We spent 2wks in Japan as part of our 17th anniversary, and we JUST got back yesterday (OK - sort of. Wait. That IS Yesterday. We got two Saturdays in a row; one over there & one here. Makes for an extra fun weekend.)
Our 17th anniversary is the 'Chlorine' anniversary because we are using the Periodic Table instead of that stupid Hallmark list. Chlorine = BLEACH and so that works out just fine for anime-based prezzies & souvenirs.
Anyways, for Tokyo we did Akiba, and the new Otome Road emerging in Ikebukuro, and also some places in Nakano and Shibuya. But we found similar selections at LOWER prices away from Tokyo - especially in Sendai. One place in Hokkaido specialized in OOOoooooollllllld-Schhoooool series (as in VHS tapes and Laser discs - Oh My!) Most of his stuff was 70's & early 80's. Yikes.
The cheeeeeeziest figurine EVAR was "Mr. Yamazaki" at the Sapporo Beer Museum (& brewery.) He's a blond Yakuza thug-looking guy with a beer and "His CORD [sic] Word is: 'Beer Master.' " He has an extra bump of hair in his forehead which sticks out like an anvil horn (or a cumulonimbus cloud.)
Anyways, here's a list pf popular series we spotted out there, either as DVDs, manga or trinket stuff:
Bamboo Blade (1st ep airs in October)
Code E
Code Geass
D.Grayman
E-F Tale of Memories (Another Air/Kanon/Aria spinoff; I expect glacial story pacing...)
Flag
Fortune Arterial (game)
Gurren Langan
Kaibustu Ojou
Kara no Kyoukai
Kaze no Stigma
Kiddy Grade Maelstrom (2nd season)
Basara (2)
Hayate the Combat Butler
Higurashi no Kokoro ni Kai
Idolmaster Xenoglossia
Iron Ball Hime Emily ("The Mace Princess?!?")
Jigoku Shoujou 2
Love-con
Lucky Star (Hugely popular)
Moe-tan
Negima
O-Edo Rocket
Persona 3
Pia Carrot 3
Pumpkin Scissors (big for cosplay accessories - we even had 2 AMVs of it at Kumoricon 2007)
Potemayo
Queen's Blade
Seirei no Moribito (OM-GORGEOUS! As awesome as 'Juuni Kokki' aka '12 Kingdoms')
Fate Ataraxia (F/SN crossovers into other popular series; you have to guess by the costumes they are wearing)
Shakugan no Shana (season 2 coming out soon)
Shining Wind
Shinkon Soukai Polyphonica
Shonen Onmyouji
Stranger (OVA in theaters)
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuu utsu
Tales of Symphonia
Tonagura
Zero no Tsukaima (as huge as Shana)
Old stand-bys that are still around:
Bleach
DBZ
Gundam-[digits][whatever] (Still going since 1979...)
Evangelion (now a pachinko game spinoff)
Gundam (yet another new series)
Naruto
Patlabor (popular as cosplay)
