TOM Infiltrates the Best Anime Shop in the World! [1/3]

In Japan, there are many companies that handle anime related goods, but Animate leads the industry with it’s overwhelming selection and exclusive merchandise created through cooperating with many makers. Animate was established nearly 30 years ago, and it has always managed to sense the next otaku fashion and provide the goods otaku want. As such, it has captured otakus’ hearts. Recently, we went to the former head branch of Animate that has been renovated and reopened as Animate Sunshine. The scale and the richness of contents make it the number one shop in Japan, thus number one in the world.

The Animate Sunshine building was originally the site of the first Animate shop. In other words, it has been an important symbol throughout the company’s history as well in otaku culture. Animate Sunshine is a bit different from other Animate shops, and not just in the merchandise they sell. For example, inside Sunshine there is the shop ACOS, the perfect place for all kinds of cosplayers ranging from beginners to pros. Furthermore, you will find booths of many different manga- and anime-related companies displaying various items all throughout the store. Sunshine is truly an exceptional place. Let’s take a closer look at the first three floors.

The first floor is for freshly published manga. Even those who are only searching for one particular title can find something interesting through the eye-catching advertisements. As such, they might end up buying more manga than they expected, blazing forward on their journey as otaku.

The second floor is overflowing with cosplay equipment and accessories, such as wigs. Unlike many other cosplay stores, Sunshine sells officially licensed cosplay goods, such as wigs that perfectly match a character’s hairstyle and color and give off an overwhelmingly realistic feel. There are a lot of officially licensed outfits as well that contain many small details. One example are the school uniforms from Persona 4 that even have the school badge on them. This badge is difficult to make even for pro cosplayers and usually involve printing out the design and sticking it on the uniform. Here, there are no copyright problems, and the school badges are embroidered onto the uniforms, giving them a level of authenticity that can’t be recreated any other way.

Cosplay is enjoyable enough just with outfits and wigs that are loyal to the original work, but if you want something even closer to the real thing, you should go the third floor where the cosplay support goods are. Many anime and manga characters have flashy features that require cosplayers to have to go to a lot of different stores to gather all the makeup needed to truly show them off. However, on this floor, cosplayers can find everything they need in one place, including cheap violins, fake swords, oil paper, and even bamboo umbrellas for traditionally dressed characters in historical stories. There are all sorts of accessories for all sorts of characters.

ACOS has another good point besides their full line of cosplay goods: It’s like a school for beginner cosplayers where they can learn how to properly put on a wig, maintain their outfits, which studio they should have their photos taken at, which events they should go to, and more. For anyone who would like to do cosplay but don’t know where to begin, Animate Sunshine is the ideal place.

In the next part, we’ll look at the floor for anime and manga goods. It’s sure to surprise you!

Animate Sunshine:
http://www.animate.co.jp/special/sunshine/pc/ (Japanese)