Recently some fellow collectors alerted me about the second boxset of Yonetani Yoshitomo's anime Food Wars!, saying it looked outrageous. And indeed it does, but so does the first boxset which was released a few months ago!
The series itself is an adaptation of a popular manga, in which students at a school for chefs are followed, and where they constantly need to excel in the arts of cookery. Both the manga and the anime are popular, and not just for its silly humor with "ecchi" moments, but also for the recipes, which are described in great detail. The "ecchi" elements are in the depictions of people's enjoyment of food, with taste sensations basically making clothes melt or explode off the tasters' bodies.
It's a fun series, and US distributor Section 23 (them again...) has seen fit to release ridiculously over-pimped editions for the first two seasons of it. I'll get back to boxset two once I hold it in my hungry hands, but for now, check out these pics of boxset one!
Click on the edge of the pictures to scroll through them, or at the center of each to see a bigger version.
Here it is: a big box, closed with magnets. (Note: as a collector, magnets make me salivate already...)
Opening the box, you can see the physical extras arranged as in a bento box! You get a folded apron, chopsticks, and pins.
The booklet, DVDs and Blu-rays are in a separate compartment at the bottom, hidden behind a second lid with magnets.
Close up of the bottom compartment.
All contents taken out of the box.
All contents opened and spread out. On top of the physical extras there are some art cards, the series on DVD, the series on Blu-ray, and a 52-page hardcover booklet,
A close-up of the sticks and pins (note that the pins are stuck on little plates).
A closer look at the booklet: it's a hardcover, and 52 pages thick.
While 52 pages is not huge, there is a wealth of material in there: character sketches, backgrounds, the lot! For fans of the series it's a great extra.
The (back)end of a fine release!
Section 23 is really gunning for the high ground with these collections, and they're a distributor worth keeping tabs on.