I’ve been curious about the few anime theme monthly box subscriptions out there for a while. On the one hand they often looked like they had some cool stuff (merch isn’t that available up here – I guess cargo planes don’t fly this far north?) and I love opening boxes. But on the other and, I’ve always had the sneaking suspicion that all of these subscriptions are just a way to get rid of stock they couldn’t otherwise sell and they also often had stuff I wouldn’t want…
Through a series of circumstances, I managed to get a pretty good discount and when I saw that the August Loot Anime box would feature Soul Eater, Gintama, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Bungo Stray Dogs, all anime I love, I just couldn’t resist. My crate finally arrived a ew days ago and I thought maybe some of you would be curious to see what was in there!
It took about 2 weeks to get here (they need to get the sled dogs and all). The box itself was well packed and pristine. They could have packed eggs in there and it would have been ok.
After unpacking the box, my eyes went immediately to the shiny thing! This is a Kobayashi journal. I honestly really love the cover. It’s beautiful and I’ve been leaving it around like a coffee table book just for decoration purposes.
I go through a ton of notebooks so I was pretty psyched about getting a journal. When I opened it tough, I was pretty disappointed to see that the pages were unlined. I’m one of these people that just can’t handle the freedom of a completely blank slate like that, I really need some guiding lines. I will probably attempt to use it anyway, who knows maybe it will open my eyes! I would have prefered lines but still pretty happy with this one.
Right next to it was another book. This is the first volume of Soul Eater and I’m very happy about that. I was thinking of buying them anyways since I read digital versions. It’s always nice to have the actual books. The downside is that I will now feel off until I complete the collection. Also, and this may not make any sense, this was a it to normal an item. Manga is the one thing I can easily get for myself and this is a title I’m already familiar with. Nevertheless I would have bought this anyways so Win!
Next is a phone charm. I like phone charms but this anime version of the Starbucks logo is a little boring. I would have liked something a bit more “anime” or at least a bit more colourful. From a distance you really just think it’s a Starbucks phone charm and that is just not something I would have gotten for myself.
The Bungo Stray Dogs item was a pouch that resembles Doppo’s notebook. Honestly I would have been happier with a second notebook. This pouch is made from some slightly puffy plastic material and to be blunt looks sort of cheap.
It’s also pretty useless. As you can see it has no inner compartments or pockets so anything you put in will roll around. When zipped up, there are openings left at each extremity where thinner items, like pencils, can fall out. And it’s actually pretty bulky, you can’t put this in your pocket or anything. The only use I could image for it is using it as a portable makeup case but since I don’t usually carry makeup around with me it’s not likely to see much usage.
It’s telling that my favorite part is the tage. I like it a lot, I’m going to try to find a tiny frame for it!
The poster was cute but it comes folded. If it had been more interesting I might have framed it as it is, I feel bad about throwing it out but I don’t want to put it up either. It’s going to stay folded in a book probably.
Surprisingly, the Gintama figure ended up being my favorite thing. I really like it and it makes me happy whenever I see it in my bookcase. I am a very bad photographer and despite my best efforts could not take a picture that does it justice. I person this figure is actually pretty detailed, well painted and of a decent size. It makes me want to get more now…
So this was my first box. Still ambivalent over the idea as a whole but I’m not disappointed about this one. Next month is items from Naruto, Death Note, Black Clover and Deadman Wonderland so I decided to skip it. I’ve not seen two of those and I have the entire Naruto and Death note manga collections already so I figured I’d wait for IP that gets me more excited.
