To K-Books/Hobby Lobby/Yellow Submarine

1. Once you get out of the ticket gate, turn left and exit onto the street.

K-Books
These beautiful people have expanded and taken over the whole third floor. They're broken up into two halves. On one side they sell new and used regular and hentai manga, doujinshi, artbooks, magazines, CDs, DVDs, posters, cels, trading cards, and a bunch of other isht. In the past they also sold cheap, used LDs, and Verge was most put out by the fact that they no longer do. The prices on this shit can range from cheap to obscene, depending on what you're buying. On the other side they sell new regular manga, hentai manga, doujinshi, artbook, magazines, and maybe some other paper products I've forgotten. This stuff is all retail price.

Hobby Lobby
The place is off in one corner of the floor, and sells a smattering of models, figures, and toys for retail price.

Yellow Submarine
This place is broken up into several little sections right next to each other. All in all, they carry all sorts of modeling shit, including figures, models, toys, etc. for retail price.

To Gamers

1. Exiting K-Books, you'll have to take the stairs down. Go down and exit the building on the same side you came in.
2. Back on the street, look left for the My Way 2 sign.
3. Enter the thoroughway under the My Way 2 sign and look for a set of stairs to your right.

Gamers
I think this is an expansion site from their other store. They carry assorted anime/gaming goods like cards, costumes, books, CDs, manga, and a whole host of other shit. All retail price.

To D-Cult

1. From the corner of Adult Shop M's, head left down the street (passing underneath the train tracks).
2. Head straight across the bridge.

D-Cult
This store deals exclusively in doujinshi and doujinshi soft. I think there were even doujinshi trading cards. Either way, it's all a bunch of porn. Which is nice, except doujinshi always costs more than hentai manga. What the expedition found extremely disturbing was not the fact that there was hentai Card Captor Sakura doujinshi, but that there was a godawful lot of it. There are some things even the most hardened pervert must stop and question. Anyhow, D-Cult carries for the most part used doujinshi, along with some doujinshi soft and maybe some other doujinshi shit. As a side note, D-Cult has a web page with maps on it. Maybe these'll help better than my directions (but I doubt it). Update: damn, now I know why you shouldn't be lazy on the updates; your mind goes to shit. The second floor was closed off in May and everything was on the third floor. However, all the shit from the second floor did not make it to the third floor, and I cannot remember where the rest of it went. Goddamn, my bad.

To Shinkin Bank Cash Service

1. From D-Cult, go back to the corner of Adult Shop M's. I trust you can find your way back without my help.
2. Once you get there, continue straight past it. A little farther down on your right will be the foreign currency exchange.

To Laox Game and Hobby

1. From Shinkin Cash Service, head right.

Laox Game and Hobby
This interesting store has videogames for various systems on the 1st-4th floors. On the 5th floor they carry models and figures. On the basement floor they carry hentai PC games, live-action porn, hentai anime/game books, and hentai anime DVDs. Hentai, hentai, hentai. Plus, they take credit cards.

To Ishimaru

1. From Juujiya, head right.
2. The big, long-ass street you arrive at is Chuo-dori, and is the main drag along which our adventure will be based. Anyhow, at the corner head straight across the street.

Ishimaru
Well, this is a retail place, but fuck it, we took the picture. Inside, take the elevator up to the 7th floor (thanks Verge). There, you shall find new anime DVDs, LDs, and CDs for retail price. Shopping here gets you these little discount coupons which can be used towards your next purchase. When you do buy stuff, you should be offered a present from the selection hanging above the counter (e.g. cards, posters, and the like). I say should because I never exactly understood what the conditions were to get stuff. On a side note, we were shopping here once because for some ungodly reason we had enough of those coupons that it was burning a hole in our pockets. It was closing time and goddamn, you would not believe the fucking feeding frenzy we witnessed. Was there some perverse sale going on which we did not know about? We'll never know. All we'll have is the memories of that traumatic event (the horror... the horror).

To Media Land

1. From Ishimaru, head left.
2. At the corner, cross Chuo-dori back to the side with Laox Game and Hobby.
3. Having crossed the street, head left along Chuo-dori.

Media Land
This place is fucking cramped, and you suffer for it when you try to get through to the back of the store to wait for a small-ass elevator, and there's a store employee with a big-ass cart just in front of you. Lessee, the 1st floor is new video game-type shit. The 2nd floor is used video game-type shit. The 3rd floor is new and used computer games. The 4th floor more used video game-type shit (no, I don't remember the difference between this floor and the 2nd). The 5th floor used to carry cheap anime LDs, but all they have now is anime DVDs. Goodbye, cheap LDs... (sniff) This place is cash only. No credit cards accepted.

To McDonalds

1. From Medialand, head right.
2. Continue across the street at the major intersection.
3. Having crossed the street, head right.

Happiness is a double cheeseburger set, L-size
Having been to Japan multiple times, I have come to the conclusion that for the most part I do not like Japanese cuisine. Most of it either tastes nasty to me, or tastes delicious and then proceeds to give me a splitting headache after I've eaten it. I have accepted this, and that is why I primarily eat at American fast-food joints. Here, right smack dab in the middle of the shopping expedition, we have bush. At last, a place where a finicky American like myself can satisfy his need for nourishment during a hard day of porn shopping.

To Yamagiwa Soft - Anime Section

1. From McDonalds, head right back to Chuo-dori.
2. At Chuo-dori, head right.
3. Keep going until you pass Yamagiwa department store on your right. (Look for a building with a blue and yellow exterior.)

Yamagiwa Soft Anime Section
This is all retail price shit, but since browsing is still free... The 1st floor is CDs. The 2nd floor is LDs, DVDs, and videos. (Skip'em unless you can't find your shit anywhere else.) The 3rd floor is regular manga and magazines. The 4th floor is the hentai porny manga and magazines. More support for my convoluted belief that anime fans and horn dogs are closely related.

To Yamagiwa Movie Section

1. From the corner of Yamagiwa Soft Anime Section, go down the sidestreet.

Yamagiwa Movie Section
The first floor is now all DVDs, both anime and live-action. They're new, and they're retail prices. Upstairs, we have the anime laserdiscs, and LD boxes. They're new, and they're still retail price. Yes, it hurts to pay retail price, but I have to admit in the past they have had laserdiscs that I couldn't find elsewhere.

To Yamagiwa U-Shop 2

1. From Yamagiwa Movie Section, continue left down the sidestreet.

Yamagiwa U-Shop 2
Why is this place #2? Because my guide book sez so. Oh, you thought I found all these places by wandering aimlessly around? Well, I did do quite a bit of that... but I also prepped myself by picking up a *Japanese* anime shopping guide (check the misc section for more info). Anyways, the bottom floor is CDs. For anime, take the stairs to the left of the CD shop to the 2nd floor. Upstairs they sell used anime and live-action LDs, bundled sets of LDs, LD box sets, and DVDs. However, the LD section has really shrunk as of late, and most of the small store's inventory is DVDs. Prices are usually a little bit more than Liberty's, but occasionally the U-Shop has a bargain Liberty can't beat. I'm pretty sure they do not take credit cards.

To Yamagiwa Navi Shop

1. From the U-Shop, head right back to the corner of the Yamagiwa Soft Shop - Anime Section.
2. At the corner, head right down Chuo-dori.

Yamagiwa Navi Shop
Go to the back of the first floor and take the elevator up to the 7th floor. This store has new anime LDs, CDs, videos, other minor anime shit for retail price.

To Animate

1. From Yamagiwa Navi Shop, head right.

Animate
This chain store sells over-priced trinket-type crap. Besides that, they also have manga, magazines, LDs, DVDs, CDs, and some other shit I can't think of right now. All the stuff here is retail price. Don't buy video shit here, people, you're in the heart of the used video marketplace. Even Animate has porn (basement floor).

To Comic Tora No Ana 1

1. From the Yamagiwa Navi Shop, head right.

Comic Tora No Ana 1
Business must be good, as I swear these fuckers have expanded beeg-time. Anyways, working our way up... 4th floor is... fuck, I forget, and I can't read the sign in the picture. 5th floor is hobby goods, which means models, figures, and like-minded shit. Among these there was a display of fine hentai models. We should've taken a picture, but we pussied out because there were video cameras pointing everywhere. Besides, we would've stepped over that fine line and become completely geeky perverts. Get with it people, Cheap Bastard has some shred of human dignity, no matter how small it may be. Right next to the hentai display case was a 4.6-ft tall plastic maid called Tina. Tina's bust measures 68cm, and the pretty lady herself costs about $1600. For that kind of money, Tina better be anatomically correct, have a sophisticated voice system with various moans and cries, and come with a tube of lotion. No kiddies, you did not hear me say that. Moving on, the 6th floor has doujinshi, and the 7th floor carries doujinshi soft. It's pretty much all porn. As a side note, there is non-hentai doujinshi, but I've noticed it tends to get crowded out by the much more beautiful porn. Doujinshi prices being what they are, it's kinda hard to talk appraisal. If you would like to see more of Tina, go to the Fantastic company web page.

To Liberty 4

1. From Comic Tora No Ana 1, head right.

Liberty 4
If it's not raining or snowing, outside the store they'll have crates sitting on tables full of LDs, CDs, and video games they're trying to get rid of. That shit, however, gets paid for inside Liberty 5. Inside on the ground floor of Liberty 4, they sell new and used video games, DVDs, sentai LDs and anime LD box sets. Right outside the ground floor section is an elevator. Take that up to the other floors of Liberty 4. The 2nd floor carries western movies, and the 3rd floor has more new and used anime LDs, LD box sets, and CDs. Near the elevator they used to have empty LD boxes going for 100 yen apiece, but goddammit I guess they got rid of them all. We were so disappointed, let me tell you. The 4th floor, if I remember correctly, has videotapes, most them being western movies or Japanese live-action porn. The 5th floor has more used video games, and a small selection of used hentai manga. The 6th floor has expensive telephone cards, plus individual hentai anime LDs, some bundled sets of LDs, and LD box sets. Also, if you spend at least 5000 yen on new stuff on the 1st or 3rd floor, you get a free poster (whatever's on the wall near the register at that time. They'll be numbered).

Okay, while I'm at it, I'm gonna cover some shit that relates to all the Liberty stores. They accept a variety of credit cards, but you have to spend at least 5000 yen. They sell both used and new stock. Used stuff sells for less than retail price (unless they consider it to be some rare piece of shit, and believe me they have weird ideas about what's rare and what's not), and new stuff also sells for less than retail price. That is why Liberty is the low-price leader as far as Cheap Bastard is concerned.

To Liberty 5

To the main section of Gamers

1. From the Liberty 5, head right.

Gamers (main store)

To Trader

1. From Liberty 4, take the crosswalk to the other side of the street.
2. Once you're at the other side, head right.

Trader
The 1st floor of this place has used video games; I never bothered to see what was on the 2nd floor. Prices are somewhat comparable to Liberty, so if you're looking for used video games, this is one place to check out.

To Anime Shop Get

1. From Traders, head left.

Anime Shop Get
Haha, I shit you not, that's the real name of this store. Goddamn, they're to the point. The funny thing is, they don't even sell anime. Hahahahaha... Anyhow, take the steep-ass stairs up to the 4th floor, which sells telephone and trading cards, and to the 5th floor, which sells doujinshi and related goods. I browsed through this one real quickly, so I didn't check prices. Bwahahaha, Anime Shop Get... God bless'em.

To Black Gamers/Cospa Shop Akihabara/Spot/Anime World Star

1. From Anime Shop Get, head left.
2. Take the first side street left.

Black Gamers/Cospa Shop Akihabara/Spot/Anime World Star
The first floor is Black Gamers Square, and they sell video game-related junk like trading cards, books on specific games, etc for retail price. At the back are the stairs and an elevator. On the second floor is Cospa Shop Akihabara, which sells various costumes and accessories for people who dig the cosplay. I have no concept of prices for this sort of shit, but it seemed kinda expensive. 9000 yen for a pair of Chun Li spike bracelets? Okay... Moving on, the third floor is Spot, which carries new and used anime LDs, LD bundles, LD box sets, DVDs, CDs, and a lot of trinket/toy-type crap. For those historical types, this is where Discmap used to be. New stuff is retail price, and for the used stuff the prices were a bit on the high side compared to Liberty. However, some of the LD bundles were pretty good deals, and they currently had some percent sales on the LD boxes. Word of warning, though: if you see something you want that's relatively rare you should go ahead and buy it, as it may be gone when you decide you do want it and come back 30 minutes later. Verge didn't realize this harsh truth on the savage nature of shopping for anime, and he suffered for it. 4th floor is the adult section of Gamers, and carries hentai manga and magazines, and live-action porno books, magazines and videos. On the 5th floor is Anime World Star. They sells cels, posters, and an assortment of other new/used junk for retail/discount price. On the 6th floor is the Cospa Cafe, where you can sit and order iced coffee from the cute female waitresses. However, it is not considered good etiquette to examine your porn purchases while you are resting here. These waitresses already know you're a freak of some degree by the fact that you're in this cafe, but there's no need to show how bad it is.

To Comike.com

1. From Black Gamers, head left.
2. Take the first right.

Comike.com
A small store carrying hentai video games and some character goods. They're new since I visited last year, and for some reason I just like the look of their store. I hope they do well.

To Manga Ohkoku

1. From Comike.com, head left.
2. Go down about two intersections

Manga Ohkoku
I couldn't find this store in years past, and I nearly missed it this time around. Fuckers'll put a business in any old space. Anyhow, take the stairs up. On the second floor they have used doujinshi, and on the third floor they have telephone cards. I cannot remember what the pricing was like. Oh yes, they will ask you to check your bags upon entering the store. Be nice, you foreign barbarian.

To Liberty 1

1. From Manga Ohkoku, backtrack all the way to the Chuo-dori crosswalk you took from Liberty 4.
2. Once there, head right.

To Liberty 1
Sometimes this store will have stock that they're trying to get rid of on display outside on the sidewalk . Otherwise that stuff can be found within the store, unpacked and scattered on the floor. Take the stairs down to enter the store proper. One of the smaller Liberties, they still have a decent selection of new and used LDs, LD boxes, DVDs, CDs, and video games. Verge comments, "Paying Y780 for an LD I bought there didn't beat the Y400 I paid at Mandarake Nakano, nor the Y280 I paid for an LD last year. Life is damn good. =)" Verge, we think so too.

To Messe Sanoh Main Store A & B

1. From Liberty 1, head right.

Messe Sanoh Main Store A & B
I cannot remember much about this place, except that they sold hentai PC games and doujinshi soft. That alone was enough to earn them a spot in this guide. Oh joyous CG porn!

To Liberty 7 and Messe Sanoh III

1. From Messe Sanoh Main Store A & B, head right.

Liberty 7/Messe Sanoh III
For Liberty 7, go inside and take the elevator up to the 4th floor. Liberty sells the usual mix of new and used anime LDs, LD boxes, DVDs, CDs, and video games for that glorious cheaper price. They also had a large amount of doujinshi soft, which is unusual for the Liberty chain. To get to Messe Sanoh III, at the ground floor take the stairs down the basement level. They carry new doujinshi and doujinshi goods at those doujinshi prices. More porn for the soul. Is porn better for the soul than chicken soup? We think so.

To Tachibana Bookstore

1. From Liberty 7, head right down the street.
2. Take the first side street right.

Tachibana Bookstore
Enter and take the stairs up to the 3rd floor (the 2nd floor is just live-action porn). This porniferous paradise has hentai manga, magazines, art books, and doujinshi. Maybe even some other porny-type shit too. All porn, all the time. All retail price.

To Akibao 4

1. From Tops, head right.
2. Take the first intersection left.

Akibao 4
Akibao 2 (discussed later) was closed, and we were redirected here. I'm not sure if this place is temporary or not while Akibao 2 is renovating. Anyways, take the stairs up to I think the 2nd floor. There they sell doujinshi, doujinshi soft, doujinshi goods at doujinshi prices. It was kinda neat, they had computer desktop chassis logos with anime characters on 'em.

To Yamagiwa U-Shop 1

1. From Akibao 4, head left.

Yamagiwa U-Shop 1
This shop is basically the same as the other one, only that they consolidated the music and video stuff into one section, as opposed to two floors ala U-Shop 2. Same opinion here on prices: not as good as Liberty, but occasionally some better bargains can be had on the LDs. When we were there, they also had some percent sales on their LD box sets.

To Tops

1. From Yamagiwa U-Shop 1, go kitty-corner to the other side of the street.

Tops
The store consists mostly of live-action porno videos, books and magazines, but they do have a small selection of hentai manga and some other cartoony porn-type shit. All retail price.

To Mirage

From Akibao 2, head right.

Mirage
Go inside and take the stairs up to the 3rd floor. There they sell telephone cards, posters, and doujinshi videos, and PC games. Sweet Jesus, they had a beautiful hentai poster... it was a schoolgirl kneeling with her blouse open, and she was holding her large breasts together, with that "goshujinsama..." look on her face... damn thing was 3000 yen. That's about $30 for a goddamn poster. What an internal struggle: the porn fiend versus the cheap bastard. In the end, it came down to money. What with my credit card being declined because those Nicos fuckwits were slow on processing the goddamn credit card transactions, I could not afford to spare 3000 yen. Goddamn it, I liked that poster. It was like an affirmation of all that is good and pure in the hentai heart.

To Comitto/Liberty 6

1. From Mitsubishi Bank, head right and cross the street.
2. At the corner of the other side, head right (away from Chuo-dori).

Comitto/Liberty 6
To the left of the stairs for Liberty 6 is an entrance with a hallway leading to an elevator. You can use that or the other set of stairs next to the elevator for Comitto and Liberty 6. Floors 2-4 are Liberty 6, and Comitto is on the 5th floor. The 2nd floor has new and used regular music CDs, CD singles, and video games. The 3rd floor carries live-action and anime videos, LDs, LD box sets, anime CDs, posters, and expensive telephone cards. They've shrunken their LD section and made room for more DVDs. They also carry more anime videotapes. The 4th floor has used regular manga and hentai manga. On the 5th floor is Comitto, and they sell posters, cels, telephone cards, hentai manga, and some assorted other shit. All of it is retail price.

To Liberty 2

1. From Liberty 6, head left.
2. Take the first sidestreet left.
3. Take the next sidestreet right.

Liberty 2
The 1st floor sells new and used video games and CDs. The 2nd floor sells new and used anime videos, LDs, LD box sets, and DVDs. There's some live-action shit on the 3rd floor, but who cares about that. Fuck the free poster shit, I'm pretty sure they're crap.

To D-Cult/Do! Books/Messe Sanoh IV

1. From Liberty 2, look right across the fucking street.

D-Cult/Do! Books/Messe Sanoh IV
Take the cramped-ass stairs or elevator up. On the third floor we have Messe Sanoh IV, which sells doujinshi soft. On the fourth floor we have Do! Books, which sells hentai manga, magazines, and art books. Lastly, on the fifth floor we have D-Cult, which sells new doujinshi. Goddamn, this much porn concentrated in such a small area... you can just feel the power of the creative minds that produced these joyous works.

To Brainstown

1. From Do! Books, head left

Brainstown
On the street there was a vending machine with a Pepsi can display that had Pepsiman on it. For the unenlightened, Pepsiman is one of the primeval gods of Akihabara. When people are in distress, he appears and delivers Pepsi to them with a Schwaaa! Anyhow, Verge wanted a holy relic, and thought a Pepsi can with the deity himself on it would be an excellent find. He could put it on his shelf back home, right next to the can of corn soup he got from another vending machine. Sadly, when he put his tithe in the machine, all that emerged was a regular Pepsi can. Those rat bastards, have they no heart?! Why am I talking about this anyway? Okay... Uh, take the stairs up to the 2nd floor, where they sell regular and hentai manga and magazines. Going up to the 3rd floor, they sell doujinshi, doujinshi soft, doujinshi goods, some live-action porn, and some other hentai anime-type shit. It's all retail price.

To Comic Tora No Ana 2

1. From Brainstown, head left all the way down to the end of this street.
2. As a sanity check, you should see a Soft Map store on your right. Now, head right.

Comic Tora No Ana 2
Interestingly enough, I fucked up the locations of the Tora No Anas last year. Oh well, this year I have redeemed myself. Enter, go all the way until you find the elevator, and visit floors 2-4. One floor has regular manga, one has hentai manga, and the other has doujinshi. Which is which? I do not remember. Go visit all three. Oh yes, everything is retail price.

To Liberty 3

1. From Comic Tora No Ana 2, head right.
2. At the intersection, head left.

Liberty 3
Take the stairs down to this cramped-ass place. Anyways, they sell new and used LDs, CDs, videogames, LD boxes... I think you know by now what the fuck Liberty sells. They sell the good shit that YOU crave... at good prices. Oh yeah, if you head towards the back, there's an elevator that goes up to another section of Liberty 3. They had some more anime LDs and videocassettes worth taking a look at.