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I have always been a huge anime fan, but in the last 2–3 years, my love for anime has grown even more. Now that anime is easily accessible on apps like Youtube and Crunchyroll, I can watch anime shows as they come out in Japan.

When I heard that Tokyo opened the world’s largest  Animate store in Ikebukuro, I knew I had to go the next time we visited Japan. 

Animate is a chain anime store located throughout Japan and they are known to have some of the best anime merchandise. They even opened a store in Los Angeles in September 2023.

Last year, we visited Akihabara to check out various anime stores, but realized later that Ikebukuro has become an even bigger hub for anime goods, cosplay, and more.

GETTING HERE

We took the train to Ikebukuro from Shibuya on the Yamanote Line and it was an easy 15-minute ride. Once we got to the station, we got a little lost as there are so many exits within the station. We were trying to find the North Gate to take Exit 30. 

We managed to find it after walking back and forth a couple of times. Train stations in Tokyo can get really confusing but eventually, you will find your way. 

When we exited the station, we were immediately in awe of the huge digital display of some anime being advertised on one of the buildings across from the station. 

We walked passed that building and walked to the Animate Ikebukuro store which was about a 5-minute walk. 

9 FLOORS OF ANIME AND MANGA GOODIES

When we approached the Animate building, there were some anime characters being displayed in the windows of the entrance so of course, I had to take pictures with them. I honestly didn’t even know what anime these characters were from but they were simply cute. 

Animate Ikebukuro opens at 11 AM everyday except on Saturday and Sunday, they open at 10 AM. We visited on a Wednesday and arrived a little after their opening time. There were already a lot of people at the store, but not overcrowded by any means.

Animate Ikebukuro has a total of 9 floors and each floor has a theme. 

The first floor was filled with Gashapon machines and other unique items like anime cookies. The cookies come from the cafe that is located inside the store as well. 

Gashapon (or Gachapon) are coin-operated toy dispensers that have limited-edition items. I went crazy with gashapon toys last year when I visited the world’s largest gashapon store which also happens to be in Ikebukuro so if you’re interested in that, it’s only a 10-minute walk from Animate Ikebukuro.

The anime cookies were adorable. They had a bunch of characters from Haikyu!! and a lot of BL characters as well. If you don’t know what BL is, it means “Boys Love”. I’ll get to more of that in a second.

The 2nd and 3rd floors were all manga (comic books) and art books. I love manga just as much as anime, so I spent more time on these floors than the others. 

What caught our attention the most was all the BL manga. As I mentioned earlier, BL stands for “Boys Love” and it’s a relatively new term to describe this manga genre. 

It’s basically manga about two beautiful gay men having a relationship. The stories are mainly written by female comic artists and it has grown in popularity over the last few years. So much so that almost an entire floor is dedicated to this genre.

We had a great time browsing through all the manga and laughing at some of the interesting titles and trying to guess what the storyline was about.

I personally like BL manga because the characters are so cute and the storylines are great too. I just love any Japanese romance story with beautiful characters. “Given” is what got me started and I highly recommend this anime.

Moving on… the 4th and 5th floors had Character Goods. This is where you will find all the merchandise of your favorite anime like Spy Family, Haikyu, Demon Slayer, Bleach, Tokyo Revengers, Mashle, and so much more.

I was looking forward to browsing the Chainsaw Man section but for some reason, most of the shelves were empty. They had some remaining items like T-shirts (which were all Large or Extra Large), cards, and mini figurines, but that was about it. 

Chainsaw Man is my ultimate favorite anime at the moment, so I was a little disappointed that there was not much to look at. Especially since all the other popular anime had so much cool merchandise to look at.

My best guess is that they’re getting in new Chainsaw Man merchandise and had to clear the old merch or that it’s so popular that all the items were already sold out.

In any case, it was still fun to browse around these floors to check out all the goods. One especially unique item that caught our attention was anime perfume. 

The perfume bottles were locked in a glass case, so we were not able to smell the different fragrances, but they had perfume based on various characters from Blue Lock and Tokyo Revengers. Apparently, it is very popular because they were all sold out.

The 6th floor is dedicated to CDs, DVDs, and games so this is where you can buy your favorite anime show, movie, or music. 

The 7th floor is called the Onlyshop Space where they have pop-up stores with art panel displays and photo-op corners.

The 8th and 9th floors are used for special exhibitions and events where you have to pay an entrance fee, so we did not check out these floors.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We spent about an hour at the store and even though we didn’t buy anything, we still had a great time exploring all the unique items.

If you are a tourist from overseas visiting Japan and plan on buying merch, make sure to have your passport with you so you can take advantage of tax-free shopping.

ANIMATE IKEBUKURO
1-chome-20-7 Higashiikebukuro
Toshima City, Tokyo 170-0013, Japan
(MAP)

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