My Bishoujo Beetlejuice arrived today, and I’m very satisfied!
One thing I noticed that makes this particular horror Bishoujo stand apart from the rest is her cleanliness. Most horror Bishoujos attempt to recreate the bloody, gory, and/or dirty physical qualities of the original characters they are based on. For example, Freddy, Jason, Ash Williams, and Leatherface all feature bloody wounds and torn clothes as a reference to the original designs.
Beetlejuice’s Bishoujo statue, on the other hand, is pristine. In the original film, the character Beetlejuice has a rather unkempt appearance. His hair, apart from being a sickly yellow color, is disheveled. His iconic striped suit is heavily soiled. Dark rings surround his eyes, and patches of moss-like smears mark his face. The Bishoujo version, on the other hand, is completely unsullied.
Despite not being an exactly parallel interpretation of the original Beetlejuice character, I do believe it still manages to reflect Beetlejuice’s personality and his more defining characteristics. Beetlejuice is a character whose premise is meant to be dark and unsettling, and yet he is a comical, goofy character with an easy-going attitude. One might think Beetlejuice’s morbid position as the afterlife’s leading “bio-exorcist” would mean he would take topics like death more sensitively, but he is quite the crude and boisterous type. And the Bishoujo adaptation depicts just this. In the original film, Lydia asks Beetlejuice for help while he happens to be sitting on a tombstone filing his nails, and this statue recreates the scene faithfully. It’s this kind of image (sitting on a tombstone while filing her nails with a cheeky smirk on her face) that showcases the blend of macabre horror and lighthearted comedy that Tim Burton crafted so well in the original film. Design-wise, I believe she was intended to be a sassy character who doesn’t take her job too seriously, but believes herself to be prim and proper (ironically so), not unlike how Beetlejuice proclaims himself to be a professional.
Overall, I’m really happy with the statue, and I’m so glad I ordered one. Apparently, it’s extremely difficult to find her at a reasonable price now. The major retailers I usually order from (Ami Ami, Big Bad Toy Store, Entertainment Earth, and Kotobukiya US) are all out of stock. Hopefully prices don’t go too high.
