Comments on: Japan 2007: Animate, Tekkonkinkreet, and Ikebukuro

By: Marius Mink

Marius Mink — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:29:23 +0000

*O* Woooooooooow… My eyes were fixated on all that anime and manga. I can’t imagine what it’d be like to see that in person. I have to move to Japan. There’s no way something like this can exist and me not move there.

Also, how do people not go completely bankrupt on this stuff? There’s SOOO much choice! America has a small fraction of what Japan has (in terms of otakudom) and I still have a hard time decided which manga/anime/figures/etc to buy.

By: ann

ann — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 02:04:19 +0000

you know the cute kitty statues tat sorta llok like loveless is not is accually lamento.
its like a Bl game an sum other stuff is very popular but i still dont know much bout it.
other then tat luky you!! getting to go to japan. lol is amazing i defenetly wanna go now.

By: ainulfahmi

ainulfahmi — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:38:42 +0000

hey!!!guys!!!
how do you do!!!
my name is fahmi !!!!
i want to japan so much!!!
but i don’t have anymoney for there!!!!

By: Miranda

Miranda — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:54:55 +0000

The action figures of the neko boys you took pictures of they are from a BL game named Lamento! In one of your earlier pictures there was an advertisment for it. Its the picture after the Eva curry, and it has the main character Kanoe on it!

By: Mother-Daughter Boy-Love « Jared’s in Nakano

Mother-Daughter Boy-Love « Jared’s in Nakano — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:54:23 +0000

[...] Canadian comic geek Christopher Butcher’s visit to Otomo Road in Ikebukuro (lots of photos) [...]

By: Edificio Otaku « Enki, re-evoluciÃ³n

Edificio Otaku « Enki, re-evoluciÃ³n — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 09:22:03 +0000

[...] Lo que estÃ¡ arriba es “Animate” una cadena (como McDonalds) de Anime y Manga en Japon. Lo que ven es un edificio de 8 PISOS lleno hasta el tope de manga y anime y figuras. O sea, que esperan, hagan click aqui y llegarÃ¡n al lugar donde los otakus van a gastarse todos los reales. [...]

By: Tivome

Tivome — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 00:29:19 +0000

Wait a minute? You are a GUY and you’ve walked into the Animate, THE ANIMATE AT IKEBUKURO? YOU WENT INSIDE THE ANCHOR OF THE OTOME ROAD AS A DUDE? WOW. The whole section of Sunshine 60 from Animate to the K-book down the street is called Otome Road and it’s the Mecca for women otaku the world-wide. Didn’t the massive SHOTA and YAOI section looked strange to you? You don’t see them at Akibahara.

Great photos BTW, remined me I have to order Lucky Star #5… man I would have ogled at that rare Fate figurine…

By: Matthew van de Crommert

Matthew van de Crommert — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 03:25:57 +0000

Actually those pringles gourmet are being sold in america. I don’t actually know if the flavors are the same but oh well.

By: kira

kira — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:47:34 +0000

Y.A.O.I.:Young Academics On Ice :)

By: Shelly

Shelly — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:42:15 +0000

The Kimi to Boku you saw was a different one:
http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=6597

Your pics are great. Thank you so much for sharing them. I want to live at ANIMATE.

…Did you actually eat an egg dog? :-/

By: Halliday

Halliday — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:34:41 +0000

“Men Moe”… HA HA HA!

Sorry, it’s just fun to say.

By: Ed chavez

Ed chavez — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:50:10 +0000

A little more background on ANIMATE… There is good reason why you’d see a ton of BL in their stores (outside of the fact you went to the one in Otome Road aka the BL version of Akihabara) and that is that ANIMATE is also BL publisher. They publish manga under the imprint Frontier Works (one of the rare BL only pubs in Japan). Animate is also considered to be the BL version of Gamers… So they make a living selling men moe for women.

By: Rod

Rod — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:36:12 +0000

Great photos. A book vending machine? Tokyo is such a giant toy shop. I love that look in the elevator, it’s sort of entranced, enchanted, bemused, and bewildered all at the same time. Thank you Chris.

By: Karon Flage

Karon Flage — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:45:01 +0000

Damn you. Now I feel compelled to go to Japan. And spend tons of money on toys.

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Sept. 20, 2007: The hero who feels sorry for himself

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:20:32 +0000

[...] [Scene] Christopher Butcher presents a ton of photos from one of the largest comic-book stores in Japan, Tokyo’s Animate. [...]

By: Greg McElhatton

Greg McElhatton — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:19:19 +0000

This post is filled with so much awesome that I honestly don’t know where to begin.

By: Halliday

Halliday — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:23:42 +0000

Wow, you came back at the exact right time to turn this frown upside down. Thanks a lot Chris.

I bet the EVANGELION Curry tastes like the burning spirit of youth… or intense psychological trauma. I can’t read the kanji.

Is there a fetish that the Japanese don’t have AND cater too? Oh Japan!

Guess what you’re getting for Christmas (the other Chinese mall in Markham usually gets the REVOLTECH toys pretty religiously and for a decent price). :B

I like how the CANADA DRY label looks like a fine wine label. FANCY!

Great to have you back Butcher. Thanks again, and I hope it wasn’t much trouble. ^_^;;;

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:17:55 +0000

Even more awesome: that Eva curry is called “Impact Curry”.

The manga you asked about is called Kimi to Boku, which I guess has some connection to Gravitation.

I hear that if you go to Egypt the only thing they know about Canada is “Canada Dry”.

Those B&W figures are amazing.

Looks like you had an awesome time! I’ll be waiting to see the rest!