City Spotlight: Akihabara (part 2)

Figurine shops

This is my biggest interest as I was fond of anime in the past, and anime figurines are not something you can readily find (at least in the same volume) in most stores in Japan or Australia.

In Japan, they are called 'figures'.

 A good-quality figure ^_^

There are quite a few figurine shops in Akihabara. Some sell other products, others specialise in figurines. Figurines range from the 100-yen kind - for example, the kind you get from gachapon machines - in little plastic bags, to large, expensive boxed products worth tens of thousands.

A lot of figurine shops will have the best, most expensive (or mass-produced) figurines in boxes. Mid-range figurines will be in glass cases - you may need to ask an the attendant to get them. Cheaper figurines will be in small plastic bags, though even some of the cheaper figurines can look quite decent. They usually fall in the 100 - 1500 yen range, these cheap ones.

The characters are often grouped roughly according to category (eg, 'girl's anime', 'Gundams', etc). The stores usually have a haphazard feel to them, where you find yourself taking your time looking through lots of characters to find ones you want.

Some figurines are designed to stand up on their own; some are keychains or phone straps; some have moveable parts; many have to be 'built' by the buyer (as simple as sticking the legs into the torso).

My 'cheap' Cammy. With detachable arms and hair. ^_^

Another type of figurine store is one where individual people can get a case, and sell their own figurines, via the store, to the public. You'll recognise these stores by their randomness; each glass case can have quite an eclectic mix of characters, seemingly unrelated. Although you can find some unique items here, you may be able to find the same figures in other stores for cheaper prices.

My personal favourite store is Kotobukiya - right near Akihabara station - it sells a variety of video game and anime merchandise, Akihabara souvenirs, and the upstairs section has a decent variety of figurines. ^_^

Finding things

Be aware that while this is otaku (geek) heaven, it *is* Japan. There may be manga stores with several floors of different manga and doujinshi (fan-made manga), but it will, naturally, be in Japanese. There may be video game stores with masses of cheap titles, but they will all be in Japanese and localised for Japanese consoles. Personally, I have seen almost no English material in Akihabara.

Another thing is that although there is a lot of character merchandise around, obviously, the most popular or most recent shows and games have the most merchandise. Also, although at first glance there seems to be a dazzling variety, a lot of shops actually have the same items and same characters.

You will be in luck if you like Gundam, Evangelion, One Piece, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy 7, Dragon Ball, Bleach, Naruto... apart from the opportunity to make figurines of sexy or cute female characters, 'guy's anime' are definitely more popular.

I remember that when I was a kid, I liked 'Fushigi Yuugi' and 'Magic Knight Rayearth'. I thought they were pretty famous/popular in their time (more than 10 years ago), but I couldn't find one figurine or item for any of the characters in any shop. Not that I was particularly looking, but I always recognise characters I know. Now I wonder if it's partly because these were anime popular with girls, so there is less call for them with male customers of the shops.

Not family friendly

There's also a good deal of weird stuff around. I do not go to Akiba to seek out naked animated characters, but it's impossible to avoid them. There are a lot of female characters with grotesquely swollen breasts (every time I see them I think, 'ouch, that's gotta be causing some back problems'). There are also many cutesy, sometimes alarmingly young-looking girls with flushed, coy, 'oh, don't touch me there!' expressions. (If you have seen them, you'll know what I'm talking about. Anime mouse pads make a lot of use of this, as do figurines and posters. I will not provide links to examples. -_-)

Occasionally you'll accidentally wander into some place and feel ashamed to be in there. Since the more valuable merchandise in Akiba is in glass cases, to be bought on request, I wonder how anyone could deal with the shame of actually asking for one of these items. -_-

On other occasions you'll find yourself in a shop, and there's nothing openly graphic in there, but you feel a vague sense of uneasiness. I found myself in a shop containing nothing but merchandise with cute young girl characters - nothing unseemly, just generic cute characters I didn't know, but looking like any children's comic - yet the shop was full of adult men.

Anyway, I don't want to give the impression that all of Akiba is grotty, but I wouldn't recommend taking your children shopping in this area.