Takara Kimono Jenny 1986

Being a collector of only two years’ experience, I think I have a tendency for … day dreaming. Let’s take the gorgeous Beauty Secrets Christie for example. I dream that one day I’ll add her to my collection. There’s a certain amount of realism to my dreams. Whenever I think of the lovely, dark skinned Superstar I cannot escape the sour “dream on” or “good luck with that”. There are, however, some dolly dreams that I don’t even articulate. No use. That category of dolls includes also Takara and Ma-Ba Barbie. I once saw them on Erynnis blog and fell in love in a blink of an eye. A very detailed and informative post by Erynnis led me to believe that such a Barbie would be a rather expensive piece to get and a quick look at the ebay offer confirmed just that. There were just a few dolls available and they were all costly.

I don’t want to copy Erynnis post, so I’ll just give you the basic information in a nutshell. Japan didn’t fall in love with Barbie. Japanese children didn’t understand her voluptuousness and didn’t like her wide smile. Mattel didn’t realize that this was the country when women would cover their mouths when smiling, and once they would dye their teeth black because that was the paragon of beauty in the past. Barbie had to change and Takara was eager to form an alliance to  help that. That was in 1981. Mattel and Takara gave Barbie child-like features, large, brown anime style eyes, a gentle smile, a slightly oversized head. Barbie became a girl, a bit more like Licca that Japan loved every since she came out in 1967-ish. The Mattel-Takara alliance was short-lived and in 1986 the license to produce Barbie dolls expired and it wasn’t extended. Instead of doing just that, Mattel changed horses, it was Bandai’s turn to show what they could offer. Ma-Ba Corp was created and it lasted till 1991. Meanwhile, it turned out that Takara lost their rights only to use the name Barbie, but they could still produce the dolls, exactly the same dolls, using the same head and body sculpts, facial screening and articulation. They just had to change the dolls name and hence Jenny was created. 

In Polish we have a useful phrase that translated into English would mean something like “Away from my eyes, away from my heart”. I couldn’t afford a Takara or Ma-Ba Barbie, so I pursued my more realistic dreams and I had a plenty of those. I would not read about Japanese Barbie dolls, I would not even look at their pictures. But sometimes the longing would prevail and I would put the dolls names in Ebay browser without enthusiasm or hope. About two weeks ago I noticed an increased availability of these dolls. A lovely Ma-Ba Barbie dressed in a bunny costume caught my eye. She cost more than I was ready to pay, but I just checked out what the seller had to offer. There was one particular doll that increased my pulse. She was new in a box that spelled my favorite combination of words – Takara+Barbie. Her price was just too good to be true and I was not deceived, but she did had the face paint of a Takara Barbie/ early Takara Jenny and she was wearing a kimono. That was enough. I thought to myself that no matter who that doll was, she was MINE!

The doll arrived but instead of giving me answers, I got more questions. Her box was that of a genuine Takara Barbie, that was certain. The name of the series – Casual City Girl would suggest a doll dressed in a European way. I browsed for such dolls and saw even more Kimono Barbie dolls in the red box of a Casual City Girl. As to a doll wearing a pale yellow kimono, I only saw the pictures of my girl and another one, very intriguing. I pasted it below. You’ll notice the obi belt is a darker green though. It’s very easy to substitute a Takara Jenny for Barbie as a doll is held in the box with just two elastic bands, so a brand new doll still in box is not a valid evidence of her authenticity. Ever since I saw my doll in the Ebay listing, I believed her to be Jenny, the question was, which Jenny. She couldn’t be Barbie as the price didn’t fit, there was no cellophane on her bangs, no doll stand, no catalogue and the box had been opened – the seal was broken.

 the source: https://picclick.com/%E2%9D%A4%EF%B8%8FTakara-TOMY-Jenny-Tamaki-Kimono-Vintage-2005-105-202898587231.html

The doll herself was even prettier than all the pictures I’ve ever seen. She was brand new, never played with, never brushed, and I believe still wearing her factory outfit. The obi belt was secured with sharp pins (ouch) and the obi bow was tied under the belt with a ribbon. The obi belt closes with two metal snaps and it’s very ornate. The kimono itself is incredible – it looks very authentic, it’s even got the slits under the armpits. In the entire outfit there’s only one tag and it spells Takara Co., LTD and there’s some kanji that I cannot read. The doll’s also wearing a pair of socks and sandals, and a pair of undies – so she’s decent. Her jewelry is plastic and fit for a child. 

As to the doll’s identity, I’m almost sure it’s Jenny, possibly an early one. Mattel would sign their products and I’ve scanned the doll thoroughly, even the inside rim of the head. No evidence she’s Mattel’s and the only signatures I could find were TAKARA Japan above her waist and K119 at the back of her head – this stands for her headmold, the number is common for both Takara Barbie and Jenny as well as quite a number of other various dolls amongst whom only Ranze sounds familiar. My Jenny has a limited posability. Her head rotates but there’s no vertical movement. The head itself is made of a very soft vinyl and it’s squishy. The body mold suggest a twist waist but she has no movement there or else something’s stuck and I don’t want to force it. Her legs and arms have a wire inside so you can bend them. The legs are made of vinyl and the arms are hollow inside. When you bend them, it looks a bit weird but at least they’re not stuck in one position at the elbow. The feet mold is very detailed and there’s an hole in the heel. In the excitement I forgot to take photos of the feet but Ma-Ba’s on Erynnis blog looks identical as far as her feet are considered. In terms of the doll’s height, she’s of course shorter than a standard Barbie, but she’s taller than Skipper 1987.

My favorite part of the doll is her face paint. She’s so adorable. I’ve analyzed every spot, every line of her very detailed and accurate paint work and I compared that to the photos online. Once Takara’s license on Barbie production expired in 1986 they went on making identical dolls- they could do that after all. Later on the eyes changed a bit, the difference is slight and hard to notice but you can see it when you look for it. However, the very first Jenny dolls were identical to Barbie. The same number of spots in the eyes, the same shade of brown, the same amount of white, the same number of eyelashes. It’s fairly easy to differentiate between Takara’s and Ma-Ba’s dolls but Takara Barbie and Takara Jenny just look the same to me. In fact I have the impression that throughout the years Jenny remained rather consistent, unlike Barbie. As to the body sculpt, I can infer very little from the photos online or the sparse information. The Takara Barbie / early Jenny remain a much undiscovered area. Erynnis blog shed much light on this topic, but other than that, I remain in the dark.

Whenever I prepare an entry on my blog, I put a lot of effort in making it as much informative as I can, but this time I’m writing in a hope of being provided with information rather than giving it. I’ll be very grateful if you can tell me anything about the origin of my doll or her identity. Meanwhile, I’m very fond of the doll and I intend to purchase more clothes for her. Mattel has much to offer of late and I like most of their recent fashion releases. Jenny will appear in my future posts. Take care!

Further notes:

Oh dear, I’m behind with my English blog again, I need to improve it because I’ve managed to publish the Polish post and even update it before I even translated it into English and I even don’t have time to proofread it. Anyway, I hope Flickr survives. I’m definitely going to get the PRO subscription. Flickr has helped me so many times in the past and now I identified my Jenny thanks to the photos that I found there. My doll is indeed Jenny and a very early one too! One collector has posted pictures of Jenny Fashion Journals. These were Barbie’s catalogues until vol. 11 but vol. 12 and the subsequent ones (I’ve counted 21 in total) advertised Jenny. I found my Jenny in vol.14 dated 1986 – the first year of Jenny’s production. She belongs to the Kimono Jenny series and though you can hardly see her face, let alone the details of the face paint, I’ve recognized her by the kimono which is identical. The only difference is the obi belt which seems to be darker green and the protruding element is orange and mine is purple, but other than that, it’s the same outfit.