An Anime Shopper's Guide to the SF Bay Area by Stephen Mah (revised 11-26-92) This article may be distributed freely as long as it remains unaltered (corrections to typographical errors excepted and excerpts are OK 8-)) and proper credit is given to the author and all contributors. ================================================================= A note on prices- most, if not all, of the stores here seem to use the $1 = Y100, with a few variations here and there. For the most part, there are no places that really offer great deals like some of the places in LA that sell CD's for ~$25, although some places might be a little more expensive than others. Mikado used to have better prices, but that's changed (see below); Tower video/LD outlets probably have the best prices around now, but they lack a selection (again, see below). SAN FRANCISCO: ============= Laser Perceptions 1739 Noriega Street SF, CA 94122 (415) 753-2016 Fax: (415) 564-3821 Mon-Sat: 11AM-9PM Sunday: 11AM-7PM Comments: Laser Perceptions carries a large collection of anime LD's and CD's in addition to domestic LD's. Their selection is quite good, provided you can get there in time; they get shipments in about twice a month (although some of you out there have heard "It'll be coming in next week" probably a bit too often :-)). They usually sell out of all of the hot/new titles within several days but it's probably not a good idea to put down a deposit (see below). They have a few anime titles for rent, although they're priced a bit steep (~$6/night). Eldon, the manager, doesn't seem to know much about anime, other than the titles and can sometimes be pushy. While LP is probably one of the wider known anime LD/CD sources, I'd recommend trying other places like Mikado or Nikaku first; for one thing, they seem a lot more sincere and knowledgable about anime and offer a few pre-order discounts on boxed LD sets I think. Fans planning on doing mail order from LP should heed this advice: only order stuff that's in stock. It seems that LP's number one concern is getting your order in, whether or not they have the item you want it stock; apparently, they often will not volunteer information regarding whether or not they have it in or not. Additionally, if you are ordering multiple items, they will not ship until all of the items you ordered have come in. Many customers have placed orders, only to be told when they call back to inquire about it, "That item isn't currently in stock. We're expecting it in next week". In my previous versions, I've mentioned that LP will place priority on in-store customers (i.e. if they want an item that was special ordered for a mail-order/telephone customer, LP will sell it to them on the spot); apparently, a netter asked him about this and his response is that they do no such thing (I can't prove or disprove this, so you'll have to decide for yourselves if this is true or not). As of late, Eldon appears to have been calling a few customers up to try and improve LP's PR; seems there's a distinct possibility that he may have net access (if you're reading this Eldon, please note that I'm not trying to destroy your business or anything; I'm just calling 'em as I see 'em :-)) and has heard some of the things said about LP's service in the past. Hopefully, this means he's actually working on better service and that should be commended. Overall, to be fair, it would seem that as long as LP has what you're looking for in stock, then mail order service has said to be pretty good. As for their new location, it's _big_; at least now there's room to breathe when the new shipments come in ^_^. Anime LD's are now near the front of the store. Rental anime LD's are near the back with the other rental discs. [a one-shot note: I noticed he's trying to clear out a few disc titles for pretty good prices- he had a few copies of Patlabor P-13/14 (or somewhere around there) for only $55. The box containing all of these "close out" titles isn't prominently displayed- if you're familiar with the store, it's on the rack beneath the bins where the anime titles used to be. BTW, most of the titles are brand new, not used.] A quick note: if you're also looking for English translated manga (Viz, Elicpse, Dark Horse, etc.) there's a comic store called "Comics and 'da Kind" one block over to the left when facing LP. If you're in the area for a limited time only, you might be able to do your comics shopping here to save time. ------ Newtype Toys & Hobbies 1531 10th Avenue (@Kirkham) SF, CA 94122 (415) 731-3077 Sat-Sun: 10:30-6:30PM Mon-Fri: 6:30-9:30PM by appointment only Comments: This place might be a little hard to find at first, since it doesn't really have a storefront, other than a sign on the street. The actual store is behind the owner's garage and it's actually bigger than I thought it would be. This place is an anime modeler's heaven as it's basically wall-to-wall models, both garage and plastic. But aside from a quite large selection of models, he also carries some animation cells, some subtitled videos, and a small collection of books (which I'm told will grow). The owner, whose name eludes me at the moment, is a really nice guy and he does mail order. A catalog is availible for $2. Right now he's planning on expanding his selection to lots of other items such as videos, pencil cases, etc. (a la Nikaku). Prices are a little expensive, but the service (in my experinces anyway) has always been good. I am told that altho they cannot regularly carry a large selection of other items such as discs and what not due to budgetary reasons, they can special order almost anything for you. In previous postings I've mentioned that Newtype wouldn't accept first time credit card phone orders; well, I stand corrected- turns out they do accept 'em but orders can only be shipped to the billing address of the credit card (how they check this I don't know). Thanks to Marty Connell for this clarification. ----- Tower Video Outlets 2 locations of note: 2280 Market St. (slightly larger anime selection, but lousy parking and the area isn't exactly the kind of place you'd want to hang around at night) (415) 255-5920 3205 20th Ave (in the Stonestown Galleria on top of the "Good Guys") (415) 681-1311 All Towers are open 9AM to midnight all year long if memory serves. Comments: Tower has added an import section to their LD bins which include a few anime titles. Although the selection leaves something to be desired (mostly popular titles like "Akira", "Gunbuster", "Lensman", etc.) what is of interest here are the rock bottom prices. "Akira" is going for about $49 (about $20 cheaper than any import place that I know of) and "Gunbuster" OAV's, usually about $98, were going for about $60. The latest word though (thanks to Mike Harlock again) is that they do not do special orders; this plus the fact that I haven't seen any new titles in close to a year (or any back ordered titles) makes Tower now not a very serious contender for anime LD's (i.e. forget about Tower unless you've got some time to kill). BTW, Tower Video outlets also sell most, if not all, of the subtitled anime being put out now (i.e. US Renditions, US Manga Corps, Animeigo, etc.). ----- SF^2: According to chiu%ucsee.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU this place has closed up (doesn't surprise me). Here's what I've been told: "Revision: SF^2 has cease retail operation as of late May, 1992. Rumor has it that they're moving toward an all mail-order operation, but I have no concrete information/evidence to confirm the rumor." ----- Laser City (formerly Wong's) 1433 Bush SF, CA (415) 474-9664 Comments: Just anime LD's here, folks. Not a large selection, but they do get boxed sets in occasionally (they once had a Gundam set that had all 4 movies). Prices are comparable to LP's, but I've noticed that when they have a store-wide sale, they even mark down the anime titles (10-15%). The discs are in a bin behind the "new releases" shelf that you see when you walk in. I think they also might have a few anime titles for rent. [Update: it seems they're cutting back on the anime titles here, so it's probably not worth your while unless you happen to be walking by] ----- Comics & Comix Various locations in the Bay Area Comments: Not a whole lot in the way of anime here, aside from the usual Viz/Studio Proteus comics, but they carry some posters and some anime related magazines (Newtype, Model Graphix, Animage, Animag, etc.). Occasionally, they'll get some manga or film comics/books of the more popular things like Akira, Miyazaki films, etc. ----- Disc-is-it 1377 9th Avenue (@ Judah) SF,CA 94122 Tel: (415) 731-DISC Fax: (415) 731-4537 Comments: As the store's name implies, this is an LD place. Although their anime selection isn't that big, what is of interest here are the Chinese imported anime LD's. Although most of them are dubbed in Chinese (usually on the 2nd audio track), a few have English as well (the only one I can remember is the "Urotsuki-Doji" movie). They have maybe one or two japanese imported LD's as well. If you don't have a membership, foreign discs cost $6/night to rent; memberships are flat figures for a certain # of rentals but probably aren't worth it if you only come here once in a while. SAN FRANCISCO JAPAN TOWN ------------------------ There's a small cluster of stores here that sells anime related materials. The Center itself is located along Geary Street (cross street varying with the stores) and the parking isn't that great. Underground parking is availible, but it's a little too pricey for my tastes. What I usually do is drive on over to the Safeway on the other side of Geary and park in their parking lot for free and just walk on over to J-town using the overhead pedestrian bridge. In addition to the stores mentioned below, there are also several "mom 'n pop" video stores sprinkled around the area that I've never really tried out. Just a warning to commuting shoppers- the stores here often close up for japanese holidays (Kinokuniya shuts down for a few days around New Year's Day) so if in doubt, call 'em up before making a 4 hour drive :-). There are basically two buildings to J-town that you'd be interested in: the Kinokuniya Building and the Kintetsu Building. I'll start with the Kinokuniya building... [Note: If you take the overhead pedestrian bridge, it will take you directly to the Kintetsu Building. Since my list starts with the Kinokuniya Building, I figured it might be a little confusing. If you want to go to the Kinokuniya Building first, once you get off the overhead pedestrian bridge, just cross the street over to the Kinokuniya Building- you can't miss it.] Kinokuniya Bookstore 1581 Webster Street SF, CA 94115 (415) 567-7625 Comments: As far as I know, they have the best selection of manga in SF, although many of the popular titles may not always be in stock. They have both the regular manga compilations as well as the "telephone book" sized manga weeklies/monthlies. As far as anime materials go, they have a pretty good selection that varies from time to time; they regularly get in Animage, Animedia, Model Graphix, and B-Club magazines as well as a bunch of anime books/mooks. Most of the books are from mecha-related shows (Patlabor, Gundam, etc.) but they also occasionally get in from time to time some Miyazaki stuff (including "The Art of..." books). They also carry most, if not all, of the English-translated manga titles; these are located roughly in the forward-right hand corner near the children's books (for those interested, here is where you'll find the elusive "Great Adventures of the Dirty Pair" english novels, if they have them in stock) The "pure" anime/manga is located in the store's forward-left hand corner. In addition to books, they have a small selection of CD's (about 10 at a time maybe) and video tapes in the glass case to the right of the entrance. Fianlly, they get in anime calenders whenever the new year comes around. They can special order stuff for you, but just be sure you give them very specific information; it takes quite a bit of time for them to actually get a special order in (up to 1/2 a year) so it can get frustrating at times when they get you the wrong thing. [Note: I've been noticing that they don't quite get in as many magazines as they used to; they've stopped carrying Newtype for sure] ------ JBC Video Comments: This is located just one level down from the bookstore. I've never rented stuff from here before, but they have a collection of anime tapes for rent. All of the labels for the tapes are computer generated and in Japanese, so if they weren't recorded off of TV in Japan, they're most likely dupes. They have some TV stuff but it looked mostly like kiddie shows. Still, they have other stuff like City Hunter, Future War, and Akira. Might help if you know japanese if you decide to go here. And that's about it for the Kinokuniya Building. When you're done here, take the bridge located next to the bookstore over to the Kintetsu Building. Right after you get off the bridge, turn right and there you'll find the... Taiyo-Do Record Shop 1737 Post Street Kintetsu Building 11-A SF, CA (415) 885-2818 Comments: This place has a small colection of CD's in the glass case at the front counter. Mostly just popular titles like Macross, Akira, Miyazaki stuff, KOR, Maison Ikoku, etc. but they can special order stuff for you as well. Prices are roughly the same as everywhere else (maybe a _little_ cheaper). I am informed that they do not accept checks for payment and that the people there are not very knowledgable about the CD's they sell, so try and go in knowing about what you want (i.e. don't rely on the clerks there for information). Thanks to Chih-Ping Kuo for the added information. ----- A couple doors down is the... Mitsubishi Showroom/Mikado; now called "Mikado-Laser Japan" Mikado-Laser Japan 1737 Post Street, Kintetsu Building Suites 8,9,10 SF, CA 94115-3617 (415) 922-9450 (same as the Gift Store's) Fax: (415) 922-1682 Comments: This place is sectioned into 2 rooms. The room that you see when you first enter has Mitsubishi projection TV's, VCR's, etc. The second room has a bunch of LD's prominently displayed on a rack. There are also some behind the counter, so be sure to ask if you don't see the title you want. Their selection, by now, seems comparable to LP's and they can also special order stuff for you much more quickly; popular stuff takes about 2-3 weeks and no deposit is required if it's something that they think they'd be able to sell. Prices are no longer cheaper than LP; they've started using the 3% japanese sales tax price because of "the fluctuating dollar" as I've been told. However, I think there still might be pre-order discounts on boxed sets; I'm not sure though. They are also now starting to carry some CD's (even some titles that are not readily availible elsewhere I am told). They are now capable of mail order, payable by check or money order (not credit card for some reason); the following are the rates: USA: Shipping and Handling (ground): $5/disc + $2 each add'l disc (2nd Day Air): $10/disc + $3 ea/adt'l (1st Day Air): $25/disc + $3.50 e.a.d. CANADA: S & H (ground): $10/disc + $4 e.a.d (air service): $40/disc + $6 e.a.d This seems pretty expensive, although I'm not sure how it compares to most other mail order places. CA residents must add applicable sales tax (8.5%) and the flyer I got mentions that "All sales are final". Unfortunately, the shipping charge fore a single CD is the same as that for a single LD 8-P. Here's the deal with discounts on pre-ordered sets, as quoted from the newsletter that I got from them: "* Pre-payment should be received before our deadline date to qualify for the "Spcial Offer" price. (No Refunds - No Cancellations) * If payment is received on time, disc(s) will be guaranteed to you by the _official release date_. * When disc(s) arrives, remaining balance can be paid for by COD (Cash Only)" Although I said that these discounts apply only to sets, I suppose it could be implied that discount rates could also apply to specific individual titles; all of the titles subject to "Special Offer" prices are listed in their Newsletter. I didn't notice any signs in the store listing the special offers so be sure to ask beforehand if you're pre-ordering a boxed set. The discount rate appears to be about 10% or so. And finally, here's their new release policy: "* All discs limited to stock on hand, all first come first serve basis" * No reserving of discs is allowed unless paid for in advance " Although their prices are no longer any better than LP's (with the exception of pre-ordered box sets possibly) I'd still recommend them over LP just because their service is better and they appear to know more about anime in general. The person I usually talk with, David, seems to really know his stuff about release dates and info regarding both anime as well as japanese import discs. ------ Yet another couple of doors down is... Mikado Gift Shop 1737 Post Street, Kintetsu Building Suite 9 SF, CA 94115-3698 (415) 922-9450 Comments: This place used to have a really good selection of anime models but now it's mostly SD Gundam and Zoids kits. They get a few good models in occasionally (like the HG Gundam series, Macross, and Gundam in general) as well as anime action figures (St. Seiya), die-cast toys, T-shirts, and buttons. They used to have subtitled copies of BGC 1 and the Macross movie. They used to have a good selection of posters, which included some of the older shows like Mospeada and Ideon, but they don't seem to get much in nowadays. As far as magazines go, they have Animag, B-Club and Newtype as well as a selection of Streamline T-shirts. Their main focus in merchandise nowadays is Nintendo stuff and Sanrio items. I think they also have Famicon cartridges. ----- Another 3 doors down is... Japan Video 1737 Post St. SF, CA 94115 (415) 563-5220 Comments: Probably where most anime fans in SF go to to rent anime and one of the few places that can order tapes for you. They have a large selection of anime titles as well as live action movies (GunHed, Golgo 13, Maison Ikoku, Godzilla vs. Biollante). In the glass counter, they also have a small selection of tapes (mostly US Renditions/Animeigo and dubbed stuff; but they do get some original Japanese titles in from time to time) for sale. They now have an LD rack but still lack a selection. As far as selection goes, they have a pretty good one and are pretty much up to date (although it seems kind of like they don't get in as much new stuff as they used to). I've been renting from them for about 6 years now and the service is nice, but I've never tried ordering tapes or LD's from them. Rental rates vary between $2.75 to $3.75 per tape per day (with membership). There's a limit to the number of tapes you can check out, but it's beyond what most anime fans can take anyway :-). I believe there is a mail order catalog availible upon request. Membership is $10 for 3 months and $25 for a year. They used to have a life-long membership (which is what I have) but they don't seem to offer it anymore. They have recently moved 2 doors across to expand a bit; it seems like they'd be able to stock quite a few more LD's now (there's a large rack labeled for them now). EMERYVILLE =========== 1) Kimono My House 1424 62nd Street (@ Hollis) Emeryville, CA (zipcode?) (415?) 654-4627 Comments: I haven't shopped here before, so I'm afraid I can't comment on the service. However, I'm told that they sell a variety of items including videotapes, models, posters, pencil boards, books, etc. Their service is also said to be quite nice. (Thanks to whoever gave me this info- sorry, I lost your name and address! :-() Mike Harlock is responsible for the following Mountain View and Cupertino entries- thanks again Mike! All comments/questions regarding the entries should be be directed to him. MOUNTAIN VIEW ============= Video Regency 357 Castro Mountain View, Ca. (415) 968 5587 This is a Japanese video store located in the back of a building in downtown Mountain View. They rent all kinds of anime, plus a few subtitled and dubbed items. Also, the Tower in Mountain View (the huuge one) sells subbed and dubbed anime LD's and tapes. Not too many, but a little more than the other towers. My friend is the laserdisc buyer for them. CUPERTINO ========= A Wrinkle in Time 19970 Homestead Road Cupertino, Ca. 95014 (408) 255-9406 Comments: This is a great new Anime and Comic shop in Cupertino, right off 280. The store is THE premire place that rents subtitled and dubbed Anime. They also sell more of the same. They also rent a few laserdiscs, and their selection is expanding. They currently have a large stock of both types of AnimeCon '91 t-shirts for sale. They also carry anime related comics. The owner, Dave Meddinus, is very friendly and straight-forward. (He is also the Chairman of a local sci-fi convention, Silicon, happening at the end of November. Ask him about it.) Directions: From San Jose, take 280 North to Saratoga/Sunnyvale exit, turn right, and turn right again at the next light, homestead. At the next light is a small shopping center to the right. The store is located in there. SAN JOSE ======== Nikaku Animart 615 N. 6th San Jose, CA 95112 (408) 971-2822 Tues-Sat: 10-6PM Sun-Mon: 10-5PM Comments: Most of you probably already know about this place, but for those who are new to the anime scene, this place has the best variety of anime stuff around. They have anime LD's, CD's, posters, manga, puzzles, shopping bags, books/mooks, pencils, calenders, cels, models, garage kits, magazines, and audio tapes. Their LD selction is modest- about 50 titles or so. Their CD list is extensive, as is their selction of anime books. I'd say they have the best selection of anime posters and books in the Bay Area. Service both in the store and thru mail order is outstanding. For mail order, there's a $10 minimum purchase and a $2 handling charge on orders less than $50; there's also a minimum of 2 posters if that's what you're ordering. Orders placed before 3PM pacific are shipped out on the same day; all orders are shipped by UPS air or ground. The people there are extremely nice folks (one time they gave me promo posters for the Gundam 0080 Sound Sketch I and the Venus Wars LD free of charge :-)) and pretty knowledgable. Highly recommended. Maybe the only thing that kind of bugs me is that you can't look at the display copies- you have to ask someone to get another one from behind the counter if you want to see if something's worth buying; but alas- it's a minor quibble :-) There is also a video store nearby that sells a few LD's and rents anime videos called: Japan Culture Video 161 East Jackson Street San Jose Japantown, Ca. 95112 (408) 293-3350 Comments: After coming down from Nikaku's stairway, turn right until you reach the corner and turn right again and continue for about 2 blocks or so. It's on 4th and Jackson (Nikaku is at 6th); it's next to the Mikado gift shop. They have a pretty good selection of OAV's as well as some TV stuff like the original Gundam series, Patlabor, and Doraemon. Thanks to Mike Harlock (harlock@netcom.com) for the cross street- he also had this to say about Japan Culture Video: "Yea, here's some info: Don't go there. They charge too much. Ok selection, though. They charge $5 a night for rentals, plus a yearly membership fee. just MHO.... :)" ----- Laser Land 1035 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road San Jose, CA (South of Interstate 280; nearest Cross-street: Bolinger Rd.) (408) 253-3733 Hours: Closed Monday Tues. thru Sat: 10:30 - 8:30 Sunday: 11 - 6PM Comments from Matthew Seitz: "Another Anime LaserDisc store is LaserLand in San Jose on Saratoga- Sunnyvale Rd. They have about a dozen of the most popular titles in stock and will special order others. They have just placed Kiki's Delivery Service into their rental library and are waiting to see what response is like. The owner and some of the workers are Anime-aware." (Thanks to Matthew Seitz [seitz@netcom.com] for this entry) ----- YAOHAN SHOPPING CENTER ---------------------- This is a japanese supermarket which also has a couple of places worth noting: Kinokuniya Bookstore 675 Saratoga Ave San Jose, CA 95129 (415) 252-1300 Comments: Not quite as large as the SF branch, but they still have a large selection of manga here. Not a whole lot in the way of anime though. This place used to actually _be_ in the supermarket, but has now moved next door, expanding the space a bit. Manga is at the very back of the store and I think CD's are just to your right as you walk in. Video Eye Comments: Since I live in SF, it's a tad inconvenient for me to rent from this video place, but going on what I've seen on the shelf as well as talk on the net, they have stuff like Ranma, Chibi Maruko-chan, Fushigi no Umi no Nadia, City Hunter, Aoi Blink, Macross, and Yawara!. If you're going to use a check, be sure to make it out to Yaohan, though. (Thanks to Mark-Newton John and others for letting me use their info on this place) ------- And one more comment about SF and SJ- if you look around in some of the japanese food markets, you'll probably be able to find some anime related food products here and there. Once again, if anyone's got any corrections, comments, or additions, I'd like to hear them! >From tora@shakala.com Thu Apr 22 11:46:00 1993 Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime Subject: New toy store in San Jose, CA Date: Thu, 22 Apr 93 00:29:15 PDT Pony Toy-Go Round is now open at San Jose Yaohan Super Market. The address is 675 Saratoga Ave. and Moorpark is the nearest cross road. The store is open everyday from 9 AM to 8 PM except on New Years Day. I checked the store out and it is pretty nice. The store is well stocked with various Japanese toys and models. The store also carried Japanese version of Super Famicon as well as assorted game software like Ranma 1/2. I talked with Mr. Aki Hisamatsu and he is very interested in knowing what kind of anime goods Bay Area anime fans are interested in. Even if the store does not carry what we all want if enough of us tell the store we just might be able to get it. In any case, I want to tell you all a new addition to Yaohan Super Market. Oh, yes, the phone number to the store is (408) 253-9929. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Andrew Kim - tora@shakala.com Shakala BBS (ClanZen Radio Network) Sunnyvale, CA +1-408-734-2289 >From micah@taligent.com Tue Apr 13 18:13:23 1993 Date: Tue, 13 Apr 93 18:08:58 -0700 To: smah@sdcc13.ucsd.edu Subject: addition for BA anime shopper's guide For your BA anime shopper's guide: West Coast Video 1391 Woodside Road Redwood City, CA 94061 (415) 368-WEST West Coast Video has started to have a decent selection of subtitled and dubbed anime videos for rent. Currently (April 93) they have about 75 tapes, and it looks like they are trying to build a collection. (Every time I've gone in there the last few months they've had new ones in.) The collection is not up to the standards of the better video stores in the SF or San Jose area (yet?), and, more annoying, they sometimes don't get all the parts of a series. (For example, they only have part 1 of Vampire Princess Miyu, and only the first tape of the Urusei Yatsura TV series.) However, their selection is much better than anything else I've seen in The Penninsula. I don't think they have any LD's or anime for sale. Micah Doyle ---------------