The grand ole US....it has everything you could ever want. Unless of course you want a healthy supply of Anime merchandise. If you have looked for stuff from favorite series you probably have realized what a pain it is to find it and even a bigger pain to get it. I'm pretty sure you could find that hole-in-the-wall shop that happens to carry a few select items of anime goodness, but try finding a "real" anime store. Japan is littered with them, but they are severely lacking in the US. Now one Japanese retailer has come swimming across the Pacific. Mandarake made the jump and is without a doubt the best retail store for all your anime and anime related merchandise needs. The good news is, they are going to be getting some competition. Animate! has decided that it's time for their own invasion of the US.

Animate!, one of the premier anime and anime merchandise chains from Japan, is opening its first North American store. The store, which will be located in LA, is scheduled to open December 1st of this year. The store will hold its grand opening on December 23rd. I usually associate grand openings with the store actually opening, but, hey, whatever! It's a large anime retail chain. They can rule over the entire state of California if they wanted and would if it was up to me. Now they didn't give too much info on what exactly they would be carrying beyond anime merchandise. I'd guess (be warned--my guesses usually end up being horribly wrong) that they will have all that cool stuff that you can get in Japan, but not the states. You know....like cool anime stuff: I for one am hoping for a Deedlit beach towel.

The store management has asked that anybody and everybody in the Southern California area come out and support the grand opening on the 23rd of December. So, if you're lucky enough to live 'round there, try to make it out. And for the love of Misato, if you can cosplay do it! They would really like to see some cosplayers out there showing off their....umm.....costumes.

Hey! Your probably wondering just what the address is, Southern California isn't too specific I guess. Well, here it is

7314 Melrose Avenue
(between La Brea and Fairfax)
Los Angeles, California 90046-7513
323-934-0500

This is some really good news for anime fans across North America. This is NOT just an anime store. This is a good sign that anime is catching on outside of Japan. I know many of us would love to stop by for the opening or just to see the store, period. Alas many anime fans will not be able to attend due to logistics problems caused by the distance of their geographic location. No website or other means of reaching the folk outside of Cali has been mentioned as of yet, but let's keep hope alive! Write to Animate! Write to your senator! Write to the President for crying out loud! So now let's all go and drool over the prospect of all the anime merchandise we are going to get....I wonder if my family has any objections about going to California to get me my holiday gifts? So let Animate! know your happy to see them so that maybe, just maybe, we can all have an Animate! store in our own home towns!