Saturday, 17 May 2008

Den Den Town Revisited

So last weekend was my second visit to Osaka's otaku heaven, Den Den Town. *ignores the scoffing from those who've been to Akihabara* Purpose? Bored out of my wits on campus To seek out that Giant Gundam shop I can't believe I missed during my first visit (several weeks before). Not that I'm an actual Giant Robot fan or anything, I just had this nagging question in my mind which needed answering: HOW did I miss something so huge the first time around when the place is hardly a few streets long?

By walking on the wrong side of the street that's how ORZ. After asking someone and eventually finding the place, I realized that I had indeed passed by the shop previously... Only you can only see the ginormous billboard from the opposite side of the road *smacks forehead* My (non-otaku) friend who was accompanying me through the rain (the day I chose to go happened to be one of the lousiest in terms of weather) was slightly 'disappointed' because I 'somehow' gave him the impression that we were going to see a real-sized-god-knows-how-tall actual Gundam model towering over the surrounding buildings... (Okay, I admit I sort of had that some illusion in my mind ORZ)

Anyways, some fuzzy handphone pics to make this post seem like it actually has content!

For the fanboys.

Again for the fanboys (sorry fangirls, the BL shots I had turned out to be too fugly)

Obligatory maid pic (Yes, it's a terrible picture that seems to have a random stranger as the focus instead and you can hardly see the hardworking meidos, boo-hoo)

This place neither has melonpan nor that many books (Okay it has a whole 2 floors, since the upper floors were under renovation or something). Yet another one of the many places in this country you can browse for 'wholesome' 'literary and artistic works' while being surrounded by people staring intently at 2D boobies and the latest episodes of whatever's showing this season blaring down at you.

Too blur to actually make out the Minori (not to be confused with Minorin) autographs there. Remind me to actually bring out a camera next time... -_-"

And finally... My sad excuse of the day's 'stash' (and probably the actual reason I made this post :P) - 図書館危機 (Toshokan Kiki: Library CRISIS, like how awesome is that??), the third book in the Toshokan Sensou novel series snagged at a second-hand bookstore for half price (Yes, I'm a pitiful scrooge). It's in pretty good condition really - minus some discolouration on the jacket which I'm willing to overlook. But you know what would make this purchase even more awesome? If I could actually read it without having to look up half the words in each line -_-"

That, and if I actually had the first 2 books in my possession... (total and utter ORZ). Watch out usagijen, I'll catch up to you... Some day!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

SDFSDLKFJ!!! Melbourne has absolutely NOTHING like this. The two anime shops near my house closed down due to the lack of customers and and there's only this one place my sister's been to in the city, which I've never been to before! *sob sob*

Anonymous said...

I love second-hand bookstores...best way to expand the collection, IMHO. The nice new shiny ones are just going to look like that anyway.

And nice pictures. ^_^

issa-sa said...

blissmo: Uh-oh, looks like someone's going to blame free anime fansubs for that...

caitlin: YES, and I have to say that most of the 'second-hand' books look to be in much better condition that what I expected (unforunately, they don't stay that way once I've got my hands on them T.T). I've found a branch much closer to where I'm staying now and I'm quickly turning into a regular now :P

Anonymous said...

blissmo, you HAD ANIME SHOPS NEAR YOUR CITY? I'm completely and utterly devoid of such where I am. q_x

I'd love to grab myself a Toshokan novel but alas, I cannot read moonrunes ;_;

Anonymous said...

We actually have quite a number of anime stores here but they all suck anyway, catering only to Narutards and the like.

Anyway, nice photos, I recall dropping by at Akiba's Melonbook once, although it was Toranoana that really left an impression.

issa-sa said...

nagato: Yes, them moonrunes can be an awful hassle... I spent a good 10 minutes trying to puzzle out this particular kanji on the cover... Before I realized that it was for 'Iku' -_-"

shin: Most of the shops I saw back home mostly stocked anime in the most blatantly un-genuine form... (Fansubs for sale much?) Remind me to check Toranoana when I finally get my butt to Tokyo someday.

Anonymous said...

ah this brings back memories.
I thought Den Den town is still a really lively place even though Akihabara appears to have surpassed it. At least the people there are much more friendly than the Akiba types.