? I will also note that the armholes of the sleeves are sewn half way closed with both haori’s, unlike other Shinobu cosplays I’ve seen from different sellers that just leave it was a giant opening. People are missing out on a good opportunity to use this extra space as a wallet and phone holder (as I do). I have noticed as well that the SR haori looks a bit more matte than the R haori under harsh lighting.
Overall, I enjoyed both the R and SR versions of Shinobu. The quality of the SR cosplay is why I like it better, but the R is a good choice for those wanting to save money! It’s definitely worth giving Doki Doki a try if you’ve been thinking about it!
I hope you find this review helpful for deciding which Shinobu you want, or if you want to shop at Doki Doki in general! I’ve already sold the R Shinobu, but if anyone wants me to send them more photos of SR Shinobu I’d be happy to do it! Just send me an email (?) or DM me on Instagram!
So, the SR is higher quality, (understandably), but is it high enough quality to be worth spending 20 more dollars on?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog! The SR is more accurate to the anime design and I wonder what the SSR would look like if they made one and I'm hoping there will be. Thank you so much for this review!
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