Animate Will Be Expanding to Become the World’s Largest Anime Store by 2023

The Animate store in Ikebukuro, Japan is known by Otaku geeks to be a haven of everything manga and anime. It’s a nine-storey building that holds the largest collection of manga, video games, and merchandise that travellers all over the world save up for so they can explore and shop inside Animate to their heart’s content. Animate will be celebrating its 40th anniversary soon, and the company plans to mark the milestone with a bang via an unexpected expansion. 

Also read: All the Gundam Cafes in Japan Will Officially Close in 2022

How is it going to do that? Well, it just so happens that the building beside it — the Ikebukuro Public Health Center — has relocated. Now there’s a vacant lot, and Animate was the first to jump in and buy it. The new building will be attached to Animate’s current form. It will be called the Animate Ikebukuro Flagship Store and will be launched in the Spring of 2023. According to its press release, “It will be a facility where you can spend more time, create a calm space, and experience the world of anime and comics in various ways.”

More details will follow in the coming months. For now, why don’t you read up on other otaku destinations in Japan you can enjoy? Some have sadly closed due to the pandemic, but most are still standing and are waiting for you once borders reopen. Stay tuned for more information about the world’s largest anime store!

All images credited to PR Times Japan | Official Website