Chiba Days #12 - Akiba Spotlight
Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for another chapter of Chiba Days! Today, I would to shine the spotlight on one lesser known hobby store in Akihabara. Located in the UDX building, is the Akiba Information X Tokyo Atom Information & Shop. For a unit that is essentially the information center for all things Akihabara, you would expect more people to be visiting the store. Surprisingly enough, that never seems to be the case with the store often being relatively empty even on weekends.
Having visited the store several times, I could understand why as the retail segment of the store does not carry many interesting merchandise that other dedicated hobby shops would. But, my most recent trip seemed to quash that misconception entirely with one of the widest collection of trinkets, accessories and apparels I have seen in a while. You could imagine my excitement upon finding an entire section dedicated to Youjo Senki!
New Game's second season had just ended and the merchandise is still very much riding upon the popularity of the series. While you may be able to find New Game goods in almost every anime-store, Tokyo Atom seems to be the only one selling these Groove Garage straps.
The, there is also this Hifumi tee which I have yet to see in any other store. The same can be said for a large percentage of the merchandise in the store too. I spent the entire day browsing around Akihabara and found Tokyo Atom to be one of the few places actually selling some of the particular goods.
The Love Live section had the largest retail space which comes as no surprise considering the second season of the Sunshine anime is currently airing. There may be no figures but, the merchandise on sale more than makes up for it with a wide selection ranging from the usual shirts and straps to the lesser known jigsaw puzzles and magnets.
One pattern I had realized with the Tokyo Atom store was that it seemed to house many out-of-season series which still had very popular followings. Case in point, KonoSuba. Trying heading over to the nearest Animate and you would certainly not find as many KonoSuba character goods as there are stocked in Tokyo Atom.
KonoSuba fans who visit Tokyo Atom in this time period are most certainly going to be pleased to see such a wide variety of merchandise for the series. The store even had a Megumin-inspired backpack which actually looked really good. No word on the price though.
Having browsed most of the entirety of the store, I left Tokyo Atom for a bit to look around the rest of Akiba. Contemplating over which Youjo Senki merchandise I should get, I stumbled upon these two being sold in the arcade. I am not a fan of Rem and Ram but, one of our key contributors is and I am sure he would love to add these twins to the collection.
Walking around Akiba, I stumbled upon this event poster. Initially, I thought it was just a poster of Madoka Magica and Hidamari Sketch. But upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an Ume Aoki exhibition!
The exhibition will be held in Aomori Art Museum from the 16th of December 2017 until the 12th of February 2018. More details about the exhibition will be coming in as we grow closer to the event.
And I finally found my pajamas Nesoberi Eli! But, she was being sold for 6,480 Yen! Far more than I was willing to pay. The pajamas Love Live Nesoberi(s) have gone up in price astronomically since their release last year and I almost caved into getting Eli. Leaving empty handed, I felt rather dissatisfied and headed back to Tokyo Atom.
To get my hands on some sweet Youjo Senki merchandise. What exactly did I get? Stay tuned to a future post of Chiba Days to find out.
In the meantime, it is worth noting that the Tokyo Anime Center has move to Ichigaya Station and is now longer in the UDX building. One of these days, I will be paying a visit to the new Tokyo Anime Center. Of course, you can read all about it here on Tiro Finale. Until then, thank you so much for paying a visit and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!
Comments
Post a Comment