Tokyo, Ikebukuro - Fangirling at Otome Road
Оригинал взят у kurodatenshi в Tokyo Trip 2011 #16 Day 6 - Ikebukuro - Fangirling at Otome Road
...
Here's a rundown of the shops, as well as tips on buying doujinshi from these shops.
The Shops
We went to Animate, らしんばん (Lashinbang), Mandarake, K-BOOKS アニメ館 (K-BOOKS Anime), K-BOOKS 同人館(K-BOOKS Doujin), K-BOOKS コミック館 (K-BOOKS Comic) and K-BOOKS コスプレ (K-BOOKS Cosplay).
Animate is an eight-story building that sells the newest anime goods from the hottest anime series. When I went to Animate, there was a very long queue of people buying Hetalia lucky packs priced at 500 Yen. I didn't realize how cheap that was for anime goods (never bought any in my life.), so I didn't bother joining the queue. *moans with regret*. Anyway, Animate sells all sorts of brand new anime goods like manga, CDs, DVDs, character figuirines, trading cards, art books etc etc, but not doujinshi, or at least, I never saw them.
らしんばん (Lashinbang) is a one-storey, relatively small store that sells a small selection of doujinshi and second-hand anime goods.
K-BOOKS アニメ館 (K-BOOKS Anime) has lots of second-hand anime goods (it's easy to get carried away there) and some plushies. Ivy found a large Rilakkuma plush for only 400 Yen!!! This store also sells large second-hand Alpaca plushies for about 1500 Yen. I'd have wanted one if not for the fact that I already have way too many stuffed toys at home ^^;;; The second-hand goods mostly do not come with their original packaging. Some of the same items are priced differently, mostly due to condition or rarity, so it's important to check the items thoroughly before purchasing. Most of the items are in good condition (usually resold from unlucky packs), but a rare few may be slightly discoloured or chipped.
Mandarake and K-BOOKS 同人館(K-BOOKS Doujin) are doujinshi heaven, filled with shelves and shelves of doujinshi, both old and new. I bought most of my doujinshi from K-BOOKS doujin. If you can only stop over at one store, I strongly recommend K-BOOKS Doujin, which has pretty much the largest collection of doujinshi out of all the mentioned stores.
K-BOOKS コスプレ (K-BOOKS Cosplay), as its name suggests, specializes in cosplay props and costumes.
K-BOOKS コミック館 (K-BOOKS Comic) didn't make much of an impression on me, since my priority was doujinshi. I kind of remember seeing anime goods and figuirines here, as well as shelves of comics.
Doujinshi Stacking System
The doujinshi stacking system for all the shops is identical. The doujinshi are categorized according to their series names, labeled on the shelves. I'm not sure if the shelves are arranged in any particular order, but if you want to find a shelf for any particular series, just ask one of the staff, who will bring you to it.
If the series you are looking for is very popular (e.g. Naruto, Hetalia, Code Geass), the doujinshi on the shelf will be further categorized by CP (pairing), labeled as Character A x Character B. Popular CPs will get an entire section, labeled with the CP name. Less popular CPs， solos or no CPs go under そのた (Others). Heterosexual CPs go under ノマル (Normal). Personally, I found the use of 'normal' here to be rather insensitive ^^;;; In some cases, depending on the types of doujinshi often produced for the series, doujinshi may also be categorized by group names instead of CPs. Hetalia for example, has アジア (Asia) and 悪友三人組 (Bad friends trio).
Artists who draw a lot of doujinshi for that particular series, or are well sought after, get their own section on the series' shelf, with their circle name labeled on it.
Almost all labels are written in either katakana or hiragana, even series with non-Japanese names, so you must know the Japanese name of your series and characters or you'll have a hard time searching. This is with the exception of foreign productions like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, which go by their official English names, and also bands whose names are in English (yes there are doujinshi about real people!).
The Prices
Second-hand doujinshi typically fall under three categories of prices: 210 Yen, 420 Yen and 630 Yen (all inclusive of tax). Compilations are more expensive - 1000 Yen and above. I'm not sure if there is any particular method that the shops adopt to price the doujinshi (I suppose rarity and original price are taken into account). However, the same doujinshi may not cost the same price across all shops! I've seen doujinshi priced at 420 Yen at one shop costing 630 Yen at another shop for no apparent reason.
Doujinshi with flaws will obviously be cheaper. These will have a label on the outside stating that it's flawed.
Since all the shops along Otome Road are in close proximity, a wise thing to do is to explore all the shops, make a list of items wanted, their prices and the shops they are found in, and then backtrack to purchase your items later. This is of course, with the exception of great bargains that you can't pass up, like Ivy's 400 Yen Rilakkuma plush! This prevents you from busting your budget at the first few shops or moaning about paying more for an item that you could have gotten for cheaper at another shop.
Age restriction
Some products have an age restriction, and you may be asked to show proof of your age. I don't know if this is done at random or when the cashier thinks that you don't look of the required age. At Lashinbang, the cashier keyed in one of my purchases but stopped short at my other age-restricted one and started saying some stuff. I guessed that she wanted to see my ID, so I showed her my passport, pointing out my date of birth, and she accepted it.
Searching for a particular title
While I do believe that the shop assistants are generally helpful, they are usually very busy stacking and rearranging stacks of doujinshi. Many people buy and sell doujinshi throughout the day, and the shop staff probably don't keep track of every single title, apart from brand new doujinshi that they are retailing and popular titles. Ivy tried to help me ask about a particular artist, but the shop assistant didn't know. You're probably going to have to search the shelves yourself. Because the shelves are as high as the ceiling, foot stools and mini step ladders are provided at every shelf so that customers can reach the highest shelves by ourselves. If your CP / favourite characters have lots of doujinshi, your arms will enjoy a good work out XD
All doujinshi are sealed.
There are security cameras in the shop, and notices threatening a permanent ban on people who tear open the clear bags (as Ivy reminded me when I was feeling very tempted to *ahem* XD). The only clue you would have about the nature of the doujinshi would be derived from the back and front cover, and some covers are very elusive! It would be a good idea to research on the doujinshi titles for your favourite characters beforehand so that you do not end up being misled by the covers. If you absolutely need to take a look at the inner pages, especially for flawed books, I suppose it doesn't hurt to ask the staff for help.
...
Here's a rundown of the shops, as well as tips on buying doujinshi from these shops.
The Shops
We went to Animate, らしんばん (Lashinbang), Mandarake, K-BOOKS アニメ館 (K-BOOKS Anime), K-BOOKS 同人館(K-BOOKS Doujin), K-BOOKS コミック館 (K-BOOKS Comic) and K-BOOKS コスプレ (K-BOOKS Cosplay).
Animate is an eight-story building that sells the newest anime goods from the hottest anime series. When I went to Animate, there was a very long queue of people buying Hetalia lucky packs priced at 500 Yen. I didn't realize how cheap that was for anime goods (never bought any in my life.), so I didn't bother joining the queue. *moans with regret*. Anyway, Animate sells all sorts of brand new anime goods like manga, CDs, DVDs, character figuirines, trading cards, art books etc etc, but not doujinshi, or at least, I never saw them.
らしんばん (Lashinbang) is a one-storey, relatively small store that sells a small selection of doujinshi and second-hand anime goods.
K-BOOKS アニメ館 (K-BOOKS Anime) has lots of second-hand anime goods (it's easy to get carried away there) and some plushies. Ivy found a large Rilakkuma plush for only 400 Yen!!! This store also sells large second-hand Alpaca plushies for about 1500 Yen. I'd have wanted one if not for the fact that I already have way too many stuffed toys at home ^^;;; The second-hand goods mostly do not come with their original packaging. Some of the same items are priced differently, mostly due to condition or rarity, so it's important to check the items thoroughly before purchasing. Most of the items are in good condition (usually resold from unlucky packs), but a rare few may be slightly discoloured or chipped.
Mandarake and K-BOOKS 同人館(K-BOOKS Doujin) are doujinshi heaven, filled with shelves and shelves of doujinshi, both old and new. I bought most of my doujinshi from K-BOOKS doujin. If you can only stop over at one store, I strongly recommend K-BOOKS Doujin, which has pretty much the largest collection of doujinshi out of all the mentioned stores.
K-BOOKS コスプレ (K-BOOKS Cosplay), as its name suggests, specializes in cosplay props and costumes.
K-BOOKS コミック館 (K-BOOKS Comic) didn't make much of an impression on me, since my priority was doujinshi. I kind of remember seeing anime goods and figuirines here, as well as shelves of comics.
Doujinshi Stacking System
The doujinshi stacking system for all the shops is identical. The doujinshi are categorized according to their series names, labeled on the shelves. I'm not sure if the shelves are arranged in any particular order, but if you want to find a shelf for any particular series, just ask one of the staff, who will bring you to it.
If the series you are looking for is very popular (e.g. Naruto, Hetalia, Code Geass), the doujinshi on the shelf will be further categorized by CP (pairing), labeled as Character A x Character B. Popular CPs will get an entire section, labeled with the CP name. Less popular CPs， solos or no CPs go under そのた (Others). Heterosexual CPs go under ノマル (Normal). Personally, I found the use of 'normal' here to be rather insensitive ^^;;; In some cases, depending on the types of doujinshi often produced for the series, doujinshi may also be categorized by group names instead of CPs. Hetalia for example, has アジア (Asia) and 悪友三人組 (Bad friends trio).
Artists who draw a lot of doujinshi for that particular series, or are well sought after, get their own section on the series' shelf, with their circle name labeled on it.
Almost all labels are written in either katakana or hiragana, even series with non-Japanese names, so you must know the Japanese name of your series and characters or you'll have a hard time searching. This is with the exception of foreign productions like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, which go by their official English names, and also bands whose names are in English (yes there are doujinshi about real people!).
The Prices
Second-hand doujinshi typically fall under three categories of prices: 210 Yen, 420 Yen and 630 Yen (all inclusive of tax). Compilations are more expensive - 1000 Yen and above. I'm not sure if there is any particular method that the shops adopt to price the doujinshi (I suppose rarity and original price are taken into account). However, the same doujinshi may not cost the same price across all shops! I've seen doujinshi priced at 420 Yen at one shop costing 630 Yen at another shop for no apparent reason.
Doujinshi with flaws will obviously be cheaper. These will have a label on the outside stating that it's flawed.
Since all the shops along Otome Road are in close proximity, a wise thing to do is to explore all the shops, make a list of items wanted, their prices and the shops they are found in, and then backtrack to purchase your items later. This is of course, with the exception of great bargains that you can't pass up, like Ivy's 400 Yen Rilakkuma plush! This prevents you from busting your budget at the first few shops or moaning about paying more for an item that you could have gotten for cheaper at another shop.
Age restriction
Some products have an age restriction, and you may be asked to show proof of your age. I don't know if this is done at random or when the cashier thinks that you don't look of the required age. At Lashinbang, the cashier keyed in one of my purchases but stopped short at my other age-restricted one and started saying some stuff. I guessed that she wanted to see my ID, so I showed her my passport, pointing out my date of birth, and she accepted it.
Searching for a particular title
While I do believe that the shop assistants are generally helpful, they are usually very busy stacking and rearranging stacks of doujinshi. Many people buy and sell doujinshi throughout the day, and the shop staff probably don't keep track of every single title, apart from brand new doujinshi that they are retailing and popular titles. Ivy tried to help me ask about a particular artist, but the shop assistant didn't know. You're probably going to have to search the shelves yourself. Because the shelves are as high as the ceiling, foot stools and mini step ladders are provided at every shelf so that customers can reach the highest shelves by ourselves. If your CP / favourite characters have lots of doujinshi, your arms will enjoy a good work out XD
All doujinshi are sealed.
There are security cameras in the shop, and notices threatening a permanent ban on people who tear open the clear bags (as Ivy reminded me when I was feeling very tempted to *ahem* XD). The only clue you would have about the nature of the doujinshi would be derived from the back and front cover, and some covers are very elusive! It would be a good idea to research on the doujinshi titles for your favourite characters beforehand so that you do not end up being misled by the covers. If you absolutely need to take a look at the inner pages, especially for flawed books, I suppose it doesn't hurt to ask the staff for help.