Den Den Town Osaka Travels

Wrapping up my trip the Kansai region was a trip to Osaka’s anime and electronic district, known as Den Den Town. Like Akihabara in Tokyo, Den Den Town is an area to get away from work/school for a bit and immerse yourself in the anime culture. Also, for collectors like me, this was a fairly good area to find some out of print rarities.

I heard about this district from blogger Adun who called it by it’s subway station, Ebisucho. It was a nightmare getting to Den Den Town because of Osaka’s confusing network of trains and subways but at the end of the article I will give EXACT instructions that must be followed to the letter if you don’t want to get lost. Taking a right out of Ebisucho station you will be presented with a long street filled with many familiar stores from Akihabara and some new ones.

K Books was my favorite store in Den Den Town. Osaka has two K Book stores in this area and each had some very rare collectibles that I couldn’t find in Akihabara. Though, some items were too pricy for my tastes.

Ah, this giant robot looks familiar. ^^ Unique to Osaka’s district is a large store dedicated to the Mobile Suit Gundam series. Certainly the most eye catching building in Den Den Town.

Ah, the iconic Zaku. I would still love to see a life sized version of a Zaku. They were one of my favorite models of the original series.

Around the Gundam stores you can also find stores such as Animate, Kid’s Land, and even a art museum showcasing original art that you can purchase if you are very wealthy. For this figure.fm article I will post some of these artworks on this article.

Finally ran into one of those anime vending machines that sell Touhou themed drinks. This was outside one of the 2 Sentai focused stores I saw in Osaka.

Really cute art! ^_^ I tried the Reimu one which contained plain Oolong Tea which really hit the spot. I had been running around like a mad man since 3 in the morning after all. ^^;

Now it was time to start heading back to Ebisucho station and all the way back to Yokosuka. Was very lucky to be able to see a very talented (and brave) cosplayer in the subway.

He is cosplaying as Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z. Guess both Akihabara and Osaka now have DBZ cosplayers. ^^
In Akihabara, I will sometimes run into a Goku cosplayer giving tours in Radio Kaikan.

Piccolo was very nice as well and posed for all the people wanting to get pictures with him with their cell phones. It was very fun seeing the Osaka business men’s reactions as he walked around in the station. Can see why Danny Choo likes cosplaying in public; seeing the smiles, shocked faces, and confused looks. ^^

Ah, almost forgot, directions. Follow these exactly or else you will likely get lost.
1.) I was in Osaka station so I had to get to Shin Osaka station first. Take the JR Kyoto Line one stop to Shin Osaka station.
2.) At Shin Osaka Station, follow signs to the Midosuji Subway line. Take the subway to Namba station (7 stops).
3.) At Namba Station, take the Sennichimae Line to Nippombashi Station.
4.) At Nippombashi Station, take the Sakaisuji Line one stop to Ebisucho Station.
5.) At Ebisucho Station, exit 1A and make a right at the street. Congratulations.

If you can get to Den Den Town, you will feel like a master of the Japanese train system, I promise you. ^^;

Also in Osaka Den Den Town I happened to run into a display of artworks from two of my favorite artists, Aoi Nishimata and Tony Taka. Aoi Nishimata is most famous for her work on Shuffle! but has also done other works (even commercial ones). Tony Taka almost needs no introduction. He is famous for his eroge and sexy drawings which all have an unmistakable style. Tony Taka also designed characters for a few non-ero games as well.

This is an example of Tony Taka’s work. I am a big fan of his art and personally, my favorite ero video is still “Sora no Iro Mizu no Ero” which has girls designed by Tony Taka.
This particular picture is of a large poster at the entrance of the “museum” designed to pull you in.

Some rather lovely Tony Taka right here and Hello Kitty?
Just noticed that there is a video camera looking right at me in this pic on the top left (more on that later). I honestly expected to be yelled at taking pictures in the front of the museum/store but they are of things like wallscrolls and posters. Didn’t think I’d get a chance to actually photograph a large collection of their works. Got about 75% I think. ^_^

This was in a Tony Taka Best of Artbook that was in a glass case. Don't think it was for sale unfortunately.

Now we’re getting to what was actually on display in this Osaka art building. I mentioned the security cameras earlier. Each of these works costs over 200,000 yen a piece, with some costing over 400,000 yen. That’s over $4,000 dollars folks. These are real originals so I imagine that some art collectors might actually pay it. Not me though. That’s a bit out of my price range. ^^;

Was thinking this could also have been tagged 2d girls as well. But since these are taken in a store in Den Den Town, I am still on topic. ^^;

Dang, this post is going to be picture heavy. Going to keep it to the ones that came out good on my camera I think.

Reminds me of a vampire from Suikoden II. It's been ages since I played but, Sierra was her name I think?

She has angel wings...on her head. That's unusual.

Dang, seeing these full resolution makes a huge difference. Beautiful.

Same image that was on the entrance poster but an original this time.

Now on to Aoi Nishimata's work. This was my favorite artwork that I saw in there so I wanted to make sure I could post it before I hit my image max.

You may recognize the style from the anime Shuffle!

You may recognize this girl from Danny Choo's rice advertisement article. Aoi Nishimata may have made the rice sell better with this new mascot.

Some of the lightening was a bit dim around Nishimata's works.

In case your wondering, where are the Shuffle pics? Sadly, her Shuffle! works were on the 3rd floor which had two employees in there. I think her non-Shuffle! works are beautiful as well.

Primula when she turns 16? Maybe just my wishful thinking. :p

It should be said that one of the criticisms of Aoi Nishimata is that her characters look very similar to each other.

Looks similar to Shuffle's Kaede but in a beautiful dress.

Last one. ^^;

Hope you enjoyed my Osaka Den Den article though it looks like it focused more on this one exhibit then the actual city in the end. Still, it was nice to be able to share these works with folks overseas.

Might be a bit before I can get my Kobe articles made. Still recovering from yesterday. Seeing both Kobe and Osaka in 1 day from Yokosuka is not recommended unless you have the stamina of a jackrabbit. ^^;