April 15, 2002 CURRENT RUMBLE used to live in a city called Himeji. It is a factory town an hour west of Osaka, known primarily for its smokestacks, pristine castle, and Bosozoku, or motorcycle-gang punks. They look like Kaneda (from Akira) on crystal-meth. They speak funny, slangy, inverted Japanese. They frighten me. Fortunately, my apartment in Himeji was located within earshot of a Bosozoku den, prompting me to spend much time outside Himeji. One sleepless AM back in '99, I could take no more of the tricked-out, motorycle 'zoom-zoom, gubba-gubba' boys and their cruising marathon in my neighborhood. I opened the door and screamed, 'STOP THE MADNESS' at the top of my lungs. Which scared the neighbors, who had become used to the Bosozoku after decades of 'zoom-zoom'ing. I had not. Unable to sleep, I opened the back section of the most recent HyperHobby and began to read the store ads. A lightbulb appeared...and bloomed! I thought to myself, 'Tomorrow, I shall go to Osaka and search out the Mandarake.' I became excited...too excited. I took a cold shower. The shower did not help. I opened my door again as the Bosozoku passed for the Nth time, and screamed, 'Tomorrow, I shall go to Osaka and find the Mandarake!...' The Bosozoku continued on their way. Gubba-gubba... I was blessed with 3 hours of sleep that night, more than usual, and awoke less than fresh the next day for my jaunt into a city of 10 million. Venturing into the big city with my otaku-dachi Greg, we ascended one of the 24 convenient exits leading to the streets. I looked at my HyperHobby map and knew we were in trouble. It was 3" by 3", and we hadn't bothered with the kanji on it. "No problem," I thought, "I'll just ask a stranger where the Mandarake is. It's famous enough." The following is a reenactment of my first encounters with local Osakans, their colorful dress and behavior, and the tough, local dialect of Osaka-ben: Me: Excuse me, sir, where is the Mandarake store? Stranger 1: kha-plooey! Greg: Hey, Mike, why did that old man spit at you? Me: ??. I guess I wasn't polite enough. Hmmmm. This could be more difficult than I imagined. [I tried again, this time asking a young woman.] Me: Excuse me, where is the Mandarake store? Stranger 2: Not here, for sure.....[sneers]...[walks away] The Osaka Mandarake lies tucked away in what could only be described as an adult entertainment, pleasure shopping arcade. It is somewhat hard to find, and you must venture through book and magazine stores with frosted windows, "dating" cafes, "massage" parlors, capsule hotels , video parlors, and a McDonalds before coming across the red, illuminated storefront sign featuring 3 employees in CosPlay outfits. Once inside, I discovered 2 intricate, labrynth-like levels of pop culture. Level 1 houses a most impressive collection of current and vintage manga. There are even several glass cases dedicated to the truly rare original Tezuka Osama books, as well as some early Nagai Go works. I was privileged to see a complete collection of the first Mazinga-Z series...and only $600!! Level one also features original manga art and artist sketches, complete pro wrestling costumes, a shrine to Bruce Lee merchandise, and anime books organized by theme--entire shelves dedicated to Captain Harlock, Akira, Gundam, etc. I must admit: this section impressed me most of all first floor merch. I've been to all the Mandarakes in Japan save Nagoya....and this section is truly unique, and a dream library for anime and toy researchers. I found several older periodicals on the history of Tatsunoko, and vaunted upstairs... From a collector's standpoint, the 2nd floor disappoints. Osaka is a Soft vinyl/garage kit kind of town. It's thin on my personal favorites: Jumbos, ChoGoKin, and Microman, and so, man....I'm bummed by the selection. There is however, a nice, but small, horde of vintage Godzilla arranged on the lower shelves, and even some old Marusan and Bullmark tin. For Jape, there is a fine selection of high quality anime cels at reasonable prices. I saw some major characters on fine backgrounds for less than a hundred bucks! Most frightening is that Osaka (or at least the Mandarake) has more of a hentai feel than a sentai feel. There are adult-themed garage kits everywhere, and it kinda' spooked me to see the stuff for sale next to Sanrio characters. Other points of interest include a very thorough offering of new and vintage posters. I eyed some real grabs of ancient Gaiking, Batle Fever, Casshan, GettaRobo, and UFO Diapalon for no more than $10 each. But the crown moment of my visit was the karaoke stage. Customers are encouraged to fill out request slips of their favorite anime theme hits, which employees dressed in various CosPlay outfits will belt out for eveyone's listening pleasure. I suffered through an extended 'Galaxy Express 999' backed by the Go Nagai tenors of G-Maz, Maz-Z, and Grandy. Even GiantRobo and his new girlfriend were waiting to to follow with Crayon Shinchan afterwards. Last but not least, Mandarake 2F has a corner dedicated to the abandoned, deposed advertising characters of the local retail market. Come find Sato- and Satoko-chan, the T-Up rooster, and other members of the figerglass zoo here. Usually, these entrance greeters run 20-40,000 Yen, but at Osaka Mandarake, most were priced at half that!! Mind you, there were also a number of merchants demanding their stolen merchandise back from Mandarake management.... I can't brag about any true discoveries worth mentioning. If anything, the greatest pleasure in visiting the Osaka Mandarake is that they always have a surplus of the current year's toy show exclusives at decent, if still marked-up prices. I've seen limited M1 releases, Microman exclusives, and mini-statues from past Osaka and Tokyo conventions. Missed the last Con? No problem. Mandarake is your answer. So what can I say? Osaka Mandarake is more a viewing experience than a shopping adventure. It's still worth seeking out, and a fun afternoon can be made getting lost, playing pachinko, drinking with hostesses, and falling into trouble with the police. And when the cops ask what you're doing with a bag full of half-naked plastic statues, you can always sing back, "The Galaxy Express 999 will take you on a journey/a never ending journey/a journey to the stars."  RUMBLE INDEX  |  CURRENT RUMBLE