Everything I’ve picked up these last 6 weeks or so, the bulk of it coming from my 3 day trip to the wonderful city of New York, New York. If given the chance, I would definitely visit it again.
Noted from the picture above, it’s Nana month (and July!).
Picked up a Twilight Princess wallet and Ocarina of Time t-shirt from the Nintendo World Store. World Store first floor has a Pokemon section and a hub for DS related things. Second floor has Wii games and Nintendo branded apparel.
Made my way to Book-Off and picked up two volumes of manga. First floor has games (domestic and import ones!), DVD/Blu-rays including anime, and music (both domestic and import again, could not find seiyuu/anime related things but I probably wasn’t looking hard enough…). Basement floor has a smaller section of translated manga and a very large selection of imported manga. Book-off also carries a few artbooks and figures as well.
Last stop of the day was at Kinokuniya Bookstores. Majority of anime/manga related things were on the second floor, with artbooks at good prices, import CDs also at good prices (saves you some shipping money), domestic anime (don’t remember seeing imported region 2 stuff), and both translated and import manga. First floor near the escalator has imported magazines where I found the old Pick-up Voice back issue. Bought Nana’s Phantom Minds, Scarlet Knight, and Pop Master singles along with AKB48′s Beginner single (Type-B). Still looking for a cheaper priced IMPACT EXCITER album since the US dollar is dying…
Spent my second day visiting various tourist sites around Manhattan (Times Square mainly) after giving away an arm at the UNIQLO flagship store in SoHo. Did you know they tailor pants for free? Visited the NYC branch of Forbidden Planet afterwards but didn’t find much of interest there. The usual domestic manga/anime on the second floor (did see an autographed Haruhi manga volume by Hirano Aya though) with a small selection of fairly new release figures on the first floor (mostly American comic related things).
Last day was spent visiting Wall St., taking a waterboat cruise thing around the island, and going to Chinatown. A place of interest in Chinatown besides the authentic flavored (and cheap!) restaurants is the Elizabeth Center. Basement floor has a few little stores that sell anime related items (majority are bootleg) but I saw a few shops carrying legit merchandise.
And so ended my trip to the financial capital of the world.
However, I am glad that I returned home as I found Minorin’s Planet Patrol single waiting for me in the mail. The Yu-Gi-Oh merchandise was bought last month after a friend brought me back into rediscovering my buried interest in the children’s card game. I certainly don’t play competitively (5D’s/synchros fly over my head and the new XYZ monsters look cool but if I invest in them I’ll be losing money even faster), but do I like to make replica decks of duelists from the original series.
A bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to stay a few extra days to witness Nadeshiko Japan’s win in Times Square (and probably get assaulted by USA fans afterwards). A great alternative (but definitely not a replacement) to actually going to Japan for those in the states as you get to experience the city life, the subway, and the walking.
I wish I had found your blog before your trip, but looks like you had a great time! A new virtual NYC Map has been released called City Maps. It’s a wonderful resource for someone visiting the city…. next time. And PS. you probably were better off not getting mobbed in Times Square!
Wow that City Maps is very informative! Thanks for sharing!