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Dragon Ball Z – Perfect Cell

You get a very nice Funko Pop! vinyl figure! We got the Dragon Ball Z Perfect Cell. However, as Andrew pointed out in the video, it isn’t a bobble head. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. I sometimes find the bobble heads to be delicate so getting something that is a nice and sturdy collectible is still a nice surprise.

The Giant Robots: Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gundam

I have to admit that I really like this shirt. Nothing screams out your otaku-ness more than walking around with a giant Gundam head plastered to your chest.

The Evangelion manga serves as a pretty good introduction to the series as well. If you watched any of the anime you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the character development in this first volume of “Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikara Raising Project”. This telling mixes things up a lot in order to tell a completely different story which is more akin to either a harem story/romance story. Read about it on WikiPedia and see if you’ll pick up the other 16 volumes. Things like:

Shinji and Asuka, who share a rather unbalanced relationship in the original NGE, are childhood friends. In the manga, Shinji and Asuka first met when they were both 4. She has begun to develop romantic feelings towards Shinji at some point just before the manga begins, and sees Rei as her primary romantic competition, though she also sees Kaworu as a threat due to what she sees as his very overt attempts to flirt with Shinji. As such, she often finds Rei to be her only ally in keeping Kaworu from getting too close to Shinji.

And a Gendo who isn’t as much of an asshole? I leave it up to you. I enjoyed this alternate version of Evangelion as it diverged a lot from the original story and incorporated many elements from Angelic Days.

Accessorizing: Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin, My Neighbor Totoro and Cowboy Bebop

Ok, so I have one itty bitty problem if you give this to your kid under the age of, oh, I dunno, 10? 12? and they know where it comes from. The shoulder bag carries a gigantic logo of the Survey Corps from Attack on Titan, which I have to admit is pretty sweet. However, you need to realize that the anime is a little mature.

Ok, very mature. There’s a lot of giants eating humans (complete with crunching noises, blood splatters and dismemberment), slicing and dicing of living creatures and some partial nudity. The soundtrack is pretty cool, though.

On the flip side you get your My Neighbor Totoro buttons. These adorable things will be must haves for any fan of the Hayao Miyazaki family film. Whatever you do, though, don’t go looking for any of the theories that Totoro is the God of Death if you don’t want to ruin the good feels you get from this movie.

Finally, what anime package wouldn’t be complete without your Cowboy Bebop headwear? We didn’t really know what it was when we first pulled it out but as soon as I saw Faye Valentine, Ein and Edward Wong I was giddy! Kinda stupid, I know, but seeing them and getting to see old friends again.

The Paperwork

Final Thoughts

As the initial review stated in the video above the, Ani-May box is a pretty good box for the casual anime watcher or fan. There is nothing in this box from any obscure show or manga and everything is easily recognizable to the regular animeviewer above the age of 12.

Below the age of 12? That could be a little tough to pull off. I’m not going to question your parenting if you allow your child to watch Attack on Titan (see the human snackables in the video above) or Neon Genesis Evangelion (Asuka screaming, “IT’S RAPING MY BRAIN!”) but they are very mature and complex series to consume.

Here’s something I find really odd, too: earlier in the year NerdBlock kind of forced their NerdPlay cosplay trading cards on their box recipients. How is it, then, that the anime themed box didn’t contain said trading cards? This really seems like poor planning as the cards seemed out of place and kind of tainted the box. Trust me, I don’t want the cards but it would have saved the themes of previous boxes if it was saved for one whose theme actually started the cosplay movement.

Ihav at least one more NerdBlock coming to me and I need to decide if I will continue to subscribe to NerdBlock. This anime themed box was more towards my liking as it appealed to my hobby. It wasn’t flashy and it didn’t go overboard by shoving in Naruto paraphenalia. If you arent familiar with a few of these shows it may even motivate you to research and watch them.

One more month, NerdBlock! Good luck trying to make me a regular customer!