A Visit to Amiami's (other) Store

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for our weekly scheduled Akihabara content. Did you know that Amiami has another store in Akihabara besides their main one in Radio Kaikan? In fact, this store was their original store when they first moved into the physical retail space in Akihabara several years back. Located above Comic Zin and occupying the third and fourth floor of this corner building, Amiami's original stores are still very much in business. The third floor store focuses on pre-owned goods while, the fourth floor store focuses on new items. Today, we are going to be taking a closer look at the third floor and all the hidden gems it holds. Well then, shall we?

The third floor of Amiami is home to many glass cabinets owing to the large quantities or rare premium scale figures that it has on offer. Case in point, the recently released Wonderful Hobby Selection Takao: Heavy Armament Version that already sees a price premium. This is actually my first time seeing Takao's box and I must admit she looks every bit as impressive as her sister, Atago.

Browsing a little more, I stumbled upon Amiami's Super Sonico collection where I was surprised to find not one but, two Alter Super Sonico(s). Moreover, they were the slightly rarer and subsequently, more sought after, Snow Santa version. With a price tag a little over 11,000 Yen, it too sees a slight resale premium albeit still being fairly affordable. 

One pleasant surprise for me was the variety on offer in their Madoka Magica section. While I do frequently visit Amiami's secondary store, this is the first time I have seen such a well stocked Madoka Magica section which did put a smile on my face. New releases such as Madoka and Iroha's Nesoberi(s) were accounted for and even the rarer items like Sayaka's Petanko figure was available. 

The trinkey selection was perhaps the most lacking of them all but, to be fair, Amiami is not known for their trinket collection. That award would go to Yellow Submarine and Lashinbang who are easily the biggest trinket re-seller's in the whole of Japan.

Stashed high up on the top cabinet were the Madoka Magica premium scale figures. The two most recent releases were Kotobukiya's Madoka figure and GSC's Mami figure, both of which were present and accounted for. Mami's price did give it me a slight shock though as I had never expected the price of this particular premium scale to go up so quickly. Just a few weeks back, I had purchased her from Amiami for just 9,000 Yen.

Of course, not everything in Amiami's store was wallet emptying expensive. Take this Super Sonico dakimakura cover for example, it only cost 300 Yen. Is this the cheapest dakimakura cover ever? Most possibly and certainly the cheapest I have ever seen. But I am honestly not too surprised judging by the quality of the fabric and illustration. 

Then, we return to the insanity of the resale market best personified by the Neptunia series an this 20,000 Yen tote bag. The Neptunia series has always had a dedicated following which may not be immediately apparent when you first browse the stores of Akihabara. While it may not have the mainstream appeal of series such as Fate or Girls und Panzer, you can be certain any single item released for the Neptunia series receives an immense premium upon resale especially for their figures.

Speaking of the Fate Series, they too are home to some incredibly priced merchandise on the resale market. Such as this framed portrait of Mash which was selling for a whopping 28,000 Yen. For many fans, the price might be justified especially owing to the rarity (Lawson collection) and quality of the products. And that is the exact market the re-sellers are targeting. 

Even more ordinary releases such as the Nendoroid Saber Altria sees a price bump up to 10,000 Yen in the resale market. In fact, Amiami's price is actually lower than other re-sellers as I have seen several re-seller's market her closer to 12,000 Yen. Next to Nendoroid Gudako, these are probably the two most inflated Nendoroid(s), in terms of price, in the resale market.

Next, we move on to the Love Live section which is as you would come to expect, very well stocked. The one thing that continues to surprise me is the sheer number of original Love Live merchandise especially when it comes to their premium scale figures. It has been two years since their Final Live yet, Muse's merchandise game is as strong as ever where the resale market is concerned. This certainly gives me hope for a resurgence of Muse merchandise in the market!

Not satisfied with just following you favorite school idol? Well, now you can idolize their seiyuu too with these acrylic character stands. A rather unexpected addition to the world of Love Live merchandise andone that will set you back 1,600 Yen or more depending on the popularity of the character/seiyuu.

Of all the series on display, Amiami's Love Live game was probably the strongest with an entire row dedicated to Love Live merchandise. A good majority of space was taken up by Love Live Sunshine prize figures which are abundantly available and easily found at very affordable prices. It is certainly a good time to be a figure collector if you are Sunshine fan.

Plush toys also make up a big part of the fandom and merchandise. Amiami had several normal sized Nesoberi(s) on display but, none of the more coveted Mega Jumbo Nesoberi were on sale. 

Finally, they had a selection dedicated entirely to straps and trinkets. Fans could spend close to an hour just rummaging through the entire selection looking for trinkets of their favorite school idols. And the best part was, they were all very competitively priced. So the next time you are visiting Akihabara, make sure not to discount Amiami when it comes to trinkets especially since they offer tax free rebates too for foreign visitors.

With that, we have come to the end of our store tour for Amiami's third floor store above Comic Zin. Keep in mind, this is only a small sample of what you can expect to find in the fairly sized store and that the Amiami staff, for some reason or another, love to reorganize the store from time to time. To truly enjoy the store, I strongly recommend paying it a visit despite it not being Amiami's coveted main store in Radio Kaikan. You never know, you may just find the item you were looking for all this time.

As always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to leave them in the comments section below. Until the next time, thank you so much for reading and have yourself a wonderful day ahead!