Loot Anime December 2017

Welcomed back everyone to another installment of Irina wines about her one-sided feud with her local UPS. I have put quite a few Loot Anime posts out lately because I have been receiving my boxes rather sporadically. As I mentioned in my October box review, I almost missed out on it all together because UPS delivered it *somewhere* and when I followed up with them, they, to my face, informed me I had moved. The delivery was mildly smoother this time around. First, you should know that I live in what is essentially a high-rise building with individual unit postal boxes for mail and a large postal locker for packages. UPS leaves my Loot Anime boxes in that locker one time out of two and it’s fantastic. I just pick them up and everyone’s happy.

For completely unknown reasons however, they also refuse to leave them in that locker half the time and stick a “we couldn’t deliver” notice on my mail box instead. This is tricky because they only attempt delivery once and refuse redelivery and I them have to pick it up within 5 days from the UPS counter. It may not sound that unreasonable, but their UPS counter is only opened from 10am to 6pm workdays. So, for me to pick up a package I have to leave early from work. I am lucky enough to have a job where I can come and go pretty liberally but it’s still a hassle and in my opinion completely unreasonable, every single time I get a package. If I cancel my subscription it will be in most part because the delivery is just too much trouble.

I hope you enjoyed this post on the failing of international carriers. I know it doesn’t have much to do with anime so I’ll make sure to.. oh yeah, the crate.

The first thing that caught my eye here was that bunched up thrown in t-shirt. You could be fooled into thinking I had packed these myself. It’s a bit disappointing since they’re usually so neat but hardly the worst I have ever received.

Poster

No phone charm this time. Weirdly I was a little let down.

As you can see, this month’s poster is quite pretty. I’m a sucker for those bright colours and cute design. The featured artist is Xeph and you can see more of their work at Collateral Damage Studios .

Ilove the colours on this.

Batman and the Justice League Art Sheet

A second smaller poster was included and is meant as a companion piece to the manga. It’s a nice poster but I’m a little limited on wall space, I have a LOT of art. Maybe I’ll do a virtual tour some day. I have some gorgeous Natsume and Okami paintings some of you may like. In any case, this particular poster isn’t going to be hanging up there, but I can’t actually find any fault with it.

It’s pretty and high quality. The single careful fold at the center will probably be barely noticeable if put in a nice frame. I’m just not a huge fan of the DC universe.

Batman and the Justice League Manga

The is a loot anime exclusive print of Shiori Teshirogi’s Batman and Justice League. It is in fact a very nice book. The actual manga is only black and white but very high quality and the heavily Americanized manga art is a blend of East meets West in the superhuman genre. I wager that if you are a fan of either the DC Universe or Saint Seiya, you will be very excited by this item.

Unfortunately, I am not. I can plainly see the quality of the book, but I really would not have bought this individually. I haven’t read it, so it may turn out to be the best manga ever made. The official plot synopsis is:

The manga is titled Batman and Justice League, and features Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. The story will feature the Justice League heading to Gotham City to protect the world from the Joker and an alliance of super-villains.

From flipping through the book, I can see that the narrative seems to follow an ordinary student who gets wrapped up in the story. I’m assuming that’s why it was included in the box because I wouldn’t qualify any of those characters up there as “underdogs”. I understand that the monthly themes have always been loose suggestions at best, a simple marketing tool to advertise individual boxes more effectively, but they could have just called this month “superhero” and it would have felt much more accurate. Was it not animeish enough? Maybe they had already used that one. Just saying that anime features a TON of underdogs that seem better suited to the title than Batman.

Black Clover Shirt

I haven’t seen Black Clover yet. I have seen lots of images from the show and have read a lot of your reviews. Apparently, it gets loud. It’s like the show itself is an underdog so I appreciate that. I have absolutely no idea why, but I have a soft spot for it (sight unseen) and I am looking forward to starting it soon.

Fact about me, I love T-shirts. I collect them even though I have to wear suits at work and live in a country covered in snow half the year. I think they are close to the perfect garment. But a good t-shirt is very hard to find. I’m a short and generally petit girl with an hourglass figure. I can’t pull off boxy men’s t-shirts unless they are made with a very flimsy material that will drape over me and generally just follow my natural outline. Anything else looks ridiculous and adds 20 lbs on me. One of the biggest draws I had towards loot anime was the fact that they frequently sent out apparel and you could choose women’s small as a size. Finally, anime t-shirts that would fit me! I was so excited. Ironically this is the first one I’ve received.

It’s not a women’s small. The actual size isn’t on the t-shirt anywhere but I’m willing to bet it’s a unisex small which let’s face it just means men’s small. It’s not too big on the shoulders but it’s cut perfectly straight which means that is you have any kind of waistline it will appear to bulge out at the stomach making for a particularly unflattering figure. I am not too big so it’s not tight on any level but if you happen to be more hippy, I bet it will be too tight at that point. The fit was a huge disappointment.

On the other hand, the print is nice, I might eventually just cut is out and use it as a patch. The material is wonderful. Very soft and comfortable. Sadly, no matter how I styled it, it remains one of the least flattering things I have ever worn and has already been relegated to sleep wear. I already have more sleep t-shirts than I know what to do with. I’m a little sad guys.

Saint Seiya Hat

If the T-shirt was ill-fitting, the hat simply doesn’t fit at all. I’m not sure who thought a person who wears a women’s small would also have a head big enough for this snapback. It’s a nice hat though. Some people are all about a snapback. I wear them a lot when walking buddy.

I’ve never seen Saint Seiya and it seems unlikely I ever will. Not throwing shade or anything, I’ve actually heard great things about it and had I taken it up a little earlier I think it would have been exactly my cup of tea. However, it’s an older series with episodes in the three digits and I have so much anime to catch up on already…

What I’m saying is this hat really does nothing for me.

I’m not gonna lie, so far it was a rather disappointing box. A first clear miss and then:

My Hero Academia 6.5” Deku Figure

When the December box was announced I decided to keep only because of the inclusion of My Hero Academia. I said at the time that I was hoping it would be the big-ticket item… Guys it’s Deku – Deku’s on my desk!

I love this piece. It’s beautiful and detailed. It features Deku’s superhero outfit with those vibrant Christmasy colours (was that on purpose) That piece around his neck is actually loose and you can position it however you want.

In terms of detailing, it may be a bit plainer than previous figures. Not because the item itself is low quality, I mean look at those adorable freckles, but simply because Deku has a much cleaner design than Madoka or Josuke. However, everything from the pose, to the facial expression, to the size, are just perfect. Yes, I am biased. I love both MHA in general and Midoriya in particular but it’s also a wonderful figure. I would have happily paid the price of the box for it. Let me just add in one of the official shots because I want to do it proper justice:

What can I look forward to maybe receiving if it doesn’t get lost in shipping next month? The announced theme is: GAME ON!

“Sonic the Hedgehog, Steins;Gate, Final Fantasy and Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese all blur the lines between anime, manga and video games, so let’s embrace it…”

So no NGNL, no KonoSuba, no Hack, no SAO, no isekai at all (?) You can argue that IIWTPPGIAD (love that title) is a bit of DnD in anime form but with so many shows that have a stated premise of blurring the lines this seems like a way to get rid of inventory they couldn’t fit elsewhere. Not complaining mind you. Aside from Sonic, these are all franchise I really like. If it was up to me, I would try to make Steins:Gate fit into every single theme ever! You bet I’m keeping this box. 

On a different note, I have been enjoying the boxes quite a bit, but I do find that I get items that are just wasted on me. A good friend of mine was interested in the manga so that was put to good use. However, it just occurred to me that some of you may be interested in these items. Like that baseball cap for instance. Accordingly, I have spontaneously decided that the best possible option would be to start holding some giveaways.

I’m still working out the details on exactly “how” to proceed (individual items or hauls, through twitter or through the blog…) If you have suggestions I’m all ears. I know most people use them to celebrate milestones. I get a little impatient with presents – I’m the idiot that gives you your birthday present a month in advance *cause it’s just sooo perfect* and then has to scramble to get something lese for the actual day *cause it’s your birthday*. I’m not sure I can stick it out until another significant milestone comes around. I thought of potentially working them in with posts if ever I have merch that is somehow relevant to what I happen to be writing about. Like I said, it’s a work in progress….