Sydney Anime/Manga Shopping Guide
Iain Sinclair
This is posted with Distribution: world, as I've received overseas
requests for such a guide. Some of you might also be interested
in the manga prices/selections here.
==
Sydney Anime/Manga Shopping Guide
24th August 1992
Australia uses PAL, not NTSC. (Like Hongkong, the UK, etc.)
Offically, to buy laserdiscs they have to be PAL and local. There
are NTSC laserdiscs, but are offically for rental only. There is some
grey marketing in NTSC laserdiscs, ie. will order for you off the US
suppliers.
All prices are in Australian dollars. Rough guide: AU$1 = Y100 = US$.75
Currently: AU$1 = Y89 = US$.71
Sydney is a city of 3.5 million people, with a large Cantonese-speaking
community (and an almost negligible Japanese community). Shops are not
guaranteed to be open on Sundays, to be open after 5pm, or to accept
anything other than cash.
==============================================================================
Tokyo Mart
27 Northbridge Plaza
Northbridge
Comments: A large Japanese grocery. Plenty of food, but some videos
for hire. Examples: Godzilla, lots of soaps taped off Japanese TV,
Gundam, Dragonball, and other fairly popular stuff.
Fashion Land
Northbridge Plaza
Northbridge
Comments: Pretty much the same as Tokyo Mart, catering more to the
kids/bored housewife market. ^_^ More TV stuff, plenty of Miyazaki,
SD Gundam, lots of kids' anime. Some of the kids' anime is rare
and obscure.
The following are mostly located in the central business district, and
more or less within walking distance of each other. (Haymarket is the
Chinatown area, in the south.)
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Maxim's Video
Corner Thomas and Quay Streets, Haymarket
Comments: An enormous selection of anime. Some of it is poor or
unwatchable quality. Most are dubbed into Cantonese, but some are
subtitled in Chinese. Their selection of anime TV shows, OAVs, and films
is probably the biggest in Australia. They have a fair bit of H stuff
(Urotsukidoji, Guy, Cream Lemon), sometimes heavily edited. Working out
what's what from the Chinese titles can be fun.
Maxim's Laservision Centre
Sussex Centre, Sussex Street, Haymarket
Comments: Rental only (ok maybe you can buy some, but no new stuff,
secondhand only). Small to medium selection of anime (they had Beast
City when I was there). Most stuff looked pretty battered. I haven't
dealt with them just looked around. [MJE]
Law's Laser City
Corner Thomas and Quay Streets, Haymarket
Comments: Standard Hong Kong laser disc centre, ie 80% HK cinema trash, the
other 20% a mix-mash of Japanese movies (don't ask for Japanese movies...
ie they're all Adult) or Japanese movies/anime with Cantonese dubs.
Anime titles are influenced by the shop owners fascination into H stuff.
[EL]
When I was there earlier this year it was rental only. Some
stuff was for sale but that's PAL discs only. Small selection of anime.
A friend visited recently and said they are now claiming to sell all
laserdiscs. I haven't re-visited them yet to confirm this. [MJE]
Top 10 Records
37 Ultimo Road, Ultimo
Comments: These guys will order CDs for you, cheaper than anywhere
else (provided you have the title, CD number and manufacturer).
Po Hong Books and Stationery
Two stores in Sussex Street
410 Sussex Street, Haymarket
Comments: Entrance is newsagent type setup. Upstairs has the bootleg stuff.
A fairly good range of bootleg manga, originating from Taiwan
or Hongkong (ie. it's in Chinese). Many titles are presented in
'fortnightly' format, ie. two episodes in a small 30-50 page book.
The 'fortnightlies' are cheap ($1.50) and usually are ahead of
the original tankoubon, but behind the original manga magazines.
Buying several 'fortnightlies' that look interesting is a cheap
way to explore new manga.
NB: the staff here aren't particularly helpful, to say the least.
419 Sussex Street, Haymarket
Comments: Stationary mainly... Video and CDs downstairs. All videos are
in Cantonese/PAL format. I've seen Project A-Ko, Orange Road and some
unknown robot type stuff. They also have a couple of dozen anime CDs and
sometimes cassette tapes as well. Their J-pop selection is quite good.[MJE]
Windfair Company
389 Sussex Street, Haymarket
Comments: A typical Chinatown newsagent, which on any given day is
likely to stock Shonen Jump, Family Comic (a popular bootleg magazine
containing some big titles), Young Weekly (a typical bootleg
with many titles, in compact digest-like format), Streetfighter II
comics, miscellaneous bootlegs, and the like. Windfair will also
occasionally have magazines like Young Captain and Hobby Japan.
OCS Bookshop
(Contact IS for address)
Hours: Mon-Sat= 9-5 Sun= 10-4
Comments: A well-stocked Japanese bookshop, with plenty of manga.
The manga magazines rack at the front of the store typically has
SJ, SM, SS, YJ, YM, YS, Big Comics Spirits, Morning, Afternoon (sells
out fast), Comic Burger, Comic Action, Newtype, Animedia, Anime V, Comic
Feel, Be Love, Lady's Comic You, Ribbon, and Asuka. Occasionally the
rack will have Jump 30, BJ, Big Comics, Big Comic Original, Big Comic
Superior, and assorted H stuff (Pink Time, Erotopia, etc).
The selection of tankoubon is fairly respectable. Off the top of
my head, there are complete sets of Doraemon, UY wide, City Hunter,
Hokuto no Ken, Nozomi Witches, and plenty more. They'll typically
have 1-4 recent tankoubon from the most popular titles in the
manga magazines they stock. 95% of tankoubon now have plastic on them
due to idiotic gaijin either trying to order H stuff, or complaining
about H stuff. All magazines and tankoubon arrive within 1-2 weeks of
being released in Japan.
OCS will order stuff if you can write the kanji of the author,
publisher, and title on a form. Prices are steep: $8.80 for a
Y390 tankoubon, $6.30 for YJ, $12.50 for (440Y) Afternoon. They also
have plenty of novels and books on language and culture. Service here
is good, but you have to know Japanese. OCS do not mail order. [IS]
Mangajin is *more* expensive here than in the comic places. [MJE]
Miscellaneous bookshops, also in the city.
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Land Beyond Beyond
583 George Street, City
Comments: Specializes in underground comics, schlock cinema, and the
like. Stocks the usual range of manga-comic adaptations, and has
some curiosities like Tetsuwan Atom anime comics, the full range of
Gamera movies, and one or two unknown manga from the mid-70s.
Comic Kingdom
71 Liverpool Street, City
24 Darcy Street, Paramatta
+
Comics & Cards
135 Bathurst Street, City
Comments: These are all run by the same people. As they import from the
US most stuff is expensive. They have a small selection of manga,
normally Gundam! They have most of the translated US stuff (Liverpool
Street has the best selection of back issues). They also import NTSC
tapes. A selection of Startrek, Robotech and at present Dominion and
some AnimEigo stuff... Some model kits are available. I haven't been
out to Paramatta... [MJE]
Other city comic shops include Galaxy Bookshop and Kings', all of
which will have similar stuff, plus some albums and art books
(Yamato, Honneamise, etc), overpriced Animedias and other possible
items of interest.
Esoteric Sciences Bookshop
Surry Hills
Comments: An occult bookshop with no anime or manga stuff, but
a valuable resource for manga addicts who require good references
for religion, martial arts, mythology, history, and other unusual
areas.
Angus & Robertson
Pitt Street Mall, City
Hours: 9-6, open Sunday
Comments: No anime or manga here either, but one of the best Japanese
language sections in the city. The selection isn't quite as
comprehensive as Abbey's, but it's cheaper and has more relevant items.
Sheriff's Mini-Cars
127 Church Street, Parramatta (02) 893 9056 \ take a train!
85 Henry Street, Penrith (047) 215 925 /
also just opened in Canberra
Comments: I was told about this by Samuel Liu and a friend in Canberra.
They have a selection of Japanese kits of various types. The owner goes
on a shopping trip to Japan twice a year. Last visit he went to Wondercon
and picked a container worth of stuff due late September early October.
He usualy has a dealer table at Wondercon which means he gets to see and
order things before the fans do! Some of this stuff you wouldn't see in
the USA either! Some very limited edition stuff comes in this way.
Things I have seen in here are: BGC Hardsuits, various Ranma, Lum,
Patlabor (including SD labors!), Iczer-x, Appleseed (I've got a 1/6
Deunan), Crusher Joe, Silent Mobius, Five Star Stories, Space Cobra,
Lupin III, Orion... [MJE]
==============================================================================
Contributors:
Iain Sinclair (axo...@socs.uts.edu.au)
Michael Edwards (mich...@nsg.com.au): contact for LD info
Edmund Louie (nis...@uts.edu.au): contact for H anime/manga info
--
Iain Sinclair axo...@socs.uts.edu.au
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