Loot Anime’s October box, Gods and Spirits, arrived with an unbreakable hero taking his stand against evil, two cups of the cure and the curse, pages of fantasies and horrors, and a pinnable anime scene, and included items from Norigami, Jojo’s Bizarre Advanture, Mushishi, and Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D, and Gatchaman artist Yoshitaka Amano.
Gods and Spirits’s crate refolds into a spellbook titled Invocations, Volume 1, and is deep enough to hold a row of standard–sized manga or blu-rays.
As a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure fan, need I mention which was my favorite item in Gods and Spirits? All pose and pompadour, the exclusive Banpresto Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Josuke Higashikata figure is an energetically realized and authenticaly painted manifestation from the anime adaptation of the “Diamond is Unbreakable” arc of Hirohiko Araki’s long-running manga.
Though I haven’t tried Mushishi, I love nerdy kitchenware, and these exclusive Mushishi tea cups are my second favorite item in Gods and Spirits. The understated colors feel just right for getting mellow with a pot of tea, and the series subtitle on the cups, “The cure lies in the curse,” will one day inspire me to start this anime.
As I’m a Gatchaman fan, I was looking forward to the Yoshitaka Amano item in this month’s crate. While there was only one page of Gatchaman art in The Art of Yoshitaka Amano, it’s a good page, and the rest of it is a dazzling coffee table book of fantasy and vampire art, that could only have been improved by titles or other reference points for the illustrations. If a clean page style was desired, the art titles could have been listed on one page in the back. Otherwise, the page quality is very high, the colors are outstanding, and the slim volume was made at just the right size to thumb through it several times in one sitting.
The exclusive Noragami double-backed pin is a good piece of wearable art that presents the anime characters in a kind of picture window or regrigerator magnet style.
This month’s poster, illustrated by Jun of Collateral Damage Studios, shows Yume conjuring an astral eagle from her spellbook to battle a dragon and a tiger, and the Gods and Spirits phone charm carries over this theme by depicting Yume, awash in blue glitter, using her grimoire as a flying carpet. The art value of the poster is exceptional, and like great cover art, makes me want to know what happens next.
Though the most exciting inclusion was revealed weeks before, Gods and Spirits was still a great crate to open, with the fourth JoJo to stand tall on my shelf, a sweet tea cup set, and an art book of symbolist anime art.
While you can still meditate on Gods and Spirits, you can no longer invoke it from Loot Crate (until a few show up in Loot Vault), but until November 27th, you can order Besties, which contains items from K-On!, One Piece, Seven Deadly Sins, and Madoka Magica.
Loot Anime sent the review copy.
