Doki Doki is a new monthly Kawaii subscription box from Japan Crate. Every month you’ll receive super cute Japanese items – accessories, stationery, plushies, and other adorable Japanese goodies.
Read about Japan Crate’s self-admitted supplier issues for Doki Doki here. (Essentially they bought a bunch of bootleg items and sourced them all in advance – we can hopefully expect next month to have authentic products). The bootleg warning probably applies to the most of the items in the box, if not all of them (except the Chi’s Sweet Home figure, which is involved enough that it may be authentic but I’m not an expert on it). I’ll wrap up the bootleg issue at the end of the review, but be aware that the bootleg warning applies to possibly every item.
The branding for this box is really super cute!
Each crate comes with a manga-style booklet to help you figure out what each item is (that means it’s bound on the right side instead of the left!).
The middle of the booklet contains all the information about the items.
There’s a little comic and a contest too involving Tomomi, Doki Doki’s mascot.
Everything in the February 2016 Doki Doki Crate, save one item that was missing from my box.
You can see one variant of the page markers in the lower left above.
Cute Friends Pen and Bookmark: Awww so cute! In all the Kawaii boxes I have reviewed I have never seen these adorable dangling animal bookmarks. The bottom part clips on and the top dangles out of your book.
The little tiger disassembles to become a pen! I stashed these for Valentine’s Day for my kids but they may find heir way back to me!
Cute Friends Whistle: So adorable elephant! I love that these 3 items were wooden (such a nice change) and that this didn’t make too shrill of a sound. Perfect for keeping on your keychain for safety.
Kiki’s Delivery Service Coin Purse: Jiji will keep all your coins sorted!
It’s not the most high quality bag I have ever seen and it probably isn’t authentic.
Gudetama Keychain: what is it about this lazy egg that we all find so irresistible?
There were four variations sent out. I received the one that’s impossible to photograph.
Chi’s Sweet Home Blind Box: was available exclusively at KFC Japan! Again, authenticity unknown.
Card Captor Sakura Blind Box: This item is a known bootleg. It features Tomoyo and Kero.
The Chi’s Sweet Home Figure is pretty awesome – the eyes pop out and the tail moves!
It was really creepy to assemble the Card Captor figure, especially what I had to do to poor Kero.
The end result is super cute but also super hard to put together. At least I didn’t break it like last time.
Card Captor Sakura Kero Plushie: And a plushie keychain version of Kero. I thought it was nice to get matching items.
Spirited Away No Face Plushie: This shows an imagined No-Face under his mask.
This wasn’t my favorite curation (it was quite Anime heavy) for a Kawaii-themed box. One of the things about Doki Doki that was so appealing was the promise of high quality and authentic licensed items – which are all quite expensive, but so is this box, at $30 per month. I have really high hopes for the March box and am thinking that they need to turn to high quality items that don’t feature licensed characters in order to make this box work (stationery, stickers, and other cuteness – and I would have been thrilled with another ramen keychain, just sayin!). I continued my subscription knowing that the February box would contain bootleg items, but surely not all subscribers did. Clearly it’s an unacceptable way to do business. I don’t have any good answers – not sending out this box probably would have tanked their company and they were probably unable to return the items. But sending out unlicensed counterfeit items is not a legitimate way to run a subscription. I’ll be sure to review the March box as soon as we receive it.
Visit Doki Doki Crate to subscribe or find out more!
The Description: Doki Doki Crate is a new way to experience Japan through all things kawaii! You’ll find 8-10 items in each crate including plushies keychains, figures, squishies, apparel, collectibles and much more. From Japan Crate!
The Price: $30.00 per month
The Categories: Boxes with Geographic Appeal, Kawaii Subscription Boxes, Local Boxes: Asian, Special Interest & Fan Subscription Boxes.
The Reviews: See all our Doki Doki Crate Reviews.
The Spoilers: Check out Doki Doki Crate Spoilers.
Comments
Just wanted to post a heads up to anyone thinking of subscribing to their DokiDoki Crate, everything included has been confirmed to be counterfeit merchandise. Please support the anime industry and legit business and do not buy from this company. Even large figure manufacturers like GoodSmile Company have posted warnings about this company.
https://www.facebook.com/goodsmileenglish/photos/a.129413530475308.33481.122978557785472/933095336773786/
Why are you supporting this company?? Such a disgrace to the integrity of Japan.
https://www.facebook.com/goodsmileenglish/photos/a.129413530475308.33481.122978557785472/933095336773786/?type=3