Mandarake

Not to be confused with Mandrake.

is one of Tokyo's largest vendors of used anime and manga-related products. The store stocks collectibles, VHS tapes, DVDs, CDs, used manga, toys, and notably, thousands upon thousands of fan-drawn doujinshi, particularly those catering to a female audience.

Locations

Mandarake has several locations: its home is in Nakano, and another large store is in Shibuya, as well as a two-floor and a four-floor store in downtown Osaka, and they have a giant 4-story shop in Fukuoka. At one time before 2003, they had a shop in Torrance, California which got shuttered to open a short lived store in Santa Monica, California.

Nakano

The shopping mall Nakano Broadway is the home of Mandarake, and at the current count, it contains about 12 specialised Mandarake stores. Each deals in a particular aspect of otaku culture, such as model cars, idol goods, anime song CDs, video games, cosplay items and 3 very comprehensive used manga stores, where the comics are sorted by size and publisher. Mandarake's popularity has also encouraged many other manga and anime related stores to open in this location, as well as a maid cafe.

Shibuya

This single, yet large, store sits in Tokyo's trendy Shibuya district, located two floors below the ground. The store is relatively close to Tokyu Hands, and lines a street with a number of other vendors. It has a small stage for karaoke performances of popular anime theme songs.

Ikebukuro

Just past the highway overpass near Tokyu Hands and the Sunshine 60 building, the Ikebukuro store specialises in yaoi (boys' love) manga and doujinshi.

Osaka

There are two Mandarake stores in Osaka. One is located in Osaka's Umeda district, in the Hankyu Higashi-dori Shopping Centre.

You have to climb one flight of winding stair case before getting the bottom floor of the Osaka store, where the manga and art books are located. In the back, another flight of stairs in the back leads up to the second floor where the doujinshi, toys and games are housed. The Osaka store also hosts an imposing karaoke stage on the second level, where employees and adventurous shoppers can try their luck with the latest anime and j-pop songs. Next to the stage is an area to buy or order cosplay costumes, and the employees all wear an incredible array of cosplay finery.

The other used to be located in the Nihonbashi district, but this store closed on 3 March 2008. A new and larger outlet, Mandarake Grand Chaos, has been opened in the Amerika-Mura district.

www.mandarake.co.jp

Fukuoka

This enormous store is located in the popular Tenjin district near the city's main Post Office . This store has cells and storyboards as well as a tremendous selection of fan-based comics, or doujinshi.