New York, New York...

by Jim McLennan

Compared to the anime shopper's paradise that is California, New York is almost a desert, at least as far as imported Japanese anime goes. However, it has the major advantage over California in that it is two thousand miles closer and thus a trip gives you an extra couple of hundred quid to spend which would otherwise have gone on airfares.

It does have a Yaohan Plaza there, but it's situated in New Jersey, and is thus something of a full day excursion (much as the one at Colindale is for this Sarf Londoner!). Probably not worth it except for the hard-core otaku, as you're unlikely to be in New York for more than a few days - there's not much point in staying longer, there's isn't really that much to do except shop. Once you've been up one staggeringly tall building, you've been up 'em all.

The commercially released anime is widely available, with HMV and Tower having the best selections. HMV has also got one of the best selections of general laser-discs, though all these places had an annoying habit of leaving empty slots, containing no discs whatsoever, for titles which turned out not to be available any more. Aargh!

The major surprise was the easy availability of bootleg material. There is apparently a clause in American copyright law, called the Harrison Act I believe, which says that if material is not commercially available in the States, then it is automatically public domain. The moral ins and outs of this are complex (I would generally say it was a Good Thing) but it is unquestionably a bit disconcerting to go into a video store and see, as a result of this law, tapes from AnimEigo, AD Vision and US Manga Corps, next to those with photocopied sleeves and written on spines. Readers of a less-than-saintly disposition may wish to investigate Kim's Video (several branches in Greenwich Village), which had one of the best selections of, er, non-commercially available material.

However, the prize in this category must go to a shopping arcade on Lafayette Street, close to Chinatown. Our eyes were caught by a Totoro in the window of one shop, and on further investigation, it turned out to be a shop entirely dedicated to the selling of unofficial anime tapes. You name it, they had it, albeit in Japanese, as it was mostly catering to the ex-patriate and immigrant community. However, the guy working in it was very helpful, and they did have some subtitled material which I hadn't seen before, so this was duly liberated. At a price of $25 for three tapes, they can't really be accused of ripping off people, and the quality was entirely acceptable. [Moral Police please note: the subtitling did not seem to be fan-done, no 'Not for sale or hire' message could be seen].

Chinatown otherwise was something of a disappointment. There were several laser-disc shops, but without exception these were all rental only, which had me sobbing my little heart out by the end of the day - one of the main aims personally had been the acquisition of HK movies. Anime was notable by it's absence, perhaps because the normal source of tapes, Hong Kong, is PAL rather than NTSC. There did seem to be some bits and pieces of anime merchandise around, but I didn't pay a great deal of attention. Never been into Ranma 1/2 pencil-cases and the like!

Biggest surprise of the trip, however, was found in the 'Blowout' video store on 5th avenue at about 45th St. This specialised in ex-rental and remainder tapes, most of which were the usual sort of stuff. However, in one corner, they had a section of Japanese ex-rental tapes at very pleasant prices. A large pile of the anime tapes were acquired on the "dragnet" principle - if I don't like them, I can always sell them! Though I've still got to live down the fact that they included Gundam, albeit of the SD variety...

Fractionally away from the true anime line, one shop worth visiting is the Warner Bros store, also on Fifth Avenue. In addition to the incredible array of merchandise for Looney Toons and Tiny Toons, the top floor has a cel gallery, where you can dribble quietly over original work with frightening price tags, and also debate Japanese vs American animation with the staff, who are both knowledgeable - the one I spoke to was a trainee animator - and friendly.

Overall, I had a fine time in my four days, racking up credit card at a ferocious rate; the final tally was $900 on laser-disks alone. However, as a fan destination, it definitely comes a poor third to California and the land of the rising trade surplus itself.