Anime Castle
35-32 Union Street Flushing, NY 11354
347.438.1296 http://www.animecastle.com/
A Korean area in Queens is home to a little hole in the wall called Anime Castle. However, looks are deceiving. The moment you step inside you will see the store’s huge collection of anime, manga, figurines, and anything else otaku. Any anime fanatic will go crazy for the store’s variety of products. You can spend hours looking and finding things you can’t find anywhere else in New York City. So it is definitely worth the trip to Flushing.
Forbidden Planet
832 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
212.473.1576 http://www.fpnyc.com/
All types of geeks know Forbidden Planet located near Union Square. You will mostly find graphic novels and merchandise of DC Comics and Marvel. Even though their store is mostly for people in the comic book fandom, they have a nice supply of Japanese/anime products. In the store you will find a table cluttered with different figurines. Every time I visit there are new ones to check out. The store keeps up to date with the latest manga and it’s one of my favorite places considering the quality, the people, and the history.
Image Anime
242 West 30th Street New York, NY 10001
212.631.0966 http://www.imageanime.com/
This is another huge store dedicated to the otaku of New York. They have the body pillows, wall scrolls, jewelry, and key chains from popular anime so we can represent our love. They have a lot of different blind box figures which I go for because they are inexpensive, detailed, and small. The store has unexpected replicas too. For example, they have an authentic alchemist pocket watch from the anime Full Metal Alchemist. In the back there are a lot of model kits and even begun to sell Necomimi, the cat ears that move and react according to brain waves. This store is definitely another hot spot for anime lovers living in New York City.
Elizabeth Center
15 Elizabeth St (between Bayard St & Canal St) New York, NY 10013
212.431.5150
If you’re looking for random key chains, plushies, model kits, etc. for a very low price then Elizabeth Center is the place to go. It’s in Chinatown so you can get bubble tea and then go inside to the lower level of the “mall” where all the anime, arts, crafts, and fashion accessories and apparel are. You can get various things from here since there are a bunch of small stores packed together. One store sells mainly anime DVDs while another will sell bread and ramen key chains and phone charms. You can find a lot of “kawaii” items and it is a favorite spot for presents because they have so many soft plushies and jewelry to get engravings on.
Toy Tokyo
91 Second Avenue (between E. 5th & E. 6th St) New York, NY 10003
212.673.5424 https://www.toytokyo.com/
Toy Tokyo is one of those stores you can just enjoy going inside with a friend or by yourself because it’s fun to look at their unique merchandise like their designer toys, different versions of Godzilla, and blind boxes from Kidrobot and Japan. In the back of the store they have a display case with a mix of different characters from Disney, Studio Ghibli, and iconic television shows and anime. The store just has a very interesting mix of toys and definitely a place to check out especially when it’s close to Saint Marks where all the good ramen shops are.