Neo-Fukuoka’s Obscure Dolls and Existence

Neo-Fukuoka is a company that is very difficult to find any info on, but here’s a summary of the things I’ve learned over the years! Sorry if anything is wrong or incomplete, I’ve been looking into NF dolls since around 2018 but there’s really not much info to go off of, so if you know anything please comment! =)

Before they made dolls, Neo-Fukuoka made a life-size and drivable replica of the bike from Akira. In fact, their name “Neo-Fukuoka” also seems to be a reference to the location of the movie Akira, taking place in “Neo-Tokyo”. I haven’t looked too much into the bike because I’m only really interested in the dolls, but I believe the bike was made sometime in the early 2000s before the dolls (Here’s a wayback copy of their site in june of 2004 which has promo stuff for the bike. the dolls first came about in august of 2004 so i believe the bike must have come first)
NF site archive

In 2004, they created 3 different dolls, two of which being the Wonfes mascots Wonda-chan and Reset-chan, and the other being an original character Tomo-chan! These dolls were sold at Wonfes 2004 summer, and the Tomo doll was limited to 20 pieces, at the price of 55,000 yen. I’m not sure how many Wonda/Reset dolls there were or how much they were, but I’d just assume they were similar to Tomo’s quantity/price. They have a few messages on their site saying stuff like “thank you! the dolls have sold out” so they seemed to be popular.

Reset Goth Lolita and Wonda White Lolita, their 2004 summer clothes

2004 Summer Tomo

In 2005 they decided to come to winter Wonfes, this time with new clothes/updates for each of the dolls. The winter versions of Wonda and Reset now had a sort of fur coat(and in some pictures maid dresses) and Tomo had a new outfit as well. The cost for each doll was 58,000 yen they were limited to 15 each. The website describes some differences to the new dolls, “costume (winter clothes made with fur / white & red winter clothes), painting method for joints, fixing method for hair parts, and eyes (movable)” I used google translate for that so it’s a bit confusing, but it appears that they had fixed up some stuff, added new clothes and changed the eyes to be able to move! They also said that March 1st of 2005 they would be opening a shop for their dolls and doll clothes/accessories in Nakano Broadway.

Wonfes winter 2005 clothes for Wonda & Reset

Maid Costumes

2005 Winter Tomo

They attended 2005 summer Wonfes as well, this time with each doll having a cheaper naked version for sale “hybrid doll “wanda & reset” naked version ¥ 35,800, hybrid doll “TOMO” naked version ¥ 32,800″ clothes and shoes were also sold. One of the last entries on their site says, “WF2005 Summer Sold Out Thank You. “Wanda & Reset” dolls are sold out. Thank you. Actually, due to the damage of the Fukuoka Seiho-oki Earthquake, new works could not be released, and for safety reasons (and if the seismic intensity is 6, you will die at all), neo-fukuoka, who moved out at the end of August” I think this means an earthquake had destroyed their shop and they had to leave.

The very last entry on their site says, “Notice of participation in WF2006 winter. Long time no see. We will participate in “Wonder Festival 2006 Winter” held on February 19th – Items for sale: None this time. Depending on the permission of the publisher, dolls of famous characters may be exhibited.” This is when they had their Rei Ayanami doll displayed at Wonfes 2006 winter, though it sounds like she was not for sale. Not much is known about her and as of right now only 3 pictures have ever been found!!!

I previously believed ONLY that rei was displayed and the rest were not, however this blog post http://blog.livedoor.jp/akiman7/archives/50579641.html from 2006 shows images of the dolls at Wonfes in new outfits. Considering it was uploaded in 2006 and they have previously unseen clothes, I think it’s highly likely these pics are in fact from 2006!! And since the blog is dated august this also looks like it was during summer Wonfes, and if so that’s super amazing as we have yet to see any photos of the dolls in 2006, especially not during summer Wonfes so this is a pretty incredible find 😀

I’m not really sure what happened to this company after this, as they seemed to just disappear suddenly. the Akira bike is still talked about even in later years, but there has been next to no info on the company or the dolls. The dolls are extremely hard to find for sale, though two of the Tomo dolls were found for sale in 2020! I have seen a few sold out listings for the Wonda and Reset on surugaya, but asides from that, nothing. If you own one or know anyone who owns a NF doll please contact me!

Back to the two sold Tomo dolls from 2020, I had bought one, and mfc user timby bought one as well! Timby has the 2005 winter Tomo since she came with her original shirt and skirt, my Tomo came with a random dress but I believe her to be the 2005 winter one as well since her eyes are movable. Interestingly, inside of Tomo’s bangs we each had a number engraved! Theirs said 20 and mine was 97, it seems that there are possibly 100 winter Tomos? Also their Tomo has “neo fukuoka white production house” engraved on her foot, meanwhile, mine did not. :O

On Neo-Fukuoka’s website, they also list a few books that have advertisements for the dolls in them, and I went ahead and bought all the books they mentioned! I try to collect every single NF pic, and I have an entire folder of every picture I can find of these dolls (and I always upload ones I find here as well!) If anyone finds any new pictures please show me/upload them! =) And here are some of the photos that were in my books! (I have more in my mfc gallery but I don’t want to spam)

Overall, I think their dolls are my favorite dolls I’ve ever seen!!!!!! I have been completely in love with them since I first saw them over 4 years ago. I was already enamored by these dolls and they were huge grails, but I became even more invested when I bought my own Tomo doll. A friend had found her for sale on mandarake, and shared the link with me & I snapped her up asap. She is my absolute favorite purchase in my entire life, she’s my daughter now and I love her very much ;__;

UPDATE FROM 9/30/21: The most amazing discovery has happened!!! Another owner of a Neo-Fukuoka doll was located!! A twitter user by the name of gridman13 posted some pictures of their Tomo doll and they had her in her original clothes and box! I asked for some more photos of her and the box and they posted some which was super kind of them and made my day!!! I am so happy that we now have some more info on Tomo and finally some clear pictures of her box!!!! I was so excited to see these, they’re more than I could ever ask for and they’re just amazing. I love Tomo’s little description on the back so much ToT They also said they bought her when she was displayed at Wonfes, so they must have had her for around 17 years which is just incredible !!

UPDATE FROM 12/5/21: Another Tomo has been located and bought by mfc user shoujosurreal !! Just look at this adorable outfit she is in TToTT !!

So with the last two Tomos being discovered, I asked both owners about the bangs and foot engravings. shoujosurreal’s Tomo has a 15 in her bangs, and both of the new Tomos ALSO have the foot engravings! Looking at the pictures the foot engravings look identical so it seems they are in the mold somehow instead of individually engraved. I’m unsure why mine doesn’t have the engraving but I’m guessing she was made in later batches that perhaps removed that aspect ?

UPDATE FROM 11/4/22: MORE AMAZING NEWS HAS COME TO LIGHT. Someone very kindly messaged me on Instagram and showed me pictures of a Wonda Neo-Fukuoka doll they had recently bought!!! This was so exciting especially since no other owners of the Wonda or Reset have ever been located!! They were also super kind and answered all my questions, and even were able to send me pictures of the inside of her head mechanism which has never been seen before on a NF doll!! Wonda’s hair does come off in two pieces but there is no hair engraving, however, she does have her foot engraving!! So happy to finally see a NF Wonda out there!!! This is the best NF news to happen for a while ToT <3

Inside a NF head

UPDATE FROM 3/13/32: Winter Wonda and Winter Reset were both briefly listed on Suruga-ya and sold fast, the Wonda went to mfc user bl but no one said they ordered the Reset. Soon enough though, a Winter Reset was listed on eBay! And that Reset was sold to mfc user takiuto who has since uploaded many informative and beautiful pictures of her, seeing as no other owners of Reset have posted any pictures it was a delight to see!

She too had the foot engraving, and no number on her bangs like the previous Wonda! She also came with a card from the company that produced the clothes interestingly enough (the winter clothes include a Sweet Melody Aria tag on the inside!) Though not much is known about this company, there is a wayback copy of their site stating they did all the winter clothes for Wanda, Reset and Tomo! It also says “continuing from summer of last year” meaning they made all the summer outfits as well https://web.archive.org/web/20050414011829/http://www.sweet-melody-aria.com/inf/200502wonder.html

It is truly amazing to see so many of these rare dolls be listed recently and loved so much! Anyway, thank you so much for reading! I hope it was interesting, and I’d be happy to talk to anyone else who is interested in these dolls!!! most of the info from this article is from Neo-Fukuoka’s site http://www.neo-fukuoka.com and their blog http://blog.neo-fukuoka.com/ and other bits and pieces are from random books/sites etc

Yeehaw