In which I miss normal shopping still, but the Sumikko cheer me up like always.
I think I mentioned in my past entry I had gotten ensconced in a big project taking up my whole craft room, and it’s organizing my Re-ment collection. I’m a big believer in playing with my toys as opposed to only collecting them, but for some reason I got interested in organizing things by collection, not least because it helps me appreciate the sets I have.
It also makes opening a new box extra fun (and I appreciate the opportunity to keep things organized by collection from the beginning, for now at least). So let’s discuss Re-ment Sumikko Gurashi Super de Otsukai (Errands at the Store)!
Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve really come to appreciate the little backdrops included on the box for these photos.
We start with Set One: Could You Do Some Errands?, which you instantly know is one of my favorites because it’s Ebi Furai no Shippo! She’s out at the market picking up a few things for Tonkatsu, no doubt, since they’re his favorites: sauce and cabbage. She’s also added some milk to her cart, and a blind box because who can blame her–
She’s cute enough that I didn’t mind the need to put the sticker on the milk carton (although it took two tries) and the sauce bottle, though spending time sorting through older Re-Ment reminds me how much less I used to have to do that.
The crispy goodness continues in Set Two: Fried Just Now, where Tonkatsu offers today’s special deals on the finest fried foods.
If you don’t think too much about the details of them desperately wanting to be fried up and eaten, the cuteness only increases.
Set Three: These Cucumbers are Great, has Penguin? offering up some produce from Sumikko Farms. This set is fine — though the only part I’m really excited about is the Penguin? figure — but I was confused at first by what initially appeared to be some sort of long, thin box…and then I realized it was something much more foul. I hate these foldable cardboard things that work like sticks (it’s supporting the sign in the picture below, and yes, it’s crooked).
Set Four: How About Some Fresh Fish? has Tokage, well, offering up some seafood options for your next meal. Funny enough, with me saying I thought the fish item in the last Re-ment set I reviewed would be smaller, I expected for some reason the packaged fish here would be bigger. Go figure, I suppose.
Next up is Set Five: Recommended for Chirashi. Overall this one ranks a bit low with me because of the sheer amount of work I’m expected not to utterly screw up. I’m not exactly sure why I had to put the arabiki sausages in the bag and tie it up with a sticker as opposed to it coming in a bag with a nice clip like the bread, and I always get nervous putting stickers on like that for the Zassou tea (though I managed it basically okay this time). But I like Shirokuma wearing Furoshiki as an apron, and there’s even a little Sumikko face on one of the coins, so you can’t fault it for cute. Next!
That would be Set Six: Recommended Flavor. The more I look at this set, the more I love its aesthetic, with Neko neatly dressed up to sell some tako weiners—
Well, most of them — but wait, that one on the back left is a Neko weiner instead! Putting the sticker on the ham package was more difficult than I would have liked, but it just displays so well. Oh, Re-ment. Even when you’re a little troublesome and sloppy, the weiners bring me back.
Set Seven: Use a Cart for Easy Shopping is–well, to be honest, I kind of hate it. It’s not only my least favorite in this collection, it’s one of my least favorite Re-ment sets in general in some time.
First, I’ll get out of the way that this all looks very nice. The Tapioca are darling and I’m fine with the bag of tapioca flour despite the sticker not really being wonderfully sized and the Neko potato snacks are—no, actually, I kind of hate those too, just another box I found way more difficult than average to fold. But what pushes this set over the line into genuine bad for me is the cart itself.
The whole thing is just really plastic and rickety. I thought it looked very nice in the promotional pictures, but what arrives is disappointing compared to the other items in the collection. The worst part about it has to do with the handles and the basket, which you put on yourself. I actually thought that it had arrived in one piece and broken at first, because it wasn’t obvious at all how to attach things and the connections are extremely shallow. It’s not immediately clear which way the handles are supposed to go, and — making matters worse — if you put them on upside down, the wrong side of the connector part is rather sharp, which isn’t immediately apparent. Until you do, you know, put them on wrong and jab your thumb off, like I did.
Luckily, we go out on a high note with Set Eight: Check Out These Bargains. This one started out with a bit of a mystery–it took me a minute to realize these are the Minikko snacks for inside the cup:
It’s strange, because this was another set that required a fair amount of putting together. The Neko chocolate pop required the same kind of sticker application that annoyed me so with the ham up above, and the panko has the same sticker size issues I commented on before with the tapioca flour, but for some reason I was never overly bothered by those issues here. In fact, I really liked this set — it’s one of my favorites. I am, as always, a study in contradictions.
This collection was a bit of an emotional roller coaster, with some things I am quite fond of and others I am pretty indifferent to. It’s rather similar overall to the earlier collection Re-ment Sumikko Gurashi Shopping at the Market, which I also own, and which, like this will be, I just display a few things from. I guess that means this is overall a “don’t buy” from me, but it’s only because there are just so many other great choices out there instead for both Re-ment and Sumikko Gurashi.
No matter its flaws, I’ll still be putting these to work in displays, so it’s not exactly a case of buyer’s remorse in any major sense. Is real remorse even possible with Sumikko?
hello somebunny 