According to their website http://kawaiicrate.com/:
At Kawaii Crate, we’re dedicated to get you exactly what you want: quality Anime and Japanese merchandise. We’re an Otaku’s best friend!
Each crate revolves around a monthly theme and can include figures, plushes, snacks, manga, and more!
Cost of the box reviewed:
$35/month + $5 S&H
Total Price: $40
Month-to-Month Subscription
Renews Automatically
★ Cancel Anytime!
The Crate
Click on the thumbnail for a larger image
Final Thoughts
Sigh…
Well, I really want to try and like this subscription box but it is a little bit of a let down. Compared to last month’s crate this missed the mark in a big way. The theme was supposed to be ‘Summer Games’ and yet there really wasn’t anything that screamed sports or even summer for that matter (ok, there was the notebook for Ano Natsu de Matteru – Waiting in the Summer). Considering that I purchased the large crate at $35 for the crate + $5 shipping and handling it doesn’t feel like what I received was worth $40. Last month’s crate was a good start (with the exception of the packaging). This one, not so much.
Is this crate supposed to have a monthly theme? The website doesn’t list one for the August box and neither did the information sheet included. It seems a little inconsistent.
First off, there were snacks. I’m not going to ever turn down a snack but it seems as if they were thrown into the box as filler. I priced out the Hi-Chew Tropical candies and it costs about $3 online. That didn’t make me feel any better about the value of the box. Looking up the Kasugai Mango Gummy candies was a little more difficult as the 1.76 oz package isn’t exactly common. I did find on Alibaba something close but it was about $1.50 for a larger bag. The Kill La Kill: Group Key Art Tumbler was found online for $16.95.
When I first started reviewing Kawaii Crate the creators were enthusiastic and engaged with me on both Reddit and Twitter. After that first review they’ve been a little quiet. I say it over and over again: it is all about the experience. This ranges from the packaging and marketing to the customer service. This box definitely isn’t worth the $40 I paid for it but if the experience were different it may have softened the blow. I know, it seems pretty superficial but this is my hard earned money that I’m spending.
I’ll try one or two more of these with the hopes that it gets better. If it doesn’t then the best that I can do is drop it for a few months with hopes of re-subscribing in about a year with the expectation that they would be able to improve.
Good luck, Kawaii Crate. The devil’s in the details.
