The Store That Makes Anime Conventions Cry

Today's plan was to go to school, then stop by a store another international student knew about that had used games to see if they had the one I'm looking for.  The day turned out much differently.  I spent most of the time at school having the group of people with whom we usually eat lunch help me figure out my new phone, so I didn't get to talk to anyone outside that table.  Wesley and I then went to Kawagoe to wait for Cermet (he uses the name of a ceramic/metal compound as his own for whatever reason) before heading to the store.

Here is the store:



That's not even nearly all of it.  That's just some figures.  They also sold clothes, jewelry, CDs, old games, new games, trading cards, game systems of all ages, keychains, DVDs, food, and more figures.  It's probably the greatest place I've ever been.  Every other step I took prompted a new cry of "OH MY GOD THEY HAVE ______".  The place puts the dealers' rooms at every American anime convention to such shame that if we had stores like this in America then such conventions would instantly cease to be profitable.

I really mean it when I say they had almost everything, too.  Take, for example, the above Kumi Koda slot machine.  There was also a giant Game Boy hooked up to a real Game Boy (the brick one) on which you could play your games on a large screen.  As for things to actually buy, there were far too many to list here, so I'll just show you what I actually got in a bit.

Cermet is the one that isn't me or Wesley.

After we got back from Kawagoe (we were in that store for much longer than planned), we sat and talked with Yarimizu (no one calls her by her first name) and Yukiko about animals and stuff.  Yarimizu likes dinosaurs.  After that I walked home in the rain.  Above and below are pictures of what that looked like.

HERE IS WHAT I BOUGHT TODAY.  The two on the left are Yousei Teikoku CDs I'd been looking for for a while, the top-most of which is always sold out online.  FOUR MORE CDs TO GO BEFORE I HAVE THEM ALL.  Realistically, though, one more to go, because I'll never find those first three.  Anyway, the other two CDs are Buck-Tick's セクシーストリームライナー (top right) and a game soundtrack by Yui-sama's other band, 電気式華憐音楽集団.

I ALSO BOUGHT KRAUSER.
Krauser is a character from a manga/anime/movie called Detroit Metal City that is a satirical look at how sometimes heavy metal is really dumb.  It follows the life of a man in Tokyo who wants to be fashionable and sing songs for people on his acoustic guitar, but instead is stuck as the singer of an absurdly obscene metal band that he hates, because he happens to be really good at it.  There's a paper in there somewhere about Japanese society's contrast between "at work" and "at home" personalities, but now is not the time.  It's a tremendously funny series, and this thing (with all accessories still included) cost me about $8.  One of my Kuroyume CDs came in a red case, by the way, which is how I made made this picture happen.

Tomorrow I have to get up early to go with my host family to see Mt. Fuji up close.  Pictures will be taken and smiles will be had.