As someone who has always been interested in the fantastical, the bizarre and most significantly the nerdy, Japan had a lot to offer to someone like me. And no place proved more emblematic of this than Akihabara, a bustling hub vibrant in its colourful streets and in its equally colourful people. Whether it’s the abundance of towering arcades home to an atmosphere charged with competition, the many quirky stores housing an embarrassment of geeky riches, or simply the refined dining scene, Akihabara is a must-visit gem of a town for anyone interested in the extraordinary.
Aside from its plethora of more general-purpose stores, Akihabara is somewhat famous for its figure and model stores, which have a hell of a lot to offer for die-hard fans of manga, anime and everything in between. So, that’s what I’ll be talking about in this first piece we’re posting on Akihabara.
I personally bought twelve large-scale figures over the course of our eight-or-so trips to Akiba, while Kaylee scored herself a similarly preposterous number of chibi characters (“babies” as she calls them) to line her shelves. And while one may assume we acquired these in a traditional manner, the amount of time we put into finding figures that were just right bordered on obsessive. You see, Akiba’s many figure shops differ greatly in things like price and size, but these differences can even apply within the same store. For example, I am a big fan of Yusei Matsui’s manga series Assassination Classroom, and, as such, I really wanted to find a Korosensei figure to add to my collection. Needless to say, I saw many housed in the glass cells which adorn the walls of Akiba’s most dense figure shops. However, the asking prices ranged from 4,000 to around 10,000 yen, and that was all within the same store. I’ve been told this is a result of the aforementioned glass cases which contain various collections of figures being owned by different sellers who feed the stores their stock, hence the wildly different pricing and conditions of each figure.
Furthermore, there’s a pretty defined range of stores to explore, with a few being these being towering monoliths containing all manner of geeky collectibles, from plushies and keychains to model kits and statuettes. And standing in the shade of these titans are smaller shops crammed to the brim with all sorts of goodies. One such store, which I would highly recommend, was called Mulan. This place catered to me and Kaylee perfectly, with its lower floor positively overflowing with One Piece, Dragon Ball and Persona figurines for some very reasonable prices.
And, like every store through which we rummaged, there was a copious number of waifus lining the shelves. They come in all shapes and sizes, although most of them probably suffer from severe upper back pain if you catch my drift. Exhibit A can be seen below:
That’s something to keep in mind more generally as you explore Akiba. While some shops do distinguish between floors where the naughty bits are, others give little warning, resulting in your surroundings suddenly being composed of posters, figures, and magazines featuring girls who seem to have misplaced their clothes. So, stay vigilant if you’re uncomfortable with that sort of thing.
Anyways, let’s move onto the little plastic dudes I managed to snag during my pilgrimage to the holy land for nerds and weebs:
First things first, I am a huge fan of the long-running Naruto anime series (Yes, even the dumb filler episodes). And so, it only seemed right to express that love by spending a questionable amount of my spending money on small effigies representing its major players. I managed to find both the titular number one hyper-active, knuckle-headed ninja himself Naruto, as well as his best bud/ nemesis/ edge lord rival Sasuke in both their younger and more mature stages. I also sprung for a Boruto since I actually prefer his design to that of his Hokage daddy. However, I stupidly forgot to photograph older Naruto because my brain is made of scrambled egg, so please use your imagination for that one.
Out of these five, the older Sasuke has to be my favourite with his beautifully sculpted clothing and accessories complimenting his equally beautifully sculpted visage. In fact, the visage in question was so perfectly chiseled and refined that Kaylee seemed to fancy the miniaturised, plastic Sasuke quite a bit more than was healthy, perhaps due to his slight resemblance to EXO rapper Oh Sehun (You be the judge and comment below if you think I’m spouting nonsense).
And last but certainly not least, we have my favourite character of the original Naruto series, Kakashi. Standing the tallest out of all my figures, this beast of a man is worthy of a shrine all his own, though I, unfortunately, don’t have a space sufficient to house his magnificence alone. Thus, he remains among his subordinates on my shelf, watching over me in my sleep with his smoldering, sultry eye.
Moving on to another of the ‘Big Three’, I’ve also recently taken the plunge into the vast world of One Piece. Finding Zoro was easy enough, and I managed to snag him for around 2,000 yen, which I consider a bargain for the sheer amount of detail in the figure and complexity of his accessories. In stark contrast, Luffy was a right bitch to get a hold of, especially for a decent price. Luckily, one night I found a pre-owned Luffy in a store which I believe was called Gamers for around 3,000 yen or so, which is a minor miracle considering his usual asking price hovered around double that. Moreover, of all the figures I brought home, Luffy seems to be the one people appreciate the most, with his spindly limbs, bright colours, and shit-eating grin, he’s certainly a standout in the collection.
So far, all of the figures I’ve discussed are manufactured under the same brand of Banpresto’s Grandista line, which consists of fairly large-scale, premium figures. However, I did venture outside of this brand on one occasion as far as I’m aware, with Goku. While I haven’t been able to decipher which company he was manufactured by, Goku fits in with the collection fairly well, even if he is a tad short. The reason I broke from Grandista, in this case, was the immaculate paintwork and shading done on this figure, which really sells the texture of his eye-catching attire and bulging muscles. Also, I just really like the way they’ve done his shoes, so there’s that too. 1,800 yen well spent.
And now we come to the crown jewels of my collection; The three figures which made me shell out more than I probably should have in order to prove myself worthy of being a fan of their source material. Firstly, we have Deku, who is my definitive favourite among all of the figures I bought. There’s so much charm and personality in this figure that it’s actually astonishing how well Benpresto were able to capture the simple yet distinct art style of My Hero Academia (Or Boku no Hero Academia for you purist weirdos out there) in 3D. Young Midoriya’s huge, expressive eyes, sloped nose, and massive hands are all here, making this a brilliant collectible piece for anyone who’s a fan of the show. And let’s be honest, you should be a fan of the show, and if you’re not then you are silly and I condemn you.
Next up we have angry brat-turned genuinely interesting character Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan. This was the most expensive figure I bought and with good reason. The meticulous level of craftsmanship that has clearly gone into the ODM gear lining Eren’s back and hips is staggering, and the paintwork on his cloak and face are truly *chef’s kiss*, making this the most visually impressive figure I bought on a technical level. The struggle with Eren, however, was whether he was worth getting over Levi, world-renowned titan-slaying handsome man and another Sehun look alike. Both were on the wrong side of 5,000 yen but I decided Eren was the way to go as he is no longer an irritating, screaming bitch boy and thus he has earned my respect. Another thing to note is the fragility of this particular figure, as the wiring and smaller pieces on his back easily pop out of place and can be snapped without much effort, especially if you’re a heavy-handed dingus like myself.
Finally, we have the figure that has raised the highest number of eyebrows since bringing him back with me. Korosensei, the aforementioned tentacled tutor who stars in Yusei Matsui’s brilliant Assassination Classroom manga. This figure is smaller than his more humanoid brethren, but his pitch-perfect colouration and abundance of visual quirkiness make him, as General Grievous would say, a fine addition to my collection. Plus, he’s the only dude I bought to come with a substantial base, which is a neat bonus.
It’s hard to sum up such a fascinating cultural hub in a quick paragraph, but what I can tell you about Akihabara’s hyperactive collectibles scene is that it has oodles to offer for most people. Whether you watch anime religiously and intently study every issue of Shonen Jump, or have just been enchanted by the odd Ghibli production, you’re guaranteed to spot something which fills you with the urge to part with your cash. I know damn well I did many times. However, it’s important to be very particular about what you buy, or else you could end up getting ripped off. Ultimately, I’d give Akihabara an arbitrary numerical score of five stars.
The Wandering NPCs 