There’ll be more to do than just shopping at the new Animate flagship location.
It’s been a rough couple of years for Tokyo’s otaku-oriented businesses, with landmark dojinshi shops and video game arcades closing down. But there’s a happy exception coming soon, as Animate, Japan’s biggest anime/manga specialty store, is building a gigantic new location in the city’s Ikebukuro neighborhood.
Following a massive expansion to the existing Animate Ikebukuro branch, the new Animate Ikebukuro Flagship Store will have nine above-ground floors, plus one more below the surface. First announced last December, newly released details show it’s not just a shopping spot, either, but more of an otaku entertainment complex. In addition to selling various types of anime/manga/video game merch, the building will also house a theater, art exhibition gallery, snack stand with character latte art beverages and icing cookies, and three separate theater halls/event spaces for concerts, stage shows, dramatic readings, talk shows, and other fan festivities.
The floor guide lists:
● 9th floor: Animate Hall Black, Animate Hall White (event spaces)
● 8th floor: Space Galleria (revolving exhibitions of anime, manga, light novel, and video game art)
● 7th floor: Animate Only Shop (pop-up stores with art panel displays and photo corners)
● 6th floor: CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, and video games
● 5th floor: Character goods
● 4th floor: Character goods
● 3rd floor: Manga, art books
● 2nd floor: Manga
● 1st floor: Character goods, Gratte (drink stand)
● Basement level: Animate Theater (event space)
▼ A My Dress-Up Darling exhibition will be Space Galleria’s first event
The Animate Ikebukuro Flagship Store opens on March 16, and also serves as a 40th anniversary celebration for the chain, which opened its very first store, also in Ikebukuro, in 1983.
Source: Animate via IT Media
Top image: Animate
Insert images: Animate (1, 2)
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