List of shops
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Contents
[hide]Figures and most goods
Purchasing from Japan
Buyfag store digest - Payment and shipping details for the major shops
MFC Shops Database - Subject to >opinions , take everything with a grain of salt.
Brand new figures, Paypal, EMS/SAL shipping. Amiami is often the cheapest.
★ - The store can undervalue the customs declaration if asked. For more details check the undervalue section.
Amiami - The “For sale in Japan only” disclaimer means jackshit. If it’s on the international site (except for things with batteries or alcohol), you can buy it. If the item is truly meant for domestic-only, AmiAmi does not even list the item on their international site. Charges domestic sales tax on most goods, which is hidden by the steep discounts. Main items that AmiAmi have for at a higher price than other stores are Cospa brand goods, where they are unable to discount the items at all, so the sales tax is apparent. (Updates at 13:00 JST).
HobbyLink Japan - Slightly poor quality control on verifying character and series names, can take some stock requests, discounts Cospa goods.
Big in Japan ★ - Low prices for some items (even lower than Amiami sometimes), limited/exclusive figures are sold, they accept upfront payments and have proxy and forwarding services. It will take a very long time to receive a response to an email, if they ever do.
Mandarake ★ - Mandarake is good for figures that you can’t find in shops from above.
Nippon-Yassan ★ - Similar to Big in Japan, although they offer slightly lower prices on exclusives. This is balanced out by them estimating the shipping costs which usually results in you paying more. They automatically undervalue. Their packaging can be quite bad, sometimes putting a box in a box with no padding.
e2046 ★ - Chinese shop, garage kits (recasts) and some exclusive pre-painted recasts. Quality varies.
Good Smile Co Store - Some GSC exclusives from time to time. 2000 yen EMS flat rate.
Native Online Shop - Much like GSC store, you can now pre-order Native products directly from them, sadly they don’t ship to as many countries as GSC store. As always be sure to read their help guide before you try to place an order.
Plamoya - Japanese vendor. Rarer, out-of-print merchandise available, but very expensive. Safe and secure packaging. Some goods are pegged on Amazon JP pricing.
CD Japan - You can sometimes find stuff that are sold out at the other big sites here. Almost all shipping options out there are available. Also CDs, DVDs, and games. Does not include Japanese consumption tax. Cheapest site for smaller items if you abuse coupons and pick SAL.
Play-Asia - Also CDs, DVDs, and Games.
Jungle ★ - Updates every day starting at 21:00 JST. Item quality is listen on the page, similar to Amiami's rating system. Prices can vary from being overpriced to under market prices depending on the figure.
Square Enix - Also has branches for other countries.
Solaris Japan ★ - Similar to Plamoya in that there is some rare merchandise to be found for high prices. Their preowned products can be very poor even with high ratings. Their friendly invoice system allows you to value packages at what you want.
Suruga-ya - Able to easily check out yourself (they take credit/debit cards and PayPal) and use a forwarding service. Used items are generally near perfect condition, but don’t be surprised if keychains come without their outermost packaging or batteries are missing from the clock. Actually used goods are marked Rank B (roughly equivalent to AmiAmi Rank C). Cheaper than their Rakuten storefront. Free domestic shipping starts at 1500 yen, constant time sales and combo sales (buy 5 items of same category to get 5% off, etc). They ship everything in huge boxes so take that into consideration.
Ixu's Deviance - French Euro store. Ships worldwide. Well priced and sometimes sells limited editions.
Amazon Japan - Recommended for heavier books since they have flat rate shipping. Any items that show up under the AmazonGlobal対象 option can be shipped overseas (non R-18 books/CD/BD/DVD/some figures); all other items will require using a forwarding service. If you have a cheap and good forwarder, Amazon JP has some of the most aggressive discount systems. Do not use a proxy unless you know exactly what you’re doing. To see what items are available for overseas shipping, select AmazonGlobal対象 from the menu on the left after making a search. Note that Amazon.jp rarely add items to the AmazonGlobal対象 category.
Most Japanese online stores like Animate or Movic now currently accept foreign credit cards for all items while offering domestic shipping, so you just need a forwarding service.
US domestic
Most US stores receive their stock 1-3 months after Japanese release date
Tokyo Otaku Mode - Higher than average figure prices but has free shipping on orders over $100. Decent points system with bonus points on Holiday orders. They will spam you with promo emails if you subscribe and their boxes are obnoxious. Better than average customer service. They have both Japanese and US based warehouses.
Animate USA - Animate’s US branch, has a lot of Animate-exclusive goods. Shipping is based more on volume than weight, so a very good deal on bigger orders or products (e.g. 1/1 scale Mami musket replica cost $11 Fedex shipping compared to $50+ from AmiAmi)
Anime Island - See section 9.
Crunchyroll - I know, I know, >CR, but the daily deals on statues and exclusives are generally good. Will sometimes run 20-25% off coupon specials. Premium+ Members get free shipping. You can snag Premium+ using a CR 2-day guest pass right before you order.
KirinHobby - Especially if you’re an American buying Kotobukiya figures.
Rightstuf - Frequent sales, good place to get manga and anime if in the US.
Anime Corner Store - Site looks like fucking shit, but it’s legit. Also have an Amazon storefront. If you sign up for their mailing list they send 10-15% off coupon codes often. Ignore their 5% off and wait for higher coupons.
Amazon - Last resort. Ask buyf/a/gs if you’re unsure. Typically if the seller isn’t from China or somewhere similar, it’s safe. Be sure to stick with vendors that are “fulfilled by Amazon”.
eBay - If you want to start a bootleg collection. Absolute last resort: Only buy from Japanese and North American sellers without Chinese-sounding names. Avoid China/Taiwan/Hong Kong sellers. Ask buyf/a/gs if you’re unsure. Even then it’s not infallible if they’re posting stock photos.
Garage kits
You will most likely not be available to purchase these from the original seller, as the majority of them are Event only. This means that your main options will be purchasing preowned or a recast.
Preowned
Yahoo! Japan Auctions - This will require a proxy or forwarder, you can sometimes buy preassembled and painted garage kits for a high price here in addition to kits.
Mandarake - Occasionally kits can pop up here.
Jungle - Similar to Mandarake, do not expect to purchase very many from here.
Recasts
GK-M Sells recasts for decent prices.
e2046 It is claimed that they make recasts of GK-M's recasts, which means that you may be buying a lower quality product. They do offer the Gathering service however which allows you to buy a kit which is already preassembled and painted.
Dakimakura
Cover
Where to purchase:
Amiami - Search for “pillow”.
Hobby Search - Search for “dakimakura”.
HobbyLink Japan - Search for “huggable pillow cover”.
Hobby Heart - Only sells bootleg dakimakura.
janelee922 - Custom dakimakura, bootlegs.
Custom dakimakura:
janelee922’s eBay – eBay seller that offers custom covers. Hobby Heart Custom – Hobby Heart’s custom dakimakura.
Stuffing
Royal Pillow - Filthy bastards that only ship in Burgerland. Very cheap.
We recommend that you try picking up a pillow from a local bedroom/household goods store (e.g. Bed Bath & Beyond), since you can squeeze and pick out a pillow with your preferred softness level in person. You wouldn’t need to pay a rape shipping price on a giant pillow from overseas. The pillow size should be the same size as your cover. If it’s too big or too small, the art will be stretched out or wrinkled. Always buy a white pillow. Remember, no one can see the pillow anymore once it’s inside the dakimakura case.
Media
CD/DVD/books
Amazon has the best CD and BD/DVD discounts and work out to be the cheapest generally when buying in bulk, although they don’t ship 18+ material internationally. When buying from others, just remember printed matter is generally very heavy. Also, different stores carry different kinds of products and have different shipping rate tables. For example, buying artbooks through Amazon JP or HLJ with Fedex shipping may be the best option when express shipping is desired. For the absolute cheapest ship rates, honto offers sea shipping, but keep in mind that it is slow, not insured, and not trackable.
- Amazon JP - DHL only.
- HMV Online - EMS only.
- honto (bk1) - EMS, FedEx, SAL, Airmail, Sea. Registering and buying guide: 01 02 03.
- CDJapan - EMS, FedEx, SAL, Airmail. International version of Neowing.
- Kinokuniya - Markups obviously, but you can do special request orders and free shipping >$100.
- HLJ - Responds to requests. Slow to stock, however.
- YesAsia
- Book Depository - Manga & Light Novels (in English, German, etc.) with free shipping almost worldwide.
- Bookoff - Great deals if you can ever visit their brick and mortar stores.
- Rightstuf - Recommended for licensed media.
- Amazon - Often have good deals on DVD’s and manga.
List of Japanese releases with English subs here.
Music CDs:
- j-core.biz - Sells J-Core CDs worldwide, you can e-mail mailorder@guhroovy.com if you want to buy something that’s not listed in the shop.
- Diverse Direct - Ships J-Core and other Japanese EDM overseas.
Distributors
There are a few different companies that distribute hard copies of anime to us filthy gaijin. Much like the rest of the guide, following list is subject to >opinion.
- Aniplex
One of the big two. The most expensive distributor, but you get more for your money. Their releases are usually limited edition and usually come with a box, a booklet with character designs, VA and staff interviews and notes, and possibly various other paraphernalia. Some series get standard edition re-release later on. Yellow subtitles, good video quality not great, translation choices are iffy but decent overall, dual audio and subtitle only releases depending on the series.
- Funimation
One of the big two. The biggest distributor in the US. Video quality on par with Sentai (not something to be proud of because total shit), though their releases are cheaper and tend to come with a fair bit more than a Sentai equivalent. They offer limited editions with a box, BD/DVD (for what it’s worth, might be cheaper without DVD honestly) and an extra item like an art booklet or mousepad. White subs, dual audio.
- Sentai Filmworks
Barebones. Releases are generally just the case and a few discs slapped inside. Yellow subtitles, bandy video, dual audio etc. They might add an extra every once in awhile if they can afford it (i.e. Infinite Stratos CD with character songs). Worst pricing out of all the manufacturers for what you get.
- Madman Entertainment
Ausfag distributors. Relatively comparable to Funimation, though generally better quality. Releases often come with dubs.
Video games
Purchase localized games from whatever shop is near you or online. If you need a guide for this then you may be suffering from more important problems.
If you’re looking to import untranslated games there are deceptively few reliable options. Shipping is likely to be expensive regardless, but a few good places are:
Amiami - Only for new preorders. If something is sold out it’s probably not going to restock. Play-Asia - An old favorite. Reliable, but slow to ship. CDJapan HMV Japan
