"Demonic Strings" Kumi by Integrity Toys
- Wendy Dandridge
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
April 24, 2025
Let's meet Kumi, the maladjusted twin sister of the Angelic Yuri that we met last week. Kumi comes not with a sweet little microphone but with a big black 80's hair metal style glitter guitar that Gene Simmons would be proud of - with real strings and a whammy bar that moves, it's a cool miniature. It feels slightly cheap because it's so thin and light, but it is very detailed and cool to look at. Kumi isn't that great at holding it though.
Kumi looks, expectedly, exactly like her twin sister, who is cast from the same mold so good God they darn well best be identical! But Kumi's faceup is quite different than her sister's. Although they are both in the same skin tone (Japan), Kumi has dark hair and Yuri's got platinum blond, Kumi has a dark berry lipstick compared to her sister's barely there pink, Kumi has thicker darker eyebrows, darker eyes, darker eye makeup. As I foretold, I think she looks really great. I know I'm so predictable it's sickening, but isn't she pretty? Her hair color is "Obsidian Blue"! As in blackest black and blue mixed together! Doesn't that sound delightful? She's got tiny silver horns that go into her hair bump to show that she's the devil, and I would have killed for those in high school! Doesn't the dark hair and eyes suit her so much better? She's definitely not washed out by being all one color, she stands out.
Kumi the demonic comes with a unique outfit, at least for my collection. Value for money it is not. It's a bra again, black this time (because of the devil). And this time a not quite skirt but a lower body covering made up of a front panel, made of lace and ribbons, woven through with glitter and black sequins, the inverse material of Yuri's gauntlets and mini skirt, that covers the front of Kumi's lower body pretty darn well and stretches to the ground in an arrowhead shape. The back of the not quite dress is more of the shimmery, dark, lacey, ribbony, gauzy, magical material that is see-through but somehow covers everything. Kumi is so evil she doesn't even wear under wear which is quite shocking and disappointing when you consider that her clothes are made of see through gauze. Her jewelry consists of 3 silver bracelets, 2 tighter cuffs and one zig zag design, a larger silver ring that has a design in silver (but no cabochons), and a smaller ring that looks like a very plain signet to me. Then she has of course the silver devil horns (yay) and the giant silver carabiner earrings, which I'm a little lukewarm on.
Kumi has a really cool purse, although it's not as complex as her sister's. It's black leather of course, and intricately tailored. There's what looks like an easily removeable and substantial silver chain hanging loosely from strap to strap, in case Kumi gets in a fight or gets one tire stuck in the snow. There's a silver pair of handcuffs, but they look more like the stocks that the pilgrims put people in for swearing or missing church than handcuffs because the hands are so far apart. So, I'm not sure if that means Kumi is all talk and no walk or if she's just into some really weird stuff I'm not even aware of. But the effect and the way it all looks really works for me and I like the purse.
Her boots do have a big stiletto heel to strut around the stage with as well as big silver buckles and grommets distributed with roman precision throughout the rubber/pleather. They're knee high and they're full of evil and sass. I love them, so much personality. In the above pic, you can see the shiny little black spider jewels that she has at the joins in her not quite a skirt, the spiders are very cool and halloweenish, very cute. I kind of get a sense in this picture too when I just look at the fabric, of the Mazzy Star nostalgia that her garment gives me. Not the cut of it but just the fabric, imagine the purple Christmas lights behind it, and "Fade into You" playing... la la laa... Probably not the hard rock image they were going for. Oh, wait isn't she K-Pop? Hmmmm... ok.
She came with a luxurious fake black fur coat, probably given to her by Satan himself for a job well done turning the youths. Just kidding Kumi and her sister must be making the coin out there between modelling for NuFace and their K-Pop band tours, they can afford a thousand fake fur coats I assume. If I look at this doll's jawline, I still see Collete, just like her sister. But unlike her sister my eye is drawn up and away from her jawline by her dark lips, her dark hair, her eyes. She is her own person. I'm not impressed with her gathered scraps of an outfit, while I did fall for the fabric that was used. It was probably the same identical lace as used on Yuri but when dyed black I had the sweet memory of a particular band to attach to it. When it was white if I thought of it at all I thought of church and my itchy communion dress. Even though I refer to her outfit as "gathered scraps" I'm in love with the invention of the spider pins at the gathers in it. So, I guess I'm conflicted about her outfit. But in the end, I have to say I like it. It's interesting. It's like something a cavewoman would wear, or a shaman, or a mystic or something. She's not angelic or demonic but she's some kind of magic woman. Some magic she made herself.
I don't know how 2 interpretations can be so very different while reflecting 2 sides of the same theme. I didn't think they were really that different until I got Kumi in hand honestly. I mean they're both just wearing bras. But Kumi is more serious, more adult. Whereas I didn't feel like I could get my ankles wet in Yuri's lack of complexity, Kumi soaked me with interest as soon as I started looking at all her little details. Maybe it's the boots or more probably it's all the color and details but she is more compelling to me. Honestly as much as I love the fabric of her "dress" and I love it a lot, I would still rather it had something more to it just to make it a substantial garment. Maybe a silk bodice, definitely something to cover her crotch, help a girl out. Ooooo a dark wine purple silk bodice, that would be ideal and definitely keep the spider pins. Simply something more than this public nudity. Maybe I just need to loosen up. But I sure know I couldn't perform my best heavy metal guitar solo if I was worried about not having any panties on. I don't know how Kumi does it.
