As you’re probably aware if you’ve read my unboxing posts before, I love receiving a package where I have no idea what’s in it. It makes no sense, why would I spend often a lot of money to risk getting something I don’t know I’m going to like, or something I might already own? I don’t know, but I still like it!
This week I decided to treat myself in the Anime Limited 12 Days of Christmas sale, and get the blu-ray mystery box, because I just can’t stop buying myself things even in December when I should really refrain.
The box was £44.99, and came with the five blu-ray shown above. I thought it was a pretty good deal, and as with mystery boxes, it’s more about the anticipation for me. Anything I didn’t want, I figured I could sell on and make some money back.
Let’s get it out of the way – first up in the mystery box was King’s Game. This is the only one of the five that I’ve actually seen (technically I haven’t watched Roar of Awakening, but I have watched season 2 of Attack on Titan). I actually started it when it was airing, and stopped watching because I didn’t like it much. I then got fed up of it being incomplete on my AniList, so I finished it off earlier this year for Anime August. I still didn’t like it much (I gave it a 5/10 when I rated it), but against my judgements I will keep the bluray as I might give it a second chance later down the line – perhaps the disjointed way I watched it didn’t help with my overall dislike of the show.
Next up, as mentioned above, was Attack on Titan: Roar of Awakening. For those who don’t know, this is a recap movie retelling the ‘Clash of the Titans’ story arc in season 2. I’ve seen season 2 of Attack on Titan, albeit a long time ago when it aired, and I don’t have any of the other seasons or recap movies in my collection. If there’s anything I hate, it’s an incomplete collection, so I kind of feel obliged to fill in the rest of the collection if I end up selling Roar of Awakening on.
I was pleased to see Welcome to the Ballroom: Part 1 in the mystery box. It’s been on my list for so long, and recommended to me by so many people, so I’m glad to have a push to watch it. Not that I actually ever watch the things I own, they just look nice on my shelf… maybe I’ll make it one of my challenges for 2021 to actually watch all my physical anime. I didn’t check the retail price of everything in the box, but I did for this as I wanted to check that it was in two parts and I wasn’t being dumb, and I noticed that the first part was selling for around £41.99, so the box had basically paid for itself in this one item.
Delving in further, the next bluray in the box was Kokkoku. I’d never heard of this before, but having looked up a synopsis it seems quite interesting, and the sort of supernatural show I’d normally watch, so I’m looking forward to giving that a try!
The final bluray I received was Silver Spoon season 1. I very nearly put this on my Amazon wishlist when I was making my Christmas list, but for whatever reason I didn’t. I must have known I’d end up owning it before Christmas hit! I was obviously interested in this before I got it, so I’m glad to own it!
Overall, a pretty good haul in the mystery box I think! I’m pleased with what I got anyway, and I’m glad I took the plunge and bought it. What do you think about the mystery box contents?
Speaking of preorders, my copy of Ride Your Wave also arrived. I first saw Ride Your Wave when it was showed at Scotland Loves Anime last year, and it was my favourite film of the whole festival. I’m so excited to watch it over and over again, it’s definitely up there in my favourite anime movies list.
Last but not least, I got these Sumikko Gurashi chopsticks – I’m also amassing quite the chopstick collection! Luckily I’m not too bad with a pair, so now I just need to learn some Japanese recipes to put them to use!
My first lot of manga was me continuing existing collections. I bought all three copies I had left to get of That Wolf-Boy Is Mine, but only two arrived in September. Typical. I also bought volume 40 of Haikyuu!!, which is kind of bittersweet because it means that there are only 5 volumes left, boo! I also bought the next volume of My Dress Up Darling because I really enjoyed the first volume (review to come!).
As is customary, I also bought a lot of BL this month. In fact, I might have got carried away. My problem with having incomplete collections once again reared its ugly head and I felt compelled to buy all the volumes of Don’t Be Cruel that I didn’t already have, as well as The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese and The Carp On The Chopping Block Jumps Twice (collection complete), and the new volume of given. 
I bought a couple of blu-ray this month to add to the collection too. Firstly, Weathering With You, which I got to see at Scotland Loves Anime last year and I already know that I love, and secondly Bartender, that I’ve never seen before, but the concept seemed interesting and the special edition looked really cool.
Finally for this month, I bought some games! I was recommended Nelke and The Legendary Alchemist as I wanted something that was like a world building simulation. I haven’t started it yet, but I’m excited to! I also bought 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, which I also haven’t started, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it!
Culture Shack 