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As you would probably imagine Anime and Manga was far more common in Japan than over here, with merchandise and primetime TV showings commonplace.  For us as fans this was obviously no bad thing, here's some of the best anime and manga related stuff we saw...
 


Ghibli Museum

Arty eh?

We are Ghibli fanboys, pure and simple, so the opportunity to go to the Ghibli Museum was one we could not miss.  The museum was packed with memorabilia and animation exhibits, from a room that demonstrated various forms of animation through interactive models to a room containing an exhibition themed around Laputa, Castle in the Sky (Rich had to be physically dragged away).  You were even able to flick through books of the original production sketches and storyboards and there were numerous short films showing only in the museum!  However, the museum was designed with children in mind and it succeeded brilliantly on this count.  Spiral staircases, bridges, tiny doorways and alcoves, a working hand pump, hidden routes and even steps up to counters and windows so children could see over, the museum was designed with care and attention given to the young.  There was even a room where kids could play on a giant plush replica of the Catbus from My Neighbour Totoro!!  There was also a restaurant, a hot dog stall (themed to Porco Rosso, which is poor taste considering the main character is a pig...) and an impressive shop stocking everything Ghibli you could possibly imagine.  Oh, and did we mention the Laputa robot on the roof?
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Laputa Robot

The Laputa Robot towering over our guide

Yep, that's right.  On the roof of the museum they had a garden containing a scale replica of the broken down robot Pazu and Sheeta find in the gardens of Laputa in the film of the same name.  Towering more than twice the height of a person, this perfectly sculpted replica is the greatest homage possible to the film and a photo of it is the best memento of the museum you can get.
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Seiyuu

SEIYUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Worth a separate mention just for the random greatness of it, was that we were both interviewed by a hot seiyuu (voice actress) at the exhibition - Mika Sakenobe!  That’s the gal who plays Wendy from R.O.D (Read Or Die) and she interviewed us both for an internet radio station.  Unfortunately we forget to ask which one (duh!) but we both got her picture and of course a random interview as soon as we walked through the door into the exhibition!
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Sakura Café

Unfortunately not allowed to take photos in the cafe, so we have to use this cheesy publicity shot...

The top floor of the Ikebukuro Sega Arcade was given over to a café themed to Sakura Taisen (aka. Sakura Wars).  It was a pig to get to (you could only get there by using the lift), but what could have been a cheap and tacky tie-in was in fact quite a nice café.  Serving a decent range of food at ok prices, the Sakura Café was a relatively upmarket looking place, even though there was a merchandise shop attached.  For fans of Sakura Wars it was a must, with themed cocktails, memorabilia and even an autograph wall, and for people looking for a decent lunch it was superb.
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Anime on TV

Misato realises she's missing Prince of Tennis

There is something indefinably great about seeing an animated show first thing on the morning or when you just come in from work.  It harks back to your childhood and relaxes you.  Being able to see anime on TV in Japan was excellent, no edited versions of Sailor Moon here - just classic films like Anne of Green Gables and brand new anime like Bo-Bobo (see below) and Sonic X.  If it had English subtitles we may not have left the hotel room...
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Bo-Bobo

The turd guy isn't in this pic, dunno why.

We caught this anime whilst dropping off purchases at the hotel room mid afternoon.  It's mad as a spoon.  Probably the only anime we saw in Japan that would have made less sense if it was in English, Bo-Bobo seemed to revolve around muscle bound coward who fought by using his prehensile nostril hairs and a hamster who lived in his afro.  We kid you not.  He was accompanied by a man made of water, a sun in a suit and a guy whose head was an ice cream/dog turd (we're undecided on this) as well as two kids that appeared to have escaped from Beyblade.  It was based on a computer game apparently, but for sheer randomness it topped even Excel Saga.  We will be buying if and when it gets a US release...
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Gashapon

Usually there are 20+ Gashapon machines in an anime shop...

Take a Kinder Egg.  Remove the chocolate.  Increase the size of the pod to about 2.5 inches (6cm) diameter.  Throw away the toy and replace it with something that is actually worth owning.  That's Gashapon.  Basically you got them from vending machines at a cost of either ¥100 (about 60p), ¥200 (about £1.20) or ¥500 (about £3), they were themed to various subjects - from anime and manga to fish, tanks, cars, films, porn stars etc.  In each pod is one of a set of snap together pre painted collectable figures, the quality was generally excellent and many shops stocked larger Gashapon style figures that came in sealed boxes as well as offering trade in and selling second hand ones.  Beats a Kinder Egg any day.
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Anime Expo Tokyo

Covers like this rock.

One of the main highlights of the holiday was the huge anime exhibition which was held in the skyscraper adjoining our hotel, which was apparently one of the most major anime exhibitions in the world.

Although not quite as big as we imagined there was still a huge amount of stuff to take in, including anime showings, conferences, cut-price merchandise for sale, free stuff, new anime artwork, cosplay, an art gallery and playable demos of new anime games on the PS2.

The conferences that we attended were definitely worth it.  We attended the introductory conference in which we saw the American voice actor Crispin Freeman.  The next day we attended an excellent conference hosted by Kenji Fujita regarding the history of the OAV, thankfully with an English translator also on stage.  It was an in-depth yet fun look at the history of the OAV which was interspersed with clips of anime such as Black Magic M-66 and Gunbuster.  We also could a chance to see Tenchi Muyo! uncut and we both agree that it is much better in its uncut form!  A full five-minute bath scene was the clip that was shown and the humour was certainly on a par with Love Hina.  Let us hope that the uncut Tenchi Muyo! gets released in the UK one day.

We also witnessed some new anime in the form of the Innocence (Ghost In The Shell 2) trailer and .hack//LIMINALITY, but best of all was the first ever showing of the fantastic Space Cookie.  A 3D cel-shaded anime which was completely insane and very very funny, we really hope that this gets a DVD release soon.

The playable PS2 demos included Dragonball Z Budokai 2 and the all-new Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex game which was certainly worth a play.  Although it played like any run-of-the-mill PS2 action shooter, GITS2 was exceptional fun due to the high amount of bullet-time and the excellent soundtrack.  Best described as a good version of the dire Enter The Matrix game, GITS2 will definitely be one to watch when it get a US and (hopefully) a UK release.

There were quite a few crazy cosplayers hanging around the conference as well, but unfortunately we did not get any pictures as it was difficult to take pictures at the exhibition as cameras were not allowed.  We did get to eat in the Cosplay Café at the exhibition and although the food wasn’t that great it was worth it just to be served by those Cosplay ladies!

There was also a huge amount of free stuff to be blagged at the exhibition as well, including mountains of leaflets for new anime, telephone directory sized manga and even the ultra rare single for Innocence: Ghost In The Shell 2! Ebay here we come…
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Studio Broccoli

See any Broccoli? Nope...

A department store in Akihabara had a cutesy cartoon character called Di Gi Charat as its mascot.  It decided to do goods featuring her.  They became hugely popular and led to the foundation of Studio Broccoli, who produce the anime series of Di Gi Charat and now numerous other shows.  The studio has been going for ten years and is very successful.  This doesn't explain why it's called Studio Broccoli.  It doesn't even use broccoli in its logo!  This being said, being called Studio Broccoli means it's great by default.
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Monkey D. Luffy

We have no idea what that thing on the left is either.

Firstly a note: One Piece, for those who haven't heard of it, is currently the biggest anime in Japan, and features the adventures of a near invulnerable pirate who can stretch like elastic and his crew of misfits in their search for the legendary treasure 'One Piece'.  It's a comedy, and it's very good. 

Ok, so you may have just walked out of the One Piece shop.  But you still don't expect hugely enthusiastic people to be standing outside dressed as the main characters from the series.  However this is what happened to us.  Of course a cheesy photo opportunity like this couldn't be missed!
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Wooden Totoro

The Totoro sign we saw was smaller than this...

Outside the Ghibli shop stood a wooden Totoro.  A WOODEN TOTORO.  Unfortunately it was too small to allow an adult to pose for a picture next to it with an umbrella but oh well, it still rocked.  (note: the pic above is not ours, our pic came out badly so this is the result of Google image searches.  We don't know who that guy is.)
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Doujinshi

Usual reaction to Doujinshi...

No matter how knowledgeable you are on Japanese culture it is still a shock when you are browsing in a animation shop and one side consists of the usual Dragonball and Evangelion merchandise and the other consists of doujinshi (fan art) comic porn.  It’s a good shock, but a shock nonetheless.

More surprising is how casual everyone is about it.  Women happily browse through it, chart music will be playing on the radio, hardcore sample pages on the back and no one is sweating profusely before buying it.  Even the mainstream Anime Expo had a doujinshi stall where we both purchased Love Hina doujinshi (Motoko!!) and Tom bought Evangelion and Ranma doujinshi.

We will point out that not all doujinshi is porn, just about 99% of it!
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