Akiba Weekly

Hello everyone and welcome back to Tiro Finale for our weekly Akihabara coverage. Starting with... why on Earth is every single merchandise related to Gudako so darn expensive? That is right, almost half a year into my stay in Tokyo and the one consistent factor that you can always count on in hobby stores is the premium that Gudako commands. Not just for her Nendoroid but, any other piece of trinket or merchandise featuring Gudako from the Learning with Manga series. That just goes to show just how relevant both the Fate Series and Fate Grand Order has remained after all these years. But, I digress instead, let us take a closer look at some of the more interesting merchandise that Akiba has to offer this week. 

Before I knew it, the Gamers' limited edition Yohanne has already been released and can be found in the front shelves of many of the big hobby stores. This special 1/7 premium scale figure was slated for an initial release late in February 2018 for 12,900 Yen. Fast forward a few weeks and the figure was now demanding a hefty 20,000 Yen price tag. Being a limited release, the price will likely only continue rising as the hype for Love Live Sunshine continues up till the release of the movie. 

For this weekly trip to Akihabara, the thing I was looking forward most to was the release of the new RG Unicorn Gundam Banshee Norn. Available in two box cover variants with no other discernible difference to speak of, I was surprised to find that the "Premium" Unicorn Mode Box costs 500 Yen more than the Destroy Mode Box pushing it closer to retail. And we all know the cardinal rule of purchasing Gunpla in Japan, never every pay retail. 

Located on the ground floor of Yodobashi Camera's Akihabara branch is the Square Enix Cafe which holds host to various themed cafes based on series under Square Enix's belt. This time around, the cafe was holding a Final Fantasy 15 themed-cafe and they was already a long queue developing despite the cold evening weather. Do not even think about joining the line though, as every one in line already has a reservation for the cafe. In order to get a seat at the more popular themed/collaboration cafes, it is important to make a reservation very much earlier before hand.

At the end of this short trip to Akiba, it was time for me to head back with my spoils. Unlike my usual hauls filled with various anime paraphernalia, I left this time with a good number of Gunpla instead. The newly released RG Unicorn Banshee Norn and HG Striker GN-X were snagged before stocks became a little too difficult to find. While, the MG Gundam G05 is a little something that a good friend of mine had been huting for a long time.

With that, we come to the end of this quick weekly trip to Akihabara. While I would have loved to focus more on my typical interest of figures and trinkets, it was equally important for me to remember my roots in Japanese hobbies and pay homage to it every now and then. As usual, if you have any question, 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!