tips for buying anime related goods in japan

[hgeek23]

I am departing in 1.5 hours for my trip to Japan. Many thanks to all who helped plan this trip.
However, one thing has occurred to me--I don't know how to approach buying anime-related goods during my trip.

When buying production art:
1) What kinds of stores sell them? What should I look for on the storefront that would indicate they sell production art?
2) Will I be expected to negotiate for the production art I want to get? How do I know i'm not getting hustled because i am a dumb american?
3) What terminology should I know in order to convey what I am looking for?

Cosplay:
1) I have seen some very expensive cosplay outfits for sale online--i'm talking hundreds of dollars for cheap material. I imagine that given the popularity in japan a cosplay outfit would be much less expensive. What kind of price point am I looking for when it comes to buying a cosplay costume?
2) Which stores are better/worse for looking for a cosplay outfit? I saw on Mandarake's wikipedia page that the Osaka store has a fair amount of costumes but are there stores that are cheaper or more expensive? Will big shopping centers have cheaper outfits than smaller stores? Is there like a dedicated cosplay store somewhere?

Gundam models:
1) My younger brother is my life and so although I would never spend good money on buying a model gundam for myself I would pick one up for him (kind of the same with the Cosplay outfits). Only thing is that similar to the cosplay outfits I see online they can be pricey in the US. Am I looking for equivalently expensive prices in Japan or will they be cheaper? How do I know what is genuine?

Many thanks to this whole community. I am proud to be part of it.

[KuroiTsubasa4]

There aren't many stores that sell cels to my knowledge. Most of the ones I know can be found in Nakano broadway.

Here's Anime Commit: http://nbw.jp/new/detail.php?shop_id=174 4th floor. Mandarake has a cel shop right across from it too.
Anime World Star: http://nbw.jp/new/detail.php?shop_id=93 2nd floor.

You can check out what other stores they have here: http://nbw.jp/new/search_tenpo.php?a=1
These stores are open, like a mall, so rather than looking at the store front, just peer inside and it should be easy to tell by bins or artwork on the walls whether they sell production art or not.
You won't be expected to negotiate the price, that never even occurred to me. (Has anyone ever tried this?) I don't buy very expensive items so I just pay what's on the sticker XD

Cosplay: There are sooooooo many shops. If you are going to Den Den town or Akihabara, just keep an eye out for wigs and colorful costumes. Mandarake in Umeda (Osaka) does indeed have a large costume section on the second floor. There is also another cosplay shop diagonally across from it in the same shopping arcade. Every Animate store also has a small cosplay section with wigs, accessories, full costumes, nice weapon replicas, etc. http://yukifu.net/wp-content/uploads/20 ... nimate.jpg I'm not sure about prices but just browse and look for the word コスプレ.

Gundam kits are so easy to find that even my ridiculously rural town has a buttload of them XD Pretty much every toy store in Japan sells them: Toys 'R Us, Yodobashi Camera (in Umeda etc), there's a Gundam store in Osaka with a giant Gundam on the building that's pretty hard to miss http://youinjapan.net/osaka/photos/gundams.jpg, the Volks shops sell them (they have an easily identifiable VS on the top of the building http://batsu3.org/wp-content/uploads/20 ... 25x300.jpg). They are cheaper but they can still be pricey depending on what grade you get. Higher grades typically have much greater detail, articulation and usually are a bigger scale, though I'm no Gundam expert.

Have fun in Japan!

[cutiebunny]

My experience has been that cosplay stuff is much pricier in Japan than in the US. And that's not just because the exchange rate is so bad. It's because the Japanese are absolutely serious when it comes to Cospa. When cosplayers go to places like Comiket or any other cosplay gathering, there's competition - who has the best outfit, who looks/acts most like the character, etc. Just as in art collecting, there are rivals and a lot of one-upmanship. Most Japanese cosplayers who make the trip out to US conventions usually remark that they like the US environment more since everyone is out to have fun instead of criticizing others for their attempt.

So, if anything, I'd expect to pay more for cosplay stuff in Japan than I would in the US.

Regarding art, I don't know if you can haggle. I never thought it would be appropriate to do so (unless you're at a flea market) and even then, I don't know enough Japanese to be able to do so. Prices at Anime Commit are generally a few hundred to a few thousand yen more than the original starting price of the item when it was on YJ, but that increase is still cheaper than what you'd pay for the item when it was on YJ and you needed a deputy service to buy it. Most of the employees at these stores do not speak English so practice up on some of your conversational Japanese while on the plane and learn a few handy phrases.

My advice is to have low expectations. Do not go into any of these stores with the thought that you're going to find your dream item. If you do find it, great, but most of the time, it's a lot of stuff that is from older series featuring characters or scenes that no one recalls or cares about. This is especially true for the dollar bin cels that Mandarake has. If you're out to get a bunch of nice, inexpensive artwork, Mandarake's dollar bins are the way to go. I thought the artwork selection at Mandarake Umeda was poor, though I did buy a couple of dollar cels there. Anime Commit has some nicer, and pricier items (mostly douga/genga sets). The very best ones are inthe back in a glass cabinet on the left hand side of the room. Some of these items are several hundred thousand yen, so it depends on your budget and what you're willing to lug around Japan (or send back to yourself using the post office). If you do decide to send the artwork back home, I recommend buying a B4 case or two at Daiso over there. Or if you don't want to do that, bring a hard cardboard carrier with you and tuck it in your bag before you take off. I've done both before.

[Rekka Alexiel]

Mandarake is also a place you might enjoy for general anime goods. There are many stores throughout Japan and around the Tokyo area, but in terms of cels, they don't have much. There is a possibility to find something rare from time to time, though. The Nakano Broadway Mandarake cel shop is on the same floor as Anime Shop Commit, 4F.

The Anime World Star shop on the 2nd floor used to have good stuff but they hardly ever add any new cels to their stock. I don't know how many times I've been there and flipped through the same cels over and over again. It's kinda sad.

[hgeek23]

Thanks for the replies. While in osaka i was told there was no more gundam store. Is this true? Would go back tomorrow to check it out if it atill exists.
I went to both mandarake stores in Osaka and found no artwork except a couple of cels in the grand chaos store. Also cosplay costumes in grand chaos were for females only (?) Osaka was a bust but a good experience, running around, umeda to namba to amerikamura but in the end, nothing. I was really surprised. I did not see a bargain bin and the employee in umeda just said there was no genga at all at that store.
Overall I love japan except my wallet is getting killed on transportation and food.

I want to get a couple of gundam kits. What grade is best for someone who is on a budget but doesn't want to pay for crap (pardon my language)? I'm not fanatical about detail (though I want my younger bro to hAve a good time building it). This country is awesome. Would love to live here.

[hgeek23]

I went to nakano Broadway mandarake and anime commit and found no Genga from any series I was looking for and very little production art at all. Same at mandrake in Akihabara. Any other stripes I could look in?