LootCrate Anime – January 2018

Maybe we it’s due to my unjustifiably strong feelings about UPS, maybe it’s because I, like every other person in the province is currently dealing with a cold (we just sneeze on each other by way of hello), but I just didn’t get that excited about this month’s offering. Maybe it will grow on me. They have in the past.

As I mentioned in my last crate review, the theme for January’s box was “gamers” but instead of picking anime about gaming or games or really any isekai, they chose to represent the theme by focusing on franchises that had both video games and animations in their repertoire (so…more or less all of them…Yup).

I don’t really mind that the loot crate themes are mild suggestions at best but I really wonder why they bother coming up with them at all if they’re not going to even try to represent them in some way. Sure technically all these guys have both games and anime, well I’m not entirely sure about is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon but Steins;Gate is a Visual Novel and let’s be honest, that’s not what most people think of as a game, and while Final Fantasy and Sonic both technically have anime, I doubt that’s what people remember.

It just seems ridiculous to have a theme called gamers and not throw in some SAO stuff. It has several games, I think there’s an anime (*cough*) and the actual subject is on point. How about any of the dozen rather successful Isekai that have come out in recent years. A game is at the center of Danganronpa if you need VN representation. Although I think there should be a Steins;Gate item in all boxes. There’s even an anime actually called gamers. Lootcrate, call me. I will sort out your thematic issues.

So what exactly was in the gamers box:

The box itself was quite pretty, and the t-shirt was very nicely folded this time. I don’t know what happened with the Black Clover one. Someone must have been having a bad  day…

Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Memoria Freese

If you, like me, are not too familiar with what exactly Memoria Freese is, it is in fact a little iOS and Android sidescroller that was recently localized for the English-speaking market by Crunchyroll. I haven’t played, have little patience for most mobile games so am unlikely to play, but it does look quite pretty.

Listen, I’m not a dum dum.. I know that this little game just dropped for the US market and the have a ton of promotional stuff they are throwing around which is why this month’s box is essentially a promotion for the game. I also realize that all these boxes are basically just promotional items, left over stock and a few exclusives packaged together. They see what items they have available then build a theme around that which explains the loose correlation…man I am really not letting this theme thing go…. No one cares Irina…move it along… 

My favorite anime title brings us not one but two items, first the poster:

I love the art of IIWTTTPUGIAD (still the best acronym) and as such this is one of my favorite posters. I love that LootAnime puts the spotlight on various artists but I have to admit, it’s nice to see characters from a franchise I know for a change. And I just really love the art style.

As usual this poster came origamied (I’m exaggerating cause I’m a jerk – it was neatly folded) but I think a good frame could take care of it and for once I am tempted to put it up. The colour scheme matches my home decor better. Basically, I like this poster.

Next up we have this cute pin set.

I quite like these. They are sturdy metal pins with to attachments each in the back to keep them very secure and straight. The actual pins aren’t too big, so they aren’t going to leave huge holes in your clothing and the pins aren’t so heavy and to pull at shirts. The front is printed designs on shiny metal. It’s an interesting effect.

I would have liked them to be a touch more colourful and details are hard to see due to the reflective surface but overall these are cute, and I am currently wearing Hestia on my coat. No one has commented but I think they are intimidated by my obvious fashion sense.

 Sonic The Hedgehog

 I like Sonic but I’m hardly a huge fan and this figure of Shadow has certain issues. This came as a solid PVC piece and is one of the smaller figures I’ve gotten in these boxes. The mould is not overly detailed but the paint work is quite good and besides, the character isn’t overly detailed to begin with. I think it’s a nice figure.

The issue I have is that it came with a base piece and a backdrop ring piece. There were no instructions on the box and try as I may, I really could not figure out how to fit any of these pieces together. In the end, the base and ring ended up in a drawer because something in me stopped me from just throwing them away and shadow sits by himself on a shelf. Not necessarily something I would have bought individually let’s face it.

Final Fantasy Type-O 

I’m in fact a huge fan of Final Fantasy. FF7 was my gateway game. It’s the first video game I remember playing and I blame it for everything that came after (so many hours of grinding – I could have learned 9 new languages…) I still love it. Can’t wait for the rerelease. I’m going back to replay XV soon.

This said, the expanded FF universe (anime, manga, movies) is rather hit or miss. Alright kids, let’s not pretend, it’s rather miss with a few ok offerings. I don’t have huge hopes for this manga and MAL has it at a rather mediocre 6.84. Knowing me, I will still read it and probably enjoy it more than average (maybe 7.2…).

For now I can say that it’s very pretty and I really like how it looks on the shelf. As for the poster. I didn’t even realize there was one until I actually read the description of the products for this post….

Can you really blame me though? Here it is:

Steins;Gate 

I’m a time travel nerd and Steins fangirl. You know, like everyone else. So the Steins;Gate item was always what I was looking forward to. It’s a t-shirt…

 Much like the Black Clover t-shirt this one is more unisex than girl’s cut which means, same as last time, a rather unflattering look if you happen to have a waist, a chest or hips. All three combined and it’s just sad. This is heart wrenching because I really love it. The colours are awesome, it has that cool prefaded thing going on. If they had used the Visual Novel character designs I would probably have paid to have had it fitted.  

It’s not unwearable mind you. If you’re small like me, it will make you look completely shapeless and maybe a little heavier.

On the plus side, this is one of the rare pale coloured t-shirts I have that is completely opaque. I love that! Maybe if it was tighter it may become a little see through but as it is it’s fantastic.

Is it just me or did it seem like less? I know I could just count the number of items but it’s a feeling thing not a thinking thing. On a complete side note – 6-dollar T-Shirts fit fantastically well on the ladies. It’s too bad they have literally no anime designs or else I would have bought them out…

I decided to skip next month, and I have to admit, after this month I’m not that certain I want to keep the subscription at all. The t-shirt thing is really annoying me. If you don’t offer women’s sizes, then don’t put it as an option. We’re not that dumb – we can tell. Believe it or not we do try on clothes at times. Maybe If I was a bit more normal human sized I would stretch them out and force a shape onto them. That’s actually probably the case for most people come to think of it. But if the 6 dollar ones can get it right….